A. G. Leventis Foundation funds new Chair in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter

The Foundation has supported research at Exeter for almost 25 years and will be marking this milestone with a gift of £1.2 million to endow a new Chair within the Department of Classics and Ancient History.

The A. G. Leventis Chair in Ancient Scientific and Technological Thought will be unique within the UK and will play an extremely significant role in promoting research, teaching and wider public engagement in this increasingly important field.

It will also help to transform the role of the discipline of Classics within contemporary society. The ancient Greek world was intensely innovative and influential for scientific and technological thought. As well as being important in its own right, this innovation also inspired ancient philosophical thinking and poetic activity and went on to influence the future development of science and technology beyond antiquity and into the Byzantine, early modern and modern worlds.

This new Chair will launch an important and emerging programme of scholarship and public engagement at Exeter, consolidating and strengthening the University’s existing partnership with the Foundation and delivering the Foundation’s core ambition to disseminate Greek cultural heritage in a novel and engaging manner.

Professor Barbara Borg, Head of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter said: “This Chair is a huge achievement for the Humanities at Exeter, and gives the Department an enormous boost – not just through the additional Chair, but also through the field of research towards which it is geared. It is both truly innovative and playing to our strengths, raising our profile nationally and internationally.” 

Anastasios Leventis, Chairman of the A. G. Leventis Foundation said: “We are delighted to extend our successful partnership with the University of Exeter. This is an important area of research, enhancing understanding of ancient Greek culture and connecting it to global challenges we face today. We are looking forward to seeing what more can be achieved in the coming years.”

The A. G. Leventis Foundation’s relationship with the University of Exeter first began in 1997 following the Foundation’s gift to support the first A.G. Leventis postgraduate Studentship within the Department of Classics and Ancient History.

Since then the University of Exeter has received generous philanthropic support via the Leventis Initiative and Leventis Studentship programme in Classics and Ancient History, and additionally to support postdoctoral research in the Department of Earth Sciences.

The generosity of the Foundation has provided vital opportunities for young researchers to gain academic experience and to establish themselves within their field. Leventis-supported scholars have been keenly involved in bringing their ideas and discoveries to a wider audience, taking their research beyond the academic environment of the lecture theatre and engaging with the public. The Foundation’s long-standing support has helped Exeter become one of the largest and most successful centres for Classics and Ancient History in the UK.