Department of Classics

The teaching of Classics was embedded at the University of Adelaide from its inception in 1874 with founding donor Walter Watson Hughes stipulating that a Chair of Classical and Comparative Philology and Literature be established as a condition of his endowment. The professorship was the first to be filled and the subjects of the inaugural University lectures in March 1876 were Latin followed by Greek.

Hughes Professors of Classics (Originally Hughes Professor of Classical and Comparative Philology and Literature):

• Professor Reverend Henry Read, MA (Camb), 1874-1878
• Professor David Frederick Kelly, MA (Camb), 1878-1894
• Professor Edward Vaughan Boulger, MA, Dlitt (Dublin), 1894
• Professor Edward Von Blomberg Bensly, MA (Camb), 1895-1905
• Professor Henry Darnley Naylor, MA (Camb), 1907-1927 (Emeritus Professor 1927)
• Professor John Aloysius Fitzherbert, MC, MA (Camb), 1928-1957 (Emeritus Professor 1958)
• Professor John Reginald Trevaskis, MA (Camb), 1958-1983 (Emeritus Professor 1983)
• Professor Robert Glenn Ussher, MA (Dub), PhD (Belf), MRIA, 1984-1992 (Emeritus Professor 1993).

In 1886 the Department of Classics was created as part of the newly instituted Faculty of Arts, an arrangement which began operating in the 1887 academic year. For over a century the Department retained its original name and position within the Faculty of Arts, albeit with fluctuations in staff and student numbers. Subject offerings also evolved to reflect changing attitudes to the utility of Ancient Greek and Latin.

In the mid-late 1990s reorganisation of the University’s academic and administrative structures took place. One of the results of this was the creation of the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences. The Faculty of Arts fell under the umbrella of the Division with Classics remaining a component of the Faculty of Arts.

In 2002 the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences was divided into four ‘schools’, Classics being designated a ‘discipline’ within the School of Humanities.

In 2008 Classics underwent a substantive change to become the Department of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology. The Department remained within the School of Humanities which was administered by a reconstituted Faculty of Arts. In addition to specialist research, the Department’s stated remit was to assist students in understanding the history of the classical world (ancient Greece and Rome), their languages, literature, art and architecture, religions and ideas.

Taken from University of Adelaide Archives Provenance Records - UAR-0636, UAR-0883, UAR-0884, UAR-0885.