The Department of Classics is an academic division in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at King's College London. It is one of the oldest university-level institutions specialising in the study of classical languages, literature, thought, religion, art, archaeology and ancient history in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

History

Foundation

King's College was established in 1829 under the patronage of

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

. Its

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...

outlined its mission as "the general education of youth in which the various branches of Literature and Science are intended to be taught, and also the doctrines and duties of Christianity ..inculcated by the United Church of England and Ireland." The College counted among its founders and benefactors the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...

, who was

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

at the time, and a number of other eminent politicians and theologians of the British Establishment. The College included a Chair of Classical Literature as part of its foundational setup. Classical subjects, along with Law, Literature and Theology, were therefore taught at King's from the day it first formally opened its doors in 1831. The inaugural Professor of Classical Literature was the English scholar Joseph Anstice, whose introductory lecture on the enduring significance of classical education marked the beginning of what is today the Classics Department.

The Tale of Troy

''The Tale of Troy'' is the title given to a series of famous performances in London between 1883 and 1887. George Charles Winter Warr, Professor of Classical Literature from 1879 to 1901, developed an adaptation of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'' entitled ''The Tale of Troy''. Four performances were scheduled in late May and early June 1883, two in English and two in the original Greek. The goal was to raise sufficient funds to secure premises in Kensington for the newly founded King's College Lectures for Ladies. Although originally planned on a modest scale, the end product was a lavish spectacle staged in the

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

mansion of Sir Charles and Lady Freake. The plays were attended by prominent figures in scholarship, art, music, theatre and high society. The production was revived in May 1886, this time to raise funds for the extension of university teaching in London. This expanded version was moved to Prince's Hall in Piccadilly and included the story of Orestes, adapted from Aeschylus's ''Oresteian Trilogy''. The Prince and Princess of Wales were also in attendance. The complete final version was published in 1887 under the title ''Echoes of Hellas'' with illustrations by

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...

The Koraes Chair

The Koraes Chair of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature was established at King's College in 1918 to serve as the focal point in Britain for Hellenic studies beyond antiquity. It was championed by the likes of the Anglo-Hellenic League and by Eleftherios Venizelos, then Prime Minister of the Hellenic Parliament and a close friend of King's College Principal

Ronald Montagu Burrows Ronald Montagu Burrows (16 August 1867 – 14 May 1920) was a British archaeologist and academic, who served as Principal of King's College London from 1913 to 1920. Biography He was born on 16 August 1867 in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, t ...

. Burrows was himself a famous classical scholar and philhellene. The Koraes Chair is named in honour of Adamantios Koraes, the founding father of the modern Greek nation state. Its inauguration also marked the beginning of the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, which has itself since been merged into the Department of Classics. The Koraes Chair was recently held by Roderick Beaton for a thirty-year period from 1988 to 2018. It is currently held by the Belgian-American scholar Gonda Van Steen.

Second World War

The Parthenon sculptures were hidden directly underneath the department in the tunnels of the now-disused

Strand station Strand Station ( no, Strand holdeplass) was a railway station situated at Strand in Bærum, Norway, on the Drammen Line. The station, located from Oslo West Station, was served by Oslo Commuter Rail trains of the Norwegian State Railways. Ramsta ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. They were only brought back to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in nearby Bloomsbury in 1948, where they have remained since. The work of the original Chair of Classical Literature was split into two separate Chairs of Greek and Latin during this period.

Modern Era

The Centre for Hellenic Studies (CHS) was established at the Department in 1989 to promote research and scholarship of Hellenic history, culture and language. On

Greek Independence Day The celebration of the Greek Revolution of 1821 (Greek: Εορτασμός της Ελληνικής Επανάστασης του 1821, ''Eortasmós tis Ellinikís Epanástasis tou 1821''), less commonly known as Independence Day, takes place i ...

in 2010, plans were announced for the CHS to include teaching alongside its research activities. Under these new arrangements the CHS also came to incorporate the Department of Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies. A public dispute arose in 2010 over plans to axe the last Chair of Paleography in the

and wider English speaking world. Principal

Rick Trainor Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

announced the controversial plans as part of a College restructuring project. The issue was debated as an

Early Day Motion In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by members of Parliament that formally calls for debate "on an early day". In practice, they are rarely debated in the House a ...

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. The British parliamentarian

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

visited the College in 2011 as

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...

to deliver a speech on the importance of classical education. In 2014, the Centre for Hellenic Studies merged its teaching and research activities with the Department of Classics. The CHS continues to be a prominent research centre of its own in the Arts & Humanities Research Institute (AHRI).

Location

The Department of Classics is located on the historic

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...

