UPDATE (December 2025): The recording of this great event is now available here. Enjoy!

We’re delighted to share a message from our colleagues in Maynooth University about their wonderful Careers with Classics event:

Save the date! You are invited to the Careers with Classics 2025

Maynooth University, 17 September 2024 11am-1pm

Join us in person, Maynooth Campus Arts Annex (North Campus) or on Teams (link below)

Why study Classics in 2025?

The Department of Ancient Classics and Careers and Employability Service at Maynooth University are delighted to announce the fifth Careers with Classics event.

Join a panel of Maynooth graduates and international speakers as they share their experience with the world of Classics at third level and career path into the professional world. This event is designed for current secondary school pupils, particularly those in their final year as they prepare for Leaving Certificate, undergraduate and postgraduate students of Classics at all Irish third level institutions, teachers, and guidance counsellors.  Fifth and sixth year classes especially welcome to join us in person or online!

If planning to attend the event in person with a class or group, we kindly ask you to let us know as soon as possible. The event will be conducted in a hybrid format, in presence for those who choose to do so (venue: Maynooth University north campus, Arts Annex), and online via Microsoft Teams (link below).

To register your interest or ask any questions, please contact Dr Cosetta Cadau (cosetta.cadau@mu.ie).

Microsoft Teams Need help?

Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 376 799 203 028

Passcode: Wa9m338w

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Dial in by phone

+353 1 566 2037,,10843266# Ireland, Dublin

Find a local number

Phone conference ID: 108 432 66#

This has been a week of great news for ancient Greek and Latin at second level!

Firstly, details of prescribed material for the new Ancient Greek and Latin specifications have been released, including the capstone texts (spoiler: Euripides’ Medea for Greek and Virgil’s Aeneid for Latin) and details on grammar needed for Ordinary and Higher Level. Secondly, the long-standing restriction on students studying combinations of Classical Studies, Latin and Ancient Greek at Senior Cycle has been removed, which means that students can now sit more than one of these subjects for the Leaving Cert! And finally, mock exams for the new Leaving Certificate ancient Greek and Latin specifications have been released (available here). Everything is now set for the new specifications to come on stream in September 2025! A huge amount of work lies behind all three of the above so huge congratulations to everyone involved!

The Classical Association of Ireland (CAI) is delighted to announce that this year’s Presidential Lecture will take place on Friday, 4 April at 7 p.m. in the UCD Village Auditorium.

CAI Honorary President Dr Christina Souyoudjoglou-Haywood will speak on “Archaeology and the (relentless) search for Homer’s Ithaca: a fraught relationship“. This is not to be missed!

Make sure to book your place here.

Here is a little preview of what to expect on the night…

Since the time of the ancient geographer Strabo (63? B.C. – A.D. 24?), over twenty-five different locations have been proposed for Homer’s Ithaca not to mention those based on pure fantasy. They range from the modern Ithaki or ‘Thiaki’ and other islands in the Ionian archipelago to locations further afield in Sicily, Spain, Denmark, and the Azores. The identifications are based on interpretations of the Homeric text from the viewpoint of geography, topography, geology, astronomy, cultural history and philology. Archaeology plays the most important part especially in the identifications that locate Homeric Ithaca firmly on one of the islands of the Ionian archipelago. In this lecture I will discuss the various proposals regarding the Ionian Islands in the light of past and recent projects and developments, and the ongoing complex relationship between archaeology as a professional discipline and the hypotheses of amateur ‘Homerists’ and ‘archaeologists’ – explorers, property developers, businessmen, politicians, farmers, chemists and others. The lecture will discuss the context of the searches, the publicity, the impact on the local communities, the convictions and misconceptions, hopes and impasses, and their value in supporting the engagement with Homer and the ancient past as subjects that defy class, education and background.

The UCD Classical Society, in conjunction with the UCD School of Classics, is delighted to announce that Professor Rebecca Sweetman (University of St Andrews) will deliver this year’s Inaugural Lecture! Everyone is welcome, and you can register here (registering will help with planning the reception!).

The details of this year’s lecture are as follows:

Professor Rebecca Sweetman

“Women Travellers in the Mediterranean: Irish and British Women and their Late Antique Predecessors“

Friday, 28 March 2025, 7 pm

Location: UCD Village Auditorium (map here)

Reception to follow

All welcome!

