Samuel Agbamu

Samuel Agbamu serves as Lecturer in Classics at the University of Reading, where he also holds administrative responsibilities as Exams Officer and will become Admissions Tutor from September 2025. His academic work bridges classical studies with contemporary political concerns, focusing on how ancient texts inform modern ideologies.

Agbamu's research centers on Latin epic and its reception, particularly examining classical humanism within imperial contexts through de-colonial and antiracist lenses. His work investigates how Latin literature contributes to constructions of post-classical ideologies and identities, with special attention to the relationship between Roman Africa and modern Italian imperialism. His first book, Restorations of Empire (2024, OUP), analyzed how modern Italian imperialism used the idea of Roman Africa to support colonial agendas in Africa. He is currently completing a second book focusing on Petrarch's fourteenth-century Latin epic Africa and its role in developing ideas of Italian nationhood and race.

His scholarly output reveals consistent thematic development across publications from 2019-2025, demonstrating deepening engagement with questions of race, empire, and classical reception. Agbamu's work increasingly intersects with contemporary political movements, particularly around decolonial approaches to antiquity and anti-racist scholarship in Classics.

• Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS)
• 2022-2025 Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship
• 2021-2022 British School at Rome, Rome Fellow (converted to Rome Award, April-June 2022)
• 2016-2019 AHRC Doctoral Studentship (London Arts and Humanities Partnership)

Agbamu actively supervises postgraduate projects related to Latin literature (particularly concerning Africa), Latin epic, race and ethnicity, Classical Reception, and postcolonial or decolonial approaches to antiquity. Beyond traditional academic work, he engages with non-academic audiences through publications in Omnibus and the Times Literary Supplement, appearances on BBC Radio 4's Detoxifying the Classics, interviews with international media, school and museum talks, and a forthcoming popular history book on classical antiquity's role in shaping modern racial ideas. He convenes the Race, empire, decoloniality research cluster at Reading, positioning himself at the intersection of academic research and social justice advocacy.