My love of Classics probably has to be blamed on my parents.  My mother is a musician specializing in Mediaeval and Renaissance music, so I grew up listening to Latin songs.  For his part, my dad contributed by reading me The Odyssey as a bedtime story when I was around 8 years old, and I have considered it one of my favourite stories ever since.  The seeds my parents planted led me to start studying Latin with some amazing tutors in my teens (in Canada, where I grew up, it’s almost impossible to take Classical languages in school), and to do a BA and MA in Canada.  Over the course of those degrees, I discovered my love for Greek history and politics, and in 2010 I came to Cambridge to begin a PhD on the ways in which Greek citizens communicated with kings and tyrants, and the moral and practical difficulties that these interactions raised.  Among the things I’ve most enjoyed at Cambridge Classics have been its bright, lively, and supportive grad student community;  the chance to supervise and share my own love of Classics with undergraduates;  and the opportunities for bringing Classics to the wider world, most notably by twice taking part in the Cambridge Greek Play.

Daniel, recent PhD graduate