This interdisciplinary workshop will examine the transformation of classical scholarship in English alongside the expansion of British imperialism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The importance of the classics to British education and high culture is well known, but the relationship between classical scholarship and British imperialism has been comparatively neglected. It is hoped that the conference will bring together those interested in classical reception with scholars of modern empire. Papers might examine the interaction of classical scholarship and contemporary imperialism as an influence travelling in either or both directions, and the conference will aim to develop themes in the history of classical scholarship as well as those in the history of imperialism.

As a departure point, the organisers propose the theme of 'Hegemony and Cornucopia' and classical discourse. How do empires distill power from heterogeneity, and how do they persist? How did ancient Greece and Rome inform the ways that the British Empire employed and understood the diversity of its constituent populations, cultures, environments and products? Subjects for consideration could include, but are certainly not limited to: discourses of imperial justification in scholarship and teaching; decadence and the decay of empires; citizenship and slavery; public and private morality; material culture, exoticism and imperial wealth; knowledge, science and 'development'; race and nationality; and ideas of European exceptionalism. Diverse methodologies are encouraged.

Papers should be original and should have not been previously published or delivered at a major conference. Abstracts should be submitted by 30 April 2005. Successful contributors will be requested to submit their papers by 30 September 2005 to be considered for publication in a conference volume.

Contact: See e-mail address given below.

Organisers: Dr Mark Bradley (Classics, Nottingham)
Dr Emma Reisz (History, Oxford)