Butser Ancient Schoolroom 2024

This post was written by undergraduate student Jacinta Hunter.

The Ancient Schoolroom’s second summer residency at Butser Ancient Farm was no less magical than the first: swallows wheeled and darted around us as we walked from era to era; four-horned sheep still grazed in the adjoining fields; we cooked Roman meals over an open fire each night; and a recently born kid goat called Nutmeg greeted us each morning with enthusiastic bleating.

However our daily routine was a little different this time. As well as the usual schoolroom activities of reading, writing, and counting board maths, we were able (thanks to a host of Reading staff, students, and Schoolroom associates) to also offer spinning, board games, gem-charm making, curse-writing, and geometry!

Gem carving

But perhaps the biggest difference was the addition of two all-day workshops, which involved staging an entire play, with a cast of 6-12-year-olds, over the course of one afternoon. The plays in question were Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and Plautus’ Miles Gloriosus, which I (with the help of my ever supportive fiancé) adapted into short, child-friendly scripts, and made props and costumes for. Many a late night in the lead-up to Butser found us sewing capes, constructing cardboard weapons, and flicking red paint at an old sheet so Agamemnon could have a suitably (but not too gruesomely) bloodied robe.

This was a new endeavour for both me and the Ancient Schoolroom, so I was rather nervous about how well it would all turn out. But I needn’t have worried at all as, thanks in large part to the amazing support and diligence of the rest of the Schoolroom team, each play was triumph!

There was a real sense of anticipation in the air once our young actors were in costume and the audience of parents and guardians was in place, and the children really rose to the occasion. Highlights from Agamemnon included: a particularly spectacular entrance of the chorus with their walking sticks; a spirited characterisation of frustrated Cassandra; a surprise star-turn from Aegisthus; and a comedic entrance of the ‘dead’ Agamemnon in a wheelbarrow, which raised a hearty laugh from the audience.

Miles Gloriosus, with its complex and farcical plot, proved a little more challenging, but our performers still carried it off with aplomb. Credit for this has to go in large part to our very talented Palaestrio, who somehow knew what was going on after only one rehearsal, and to all the rest of our fabulous actors doing an excellent job at remembering which door they should be going through when!

I felt very proud of the performances, actors, and Schoolroom team, and it was lovely to have these feelings validated by positive feedback from the parents and Butser staff.

The Roman villa and performance area

Jacinta taking a short break

What with all these new activities, all day workshops, and productions, it certainly felt like we were doing rather more work than play, so we were very excited to be invited back to Sally Grainger’s house for another expertly cooked, authentic Roman meal. We were even joined by our very own Professor Emma Aston, which made it all the more special.

Sally Grainger preparing us for a garum tasting

Emma, and Roman fruit

The core Schoolroom team enjoying some downtime

Of course, all good things have to come to an end. I felt sad as we packed the car and bid farewell to each other on our final morning, knowing I was leaving the darting swallows, clear night skies, open fires, and Nutmeg the goat behind. But not too sad, as I know it will be just as magical next year.

Students get paid to do research

We are looking forward to having lots of undergraduate research collaborators this summer, thanks to University of Reading’s UROP—Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme. This is an amazing opportunity for our talented undergraduates to get paid for a 6-week experience, usually between their 2nd & 3rd years of study, doing real research alongside their teachers. In each case the research should result in academically rigorous published outputs. Classics benefits most years from this opportunity, but competition is stiff, both for getting the project funded and for choosing the lucky student from among those who apply. This year we have secured funding for three of our projects, namely:

Athenian Festival ware in the Ure Museum. Collect and analyse examples in Reading’s Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology of black-figure ceramics created and used as festival ware in ancient Athens, as a testbed for a larger project—Immanence and Innovation—amassing and analysing evidence of such ceramics from international collections. Now open to 1st year students, updated deadline for applications is 22-May-2023.

In the Company of Monsters: New Visions, Ancient Myths. This project uses contemporary visual art to investigate the power of ancient mythology to engage modern audiences and to explore contemporary themes of identity and diversity. The student will research and create inclusive text to accompany a research-led exhibition at Reading Museum.

Public interactions with Lowbury Hill. Working under the umbrella of the Mymerian project (https://research.reading.ac.uk/mymerian/) we seek to gather, analyse, and interpret trends in modern and contemporary public perceptions of the archaeology and history of Lowbury Hill, Oxfordshire, through research in archives and print media.

Interested 2nd year students are encouraged to peruse the UROP placements available this year: indeed students are encouraged to apply to UROPs from other departments, if they have the right skills and knowledge. The main UROP page and the pages for each project indicate the application procedure, but all applications from interested students are due before 3 April 2023 (Athenian Festival ware UROP application now open until 22-May-2023)