The ERC project Classical Influences and Irish Culture (CLIC, grant no. 818366) addresses Ireland’s unique and hitherto underexplored history of cultural engagement with models from ancient Greece and Rome. It asks why Ireland, a northern European country never colonized by Rome, has such a rich history of classical reception, and what is distinctive about that history? The project answers these questions through a multi-thematic analytical approach, anchored to nine themes of diachronic relevance: language; land; migration; Troy; satire; Platonism; female voices; material culture; and global influence. The multi-thematic approach provides a heuristic framework that generates dialogue between normally disparate fields, such as classical reception studies, Irish and British history, English-language literature, Irish-language literature, medieval studies, postcolonial studies, philosophy, material culture, women’s studies, and global studies. The project engages with contemporary preoccupations surrounding the politics and history of the divided island of Ireland, such as the decade of centenary commemorations for the foundation of an independent Irish state (1912-1922, 2012-2022), the on-going political divisions in Northern Ireland generated by Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol, and recent scholarship on the complexities of Irish cultural identity. These issues are a springboard for opening new avenues of investigation that look far beyond the past 100 years, but are linked to them. Our project argues that sources from classical antiquity have consistently been exploited in thematically specific ways across the island, and throughout its history. The research sheds new light on the role of classical culture in shaping social, literary, and political discourse in Ireland and in facilitating the articulation of diverse Irish identities. The project’s central objective is to demonstrate the overwhelming pervasiveness of appropriations of classical culture in Ireland from the medieval period to the present day. Understanding Ireland’s deep-rooted indigenous and pre-colonial expertise in classical learning translated into Irish vernaculars and native forms, and the continuing legacy of classical appropriation for social and political expression across the island, generates new perspectives on the polyphonic diversity of Irish history, culture and identities.
