Over the past decade, a surge of interest in the global study of Greco-Roman Classics is generating a rapidly growing body of scholarship that examines the history of classical learning and literary engagement around the world. The Janus Project directs the study of Greco-Roman languages and texts towards another body of texts also known as ‘Classics’: the ancient Chinese philosophical and literary canon and the intellectual traditions that grew up around it. In the sixteenth century, ancient Chinese and Greco-Roman literary and philosophical traditions encountered each other in the context of the Jesuit missions, generating a unique corpus of texts written in both languages and influenced by both intellectual traditions. The Janus Project, founded thanks to a grant from the University of Oxford’s John Fell OUP Research Fund, hosts a series of events focused on the comparisons and connections between Greco-Roman and East Asian Classics, with a special focus on the cross-cultural corpus of texts generated in the 16th–19th centuries.

The aim of the Janus Project is to facilitate scholarly conversation and collaboration on Classics between East Asia and ancient Greece and Rome. If you are interested in attending our events and joining this network, please get in touch.