About 180 people, many from overseas, will converge on Dunedin this week for an international classics conference last held in the city about 2005.
Conference convener Daniel Osland said about 50 people from New Zealand and 130 from abroad were attending the Australasian Society for Classical Studies 41st annual conference, which starts today and runs until Friday.
The event is hosted by the classics programme at the University of Otago School of Arts.
Public lectures begin today with "Straying from Myth", by Christchurch visual artist Marian Maguire.
Other lectures include "An Earthquake that Shook the World: Seismicity and Society in the Late Fourth Century CE", by Cam Grey, tomorrow and
"Te Iriata and the Illiad: On Translating Homer in Maori", by Simon Perris, on Friday.