Malouf launches Classics Endowment

Australian writer David Malouf launched the new Bachelor of Classical Studies degree and reinvigorated Classics Endowment...

16 September 2009

Australian writer David Malouf argued that classical literature and society maintained a keen relevance for contemporary students in an address at The Australian National University to launch the new Bachelor of Classical Studies degree and a reinvigorated Classics Endowment Fund, supporting research and education in the Classics and Ancient History Program, part of the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences.

The much-awarded author is an avid scholar of the classics, drawing on the life and works of the Roman poet Ovid for his book An Imaginary Life, and from Homer's Iliad for his latest novel Ransom. In his address he outlined the way that writers like Homer and Ovid inspired later artists, including himself.

The endowment is designed to create new scholarships for classics students, plus new travel grants so that students can complete part of their degree in Rome, Athens or another part of the classical world. The fund would also support several new positions in research, lecturing and resource assistance in ancient history and help to make the most of the University's antiquities collection.

The new Bachelor of Classical Studies degree will cater for enthusiastic students who want to focus their studies on the fascinating world of Greece and Rome. The degree will give students a multidisciplinary approach to the subject, combining studies in history, language, literature, together with other relevant areas such as archaeology. All students in the degree will be encouraged to take overseas study courses or exchange programs.

"The classical civilisations gave us wonderful art and architecture, some of the greatest poems and plays ever written, and stories - historical and mythological - which still inspire us today," said Dr Elizabeth Minchin, a lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at ANU.

"In the areas of philosophy, history, science and law the classical world made vital intellectual contributions to our world," she said. "It is very important that in the future new generations still have the opportunity to study the classical world, and to learn from it."

_{Adapted from Media Release by Simon Couper, ANU Media Office}

A podcast of this lecture can be downloaded by following this link.

Related Fund: Classics Endowment

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Scene from the ANU Classics Museum's Johnson Vase