The 2017–2018 Rumble Fund trip returned to Rome – in connection with our King’s BA module on ‘Roman art’. In total 20 students benefited from the trip (including two MA students), which was led by Dr Michael Squire and Dr John Pearce.
The Rumble Fund provides an opportunity for students to visit the sites and monuments that they study here in London. The 2017–2018 visit to Rome, in December 2017, marked the fifth anniversary of the Fund: as in previous years, all costs of the trip were covered thanks to the generosity of the Jamie Rumble Memorial Fund. The Department of Classics at King’s is still the only place in Britain that offers such extended fieldtrips to classical lands – integrated within our programme of undergraduate/graduate modules, and without cost to students.
Each day of the trip was packed with museums and sites (over 20 in total): particular highlights included the special-access tours we arranged to the Vatican necropolis, the Houses of Livia and Augustus on the Palatine and to the Domus Aurea (‘Golden House’) of the Emperor Nero. Our hotel was located right in the heart of the Centro Storico – in the Monti district of Rome (just a five-minute walk from the Forum). Tours and visits were arranged in collaboration with the British School at Rome, and students enjoyed a special lecture at the School (by Dr Thomas-Leo True), followed by a drinks reception and dinner.
As in previous years, students took to social media to share their experiences of the trip: you can follow their posts using the hashtag #kclrumble17 (on twitter and instagram), or through our Facebook group. Other students found inspiration in Rome for the competition on the theme of ‘Modern Classicisms’ – the deadline for which is 22 January 2018. Congratulations to Ciara Meehan, who won the Faculty’s competition for both best social media photograph and best diary: the film that Ciara made about the trip can be viewed below.
The Department of Classics is hugely grateful to all those who helped with this year’s trip to Rome, especially staff at the British School at Rome (under the directorship of Prof. Stephen Milner). Above all, though, we are grateful to the former King’s student who established the Jamie Rumble Memorial Fund in 2012.
There was also a chance to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Jamie Rumble Memorial Fund at the 2018 Rumble Lecture in Classical Art – delivered by Prof. Mary Beard on Wednesday 14 March 2018. To date, over 120 students have benefited from the trips organised through the Rumble Fund, we welcomed many of them back to King’s for the celebratory lecture!
The Classics Department’s 2016–2017 Rumble Trip involved the largest ever number of students: in total, 30 students were able to visit Greece, as part of their King's College London BA and MA Modules on the ‘Classical Art of the Body: Greek Sculpture and its Legacy’, led by Dr Michael Squire.
As with all such fieldtrips, the excursion gave students first-hand access to the monuments and materials studied here in London. Thanks to the generosity of the Jamie Rumble Memorial Fund, the trip was wholly without cost to our students. To read a student diary of the trip, written by Emilie Hames, please read the Rumble Trip report below.
In the heart of Athens
This year trip’s was scheduled to correspond with the winter break – and we were blessed with glorious December sunshine. Students stayed in a 4-star hotel right in the heart of the ancient city – just 100m from the new Acropolis museum.
The trip covered over fifteen museums and archaeological sites; an arranged handling session likewise gave our students the chance to get to grips with ancient bronze figurines, pots and statuettes (some of them almost 5,000 years old).
The trip was organized in close consultation with the British School at Athens, which hosted a special lecture for our students: on Monday 12th December, Professor Alan Shapiro (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore) addressed a packed lecture-room on the theme of ‘Bodily Functions: Drinking to Excess in Archaic Greece’, followed by a festive reception in the School’s Upper House.
A unique experience for Classics students
One of the things that makes King's College London Rumble trips so special is their unique access to sites and museum-rooms that are usually closed to the public. A particular highlight was our tour inside the Parthenon – visiting the very spot where Pheidias’ gold and ivory Athena Parthenos once stood (currently substituted by a giant crane, which presides over the building’s restoration).
