Tuesday 17th November 2020
Dr Sally Waite & Dr Susanna Phillippo (Newcastle) Greece Recreated Abstract: In this lecture we will talk about our collaboration with English Heritage and the Great North Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne to create an online exhibition to communicate our research on the Shefton Collection of Greek Art and Archaeology and the inspiration of the Classical world on the development of the Belsay Estate in Northumberland.

Tuesday 15th December 2020
Dr Stephe Harrop (Liverpool Hope) Alcestis: In Bits. Live Discussion of specially recorded performance (recording available in advance). Abstract: Remember the morning you walked away, while she yelled down the street? Remember the time he held you so hard you thought your bones would snap? Remember the plate, the cup, the glass – falling, cracking, fracturing? Remember that night? The phone ringing? Remember? Alcestis: In Bits is about breaking up and breaking down. The losses that leave your life shattered, and the painstaking work of picking up the pieces. Queens and gods, broken crockery and late-night phone calls collide in this live storytelling fusion of ancient myth and modern experience. Inspired by Phrynichus’ lost tragedy, Alcestis: In Bits playfully, poignantly combines surviving fragments of an ancient tale with story-shards of contemporary heartbreak and endurance. Stephe Harrop is a professional storyteller, spitting out new words and re-spinning old tales to try and make sense of a crazy world. “A deep thinker with a light-touch and a wealth of material at her fingertips” – Alys Torrance, Story Jam. This live discussion with Stephe Harrop will focus on there performance specially recorded for the Manchester Classical Association, which will be made available a week or so in advance for your viewing.

Tuesday 19th January 2021
Dr Ian Goh (Swansea) Mixtures, Medicine, and the Moretum: Roman Recipes and Food Culture Abstract: Columella Book 12 contains numerous farmhouse recipes; I am particularly interested—and hope you will be too—by the cheese dips, which correspond with a recipe in a poem, the Moretum, which has come down to us alongside the work of Virgil. In this talk accompanied by cooking I attempt to navigate the politics of the advice these authors give and contrast their approaches. Cooking the books was never so much fun.

Tuesday 9th February 2021
Prof Dan-el Padilla Peralta (Princeton) Homer’s Passage in Postcolonial Hispaniola

Tuesday 16th February 2021
Dr Shana Zaia (Vienna) Royal Authority in the Neo-Assyrian Empire: Representations and Realities

Tuesday 9th March 2021
Dr Roberta Mazza (Manchester) The Illicit Trade in Papyrus Manuscripts from Egypt: Old and New Tales
![]() |
Tuesday 11th May 2021
Dr Sarah Derbew(Stanford) Blazing Blackness in Greek Antiquity

Tuesday 25th May 2021
Dr Amy Coker(Cheltenham Ladies’ College / University of Bristol) Prostitutes, Youths and Potty-Mouthed Clowns: Who Swore in Ancient Greek and Why it Matters
