By Miss Bradshaw, Head of Classics

On Monday 6th March, the Classics Department was delighted to celebrate the study of Classical languages at NHEHS with a dinner in the Library with all our students who study Latin and Greek from Year 10 upwards.

We had a wonderful setting in the school Library with lots of the best Classics books on display, a delicious Mediterranean-inspired meal thanks to Mrs Henry and her team, and we were thrilled to welcome Professor Costas Panayotakis from the University of Glasgow to speak to us on the topic of ‘Slaves, Freedmen and the new social hierarchy in the early Roman Empire’. Costas gave us a fascinating and thought-provoking talk involving discussion of archaeological evidence, including freedmen’s tombs and the kind of legacy that they left behind, and literary sources including extracts from Trimalchio’s Dinner, a famous part of Petronius’ Satyricon (which was also an inspiration for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’). The evening also included a fantastic quiz made by Gen, our Year 12 Classics Rep, and well done to our winners: Alisha, Imogen, Korina, Alex and Jaan!

In a school assembly on 20th March, the Classics Department also launched an Otium challenge to encourage everyone in our school community to engage with the Classical world in some form over the Spring holiday.  Otium is the Latin word for ‘leisure’, but it also gained a specific meaning of using one’s leisure time to enrich oneself through reading, writing and debate; things one might not have the time for during the busy school term. We encourage all students to check their e-mails for a list of recommendations of ways you could engage with the ancient world this holiday, whether it is through reading a book, watching a film or documentary, or visiting a museum or ancient site. Send in a short review or photo evidence of your activities to the Classics Department at the beginning of the summer term for an edible prize – we can’t wait to see what you discover!