A University Taster Day of mini lectures and interactive experiences for school students
Thursday 2 July 2026, 10.30 a.m. – 3.30 p.m.
10.30 – 11.25
WELCOME
The Face that Launched 1,000 Myths: Searching for Helen in the Mythic Tradition
Dr Susannah Ashton, Senior Teaching Fellow in Greek Literature
Daughter of Zeus with cults in her name and yet instrument in three goddesses' contest. Mortal, but of divine beauty. Hated and adored. As some myths tell it, she did not even travel to Troy with Paris. In this session, we journey with Helen as she endures shipwrecks in Egypt, strange encounters with phantoms, and confrontations with the gods. As we trace the threads of these forgotten tales, we will ask ourselves what more we can learn about the woman behind the name. Is she Helen of Troy? Helen of Sparta? Or do these myths reveal something more about just ‘Helen’?
11.25 – 11.45 Refreshments
11.45-12.30
Dido of Tyre: female, foreigner, first in order
Dr Efi Spentzou, Reader in Latin Literature and Classical Reception
Dido, princess of ancient Tyros in today’s Lebanon and queen of Carthage, today’s Tunisia. A toy thing of two goddesses, Juno and Venus, in Virgil’s Aeneid. A ‘fickle thing’ according to Mercury in one of the poem’s most (in)famous lines, and an obstacle to the foundation of Rome as decreed by Fate. But what if we dig into the text a little further for images that bypass the mainstream, divine, Roman, male view of Dido? In this session we will explore Dido, the woman, the foreigner, and the leader of the dispossessed and the exiles; Dido the politician and not the abandoned lover that Virgil’s Roman text accommodates but does not quite understand.
12.30pm-1.45pm Lunch break
You can bring a packed lunch, or purchase sandwiches and drinks from a variety of venues across the campus.
1.00pm - 1.45 p.m. Mini Campus Tour with Student Ambassadors (optional)
1.45pm – 2.25pm
Egyptian Isis: Mediterranean Goddess, Creator of the World
Prof. Richard Alston, Professor of Roman History
We tend to view religions as enforcing ethnic separation and prejudices. But Isis, originally a goddess of the towns of Ancient Upper Egypt, suggests a different story. By c. 40 BCE Isis’ worship had spread across the Mediterranean. Although Isis retained her Egyptian connections, she became a goddess of traders, of sailors, of women, of health, of transformation and magic, of salvation, of learning, of creation. In this presentation, we will trace the spread of the worship of Great Goddess Isis, Creator of the World, and explore what she offered to the multiple communities that adopted her.
2.25 – 2.30 Comfort break
2.30pm - 3.30pm
Studying the classical world at University & its Career Opportunities: a Q&A session
Dr Richard Hawley, Senior Lecturer in Classics
This session explains the wide variety of pathways that students can opt to follow if they choose to study classical culture at university level. It also explores the wealth of career opportunities for those with classical culture degrees. It gives students an opportunity to ask questions of Dr. Hawley and the student ambassadors and to hear personal testimonies and stories offered by undergraduates in our department. The main session will end at 3.15-20 and in the remaining time Dr Hawley will be available for short one-to-one exchanges.
NO prior Classics-related study is required to attend this Taster Day.
YOU CAN REGISTER here
Event organiser: Dr Efi Spentzou (efi.spentzou@rhul.ac.uk)
The Shilling Auditorium is near no.5 on the Campus Plan, which you can see here.
