Kentiquity: Classics & Archaeology at Kent

Selfie with Medusa in Cibyra

Kent students at Sagalassos

Follow our Kent-Bilkent dig in Turkiye over the next two weeks

Home | Sagalassos Revisited

View from the office: two weeks of digging at Sagalassos in SW Turkey where I am running an international section digging the colonnaded street and lower agora, within the Bilkent / KULeuven project.

More exciting news for gamers: a significant expansion is coming to the Bronze Age! In a fortnight (July 25th), the strategy game Total War: Pharaoh will double in size for free. Babylon, Assyria, Mycenae, and Troy join the existing line-up of Egyptians, Hittites, and Sea Peoples. Capture Troy, see Mount Olympus, and more...

At Kent we teach all aspects of ancient worlds, including their new reinventions. Today there's new DLC for the AI-themed philosophical puzzle game, The Talos Principle 2. Orpheus, Isle of the Blessed, floating Egyptian ruins...Archaeology AND Greek myth!

The Talos Principle 2 | Road to Elysium Reveal Trailer | Coming June 14 The critically acclaimed storyline of Croteam's mind-expanding existential puzzler The Talos Principle 2 is far from over. Road to Elysium will take players ...

The latest from Kelli Rudolph .c.rudolph:
Great weekend w/ UK Ancient Historians to discuss protecting ancient history in UKHE with Emma Aston (Reading) how & why ancient philosophy and history of science is so great with Serafina Cuomo (Cambridge) and Laurence Totelin (Cardiff). Also super exciting to catch up with colleagues and alum Mateen - who studied philosophy with me almost 10 years ago and just finished his PhD! Congratulations! 🥳

Many thanks to our speakers, our students and to everyone from all over the UK and the world who attended our Classics Day this year!

Don't miss our Classics Day in two days!

UoKent Classics Day 2024: Weds 20th March 2024
Hell, Mummies, Deified Women, and lost Roman villas.

https://kent-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92871421862?pwd=UlpRTjNUNkNtS3dmOThxNXY4dCttdz09

Please no re-post on twitter.

We are delighted to report that Cotswold Archaeology have awarded our research degree student Joe Locke a six month grant to assist with the writing up of his research findings. Since 2021 Joe has been based at the University undertaking a pioneering study of the ceramic flue tiles that conducted hot air around Roman bath suites, houses and the like. Commonly named box flue tiles (with the variants used for vaulted ceilings known as voussoirs) these commonly found ceramics have never previously been the subject of a dedicated PhD study. The investigation has seen Joe scour museums and archives from Kent to Scotland and north Wales to examine these vital elements of Roman era comfort in the northern climes of empire. Joe is establishing how they were produced, the dates and styles of the types, and their distribution. Joe’s work will provide guidelines for recording these key building materials. Here, some of the box flue tiles from the Roman fort at Slack, West Yorkshire, which Joe has recorded at Kirklees Museum and Galleries.

Cotswold Archaeology, one of the UK’s main companies in this sector, have sponsored Joe from the start and we thank them sincerely.

Kirklees Museums & Galleries

In this week's research update on Britain's Last Roman Hoards, Prof Ellen Swift writes about the Canterbury Treasure! Find out how much we can learn from ancient silver spoons. But what is the mystery object?

A Local Treasure – Britain’s Last Roman Hoards: Wealth, Power and Culture in the Fifth Century A Local Treasure By evs | 28 February 2024 One of the hoards in our project is very easy for Ellen to study – it’s only a stone’s throw from the University of Kent, in the Canterbury Roman Museum. Do check out the hoard if you’re in the area – it’s on display and is one of the highligh...

Where can Classics take you? Bloomsbury Press has some ideas! We love these interviews, stories and personal accounts from people who studied classical subjects. All of them say, in their own words, what they love about Classics and where it’s taken them.

www.youtube.com

UoKent Classics Day 2024: Weds 20th March 2024
Hell, Mummies, Deified Women, and lost Roman villas.

https://kent-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92871421862?pwd=UlpRTjNUNkNtS3dmOThxNXY4dCttdz09

Please no re-post on twitter.

CALLING ALL ARCHAEOLOGY STUDENTS or of related disciplines. The EAA NEEDS YOU! ☝️ We are looking to recruit volunteers who can help steer the next Annual Meeting in Rome (on-site) or online . If you are interested, please follow this link for more details and how to apply: https://buff.ly/4bv2M9h Thank you for your collaboration! 🙏

How did the treasure become a trove? Which valuables survived this way, and what do they tell us? An exciting new research project, let by 's Professor Ellen Swift, investigates fifty British hoards from late antiquity to find out what was happening and when. Follow the blog for updates! https://buff.ly/3ulugxw

Here's a reminder to come to the public launch of our new School this Thursday 6pm. All are welcome!
See a stellar lineup of Classics, English, and History professors discuss Democracy and the Humanities, and stay for refreshments!

