The Centre
The Stelios Ioannou School for Research in Classical and Byzantine Studies plays a central role in these studies at the University of Oxford. The University hosts an incomparable breadth and depth of Classical and Byzantine research, encompassing ancient philosophy, languages, literature, drama, art, history and archaeology across the millennia. We are committed to expanding this through outreach and by opening university study to young people who lack previous experience in Latin or Greek and offering new options in subjects including Classical and Byzantine art. A large part of the centre has been set aside for the Faculty's outreach officer and for outreach events to interest young people in the field.
Our expertise
In the past, these activities have been somewhat diffused across the academic and geographic landscape of Oxford. The Stelios Ioannou School provides a much needed focus. Its location, in a refurbished building on St Giles' near the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, helps to facilitate access to the materials housed in nearby institutions as well as interaction among students, researchers, faculty and staff. In addition to the centre and the Museum, the neighbourhood contains the Sackler Library with its collections in Classical archaeology and art history, and the recently expanded Oriental Institute with its celebrated work on the Ancient Near East. The Ashmolean itself underwent a major £50 million renovation recently. With the addition of the centre, the rejuvenated St Giles' area became a hub for Greek, Roman and Byzantine research across Britain and indeed the world.
The Stelios Ioannou School provides space for administration, research and teaching. It provides a base for research projects as well as four key research units: the Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents; the Classical Art Research Centre and the Beazley Archive; the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama; and the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names. It also supports undergraduate teaching in Greek, Latin and ancient history to complement the tutorials and classes given by colleges.
We can continue to echo the words which Erasmus wrote after he visited Oxford in 1499: `It is marvellous to report how widely here, and how densely, the harvest of ancient letters is flourishing.'
