Talks for schools
We offer talks to schools about Classics, Ancient History, Archaeology and Egyptology. This includes topics relevant to subjects Ancient History (Greek and Roman), Classical Civilisation, Philosophy, History and Ancient Greek and Latin language.
Talks are subject to our academics' availability - please note that our ability to deliver in-person presentation at schools and colleges that are further than one hour's public transport from Manchester may be limited. We are also happy to deliver talks remotely, online as these may be easier to schedule.
To arrange a talk at your school - in-person or remote - please contact Dr Duncan Keenan-Jones.
We are also happy for you to come to us. If you would like to arrange a campus visit, please get in touch with Sonja Bernhard. We can also arrange lecture shadowing for smaller groups (12 or fewer), during term time. Contact Sonja to find out timings of our Y1 and Y2 lectures.
Please see our outreach website for further information about the department's outreach activity.
Talk topics
All talks are designed to last 45 minutes but can be made longer or shorter. They are aimed at A-level students but could be modified for KS3 or KS4.
Ancient History: Greek
- Ancient and Modern Debates about Democracy (Prof Peter Liddel)
- Commemorating the war dead in Ancient Greece (Prof Peter Liddel)
- Political Spaces in Classical Athens (Prof Peter Liddel)
- The uses of Greek Inscriptions (Prof Peter Liddel)
- Other topics on the Athenian Empire by arrangement (Prof Peter Liddel)
- The Spartan Way – Alternative Politics in the Peloponnese (Dr Alberto Esu)
- Becoming King in the Persian Empire (Dr Leah Lazar)
- Being Greek under the Persian Empire (Dr Leah Lazar)
- The Odyssey in Archaic Greece (Dr Leah Lazar)
- The Invention of Coinage (Dr Leah Lazar)
- Women in Classical Athens (Dr Leah Lazar)
- Herodotus and Thucydides (Dr John Taylor)
- Pausanias: An Ancient Guide to Greece (Dr John Taylor)
- The Acts of the Apostles and the Classical World (Dr John Taylor)
- The death of Alexander the Great (Dr Andy Fear)
- Other topics on Alexander by arrangement (Dr Andy Fear)
Ancient History: Roman
- Imperial Love, Marriage, and Succession (Dr Christian Laes)
- Claudius, the Invalid Emperor (Dr Christian Laes)
- Animals in Antiquity (Dr Mary Beagon)
- Cicero and the Senate (Dr Mary Beagon)
- Roman Ghosts (Dr Andy Fear)
- The Imperial Image (focussed on Augustus, other emperors by arrangement) (Dr Andy Fear)
- Uses of Roman Inscriptions and Coins for Roman Historians (Dr Andy Fear)
- Trajan’s Column: an ancient war comic? (Dr Andy Fear)
- A day at the races: chariot racing in antiquity (Dr Andy Fear)
- Blood and Sand - gladiators in antiquity (Dr Andy Fear)
- Agricola: a Roman superhero (Dr Andy Fear)
- Apocalypse Now: Boadicea's uprising (Dr Andy Fear)
- The Edge of Civilisation: Hadrian's Wall (Dr Andy Fear)
- The Mystery of the Ninth Legion (Dr Andy Fear)
- Other topics on the Roman army by arrangement (Dr Andy Fear)
- Roman Women (Dr Duncan Keenan-Jones)
- Augustus’ largest public building: the Portus Iulius and its aqueduct (Dr Duncan Keenan-Jones)
- Rome's water supply (Dr Duncan Keenan-Jones)
- The Vesuvian Cities: Pompeii and Herculaneum (Dr Duncan Keenan-Jones)
- Roma Aeterna: Building in Roman concrete (Dr Duncan Keenan-Jones)
- Other topics on Roman technology by arrangement (Dr Duncan Keenan-Jones)
- Climate and environment in Ancient Rome (Dr Duncan Keenan-Jones)
- The Tiber: Ancient Rome’s Friend or Foe (Dr Duncan Keenan-Jones)
- Polybius on the writing of history and the rise (and decline?) of Rome (Prof. David Langslow)
Greek and Latin Literature
- Odysseus and Agamemnon (Dr Julene Abad del Vecchio)
- Odysseus, a new sort of hero? (Dr Julene Abad del Vecchio)
- Spectral Encounters: Homer's Underworld (Dr Julene Abad del Vecchio)
- Achilles, the archetypal hero? (Dr Manos Tsakiris)
- Greek Tragedy and Athenian Law (Dr Manos Tsakiris)
- Aeneas, the hero re-invented? (Dr John Taylor)
- 'Women’s roles in the Aeneid: the curious vanishing of Creusa’ [Virgil, A-level ‘World of the Hero’ enhancement] (Dr Julene Abad del Vecchio)
- 'Spectral encounters: Homer’s underworld’ [Homer, A-level ‘World of the Hero’ enhancement] (Dr Julene Abad del Vecchio)
- ‘Heroism in the Iliad’ [Homer, A-level ‘World of the Hero’ enhancement] (Dr Julene Abad del Vecchio)
- Patterns in Homer (Prof. David Langslow)
- Odysseus and Agamemnon (Prof. David Langslow)
Philosophy
- Plato on the Forms and the world around us (Dr Jenny Bryan)
- Aristotle’s methodology (Dr Jenny Bryan)
- Getting to know Socrates [Love and Relationships] (Dr Jenny Bryan)
- Was Seneca really a Stoic? [Love and Relationships] (Dr Jenny Bryan)
- Who would want Socrates as a Husband? [Love and Relationships] (Dr Jenny Bryan)
- How much does Seneca love his mother? [Love and Relationships] (Dr Jenny Bryan)
- Fake news from Ancient Egypt (Dr Nicky Nielsen)
- Tutankhamun (Dr Nicky Nielsen)
- Odysseus’s adventures in Egypt (Dr Huw Twiston-Davies)
- Indigenous Lifeways, Colonisation and Survival in Mithaka Country (Central Australia) [Unit group 3 Thematic study and historical interpretations Y320 From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire, 1857–1965] (Dr Duncan Keenan-Jones)
- History and Archaeology of Tobacco and Health in Britain and Europe (Dr Brian Costello)
- Other topics on Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and medieval to early modern archaeology more generally by arrangement (Dr Brian Costello)
- Learning through making: Experimental production of stone tools (Dr. John Piprani)
- So, how many languages are there in the world? (Prof. David Langslow)
- What is Proto-Indo-European? And how do we know? (Prof. David Langslow)
- Latin, Romance, French — and English (Prof. David Langslow)
Latin
- The pronunciation of Classical Latin (Prof. David Langslow)
Greek
- The pronunciation of Classical Greek (Prof. David Langslow)
- Patterns in Homer (Prof. David Langslow)
Recorded talks for streaming
Introduced by Dr Andrew Fear, Lecturer in Ancient History.
Introduced by Dr Peter Morton, Lecturer in Roman History.
Introduced by Dr John Taylor, Lecturer in Greek and Latin Language.
Introduced by Dr Peter Morton, Lecturer in Roman History.
Introduced by Dr Andrew Fear, Lecturer in Ancient History.