The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, generally known as the Hellenic Society, was founded in 1879 to advance the study of Greek language, literature, history, art and archaeology in the Ancient, Byzantine and Modern periods. It has done this ever since by various means, chief among them being the annual publication of the Journal of Hellenic Studies and, since the 1950s, its supplement, Archaeological Reports, which are both supplied free of charge to members and subscribers of the Society.
The Society helps to maintain the Hellenic and Roman Library, in conjunction with the Roman Society and the Institute of Classical Studies. The Society also arranges an annual lecture series in London, holds occasional conferences, receptions and other meetings, and helps to arrange other lectures all around the UK in collaboration with the various local branches of the Classical Association.
The Society aims to help those engaged in Hellenic Studies at all levels, and to this end it makes grants of various kinds to schools, universities and other institutions, undergraduates, graduate students and young researchers.
The Society takes seriously the current debates about decolonisation and classics, and the President, Paul Cartledge, has published a paper in History and Policy setting out his own views: http://www.historyandpolicy.org/opinion-articles/articles/after-the-statues-fall-decolonising-hellenic-studies
History of the Society
SPHS Presidents
The Right Revd. J. B. Lightfoot 1879-1890
Prof. Sir Richard Jebb 1890-1905
Prof. Percy Gardner 1905-1910
Sir Arthur Evans 1910-1914
Walter Leaf 1914-1919
Sir Frederic Kenyon 1919-1924
Arthur Hamilton Smith 1924-1929
George Macmillan (Acting) 1928-1929
Prof. Ernest Gardner 1929-1932
Prof. R. M. Dawkins 1932-1935
Sir John Myres 1935-1938
Sir Richard Livingstone 1938-1941
Sir Arthur Pickard-Cambridge 1941-1945
Prof. Gilbert Murray 1945-1948
Prof. E. R. Dodds 1948-1951
Prof. T. B. L. Webster 1951-1954
Prof. D. Tarrant 1954-1956
Prof. A. W. Gomme 1956-1959
Prof. R. P. Winnington-Ingram 1959-1962
Prof. A. Andrewes 1962-1965
Prof. N. G. L. Hammond 1965-1968
Prof. E. G. Turner 1968-1971
Sir Kenneth Dover 1971-1974
Prof. R. Browning 1974-1977
Prof. G. S. Kirk 1977-1980
Prof. P. E. Corbett 1980-1983
Prof. G. B. Kerferd 1983-1986
Sir David Hunt 1986-1990
Prof. J. P. Barron 1990-1993
Prof. E. W. Handley 1993-1996
Prof. P. E. Easterling 1996-1999
Prof. C. J. Rowe 1999-2002
Prof. R. G. Osborne 2002-2006
Prof. C. B. R. Pelling 2006-2008
Prof. Malcolm Schofield 2008-2011
Prof. Chris Carey 2011-2014
Prof. Robert Fowler 2014-2017
Prof. Judith Mossman 2017-2020
Prof. Paul A. Cartledge 2020-2024
Dr Margaret Mountford 2024-
The Society's Archive
The Society is very fortunate to possess the personal correspondence of George A Macmillan, letters from Sir William Mitchell Ramsay, and a collection of early glass slides which were donated by William James Stillman. We have digitized some of these collections, which you can view here on our website:
George A Macmillan's Letters & Narrative of the first 50 years of the Society
William Mitchell Ramsay's Letters
A catalogue of the Stillman archive was published in No 56 of Archaeological Reports.
