The Cambridge Centre for Greek Studies aims to become an international hub for the very best pioneering research in cross-disciplinary Greek studies, covering the entirety of the Greek-speaking world from the Bronze Age to the present day.
Why Cambridge?
As one of the world’s great universities, Cambridge has unrivalled intellectual libraries and resources, and attracts the best students and scholars from over the world.
The University has been known for its excellence in Greek since mediaeval times, when the Regius Chair in Greek was founded by Henry VIII in 1541. Ever since, it has seen a succession of brilliant Hellenists (including Richard Bentley, Richard Porson, Jane Harrison and A. E. Housman). In the 21st century, its success has continued: the Faculty of Classics has been top-ranked in the UK in recent research exercises, and its teaching top-ranked in the UK in the Guardian league table since 2012. Greek is also taught and researched in the Faculty of Divinity, another stellar department. Studies of Modern Greek are flourishing too, with 20+ students taking the subject per year, taught by two dedicated associate lecturers. At the research level, Cambridge is known for its pioneering work in Modern Greek linguistics. Add into this mix a wealth of work in classical reception studies across the University, from the Faculties of Art History to English, and the potential for transformative cross-disciplinary study begins to seem limitless.
Why a Centre?
The world of Humanities scholarship is changing, in several ways. Scholars no longer work in isolation, thinking great thoughts as they pore over tomes. The modern humanities scholar needs to think ambitiously about the big challenges that face us all: issues of identity, religion, gender, imperialism, regionalism, Europe and the East, populism, technology, sexuality and the environment to name but a few. Such topics call for imaginative collaborations, not solitary study. If the Humanities are to prosper in the modern world, they need to address big, bold questions — and that means working together, across disciplines and outside of comfort zones.
Why Greek?
Greek culture is unique in that it can be studied in detail and depth over a period of 3000 years, and across a vast space (already in antiquity from India to Italy, from North Africa to Germany — and of course these days far beyond). For all of this period it has been producing art, literature, music, dance, technology and much more. Greek studies are equally instructive for what they can tell us about change and fragmentation under successive empires and in different religious climates. Finally, Greek culture has been, for most of its lifetime, a classical culture, one craved and emulated by others — which has been both its blessing and its curse. The shifting contours of Greekness over time offer an unparalleled window not only onto the creativity of human beings, but also their venality and acquisitiveness.