Classics and Ancient History
Postgraduate Research 2012 Overview
The University of Sydney has a proud tradition of classics and Ancient History dating back to the earliest years of the institution. Postgraduate students explore the Greek and Roman roots of Western civilisation and obtain a better understanding of our contemporary world.
Academic staff have a diversity of research interests including Greek cultural history; Greek rhetoric and law; Greek tragedy and society; Greek democracy; Greek religion; Roman imperial history; the Roman Republic; Latin literature of the Republican and Imperial periods; magic; the Classical tradition. Classics and Ancient History develops language and analytical skills that are applicable in a wide range of employment contexts, from law to journalism.
For information on current PhD research projects, go to this page. |
Student Profile: |
Fiona Tweedie
'I'm looking at the relationships between Rome and Italy in the Second and First Centuries BC and the process by which Rome conquered the Italian peninsular. I'm really interested in the issue of land rights and the Italici. I think continental scholarship isn't always attuned to the issues of dealing with an indigenous population.'
Resisting the obvious parallel study with Australian indigenous land rights issues, Fiona's research aims to direct the attention away from questions of citizenship and towards the question of land tenure, particularly in reference to the causes of the Social War.
Fiona completed her BA (Ancient History and Latin) and honours thesis at the University of Sydney, and built strong relationships with the Department of History in this time. It felt natural for Fiona to stay and complete her PhD with the department.
'Sydney's quite a collaborative department. I think it's important to find somewhere you feel that they're interested in you.'
In 2006 Fiona undertook an 8-week intensive City of Rome course at the British School at Rome, closely studying the archaeology and topography of the city. A chapter of her thesis will also be drawn from a research fellowship with the Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies at Macquarie University.
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Staff Profile: |
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Professor Peter Wilson
'Greek classics are some of the most powerful and important texts of all genres ever written, some of the most influential in all of western culture. There's a constant renewal of meaning in these ancient texts which is extraordinary. No other literary culture seems to be able to say more to every generation.'
Starting as a University of Sydney honours student interested in Greek literature, Peter's research has led him from explorations of the way Greeks funded their theatre in his doctorate to, his current areas of research, the ancient theatre and ancient Greek music.
'These areas hadn't been looked at properly, except in a really technical way. I look at them in a sociological, cultural way.'
Having spent fifteen years in the UK, Peter returned to Sydney five years ago to take the position of department chair. He was partly motivated by wanting to make classics strong in Sydney again.
Plans for a classics research centre including an extensive library, are underway.
'As the founding subject of the University, classics and ancient history has a long tradition. We have an entirely new department with really fantastic people from all around the world. It is certainly the best in the region and one of the strongest in the world.'
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