By Eleanor P, Year 10 Journalist Lead

The GDST Classics Conference, held on Wednesday 29th January, was a brilliant celebration of the study of Classics for Sixth Formers from across the Trust. However, classicists from all year groups were able to join in the fun at lunch time, when we got to listen to a brilliant talk about ancient Greek and Roman art from Cambridge’s incredible Professor Carrie Vout.

For many weeks our class had been reminded about how Vout is one of the best speakers Mrs Goodall has ever had the pleasure of listening to, and from her first sentence, we could see why. Her lecture, exploring the problem of representing god in artwork, was utterly captivating, for both its content and her abilities as a public speaker. I relish any opportunities to expand my knowledge of Latin beyond the language and learn more about the rich Classical cultures (particularly as it is my humanities subject), so it was brilliant to hear such interesting things about an area I wouldn’t normally be interested in: art. Vout walked us through this issue faced by all ancient cultures – how to visually differentiate deities from man – discussing gods as diverse as Athena, who had a vast, almost blinding statue in the Parthenon, and Antinous, a friend of Hadrian who was deified by the emperor when he died. Learning about the representation of gods, how it reflects on societies of the time, and even about how this all links to Christianity was nothing short of fascinating.

Thanks are certainly owed to Professor Vout for preparing such a fantastic talk for all of us, and engaging us with culture beyond the curriculum – it has definitely inspired me to learn more about Classical art.