. It occupies a set of buildings at the corner of Surrey Street which are linked internally through a series of corridors and staircases. 169 Strand was purpose-built for College use in 1928 above the disused Strand tube station, and features the old coat of arms on its facade. The

Royal Strand Theatre The Royal Strand Theatre was located in the Strand in the City of Westminster. The theatre was built on the site of a panorama in 1832, and in 1882 was rebuilt by the prolific theatre architect Charles J. Phipps. It was demolished in 1905 to ...

stood on this site from 1832 until its demolition in 1905. 170 Strand contains offices, teaching rooms and the department common room with a balcony overlooking the street. 171 Strand is a corner house with retail operating on ground floor level. Academic offices extend along 39 to 41 Surrey Street. The King's College London Rifle & Pistol Club (KCLRPC) has occupied the

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

tunnels beneath the department as their shooting range since the 1920s. The vaults at the rear of the Surrey Street buildings house the old Roman Baths on Strand Lane.

Reputation

In the most recent

Research Excellence Framework The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a research impact evaluation of British higher education institutions. It is the successor to the Research Assessment Exercise and it was first used in 2014 to assess the period 2008–2013. REF is under ...

(2014), the department ranked 7th out of 22 in the

for research. The

Complete University Guide Three national rankings of universities in the United Kingdom are published annually – by ''The Complete University Guide'', ''The Guardian'' and jointly by ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''. Rankings have also been produced in the past ...

ranked Classics at King's as 11th nationally in 2019, and in its 2022 Guide, it ranked Classics as 16th and history (inclusive of ancient history) at 10th. In 2018, the

QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...

ranked the department at 5th nationally and 21st globally. In the Guardian University Guide, Classics & ancient history at King's was rated 22nd out of 26 in 2020, rising to 15th out of 25 in 2021.

Traditions

The King's Greek Play has been an annual tradition since 1953. It is the only dramatic production in the

to be performed every year in the original

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

language. The production has also previously toured America and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The Department of Classics houses a physical archive of related materials and recordings. Every year on the first Thursday of February, the department hosts its annual Runciman Lecture named in honour of

Sir Steven Runciman Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman ( – ), known as Steven Runciman, was an English historian best known for his three-volume ''A History of the Crusades'' (1951–54). He was a strong admirer of the Byzantine Empire. His history's negative ...

. The lectures were established in the early 1990s and funded in perpetuity by the Czech count and artist Nicholas Egon. The event is traditionally preceded by an Orthodox Vespers in the College Chapel on the Strand. The Jamie Rumble Memorial Fund was established in 2013 through a major donation from a former student. The Rumble Fund sponsors field trips where students have the opportunity to engage directly with the classical lands in their studies. Travel destinations have so far included

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, with future trips to sites in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

proposed. The Rumble Fund also subsidises an annual guest lecture in classical art. The Department of Classics also supports the Iris Project, an educational charity designed to promote study of the classical world to

state schools State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

in the

. Students in the department have the opportunity to teach Latin to disadvantaged children. Student life in the department is administered by the Classics Society (formerly the Classical Society). The Society publishes a journal titled the ''New Satyrica''. A new undergraduate research journal, ''Kerberos'', was also launched in 2018. There is a common room at 170

which previously housed the departmental library. The Classics Society hosts an annual Winter Ball.

People

There are a number of notable individuals associated with the Classics Department at King's.

Academics

* Joseph Anstice, Professor of Classical Literature (1831-1835) *George Charles Winter Warr, Professor of Classical Literature (1879-1901) *

Arnold Joseph Toynbee Arnold Joseph Toynbee (; 14 April 1889 – 22 October 1975) was an English historian, a philosopher of history, an author of numerous books and a research professor of comparative history, international history at the London School of Economic ...

Koraes Professor of Modern Greek & Byzantine History, Language & Literature The Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature is a chair in the Classics Department at King's College London. It was established in 1918 to serve as a focal point in the United Kingdom and beyond for the study ...

(1919-1924) * Edwyn Robert Bevan, Lecturer in Hellenistic History and Literature (1922-1933) *

Leonard Robert Palmer Leonard Robert Palmer (5 June 1906, Bristol – 26 August 1984, Pitney, Somerset) was author and Professor of Comparative Philology at the University of Oxford from 1952 to 1971. He was also a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford. Palmer made so ...

, Professor of Classical Literature (1945-1946), Professor of Greek Language & Literature (1946-1952) *

Romilly James Heald Jenkins Romilly James Heald Jenkins (1907 – 30 September 1969) was a British scholar in Byzantine and Modern Greek studies. He occupied the prestigious seat of ''Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature'' at King's ...

(1946-1960) *

Reginald Pepys Winnington-Ingram Reginald Pepys Winnington-Ingram, FBA (22 January 1904 – 3 January 1993) was a British classicist, an authority on Greek tragedy and ancient Greek music. Life Reginald Pepys Winnington-Ingram was born in Sherborne, Dorset on 22 January 1904, ...

, Professor of Greek Language & Literature (1953-1971) *

Howard Hayes Scullard Howard Hayes Scullard (9 February 1903 – 31 March 1983) was a British historian specialising in ancient history, notable for editing the ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' and for his many published works. Scullard's father was Herbert Hayes S ...

