Professor Werner Eck, one of the lead archaeologists of our time, recently visited the School of European Culture and Languages and gave a talk entitled ‘Beyond the Rhine: The Lost Augustan Province of Germany’, in association with the Department of Classical and Archaeological studies.

In this wide-ranging lecture on the lost Augustan province of Germany, he reviewed the original intentions of Augustus in stabilising the Empire’s northern frontier, drawing on texts, epigraphy, and the latest archaeological evidence, to free us from the hindsight of Roman historians, who wished to cover up what became Rome’s greatest failure. This story, of Herman the German (Arminius), and the rise of ‘Free Germany’ has long played a key role in the German national myth.

Just one example of the range of opportunities provided by the School of European Culture & Languages for students to interact with and learn from experts in their field of study, this lecture was a result of the Department of Classical & Archaeological Studies’ dynamic outreach programme. A full recording of the lecture is available online.

The Department of Classical & Archaeological Studies offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, including MA programmes that include a term at Kent’s Rome School of Classical and Renaissance Studies as well as an 18-month programme at our centre in Athens. Find out more at www.kent.ac.uk/courses.