King's College was established in 1829 under the patronage ofGeorge IV.[4] Itsroyal charter outlined its mission as "the general education of youth in which the various branches of Literature and Science are intended to be taught, and also the doctrines and duties of Christianity [...] inculcated by the United Church of England and Ireland."[5] The College counted among its founders and benefactors theDuke of Wellington, who wasPrime Minister at the time, and a number of other eminent politicians and theologians of theBritish Establishment.[6][7][8]
The College included a Chair of Classical Literature as part of its foundational setup. Classical subjects, along with Law, Literature and Theology, were therefore taught at King's from the day it first formally opened its doors in 1831. The inaugural Professor of Classical Literature was the English scholarJoseph Anstice, whose introductory lecture on the enduring significance of classical education marked the beginning of what is today the Classics Department.[9][10]
The Tale of Troy is the title given to a series of famous performances in London between 1883 and 1887.
George Charles Winter Warr, Professor of Classical Literature from 1879 to 1901, developed an adaptation of theIliad and theOdyssey entitledThe Tale of Troy. Four performances were scheduled in late May and early June 1883, two in English and two in the original Greek. The goal was to raise sufficient funds to secure premises inKensington for the newly founded King's College Lectures for Ladies.[11][12][13][14][15]
Although originally planned on a modest scale, the end product was a lavish spectacle staged in theSouth Kensington mansion ofSir Charles and Lady Freake. The plays were attended by prominent figures in scholarship, art, music, theatre and high society. The production was revived in May 1886, this time to raise funds for theextension of university teaching in London. This expanded version was moved toPrince's Hall inPiccadilly and included the story of Orestes, adapted fromAeschylus'sOresteian Trilogy. The Prince and Princess of Wales were also in attendance. The complete final version was published in 1887 under the titleEchoes of Hellas with illustrations byWalter Crane.[11][13][14][16]
The Koraes Chair is named in honour ofAdamantios Koraes, the founding father of the modern Greek nation state. Its inauguration also marked the beginning of the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, which has itself since been merged into the Department of Classics.[21][22][23]
The Koraes Chair was recently held byRoderick Beaton for a thirty-year period from 1988 to 2018. It is currently held by the Belgian-American scholarGonda Van Steen.[24]
TheCentre for Hellenic Studies (CHS) was established at the Department in 1989 to promote research and scholarship of Hellenic history, culture and language. OnGreek Independence Day in 2010, plans were announced for the CHS to include teaching alongside its research activities. Under these new arrangements the CHS also came to incorporate the Department of Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies.[29]
A public dispute arose in 2010 over plans to axe the last Chair of Paleography in theUnited Kingdom and wider English speaking world.[30] PrincipalRick Trainor announced the controversial plans as part of a College restructuring project.[31] The issue was debated as anEarly Day Motion inParliament.[32]
The British parliamentarianBoris Johnson visited the College in 2011 asMayor of London to deliver a speech on the importance of classical education.[33][34]
In 2014, the Centre for Hellenic Studies merged its teaching and research activities with the Department of Classics. The CHS continues to be a prominent research centre of its own in theArts & Humanities Research Institute (AHRI).[35][36]
The Department of Classics is located on the historicStrand. It occupies a set of buildings at the corner ofSurrey Street which are linked internally through a series of corridors and staircases. 169 Strand was purpose-built for College use in 1928 above the disusedStrand station and features theold King's coat of arms on its facade. TheRoyal Strand Theatre stood on this site from 1832 until its demolition in 1905. 170 Strand contains offices, teaching rooms and the department common room with a balcony overlooking the street. 171 Strand is a corner house with retail operating on ground floor level. Academic offices extend along 39 to 41Surrey Street.[27][37]
The King's College London Rifle & Pistol Club (KCLRPC) has occupied theStrandunderground tunnels beneath the department as their shooting range since the 1920s.[38]
In the most recentResearch Excellence Framework (2014), the department ranked 7th out of 22 in theUnited Kingdom for research.[41] TheComplete University Guide ranked Classics at King's as 11th nationally in 2019,[42] and in its 2022 Guide, it ranked Classics as 16th[43] and history (inclusive of ancient history) at 10th.[44] In 2018, theQS World University Rankings ranked the department at 5th nationally and 21st globally.[45][46] In the Guardian University Guide, Classics & ancient history at King's was rated 22nd out of 26 in 2020,[47] rising to 15th out of 25 in 2021.[48]
TheKing's Greek Play has been an annual tradition since 1953. It is the only dramatic production in theUnited Kingdom to be performed every year in the originalancient Greek language. The production has also previously touredAmerica andCanada. The Department of Classics houses a physical archive of related materials and recordings.[49][50][51]
Every year on the first Thursday of February, the department hosts its annualRunciman Lecture named in honour ofSir Steven Runciman. The lectures were established in the early 1990s and funded in perpetuity by the Czech count and artistNicholas Egon. The event is traditionally preceded by anOrthodox Vespers in theCollege Chapel on the Strand.[52][53][54]
TheJamie Rumble Memorial Fund was established in 2013 through a major donation from a former student. The Rumble Fund sponsors field trips where students have the opportunity to engage directly with the classical lands in their studies. Travel destinations have so far includedAthens andRome, with future trips to sites inCyprus,Sicily,North Africa andTurkey proposed. The Rumble Fund also subsidises an annual guest lecture in classical art.[55][56]
The Department of Classics also supports theIris Project, an educational charity designed to promote study of the classical world tostate schools in theUnited Kingdom. Students in the department have the opportunity to teach Latin to disadvantaged children.[57][58][59]
Student life in the department is administered by the Classics Society (formerly the Classical Society). The Society publishes a journal titled theNew Satyrica. A new undergraduate research journal,Kerberos, was also launched in 2018. There is a common room at 170Strand which previously housed the departmental library.[49][60][51][61]
The Classics Society hosts an annual Winter Ball.[62]
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