, Professor of Ancient History (1959-1970) * Cyril Alexander Mango,

(1963-1968) * Donald MacGillivray Nicol,

(1970-1988) * Alan Cameron, Professor of Latin Language & Literature (1972-1977) * John Barron, Professor of Greek Language and Literature (1971–1980), Head of Department (1972–1984), Dean of the

Faculty of Arts A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

(1976–1980), Director of the

Institute of Classical Studies The Institute of Classical Studies is a research institution associated with the University of London and a member of the School of Advanced Study. The institute is a national and international research institute in the languages, literature, his ...

(1984–1991), Dean of the Institute of Advanced Study (1989–1991) * Averil Millicent Cameron, Professor of Ancient History (1978-1989) * Geoffrey Waywell, Professor of Classical Archaeology (1987-2004) *Roderick Beaton,

(1988-2018) * Michael Silk, Emeritus Professor of Classical & Comparative Literature *

Judith Herrin Judith Herrin (; born 1942) is a British archaeologist, byzantinist, and historian of Late Antiquity. She was a Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies and Constantine Leventis Senior Research Fellow at King's College London (now emeri ...

, Constantine Leventis Senior Research Fellow *

Charlotte Roueché Charlotte Roueché (born 1946) is a British academic who specialises in the analysis of texts, inscribed or in manuscripts, from the Roman, Late Antique, and Byzantine periods. She is particularly interested in those from the Asia Minor cities o ...

, Professor Emeritus of Digital Hellenic Studies *William Fitzgerald, Professor of Latin Language & Literature *

Edith Hall Edith Hall, (born 1959) is a British scholar of classics, specialising in ancient Greek literature and cultural history, and professor in the Department of Classics and Centre for Hellenic Studies at King's College, London. She is a Fellow o ...

, Professor of Classics * Gonda Van Steen,

Alumni

File:Alfred John Church.png, Alfred John Church File:M. P. Shiel.jpg, Matthew Phipps Shiell File:Roger being interviewed for TV (cropped).jpg,

Roger Bland Roger Farrant Bland, (born 3 April 1955) is a British curator and numismatist. At the British Museum, he served as Keeper of the Department of Portable Antiquities and Treasure from 2005 to 2013, Keeper of the Department of Prehistory and Europ ...

File:George Charles Beresford - Virginia Woolf in 1902 - Restoration.jpg,

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

* Alex Beard, Chief Executive of the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

* Alfred John Church, Professor of Latin at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(1880-1888) * Anthony Crockett,

Bishop of Bangor The Bishop of Bangor is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Bangor. The see is based in the city of Bangor where the bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Cathedral Church of Saint Deiniol. The ''Report of the Commissioners appointed ...

(2004-2008) *Donald William James Woodman, Headmaster of

Portadown College Portadown College is an academically selective, co-educational post-14 grammar school in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. History Preparatory Department Portadown College Preparatory Department was founded in 1921 as the Carlet ...

(1946-1973) *

Dorothy King Dorothy Louise Victoria Lobel King (born 1975) is an American author who lives and works in England. Childhood and education King was born and raised in London where her American father, James King, ran a branch of Oppenheimer & Co. She spent ...

, author and archaeologist *Edward Perchard, Editor of Resource Media *Emily Parker, Tours & Choir Manager at

Monteverdi Choir The Monteverdi Choir was founded in 1964 by Sir John Eliot Gardiner for a performance of the ''Vespro della Beata Vergine'' in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. A specialist Baroque ensemble, the Choir has become famous for its stylistic convic ...

*Francesca Spiegel, academic at

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

*Jack Baldwin, West End actor *Jacob Lipton, Programme Director of the Systemic Justice Project, Harvard Law School *Jacob Samuel Klein, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Colgate University *John Manners-Bell, Chair of the Logistics and Supply Chain Global Agenda Council of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

*John Psaropoulos, Editor-in-chief of

Athens News ''Athens News'' was an English-language newspaper published in Greece. The paper had regular sections covering aspects of Greek news such as politics, social issues, business, arts & entertainment and sports, as well as international news. Featur ...

(1999-2009) *Julia Jordan, lecturer at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

*Marie Louise Cookson, narrator and voice over artist * Matthew Phipps Shiell, writer *Nona Shepphard, Associate Director at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

*Michael Harley, pastor and committee member of the

Trinitarian Bible Society The Trinitarian Bible Society was founded in 1831 "to promote the Glory of God and the salvation of men by circulating, both at home and abroad, in dependence on the Divine blessing, the Holy Scriptures, which are given by inspiration of God and ...

Philip Egan Philip Anthony Egan (born 14 November 1955) is a prelate of the Catholic Church and serves as the eighth Bishop of Portsmouth. Early life Egan was born in Altrincham, a suburb of Manchester. He was educated at St Ambrose College, a boys' gra ...

, Bishop of Portsmouth *Ralph Jackman, writer *

, former curator at the

and Senior Fellow of the

McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research is a research institute of the University of Cambridge in England. History The institute was established in 1990 through a benefaction from the late Dr Daniel McLean McDonald, a successful ind ...

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

, writer and pioneering

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

References

External

{{DEFAULTSORT:Department Of Classics, King's College London Departments of King's College London 1831 establishments in England 1831 establishments in the United Kingdom