College Record 2022/23

Research Clusters
ANCIENT WORLD
The fundamental aim of the Ancient World Research Cluster is to support members
of College and Common Room working on Ancient World topics and to promote
interdisciplinary working and exchange between scholars of different age groups and
experience through meetings and lectures, through grants and sponsorship of research
events, and through the organisation of a variety of other activities intended both for our
members and for the wider University and public. The breadth of our members’ research
interests is reflected in the wide variety of events we have been able to organise and
fund.
Public talks and related events
The AWRC organised eight Lunch Table and Talks, one special evening lecture with
drinks reception, and one book launch evening event. New initiatives included the
inauguration of the termly Early Career Research Festival (three events), which have been
organised as an opportunity for members of the Cluster early in their research careers to
present and discuss their research and to meet in a casual setting both with others at the
same career stage and all other members of the Cluster. In Hilary term we organised a
display of books in the Library Corridor featuring the works of Cluster members, which
was accompanied by an exhibition of photographs made by one of our graduate student
members during fieldwork in Jordan and Lebanon. In Trinity term, to mark the end of
the academic year, we inaugurated the AWRC Maritime Day. Here is a list of events in
2022–23:
RESEARCH CLUSTERS
David Wiles, ‘Democracy, demagoguery and theatre: lessons from the ancient world’;
Rafiullah Khan, ‘South Asian Archaeology in the 1920s and 1930s: the Archaeological
Survey of India, Archaeological Laws and the Swat State’; Talah Anderson (for the Early
Career Research Festival), ‘Divine kinship at the Assyrian royal court’; Paul Roberts, ‘An
important excavation salvaged: the Roman Villa Rustica at Matrice (Molise) in Central
Italy’; Thea Sommerschield, ‘Restoring, dating and placing Greek inscriptions with
machine learning: the Ithaca project’; an opening event for the book display and photo
exhibition; the Early Career Research Festival included short presentations by Christie
Carr (Assyriology/Sumerology), Buki Fatona (Science and Religion), Toby Hudson (Indo-
European Linguistics), Alessandra Rocchetti (Roman Studies), Svenja Arlt (Prehistoric
Archaeology), Tom Gavin (Ancient History), Thomas Nelson (Classics), and Émilie Pagé-
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