About Us

The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, generally known as the Hellenic Society, was founded in 1879 to advance the study of Greek language, literature, history, art and archaeology in the Ancient, Byzantine and Modern periods. It has done this ever since by various means, chief among them being the annual publication of the Journal of Hellenic Studies and, since the 1950s, its supplement, Archaeological Reports, which are both supplied free of charge to members and subscribers of the Society.

The Society helps to maintain the Hellenic and Roman Library, in conjunction with the Roman Society and the Institute of Classical Studies. The Society also arranges an annual lecture series in London, holds occasional conferences, receptions and other meetings, and helps to arrange other lectures all around the UK in collaboration with the various local branches of the Classical Association.

The Society aims to help those engaged in Hellenic Studies at all levels, and to this end it makes grants of various kinds to schools, universities and other institutions, undergraduates, graduate students and young researchers.

The Society takes seriously the current debates about decolonisation and classics, and the President, Paul Cartledge, has published a paper in History and Policy setting out his own views: http://www.historyandpolicy.org/opinion-articles/articles/after-the-statues-fall-decolonising-hellenic-studies

History of the Society

SPHS Presidents

The Right Revd. J. B. Lightfoot  1879-1890
Prof. Sir Richard Jebb  1890-1905
Prof. Percy Gardner  1905-1910
Sir Arthur Evans  1910-1914
Walter Leaf  1914-1919
Sir Frederic Kenyon  1919-1924
Arthur Hamilton Smith  1924-1929
George Macmillan (Acting)  1928-1929
Prof. Ernest Gardner  1929-1932
Prof. R. M. Dawkins  1932-1935
Sir John Myres  1935-1938
Sir Richard Livingstone  1938-1941
Sir Arthur Pickard-Cambridge  1941-1945
Prof. Gilbert Murray  1945-1948
Prof. E. R. Dodds  1948-1951
Prof. T. B. L. Webster  1951-1954
Prof. D. Tarrant  1954-1956
Prof. A. W. Gomme  1956-1959
Prof. A. Andrewes  1962-1965
Prof. R. P. Winnington-Ingram  1959-1962
Prof. N. G. L. Hammond  1965-1968
Prof. E. G. Turner  1968-1971
Sir Kenneth Dover  1971-1974
Prof. R. Browning 1974-1977
Prof. G. S. Kirk  1977-1980
Prof. P. E. Corbett  1980-1983
Prof. G. B. Kerferd  1983-1986
Sir David Hunt  1986-1990
Prof. J. P. Barron  1990-1993
Prof. E. W. Handley  1993-1996
Prof. P. E. Easterling  1996-1999
Prof. C. J. Rowe  1999-2002
Prof. R. G. Osborne  2002-2006
Prof. C. B. R. Pelling  2006-2008
Prof. Malcolm Schofield  2008-2011
Prof. Chris Carey  2011-2014
Prof. Robert Fowler 2014-2017
Prof. Judith Mossman 2017-2020
Prof. P. A. Cartledge 2020- present

 

About the society

The Society's Archive

The Society is very fortunate to possess the personal correspondence of George A Macmillan, letters from Sir William Mitchell Ramsay, and a collection of early glass slides which were donated by William James Stillman. We have digitized some of these collections, which you can view here on our website:

George A Macmillan's Letters & Narrative of the first 50 years of the Society

Council meeting minute books

William Mitchell Ramsay's Letters

Stillman gallery

A catalogue of the Stillman archive was published in No 56 of Archaeological Reports.

 

 

 

Comments are closed.