Prof Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (left) of the University of Cambridge is this year's recipient of the Lego Classicist of the Year. Prof Wallace-Hadrill is renowned for his pioneering work on ancient Rome including the sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and he was Director of the British School at Rome between 1995 and 2009
To celebrate his award, one of our Warwick Classics students, Greta Bullman, (right) has interviewed Andrew to find out more about his life in Classics and his views on the future of the discipline.
Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill acknowledges that his own entry into the field was "a very, very old-fashioned way," beginning at an age when he was "scarcely old enough to speak." While many modern students find their way to antiquity through pop culture or fiction, his foundation was built on the rigorous, traditional staples of a classical education. "I can't remember not learning Latin and Greek," he says. "I'd already done my Latin and Greek A-levels and I was just 15, 16 when I did them because we didn't have to learn anything else—no science! I've had to catch up on all that subsequently."
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"There's nothing inaccessible about the material because it's real human life, and we all relate to that."
However, he is quick to clarify that this early academic exposure was not the reason why he is doing what he is doing today. For Wallace-Hadrill, the true catalyst wasn't the classroom, but the visceral experience of the sites themselves. "Ancient sites are just magic because they literally bring the past alive," he explains. "There's nothing inaccessible about the material because it's real human life, and we all relate to that. You engage with it because you recognise it, and also because it's different."
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This focus on "real human life" is exactly why he rejects the idea that the subject is an impractical pursuit. In a climate where the humanities are often sidelined in favour of more "vocational" paths, his defence of the degree is rooted in its ability to sharpen the mind for any industry. Addressing the modern pressure on students to pursue these degrees, Wallace-Hadrill is dismissive of the idea that Classics lacks practical utility. "Parents will ask their kids, 'Why on earth are you doing Classics? That won't get you a good job.' And they think you really ought to be studying Business Studies," he notes. "I don't want to be disrespectful to Business Studies, but it's not necessarily the best training to do business. What you have to learn is to use your brain, your imagination, your powers of analysis."
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Beyond the development of soft skills, he argues that the field’s multidisciplinary nature—encompassing philosophy, history, and literature—is its greatest strength, particularly its overlooked scientific heritage. He suggests that the modern divide between the arts and sciences is a false one, as the foundations of technical study were laid by the very people Classicists study today. "It was the classical world that invented mathematics, engineering, physics, the sciences. We neglect that in teaching Classics. Their understanding of atomic science was—okay, we've moved on a hell of a lot—but for them, it was amazing."
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To those who question the relevance of the ancient world to modern industry, he points to the sophisticated hydraulics of the first century as evidence of a technical brilliance that we are still chasing. "You ask your dad: who worked out how to build an aqueduct? You’ve got to get the levels right... the calculations that involves are really sophisticated. If Thames Water would learn a few Roman tricks, we would have fewer disasters."
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"To be interested in the ancient world is not to be anti-AI; it's not to be anti-technology. We need technology as much as anyone else."
His respect for ancient engineering naturally informs his enthusiasm for modern technology. As AI is being used to decipher carbonised scrolls from Herculaneum, he welcomes the technological shift. These scrolls, discovered in the famous Villa of the Papyri, were essentially turned into charcoal by the eruption of Vesuvius, making them impossible to physically unroll without destroying them. Having spent decades as a leading authority on the site—most notably as the Director of the Herculaneum Conservation Project—Andrew has been at the forefront of the battle to preserve these ruins from the "second death" of modern decay. For him, the move toward "digital unwrapping" via AI is a vital evolution for a site he has championed for years.
"I don't buy it as a danger at all," he insists. "It's a really useful, really powerful modern technique. It actually helps conservation. To be interested in the ancient world is not to be anti-AI; it's not to be anti-technology. We need technology as much as anyone else."
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He does, however, maintain a critical eye toward the dangers of AI too, acknowledging that even the most advanced systems are prone to significant errors and "hallucinations." "I once asked it, is there any work on ancient cities? And it said... there's a project at the University of Cambridge, led by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill. No, no, you've got the right man—but the project hadn't covered that question! It cited me and it was wrong. When you learn that they get you wrong, you know they get everyone else wrong."
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Despite these early hurdles, his outlook remains one of total integration, believing that the future of the discipline depends on the marriage of the old and the new. "Give me DNA analysis, give me AI, give me [every tool] to understand the past. You need every tool you can lay hands on. Archaeology has been transformed by scientific techniques, really transformed. I'm really interested in the DNA of skeletons in Herculaneum... it’s really going to be an eye-opener when that comes through."
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This commitment to using every tool available—from the scientific to the playful—is also why he was recently named the 2026 Brick Classicist of the Year. Andrew’s support for Liam Jensen’s Brick Classicists stems from this same desire for outreach - "Liam's Lego enterprise is part of all that lovely enthusiasm," he says. "We won't get people coming through to study the ancient world if we don't reach them at school level. It’s heartening to see my subject just generating enthusiasm." Ultimately, he views the difficulty of the subject as its primary virtue. "Classics challenges you in lots of different ways, and it's the challenge that's good for you."