Public Lecture UoKent RCLA
Weds 22nd November 5.15pm UK time
Dr Orçun Erdoğan (Mustafa Kemal University, Antakya)
*A Well-Preserved Village in Late Antiquity:
Lyrboton Kome in Pamphylia*

Accessible live via zoom
https://kent-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92871421862?pwd=UlpRTjNUNkNtS3dmOThxNXY4dCttdz09
Meeting ID: 928 7142 1862 Passcode: 093272

UniKent Archaeology Evening 2023
Excavations and Surveys in Kent, UK, and Abroad.
Wed 15th Nov 5.15 London time

Templeman Library Lecture Theatre, Canterbury Campus.
Also be accessible live via zoom
https://kent-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92871421862?pwd=UlpRTjNUNkNtS3dmOThxNXY4dCttdz09
Meeting ID: 928 7142 1862 Passcode: 093272

Hatice Pamir: Mosaics of Antioch
UoK RCLA Public Lecture Recording
//kent.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=373b148b-9304-4ee4-9baf-b0b4017da4da

Antioch Mosaics: Hatice Pamir

UoK Public Lecture, tonight at 5:15pm UK time!
Professor Hatice Pamir on New Mosaics from Antioch & Daphne.
https://kent-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92871421862?pwd=UlpRTjNUNkNtS3dmOThxNXY4dCttdz09
Meeting ID: 928 7142 1862 Passcode: 093272

Have a safe and happy Fireworks Night!
Two thousand years ago, Roman shepherds jumped through small fires at the Parilia festival for the health of their animals and crops. (Some now do it on St John's Day, others on the Iranian New Year, pictured. There's always an appreciative audience!)

Public Lectures on Late Antiquity. Autumn 2023 @ UniKent
Antioch, Sagalassos, and more. Wed 5.15 Templeman Library Lecture Theatre. All welcome.

https://kent-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/92871421862?pwd=UlpRTjNUNkNtS3dmOThxNXY4dCttdz09
Meeting ID: 928 7142 1862 Passcode: 093272

Don't miss our Kent Material Studies Network event for on a Archaeology topic, at 2pm today via Teams! Dr Najee Olya is speaking on 'Ancient Greek Visual Portrayals of Africans: Escaping the Anachronistic Trap of Race'. Contact Ellen Swift for the Teams link, [email protected].

Exciting news🤩

Researchers use AI to read word on ancient scroll burned by Vesuvius University of Kentucky challenged computer scientists to reveal contents of carbonised papyrus, a ‘potential treasure trove for historians’

A few snapshots from our students' work at the Ancient Near Eastern clay workshop run by Dr Nifosi as part of the Cities and Empires of the Near East module. Many thanks to Juna, Freya, Nicholaas, Edward, Adam and Jules for allowing us to post your lovely creations.

We are looking forward to welcoming our Stage 1 and new postgraduate students next week! If you're one of them, save the date for our CLAS Day Trip including an archaeological tour of Canterbury on Friday 22 Sep..

Our MA student Francis Leung, has just returned from a spolia survey, at Sagalassos, SW Turkey, alongside Evrim Tütünsayar of SDU, with Kent's Dr Luke Lavan: he completed 22 photogrammetric sections and a GIS map of the Late Roman city wall. Thanks to KULeuven, Dr Peter Talloen of Bilkent, and our Turkish workers.

Amazing find! 🤩

Virgil quote found on fragment of Roman jar unearthed in Spain Excerpt from the Georgics was carved into vessel used for olive oil 1,800 years ago

Kent and Tuesday Series

The lovers of Bordeaux

This intimate portrait of a Gallo-Roman couple and their dog was realised by Pistillus, a potter who was working in Autun (Saone-et-Loire, France) in the late 2nd century - early 3rd century AD.

found in in 1850, now preserved in Saint Germain en Laye, at the Museum of National Antiquities. (dimensions : 7 cm x 13 cm x 8 cm).

Photo credits: quirao.com

Thank you for coming to our Ancient Languages Extravaganza! We had a lot of fun teaching and learning with all of you some Akkadian, Phoenician, Hieroglyphs, Ancient Greek, Old and Modern English and even Python! Many thanks from all of us in particular to the organiser of the event Dr Matthijs Wibier who made this happen and brought us all together.