Classics has been at the heart of the University of Oxford for nine hundred years, dating back to a time when student examinations consisted of four-hour long orations in Latin in the Divinity Schools. Oxford's four-year Literae Humaniores course is the ultimate Humanities subject, covering literature, history, philosophy, art, archaeology and linguistics. During this challenging period in Higher Education, we are embracing the future with confidence and launching a highly ambitious fundraising campaign to safeguard the subject for the next millennium.
A recent gift demonstrates the trust that lovers of the Humanities have in the Faculty's direction of travel. Inspired by the research conducted in papyrology and machine learning by Professor Tobias Reinhardt and colleagues as part of the recent Vesuvius Challenge discoveries, a family has very generously decided to make a gift of half a million pounds to us, to be used however the Faculty deems best. The family, who wishes to remain anonymous, was inspired by Professor Reinhardt's work after meeting him and his colleagues less than a year ago.
We plan to use the gift to leverage recent funding from Schmidt Sciences, which is being utilised to set up a research programme called 'Meeting the Vesuvius Challenge'. This new gift will allow us to expand the programme through additional graduate scholarships and dedicated academic time, and to exercise flexibility as priorities dictate. When explaining why they wish to support the Classics, the donors stated:
"Classics at Oxford draws on nearly a millennium of scholarship and is poised to be a hub of scholarship for the next millennium. The Classics Faculty has the archive of the past, the technology to further its understanding and the intellectual capacity to drive the future of Humanities, thus humanity. We can think of no more compelling reason to support Classics at Oxford".
In response to this gift, the Chair of the Faculty Board, Professor Llewelyn Morgan, says:
At a time when Humanities subjects are under pressure everywhere, it is so heartening when generous people understand the value of what we do here, and help us to ensure that Classics at Oxford survives and thrives for future generations".
