Our sixth weekend will showcase the current burst of exploration and re-engagement with Classics and the ancient world. Artists, writers and thinkers, international and Irish, are taking Classics as a lens to examine our contemporary cultural and political preoccupations.
Our programme in late January 2026 will present inviting encounters including performances and readings, both online and live, in public spaces - art galleries and cultural centres - with a number of events appealing to second and third-level students. In interviews, discussions, film screenings and music theatre performances you will see and hear from artists working in different genres and art forms, in thought-provoking and imaginative ways.
Come and join the new Renaissance.
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The next ClassicsNow weekend will feature online and live events in Dublin with exciting writers and artists taking the ancient past as a way to reflect on our world today.
Classicist Daniel Mendelsohn’s elegant new verse translation of Homer’s Odyssey pays close attention to the sound and sense of the epic poem’s original Greek. Homer was also central to Mendelsohn’s moving memoir, An Odyssey: A Father, a Son and an Epic, recounting his Mediterranean travels with his late father, tracing the journey of Odysseus. This renowned New York essayist, critic and translator will be in conversation with novelist and critic, Belinda McKeon.
Supported by Literature Ireland
Whyte Recital Hall,
Royal Irish Academy of Music
Sunday February 1st, 6.30pm
Bringing insight, wit and originality to her readings of Classical myth, tragedy and history, the author and broadcaster Natalie Haynes presents her latest novel, No Friend To This House, which draws on Euripides’ tragedy, Medea. Join this award-winning writer for an evening re-imagining the story of Medea, Jason and the Golden Fleece, giving us an eye-opening reinterpretation of Medea: witch, sorceress and daughter of a brutal king.
Whyte Recital Hall,
Royal Irish Academy of Music
Saturday January 31st, 7 pm
The Classical Museum in University College Dublin holds the largest collection of Classical antiquities on display in Ireland, including Roman, Greek and Egyptian artefacts: ceramics, sculpture, jewellery and coins.
Join Museum Curator Dr Joanna Day for an introduction to the richness of the Museum collection.
School of Classics,
Newman Building,
University College Dublin
Saturday January 31st, 11.30am
Booking opens on January 12th from classicsnow.ie
The doomed love affair between Aeneas the Trojan hero and Dido Queen of Carthage inspired Henry Purcell’s 17th Century opera, Dido & Aeneas, which captures the tragedy of the lovers’ story as described in Virgil’s Aeneid. Discover the many facets of the fascinating Dido in a selection of readings and arias, including Purcell’s magnificent 'Dido’s Lament', performed by mezzo soprano Sharon Carty, with director Conor Hanratty and harpsichordist David O’Shea.
Vernon Studio,
Royal Irish Academy of Music.
Friday January 30th, 7pm
The invasion of the island of Melos by the Athenians in 416 BC sparked questions about the justifications for war and legacy of conflict, as we know from the Greek historian, Thucydides. He presented the arguments in his influential History of the Peloponnesian War, the 27-year war between Athens and Sparta. Join us for a new work-in-progress performance of Colin Murphy’s gripping version of the Melian Dialogue, followed by an incisive panel discussion chaired by Prof Brigid Laffan.
Kevin Barry Room,
National Concert Hall.
Friday January 30th, 12.30pm
Author, classicist and broadcaster Angie Hobbs champions the public understanding of ancient philosophy in all of her work. Her latest book, Why Plato Matters Now, explores with brilliant clarity Plato’s thinking about abuses of political power and how public life and community can flourish. It asks how his adaptation of the Socratic method and dialogue form can enable us to deal more constructively with contested issues in culture, politics and religion today. In Conversation event.
Unitarian Church,
St Stephen’s Green.
Saturday January 31st, 3pm
Booking opens in January
