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The murderous intrigues of politics in ancient Rome have always fascinated historians. While the material has been trawled endlessly by classics scholars, fresh interpretations are still possible - and PhD student Nathan Leber provided one when presenting a paper at last year's Australasian Society for Classical Studies conference.

The letters of the famous Roman statesman Cicero provided graduate Nathan Leber with material for his paper Tied to the apron strings of Servilia: the compliance of Brutus in Cicero which stirred international interest and was voted equal runner-up at the annual conference.

The paper suggests that one of the grande dames of Roman power politics, Servilia (Caesar's mistress and the mother of his assassin, Brutus) played a significant role following the drama that unfolded on the Ides of March in 44BC.

"Most scholars focus on speeches made by the statesman, Cicero, who had been sympathetic to the assassins, however I turned to his letters as my major source," says the UWA researcher. "We have hundreds of Cicero's letters to friends and family following the assassination and they provide a more intimate and personal perspective than his public speeches."

Nathan's paper forms part of a doctorate that looks at the complex motives of Cicero during this dramatic period.

"As a political player, Cicero is a fascinating character and it's interesting to chart his rise because he wasn't an aristocrat, didn't come from a wealthy background or have family connections, yet he rose to the pinnacle of Roman politics. For researchers, the attraction is that he left behind so many speeches and letters. I have enough material for a lifetime of research," says Nathan.

"What particularly interests me is studying how Cicero depicts people in the period after Caesar's assassination: why, for instance, he portrays Brutus as compliant and Mark Anthony as a drunken womaniser. I am examining his motives at a time when Rome was falling apart and people like Cicero were trying to hold on to a semblance of power. Ultimately he fails and meets a bloody end, with his head and hands (the hands that wrote all those words) being delivered to Mark Anthony."

Nathan says that while Servilia was acknowledged as influential, Cicero portrays her as stepping beyond the bounds of what was acceptable for a powerful woman in Rome. "And classical literature is full of ambitious women who do that and get into trouble," he observes. "In fact Servilia survived and Caesar's assassination achieved little. Romans didn't like the idea of a dictator who wouldn't share power, so the great challenge for his successor was to grasp the reins of power but make everyone think they had a choice in the matter!"

Nathan admits to being so passionate about his research that he can disappear into his study for a dozen hours straight.

"My wife can't bear to even hear the names of Caesar and Cicero and my two-year-old son can't figure out why I disappear for long periods," confesses the PhD student whose doctorate studies follow a triple major in Latin, Greek and Ancient History.

Being proficient in both Latin and Ancient Greek has been a vital prerequisite for Nathan's research and he is delighted that Latin appears to be enjoying something of a revival. He speculates that this is spurred by the fact that medical students can now opt to do a Latin elective, while a younger cohort of Latin enthusiasts has been generated by Harry Potter's wizardry with spells and charms that are based on Latin.

"First year Latin enrolments at UWA doubled in the last two years and this brings benefits in other areas," says Nathan. "A lot of people lament the loss of formal grammar teaching in schools but because Latin is a language with rules, we find the benefits flowing into English grammar are huge."

Nathan began his professional life as a jazz musician, but a tendon injury brought him to study in UWA's School of Classics and Ancient History. He clearly feels he is in the right place at the right time because UWA is pioneering the application of computers to the study of ancient languages and has assembled considerable expertise in diverse areas of the discipline. And enrolments in Ancient History are impressive.

Many students are no doubt attracted to UWA by the calibre of specialists including Winthrop Professor John Melville-Jones, president of the Australian Association for Byzantine Studies and a specialist in Greek Numismatics, Winthrop Professor David Kennedy (the archaeology of Roman empire and aerial archaeology in the Middle East), Honorary Research Fellow Judith Maitland (Hellenistic and Roman Theatre), Dr Neil O'Sullivan (Greek language and literature) and Dr Lara O'Sullivan (Athenian history) and lecturer in Classics and Ancient History, Dr Michael Champion.

"It's a wonderful thing that in this University you have this critical mass of specialists. Perhaps it is something to do with Western Australia's isolation that allows us to be a little bit more adventurous in the way we look at things - we tend to think outside the box," speculates Nathan who until recently did casual teaching at UWA and taught Latin courses for UWA Extension.

His teaching won him a high commendation and, now that he is into the home stretch of his PhD, he hopes a career blending teaching with research lies ahead. Recently, he accepted a full-time post as a Latin teacher at Saint Ignatius College in Lane Cove, NSW.

In Western Australia, 12 schools offer Stage 3 (Year 12) Ancient History and another three offer Stage 2 (Year 11 or Year 12). Nathan says that, in New South Wales, Ancient History is the seventh most popular HSC subject.

Published in Uniview Vol. 31 No. 2 Winter 2012