Students will likewise never forget the magical surroundings of Delphi. Ancient myth has it that Apollo heads to the Hyperborean north each winter, and this year students almost had the site and Archaeological Museum at Delphi to themselves.
Ancient World meets modern
Students took to social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) to share their experiences and memories of the trip. Their posts, pictures and comments can be found under the hashtag #kclrumble16, as well as via their Facebook group. One of our BA Classics students, Emily Neal, created a video diary to share some of her highlights from the trip: Emily’s video is available here and embedded below.
Students and staff in the department are hugely grateful to all those who make our Rumble trips such a success, especially this year to Prof. Alan Shapiro and Robert Pitt, as well as to Prof. John Bennett, Dr Chryssanthi Papadopoulou and Tania Gerousi at the British School at Athens. Last but not least, we are grateful to our former student in the Department, who generously established the 'Jamie Rumble Memorial Fund' in 2012.
Thanks to the Jamie Rumble Memorial Fund
King’s has good reason to be proud of the Jamie Rumble Memorial Fund: we are still the only Classics department in Britain to offer such extended fieldtrips to the Mediterranean, integrated within our undergraduate and graduate programmes, and without cost to our students. Similar trips to Classical lands – accompanied by departmental teaching staff, and integrated within our courses – are offered each year, and are open to all King’s BA and/or MA students.
The Rumble Fund also sponsors a variety of other events at King’s. In particular, King’s hosts a free annual Rumble Fund Lecture (followed by a reception), to which all are warmly invited. The 2017 lecture will be delivered by Prof. Elizabeth Prettejohn at 6pm on Wednesday 15th March, addressing the theme of 'Beauty & Classical Form'.
Student Report: Rumble Fund Trip 2016-17
By Emilie Hames
After arguably one of the most politically unsettling years in recent history, I think it’s fair to say that the 2016 Rumble Trip to Athens provided an opportunity for a much needed escape. With a G&T in one hand and a turkey sandwich in the other, we were bound for Athens, for five days of pure sculptural indulgence! After arriving at our 4* hotel – right in the heart of Athens – we headed out for our first group dinner, with stunning views out to the Hephaestion.
On our second day we visited the architectural ruins of the Agora and the Kerameikos, guided by Greek historian Robert Pitt. In the afternoon we ventured across the city to the Piraeus Archaeological Museum, and later to the Acropolis Museum where we saw many familiar faces among the Kouroi and Kourai.
The following day we trekked up the Acropolis. On such a quiet, winter morning we were able to experience the Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheum in unusual tranquillity. A personal highlight was the privileged access to the interior of the Parthenon, guided by the Greek Archaeological Service.
After a lightning-quick lunch break, we headed to the National Archaeological Museum, and later walked on to the British School at Athens (in the plush Kolonaki district). Here we took part in a handling session featuring Mycenaean and Cycladic figurines, before we attended a wonderful lecture by Alan Shapiro (on the topic of ‘Drinking to Excess’ and the distorted bodies of Archaic black-figure vase-painting…).
On our fourth day we travelled to the centre of the world - Delphi! We followed the footsteps of the ancients and ambled along the Sacred Way, piecing together the architectural remnants of this world-renowned site. The slopes of Mount Parnassum created a breath-taking backdrop to the site, encouraging us to imagine how much grander it would have looked in its prime.
We stopped for lunch in the quaint modern town of Delphi before returning to explore the Delphi Archaeological Museum. The day ended back in Athens with a group farewell dinner – and a jolly time by all! Before heading back to London on day five, we had time to tour the southern slopes of the Acropolis – including a recitation or two (in original Greek, of course) within the Theatre of Dionysus.
With newly formed friendships and a wealth of experiential learning, this trip allowed us to continue our learning outside of the classroom in a wholly exciting and engaging way. Long live the Rumble Fund, and many thanks on behalf of all 30 students this year for such a fantastic trip!
The 2015-16 academic year saw the Department’s first Rumble Trip to Italy: from 13 to 17 December 2015 a group of some 20 students departed for a jam-packed tour of Rome.