Update (16 May 2025): the Iliad notes have been updated and now cover up to Book VIII, line 150.

Are you working your way through Homer’s Iliad or Odyssey in the original Greek and would like some support? A reading group based in Dublin has you covered! This group is compiling some handy annotations as it progresses through the epics and is making them available to others.

The annotations are intended to supplement apps that provide online glossaries such as Attikos. The annotations cover the whole of the Odyssey and up to Book V line 500 of the Iliad. They include:

1) definitions from Liddell and Scott tied to the particular passage of Homer;

2) selected notes derived from the editions of Leaf and Bayfield (Iliad) and Stanford (Odyssey), and from the translations of Rieu, Lawrence and Wilson;

3) selected notes on the roots of irregular verbs and on tmesis (i.e. where a compound verb is separated from its prefix-preposition);

4) comments and suggested translations from the reading group.

The notes are compiled by UCD alumnus Michael O’Kelly, and comments are welcome (get in touch with Access Classics at access.classics@ucd.ie and we will pass on the message!).

The annotations are currently available as a Word document (Iliad and Odyssey) and hopefully soon as a HTML link (text from the Perseus database) where annotated words are highlighted and notes accessed by hovering over or touching the word.

The annotations of the Iliad will be updated as the Dublin reading group progresses – the rate is about four books per year.

In amazing news, the Leaving Certificate ancient Greek and Latin specifications will come on stream in September 2025! Congratulations to everyone who worked tirelessly to create these wonderful and accessible specifications. The future of the Classical languages is looking bright!

An announcement from our Classics colleagues in Maynooth University:

Save the date! Careers with Classics 2024

Maynooth University, 18 September 2024 11am

Join us in person, Maynooth Campus Callan Building Room CB8 (North Campus) or on Teams (link below).

Why study Classics in 2024?

The Department of Ancient Classics and Careers and Employability Service at Maynooth University are delighted to announce the fourth Careers with Classics event. Join a panel of Maynooth graduates and international speakers as they share their experience with the world of Classics at third level and career path into the professional world. 

This event is designed for current secondary school pupils, particularly those in their final year as they prepare for Leaving Certificate, undergraduate and postgraduate students of Classics at all Irish third level institutions, teachers, and guidance counsellors. 

Fifth and sixth year classes especially welcome to join us in person or online!

If planning to attend the event in person with a class or group, we kindly ask you to let us know as soon as possible. The event will be conducted in a hybrid format, in presence for those who choose to do so (venue: Maynooth University north campus, Callan Building, Room CB8), and online via Microsoft Teams (link below):

Microsoft Teams Need help?

Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 394 914 496 817

Passcode: yzkkf8

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Dial in by phone

+353 1 566 2037,,312076739# Ireland, Dublin

Find a local number

Phone conference ID: 312 076 739#

The Classical Association of Ireland Teachers (CAIT) Young Classicist Awards, 2024 are now open for entries (deadline: 15 April)! The Young Classicist Awards is an innovative competition open to all second-level students in Ireland who are interested in Classics. Students (either as individuals or as part of a group) are encouraged to present a project on any aspect of Classics, including Ancient Greek and Latin, and to be as innovative in their approach as possible! Past projects have included videos, PowerPoints, creative writing, crafts (such as posters or paintings), performances (such as singing or recitation), Minecraft and diary entries! For some inspiration, you can check out previous winning entries here.

Check out the poster above for the rules of this year’s competition and for information on the Awards Ceremony, which will take place in University College Dublin on 30 April. Good luck, everyone!

The UCD Classical Society, in conjunction with the UCD School of Classics, is proud to announce that the annual Inaugural Lecture this year will be given by historian and novelist Dr Adrian Goldsworthy! Check out Dr Goldsworthy’s website for an overview of his extensive fiction and non-fiction books! Everyone is welcome, and you can register here (registering will help with planning the reception!).

The details of this year’s lecture are as follows:

Dr Adrian Goldsworthy

“Parthians, Persians and Romans: Empires, War, Cold War and Co-Existence in the Ancient World“

11 April 2024, 7 pm

Location: UCD Village Auditorium (map here)

Reception to follow

All welcome!