Classical Encounters in England's North East
1st Edition
Published on 31. March 2026
Book
Hardback
396 pages
978-1-032-96918-3 (ISBN)
Description
This is the first book to explore the history of ancient Greek and Roman influences and reception in England's North East, topics which have often transcended social boundaries dictated by working identity, class, religion, gender, and ethnicity.
Together, the chapters cover a broad range of themes and topics from architecture, theatre, working-class education, poetry, post-war novels and Hadrian's Wall. Each section, taken as a whole, views the specific topic from complementary social angles encompassing discrete social classes and constituencies but always remaining aware of the experience of non-elites. United in a classical reception studies approach, contributors draw on a variety of materials such as archives, institutional records, oral histories, magazines, antiquarian journals, newspapers, video and audio recordings, television, photographs, engravings, paintings, drawings, school textbooks, guidebooks, the fabric of buildings, poetry, and fiction to show how modern identities are informed by the Greek and Roman past.
This pioneering and richly illustrated study of classical reception from a local-historical perspective is of interest to students and scholars working in Classics and the social, cultural, intellectual, and local history of England.
Together, the chapters cover a broad range of themes and topics from architecture, theatre, working-class education, poetry, post-war novels and Hadrian's Wall. Each section, taken as a whole, views the specific topic from complementary social angles encompassing discrete social classes and constituencies but always remaining aware of the experience of non-elites. United in a classical reception studies approach, contributors draw on a variety of materials such as archives, institutional records, oral histories, magazines, antiquarian journals, newspapers, video and audio recordings, television, photographs, engravings, paintings, drawings, school textbooks, guidebooks, the fabric of buildings, poetry, and fiction to show how modern identities are informed by the Greek and Roman past.
This pioneering and richly illustrated study of classical reception from a local-historical perspective is of interest to students and scholars working in Classics and the social, cultural, intellectual, and local history of England.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Postgraduate and Undergraduate Advanced
Illustrations
127 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder, 8 s/w Tabellen, 127 s/w Abbildungen
8 Tables, black and white; 127 Halftones, black and white; 127 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
930 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-032-96918-3 (9781032969183)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Edith Hall | Rory McInnes-Gibbons | Edmund Thomas
Classical Encounters in England's North East
E-Book
03/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€61.99
Available for download
Edith Hall | Rory McInnes-Gibbons | Edmund Thomas
Classical Encounters in England's North East
Book
03/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€58.50
Shipment within 10-20 days
Edith Hall | Rory McInnes-Gibbons | Edmund Thomas
Classical Encounters in England's North East
E-Book
03/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€61.99
Available for download
Persons
Edith Hall is Professor of Classics at the University of Durham. She has published 37 books on ancient Greece and Rome and their continuing presences in the modern world, acts as consultant to professional theatre companies and regularly broadcasts on the BBC. With Arlene Holmes-Henderson she leads a campaign to support teaching of classics and philosophy in state schools and prisons.
Rory McInnes-Gibbons works on the Leverhulme-funded Durham University research project Aristotle Beyond the Academy (2024-2026) and previously co-coordinated the community outreach project, Classics and Class in the North East. He works across classical reception with a focus on the Roman Near East having graduated from a PhD on Palmyra at Durham in 2023.
Edmund Thomas is Professor of Ancient Visual and Material Culture at Durham University. He has published widely on Roman architecture and its afterlife from the Middle Ages to the Baroque period. His chapter in this volume is part of a forthcoming longer study on the history of the keystone from Greek and Roman antiquity to the modern era.
Rory McInnes-Gibbons works on the Leverhulme-funded Durham University research project Aristotle Beyond the Academy (2024-2026) and previously co-coordinated the community outreach project, Classics and Class in the North East. He works across classical reception with a focus on the Roman Near East having graduated from a PhD on Palmyra at Durham in 2023.
Edmund Thomas is Professor of Ancient Visual and Material Culture at Durham University. He has published widely on Roman architecture and its afterlife from the Middle Ages to the Baroque period. His chapter in this volume is part of a forthcoming longer study on the history of the keystone from Greek and Roman antiquity to the modern era.
Content
1. Introduction - The Editors; I. INSTITUTIONS AND EDUCATION; 2. The Northumberland and Durham Classical Association, from 1912 onwards - Jennifer Ingleheart; 3. Spennymoor Classics: Tales from the Pit University - Henry Stead; 4. Hadrian in hiding? Investigating access to Classics education in the North East of England - Arlene Holmes-Henderson and Laura Hope; II. CLASSICS FOR AND BY THE PEOPLE; 5. Stories of Marsden: Roman Remains, Revolution and the Rights of Man - Lilah Grace Canevaro and Mirko Canevaro; 6. A Historical Pageant, the People's Theatre and the North-East: Amateur Theatre and the Classical World in 1930s Newcastle - Rory McInnes-Gibbons; 7. A Communist on the Wall: Frank Graham in the Days of the Romans - Matthew Kilburn; III. ARCHITECTURE AND ART; 8. Temples of Knowledge: The Classical Architecture of Public Libraries and Mechanics' Institutes in North-East England 1668-1939 - Richard Pears; 9. Keystones and Social Identity in the Classical Architecture of Newcastle and Northumberland - Edmund Thomas; 10. Presenting Claudia: a Roman Princess in Newcastle Cathedral - Cora Beth Fraser; IV. MUSA AELIANA; 11. Teesside Novelists' Ancient Underclass: Barry Unsworth and Pat Barker - Edith Hall; 12. Classics and Identity in Poetry of the North East - Edith Hall; 13. Connecting Things - Maureen Almond; V. WALL STORIES; 14. The Wall and its Saviour; 19th-Century Discovery and Study of Hadrian's Wall by John Clayton - Frances McIntosh; 15. Oxford Classics on the Roman frontier: Eric Birley and the Legacy of Francis Haverfield - Martha Lovell Stewart; 16. The commemoration of Hadrian's Wall in cultural events since 2000 - Richard Hingley.