About us

Today, its members are drawn from the departments and research units of ancient history, archaeology (MARU and HARG research groups), literary studies (Greek & Latin literature and linguistics), ancient philosophy, law, religion and reception studies. Its core thematic focus is the Greco-Roman world in all its aspects from its early days to its reception in the contemporary world. The GICS actively contributes to current debates in Classics, in particular concerning the foundations of Classics as a discipline and its often controversial relevance in the contemporary world.

An internal collaboration platform

The GICS serves as a platform by which the Ghent Classics community seeks to promote internal connectedness and facilitate collaboration, and raise its visibility outside its own university through outreach efforts and the expansion of its international network. Each year, the GICS organizes a series of activities (public lectures, seminars, workshops, conferences), among which feature prominently the GICS lectures, the GICS roundtables and the GICS in dialogue.

The GICS also circulates information on UGent and non-UGent activities in Classics among its members through a weekly newsletter, and serves as the key reference point for residing and incoming PhD researchers, Erasmus students and Visiting Scholars in Classics in Ghent. The GICS collaborates with a number of internal and external partners.

Current chairman and secretaries

Learn more about the research of Prof. dr. Marco Formisano  (Chairman)

Marco studied Classics at the University of Palermo, Paris VII, and the Freie Universität Berlin, and received his PhD in 2000 from the University of Palermo. Following several post-doc grants, he was hired as Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter at the Collaborative Research Center “Transformations of Antiquity” at the Humboldt-University in Berlin (2005-2012). During his time in Berlin, he became a Frances Yates Fellow at the Warburg Institute in London (2005), and a Research Associate at the Italian Academy of Advanced Study at Columba University in the city of New York (2008-2009). Since 2013, Marco is Professor of Latin Literature at Ghent University, where he is also a member of the Sarton Centre of the History of Science. He specializes in the literature and poetics of late antiquity; ancient literature of knowledge; acts and passions of the early Christian martyrs; the Panegyrici Latini; and masochism in ancient and modern literature.

Learn more about the research of Marta Lietti (Executive secretary)

Marta recently completed her PhD, with a dissertation titled Antigone in Three Movements: Sophoclean Dramaturgies, at the Freie Universität Berlin, where she was part of the DFG-funded interdisciplinary research group 2638 "Normativity, Critique, and Change." Currently, she is postdoctoral researcher at UGent (Literary Studies) developing a PostDoc project on Euripidean theatre and dramatic strategies for resisting death. At the same time, she teaches at the institute of Religious Studies of the Freie Universität Berlin. Marta holds a Bachelor's (2016) and a Master's (2019) degree in Classics and Italian Literature from the University of Milan. She later earned a further master degree in Religious Studies (2021) from the Freie Universität Berlin. Marta has published and lectured on topics including ritual movement in antiquity, the reception of Greek literature in modern and contemporary German literature, bodily and metaphorical movement in Greek tragedy, the relationship between human and non-human beings in literature and theatre, and contemporary stagings of ancient tragic myths. 

Learn more about the research of Harald Blot (Executive secretary)

Harald studied History at Ghent University and is currently a FWO doctoral researcher at the same university under the supervision of Koenraad Verboven and François de Callataÿ. His research deals with the Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms, focussing on the reconstruction of their royal chronology. He also examines the alliances and conflicts between these territories, as well as the ethnic, cultural, and religious interactions that characterized them. His master's thesis on the development of the Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms has been awarded with the GICS-Prize and the André-Schaepdrijverprijs.