Edinburgh Classics Outreach

With the wide range of expertise across our staff, Edinburgh Classics can offer school and society talks on ancient history, classical archaeology, literature and more – please get in touch if you would like us to talk to your pupils.

We can also offer CPD talks for teachers who currently teach Classics or would like to in the future!

Here are some examples of recent talks:

• Richard Rawles gave a talk about 'Semele in Opera and Myth' for the Edinburgh Classics Society and Edinburgh Studio Opera (March 2024).
• Lilah Grace Canevaro talked with 4 classes at Parsons Green Primary School in Edinburgh about being a Classicist (March 2024). 
• Lilah Grace Canevaro talked with Year 5 pupils at Park View Primary School in Basingstoke about the legacy of Ancient Greek civilisation (May 2023).
• David Lewis gave a talk on 'The ancient Greek slave trade and the invention of the barbarian’ for Elliott Hudson College in Leeds (July 2022). 
• Lilah Grace Canevaro gave a talk about Classics for the ‘Destinations Day’ at Elliott Hudson College, Leeds (November 2021).
• Lilah Grace Canevaro gave a talk on women in Homer to the Classics Society at Latymer Upper School, London, to which local state schools were also invited (November 2021).
• David Lewis gave an online talk in the 'Sparta - Live!' series co-hosted by the Nottingham Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies and the Mayor of Sparti, Greece, entitled 'Adapting slavery to Spartan society' (March 2021).
• Benedikt Eckhardt gave a lecture for school teachers on Jewish History in the Roman Empire (January 2021), as part of a programme entitled '1700 Jahre Quellen aus der deutsch-jüdischen Geschichte'.
• Kimberley Czajkowski spoke to the Anglo Israel Archaeological Society on ‘Re-approaching the Babatha Archive’ (November 2020).
• Ben Russell spoke to students at the Royal High School in Edinburgh on the topic of Roman archaeology (February 2020).​​​

Alex Imrie is Classics Outreach Co-ordinator for Scotland and is at the forefront of the CAS’s drive to promote Classics in Scottish schools.

In July 2021 Edinburgh staff and students (Alex Imrie, Beneditk Eckhardt, Juan Lewis, Calum Maciver, Manos Tsakiris, and Laura Donati) contributed to the CAS Ancient Languages Summer School, which was attended by almost 100 students from across the globe.

Classical Association of Scotland

The local branch of the CAS is composed of academics from the University of Edinburgh and Classicists from local schools. It has an active annual programme of talks.

Edinburgh and South East Centre of the Classical Association of Scotland

We are involved with the Sutton Trust, a charity that works with secondary school pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Our staff give talks for the Sutton Trust summer school.

This project is for Edinburgh city primary school pupils who feed into secondary schools with the lowest progression rate to higher education. It normalises and contextualises higher education via school and campus based classes.

In December 2022 Calum Maciver delivered two P7 workshops on the ancient Greek alphabet. By the end of a session, pupils could write their name in Greek and even solve a Christmas puzzle written in Greek! In April 2023 David Lewis taught groups of P7s about ancient piracy.

Widening Participation Early Years Project

Academus is a non-profit organisation dedicated to widening participation and making the study of Classics and the Ancient World more accessible. Their courses are free of charge.

David Lewis gave a lecture on 'Work and democracy in Classical Athens' to the Academus Summer School.

The Edinburgh branch of the Scottish Hellenic Society has an active annual programme of lectures and events, organised by staff in Classics.

In April 2022 David Lewis organised a 'Greek Day' a public event with talks by Foteini Spingou (Edinburgh), Roel Konijnendijk (Edinburgh), Foteini Dimirouli (Oxford), and Edith Hall (Durham). 

Our staff are also involved with other branches of the SHS: David Lewis gave a talk on 'The Cretan way of war' for the Scottish Hellenic Society of Glasgow in November 2022.

Channel Talent connects universities with schools through inclusive and accessible video conferencing. Channel Talent aims to inform and inspire young people’s choices about their education and careers by making important conversations possible that, for time, cost and logistical reasons, are often prevented from happening face to face. Events are free to schools.

Lilah Grace Canevaro brought together English Literature and Classics in her talks 'Frankenstein: Modern Prometheus and Ancient Origins' and 'You Can't Keep the Woman in the Wallpaper: The Agency of the Woman and the House In and Beyond the Gothic Novel'.

Channel Talent

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Literacy through Latin was started in 2015 by Aaron Pelttari in collaboration with the Iris Project. He coordinated the program for three years during which time student volunteers taught in 14 different P6 classrooms in 4 different Edinburgh Council primary schools.

In 2018, Aaron handed off the program to be run by inspiring students of Edinburgh University’s Classics Society. The programme is now run by the charities and outreach officers from the Classics society. Each year they recruit volunteers to inspire new generations of students to learn about the Ancient World.

The programme was created to help raise awareness of Classical education in state schools, hoping to end the elitism prevalent in Classics. The project currently operates in one primary school in Edinburgh, but we are looking to branch out into new schools.

If you have any queries or want to get involved, email edclassicssoc@gmail.com.

In 2021 Mirko Canevaro and Lilah Grace Canevaro founded the Network for Working-Class Classicists. 

The aim of the Network is to provide solidarity and support for classicists coming from working-class backgrounds, to advocate for class inclusion in our discipline, and to gather data about class demographics in UK Classics. The Class in Classics Report 2024 is now available to download.

Many of our academic staff members regularly write for a range of magazines, newspapers and blogs, including Omnibus:

Whether you are a sixth-former, discovering the wonders of Classics for the first time and keen to find out things about the Greeks and the Romans that your teachers don’t tell you, or a teacher, eager to learn what you were never taught yourself, whether you look to Classics to provide intellectual stimulation to distract you from the world of work, or are in search of juicy fodder as you browse the pastures of retirement, Omnibus is the magazine for you.

Here are some of our contributions:

Richard Rawles 2023, ‘The Joy of Callimachus and a fragment of his Hecale’, Omnibus 85: 19-21.

Lilah Grace Canevaro 2021, 'Are the girls really silent? Women, weaving and words in Homeric epic’, Omnibus 82: 14-16.

Mirko Canevaro 2021, 'Citizens and public honours in Classical Athens', Omnibus 82: 23-25.

David Lewis 2018, 'Theophrastus and the slaves of Athens', Omnibus 76: 20-22.

Douglas Cairns 2010, ‘Self and Society in the Iliad’, Omnibus 59: 3-5.

Lucy Grig 2006, ‘Constantine the Great: Rome’s first Christian emperor?’ Omnibus 52: 12-13.