As a Classics student at UCT, you will find yourself part of a close-knit community who share your interest in the ancient world. While much of your time will be spent in lecture halls, reading in the library, or learning Greek and Latin in the Beattie Building, there are also many opportunities to take part in seminars, outings, reading groups, and social events throughout the year.
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Senior undergraduate and postgraduate students have the opportunity to visit the Greek vase collection at the Social History Centre in Cape Town. This is a rare chance to examine material objects from the ancient world and to learn about their iconography, function, and the techniques that make them so distinctive.
Postgraduate students are periodically taken to see some of the medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the Grey Collection at the National Library of South Africa. Most classical texts survive today because they were copied and recopied over many centuries. The medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the Grey Collection are among the earliest surviving examples of this long tradition of textual transmission.
All Classics students (undergraduate and postgraduate) are encouraged to attend our research seminars. These feature established and emerging scholars from UCT and universities around the world. After each seminar, students are invited to an informal reception where they can continue the discussion and meet the speaker.
To see a list of recent visitors and to sign up for the seminar series mailing list, visit our research page.
Anyone is welcome to join our reading groups, which meet during term time in an informal setting. We usually read and discuss a selected text (in English translation) during each session. The longest-running reading group in Classics at UCT is the Ancient Philosophy Reading Group. A popular student-led group is the Ancient Literature Reading Group.
For more information and to sign up for our reading groups, visit our research page.
Towards the end of the year, we hold a work-in-progress workshop, or ergasterion, for postgraduate students in Classics. This is a relaxed and supportive space for honours, master's, and doctoral students to give short presentations of their research to peers and colleagues in the discipline. Participation is voluntary, and students are encouraged to give particular focus to the most challenging aspects of their projects.
Undergraduate students are encouraged to attend, especially those who are considering postgraduate study.
The Classical Association of South Africa holds its national conference every two years, and postgraduate students in Classics are encouraged to attend and present their research.
We aim to offer some financial support to those students who present a paper.
In most years, we invite students to join us to see a Cape Town production of classical theatre or a performance related to the ancient world.
In 1911, the first Classical Association of South Africa donated a large set of magic lantern slides, illustrative of classical subjects, to the South African College on condition that they should be periodically shown.
Once a year, we invite students to our magic lantern evening at which we show a selection of these slides.
Named in honour of Margaret (Maggie) Mezzabotta (1946–2000), lecturer in Classics at UCT from 1978 until her death, the Mezzabotta Memorial Lecture is delivered each year by our Distinguished Visiting Scholar.
All students are encouraged to attend.
Towards the end of the year, Classics holds a Formal Hall in the dining hall of Upper Campus Residence. This ticketed three-course dinner is an opportunity to celebrate the end of the academic year, to socialise with friends and colleagues, and to get to know more members of the UCT Classics community. A reception for staff and postgraduates is held beforehand in the Upper Common Room.
Academic gowns are optional for staff and postgraduate students and can be borrowed for the occasion.
