On Wednesday 27th September we were thrilled to welcome Dr Steph Holton, Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Newcastle for a visiting lecture, held at the QE Theatre in QEGS.

Dr Holton’s research specialises in ancient thought – especially the interactions between literature, philosophy, and medicine in the Archaic and Classical periods. She recently published her book, Sleep and Dreams in Early Greek Thought: Presocratic and Hippocratic Approaches with Routledge.

She delivered a talk on ‘Dreams and Divination in Ancient Greek Medicine’. It was a fascinating insight into how the ancient Greeks perceived dreams as well as how they interpreted ‘signs’ from the gods. Her talk broached the subjects of physiology, psychology, the natural world and self – providing an introduction to the origins of ancient medicine and the history of science.

The talk was extremely interesting and valuable for not only our Classics students but also students across academic fields, such as our Science students who are interested in a future career in Medicine. As always, our Classics events held in school are open to all students interested, and we are delighted to see so many students keen to discover more about the ancient world.

The event was organised in collaboration between the Classics Departments of Wakefield Girls’ and QEGS. The departments are closely linked as A-Level subjects Classical Civilisation and Latin are both taught jointly at Wakefield Girls’ and QEGS. From experience, this fosters a highly-collaborative academic environment where classical debate is lively and encouraged.

It was wonderful to see a huge number of staff, students and parents in attendance on Wednesday. Dr Holton inspired many well-considered questions from our students and offered valuable responses and insights. Thank you to Dr Holton for her visit.

Mr J Hargereaves, Head of Classics and Ms C Ayres, Classics teacher