We hope you’re had a lovely summer; please enjoy the second of our new bi-monthly newsletters. We’ll be keeping you updated on our latest work, upcoming events, and new finds in the classical world. You can sign up to receive all our latest e-news here.
Classics Matters
Every year we publish two longform newsletters, in spring and autumn.
For this autumn’s edition we wanted to share with you the full breadth of our support across the regions and nations of the UK. You can read about the wonderful work in the North East (pages 4–5), our inspirational Greek Academy students in the East of England (pages 8–9), and our efforts to keep Latin going in schools previously supported by the Latin Excellence Programme (pages 14–15).
Classics for All events in Autumn
Overboard!
Livestream from Linklaters, London, EC2Y 8HQ
25th September, debate starts 19:00
Join us for the third year of Overboard!, our symposium with a twist.
When Poseidon sends a tempest to stir up the Aegean, four titans of the ancient world find themselves stuck on a rapidly sinking ship...Who will survive and who will be thrown Overboard!
Four top classicists will vie for your vote, with each academic making their case for why their famous individual from antiquity should be thrown Overboard! our sinking ship. Our academics and characters are: Dr Selena Wisnom, University of Leicester, representing Gilgamesh; Dr Henry Spelman, University of Cambridge, representing Critias; Danny Pucknell, Cardiff and Vale College, representing Cicero; and Dr Benjamin Cartlidge, University of Liverpool, representing Sappho.
You decide who is the most odious villain, then consign them to the depths of the river Styx.
You can watch the recording of Overboard! here
The Mock Trial of Emperor Nero
Livestreamed from the UK Supreme Court 23rd October 18:00
Every year we put a historical or literary figure on trial. This year, we'll be holding a civil trial: the Emperor Nero will be sued by an aggrieved Roman citizen for the destruction of property in the Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE. Did Nero deliberately set the fire? And even if not, was the fire caused by Nero’s mismanagement of the Rome firefighting services, and disregard of building regulations?
The mock trial will be resided over by Lady Simler (Justice of the Supreme Court), Andrew Onslow KC and Rebecca Zaman will be counsel for the Claimant, former consul Gaius Caecina Largus, whose magnificent residence on the Palatine Hill was destroyed. Camilla Bingham KC and Oliver Butler will be counsel for the Defendant, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.
You can watch the recording of The Mock Trial of Emperor Nero here
School of the month: Greenbank High School, Southport
Last newsletter, we appealed to you for funding to help schools affected by the end of the Latin Excellence Programme; this month, we wanted to spotlight one of the schools you have supported.
In December 2024, the Department of Educations (DfE) announced it would enact a contractual break clause of the Latin Excellence Programme (LEP), bringing it to an early close after two years in action. The decision to wind down the LEP left 23 schools with current Latin GCSE classes in a difficult situation… but it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
We have stepped in to offer continuity training and support for all these schools, with 78% (18 of 23) taking us up on the offer. One such school we began working with this year is Greenbank High School in Southport.
Greenbank is part of the Southport Learning Trust, a multi-academy trust (MAT) who we had worked with back in 2012. At that time we supported King George V Sixth Form College to peripatetically introduce extra-curricular Latin and Ancient History at some of their feeder schools. This lead to Greenbank adopting Latin GCSE as an extracurricular in 2016. Then, in 2022, Greenbank joined the LEP; attracted by LEP’s funding, which enabled the school to integrate Latin into the curriculum.
Now, they have returned to working with Classics for All. North West Network Coordinator, Joanne McNamara, has visited the school during their training sessions and has been working closely with teachers and senior staff from the school and its academy trust. It has been a pleasure rebuilding the connection with the school and ensuring Latin has a lasting future within its walls.
‘When I first started learning Latin, I was thinking “I don't understand how this language that people don't really speak any more can be useful in other subjects”. I didn't understand how it would help me. But I've started realising how much Latin can relate to all your other subjects and just how interesting it can be.’
Pupil at Greenbank High School
News from the classical world: The Triumphs of Caesar at The National Gallery
Between the late 15th and early 16th century, Padua-born artist Andrea Mantegna painted nine enormous canvases known as The Triumphs of Caesar. The paintings depict the procession for Julius Caesar after the victories over Gaul between 58 and 50 BCE.
In 1629, King Charles I purchased the paintings and in the following year hung them at Hampton Court Palace from which they have seldom left in the last 395 years. But, with the gallery at Hampton Court currently undergoing refurbishments, six of the nine paintings will be on display and free to view at the National Gallery until 2026.
You can find out more about visiting The National Gallery on their website.