News Story Archives

In recent times, the use of modern technology to reconstruct ancient faces has become increasingly popular. But can we rely on the accuracy of such reconstructions? Dr Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow in Classics & Archaeology, investigates in this article republished from The Conversation. When we read about the lives of people from the ancient […]

Roman Krznaric looks to the past to discover the rules for radical hope in his new book, History for Tomorrow. In his review of the book from The Conversation, Emeritus Professor Peter McPhee reflects on Krznaric’s work and on whether the past can provide answers to present and future questions. Answers to the question about the […]

A monthly roundup of media commentary, publications, projects and other news from across the School community.

In June 2024 the GAIA (Georgian-Australian Investigations in Archaeology) team, comprising staff and students from Classics & Archaeology, colleagues from the Georgian National Museum, and other experts and volunteers from around the globe, returned to Rabati in Georgia for the sixth year of excavations. In this report on the 2024 dig, Associate Professor Andrew Jamieson […]

How did athletes in the Greek and Roman eras prepared in the hope of winning victory at the ancient Olympics. Some of these ways might be recognisable to modern athletes, while others could be very different. In his second article about the ancient Olympics, republished from The Conversation, Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow in Classics […]

Most Australians have heard of Norman Lindsay’s fantastical children’s book The Magic Pudding (1918). Norman was one of ten talented siblings, many of whom became internationally renowned artists and writers during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Lindsays were one of most culturally influential middle-class families in Australian history. SHAPS PhD Candidates Cat […]

In this new article, republished from The Conversation prior to the Chicago Democratic Convention on 19-22 August, Liam Byrne (Honorary in History), together with Emma Shortis, RMIT University, reflected on this event in the context of its past, particularly the “traumatic” one of 1968, held in the same city. Democratic Party delegates from across the […]

Boccaccio’s fourteenth-century masterpiece, now a Netflix series, shows the universality of human responses to a pandemic (along with some sex). SHAPS’s Catherine Kovesi (History) explores The Decameron in this article, first published on Pursuit. For anyone versed in medieval European history, the new Netflix adaptation of a 700-year-old story about a group of noble youths seems […]

As the 2024 Olympics is well underway in Paris, Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Fellow in Classics & Archaeology, explores the Olympics’ ancient form, the games played, and the experiences of competitors and visitors during its existence over a period of a millennium. The first recorded victor at the Olympics was Coroebus of Elis. A cook by […]

A monthly roundup of media commentary, publications, projects and other news from across the School community.

Animals are sometimes forgotten in discussions of war but also suffer immensely during conflict. In this article, republished from The Conversation, inaugural Mykola Zerov Fellow in Ukrainian Studies Dr Iryna Skubii explores how animals, including pets, livestock and wild creatures, have been impacted during Russia’s war on Ukraine, as well as the positive roles they […]

In Ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins achieved power most women were denied – but at great cost. Lily Moore, SHAPS Classics & Archaeology PhD Candidate, explores the Roman priestesses and their access to power, in this article republished from The Conversation. You might have heard of a group of women in Ancient Rome known as the […]

How does science move from the lab into the public sphere? What is the role of the public arena in the creation and distribution of knowledge? And how do we use imagery to augment our creation and circulation of scientific knowledge? Dr Martin Bush (History & Philosophy of Science) discusses these questions in this episode […]

A monthly roundup of media commentary, publications, projects and other news from across the School community.

In anticipation of the UK general election on Thursday July 5, SHAPS Honorary Liam Byrne considered Keir Starmer’s vision for the future and compared it to that of Tony Blair’s campaign nearly 30 years previously in this article, republished from The Conversation. When British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the UK general election outside 10 […]