As with all departmental Rumble Trips, the full costs of this trip were covered by the Jamie Rumble Memorial Fund. Staying right in the heart of the city, students were given unique and privileged access to Rome’s archaeological highlights; a series of tours and visits were arranged in collaboration with the British School at Rome. This year, the Rumble trip was led in close conjunction with our undergraduate modules on Roman Art, and guided by Dr Michael Squire and Dr John Pearce.
Students were able to enjoy the many splendours that Rome has to offer, and the city looked especially stunning with its Christmas lights and festive windows. Not only did students enjoy specially arranged seminars and a lecture at the British School at Rome, they were also given privileged access to monuments and sites usually closed to the public (including the Mausoleum of Augustus, parts of the Castel Sant’ Angelo and the Vatican Necropolis). The trip took in many highlights – including numerous museums (the Palazzo Massimo, Musei Capitolini, Palazzo Valentini, the Ara Pacis Museum and Palazzo Altemps), as well as all the most important archaeological sites (and ice-cream shops!) in the city.
For a brief report on the trip by one of our students, please see Pippa Leon’s diary below. This year, for the first time, we also established a hashtag for students to post their pictures and comments: tweets, photos and posts can be found under the hashtag #kclrumblerome, or through the Facebook group.
Students and staff in the department are hugely grateful to everyone who made the trip such a success, not least to the British School at Rome and its Director, Prof. Christopher Smith. Above all, we are grateful to our former student who established the Jamie Rumble Memorial Fund in 2012.
Plans for the 2016–2017 Rumble Trip are now well underway: the department will be returning to Greece, in connection with undergraduate and postgraduate modules on the Classical Art of the Body.
Staff and students are hugely proud of the fully subsidised learning opportunities that the Rumble Fund facilitates: King’s is currently the only Classics Department in Britain to offer such extended fieldtrips to Classical lands, integrated within our programme of undergraduate/graduate modules, and without any cost to our students. Similar trips to Classical lands – accompanied by departmental teaching staff, and integrated within our Classical archaeology modules – are offered each year, and are open to all King’s BA and/or MA students free of charge. For further information about the Rumble Fund, or to find out about other initiatives within our Classical art history teaching programme, please contact Dr Michael Squire.
Student Report: Rumble Fund Trip 2015-16
By Pippa Leon
The trip to Rome started the same way it finished for me. With cheese and gelato! After arriving at the hotel we each headed out to find dinner and ice cream to prepare ourselves for the jam-packed few days we had ahead of us. Pizza of course was the first meal and after eating ourselves in to a bit of a stupor we headed back towards the hotel for our first daily gelato and got ready for our first full day.
The Roman Forum was first up and Christopher, the director of The British School at Rome, gave us a tour of the site and imparted his extensive knowledge on the area to us. It was incredible to think of how the forum would have looked in all its glory.
The next day was spent at the Capitoline Hill and the Camptius Martius. We were given a very special opportunity of going inside the Mausoleum of Augustus which gave us a unique insight into the importance of understanding and conserving ancient artefacts and the opportunity to try and wrap our minds around what Mussolini was thinking!
The next day, and our last full day, after exploring the Theatre of Marcellus and other sites nearby we headed over to Palazzo Valentini. Expecting it to be a house full of statues and mosaics we were rather surprised when guided in to a dark room with a glass floor and then guided round the ancient dwelling by a bodyless voice!
The museum was fantastic, we were taken round all the different areas of the ancient villa, being able to walk from room to room elevated above the original ground level. It was not what we expected at all but it was certainly a wonderful experience.
On our last evening we all enjoyed a delicious dinner as a group in a local restaurant and after our cheesefilled meal Mike and John, dressed as gladiators, pardoned those of us who may have indulged in a little too much vino..!
One of the highlights of the trip for me was the morning of time travel we enjoyed at the Vatican. We were taken on a tour of the Roman Necropolis, two levels under the floor of today’s basilica, and we entered a Roman street. The un-level floors, the high walls and the narrowness of the pathway as we walked around the atriums and tombs of ancient Romans was such a wonderful last visit of the trip.
It was such a wonderful few days and after racing off to find our last gelato of the trip we headed back to the airport with much fuller brains and much fuller stomachs. We were given the opportunity to learn more than we could have learnt just in a class room and also the opportunity to make friendships that would not have been possible with out the bringing together of the group on such a fantastic trip.
Students in the Department of Classics have returned from a remarkable Rumble Fund trip to Greece. The trip took place from 16–20 February 2015 and in total, some twenty undergraduates were able to benefit from this unique opportunity, within the context of their BA module ‘Classical Art of the Body’.
The tour was led by Dr Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis and Dr Michael Squire, and was run in close collaboration with the British School at Athens. Students stayed in a 4-star hotel right in the heart of the ancient city – just 100m from the new Acropolis museum.
Our trip took in many highlights, including some dozen museums and sites. The Department of Classics was also able to arrange access to sites normally closed to the public – including a magisterial tour inside the Parthenon.
Students likewise took part in a specially arranged day-trip to Delphi: despite the snow on Mount Parnassus, Apollo looked favourably upon us, bathing our visit in sublime winter sunshine. A special handling session was also organized at the British School, enabling students to work get to grips with objects studied in London.
This was followed by an evening reception at the British School at Athens, and a wonderful guest-lecture by Professor Dimitris Plantzos on ‘Caryatids lost and regained: Re-branding the classical body in contemporary Greece’.
After each intensive day of visits, students were able to unwind at some of Athens best eateries (all organized and paid for by the department). The British School at Athens events likewise allowed King’s students to meet other international scholars and undergraduates studying Classical Archaeology at the University of Athens.
Students and staff in the department are hugely grateful to everyone who made the trip such a success, especially to Dr Evangelia Minidou, Robert Pitt, Professor Dimitris Plantzos and Dr Estelle Strazdins (for their help with guided tours and lectures), as well as to Professor Catherine Morgan, Dr Chryssanthi Papadopoulou and Tania Gerousi at the British School at Athens.
Last but not least, we are grateful to our former student who established the ‘Jamie Rumble Memorial Fund’ in 2013: this fund, set up in recognition of the department’s excellence in teaching, allows all our students to take part in such trips without any personal cost.
In October 2013 students visited Athens within a module on the ‘Classical Art of the Body’, led by Dr Michael Squire and Dr Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis.
What our students said about the 2013–2014 Rumble Trip to Athens:
- ‘The week in Athens was without doubt the best experience of my university years.’ Katerina (2nd year, B.A. Classical Archaeology)
- ‘Having so many once-in-a-lifetime experiences in a single trip – from holding a Cycladic figurine to seeing where the Athena Parthenos stood – was truly amazing. I am currently revising from first-hand experience rather than just library books.’ Hayley (3rd year, B.A. Classical Studies)
- ‘The Rumble Fund field trip to Athens brought Classical statuary to life: it allowed us to see in the flesh objects that we would otherwise only have studied in books. Saxa loquuntur!’ Sam (1st year, PhD Student)
- ‘An amazing opportunity to explore Athens and the vast collection of artifacts discussed in class. The field trip was a hugely rewarding experience which complemented the lectures and enabled us to get to know each other as a group.’ Emily (2nd year, B.A. Classical Studies)
- ‘Being in Athens has inspired me to engage with every aspect of my Classics degree. I am now able to visualise the context of the Greek art and architecture we have been studying – which has made learning about it all the more exciting.’ Bella (3rd year, B.A. Classics)
Pictured here (clockwise from top left): 2013-14 Rumble Trip Group photo; Vishnu imagines drinking wine from a black-figure Attic kylix; Helen wears an original sixth-century B.C. hoplite helmet from Sparta; Matteo holds a 5000-year-old Cycladic figure.