The Taberna
Transform Your Classics Research into Impactful Ventures
Empowering classicists to create purpose-driven businesses that resonate.
You’ve done the hard part. You’ve written the disseration (and maybe monograph), lived the questions, and carried the ancient into the present. Now what?
THE PROBLEM
Too many brilliant classicists are shut out of academia—not for lack of talent, but because the system is unsustainable.
THE SOLUTION
Your work deserves a second life—one that’s alive, sustainable, and public-facing. One that has IMPACT.
THE PLAN
At The Taberna, we help you:
🔧 1. Reframe Your Research
Explore how your thesis, expertise, or ancient theme can become a purpose-driven venture. You’ll discover applications you never knew were possible.
✍️ 2. Shape Your Story
We help you articulate your mission, name your idea, and build a narrative that turns your classical research into a compelling offer—without dumbing it down.
🚀 3. Start Your Venture
From idea to audience, we’ll guide you through launching your first project, microbusiness, or platform—something real, something yours.
You don’t have to leave your research behind. You can live it.
Scholarship Isn’t Over. It’s Changing.
What Could Your Research Become?
Your dissertation isn't dead weight. It's dormant potential. At The Taberna, we help classicists imagine how their research could live again—as ventures, platforms, or cultural initiatives. Below are just a few of the ways dissertation ideas might transform into real business ideas.
1. Dissertation: “The Reception of Stoicism in Late Antiquity”
Business Idea:
🧘♀️ Ethical Resilience for Creatives – A coaching or workshop platform teaching Stoic-inspired tools for mental clarity and creative focus, aimed at freelancers and artists.
2. Dissertation: "The Garden in Roman Philosophy"
Business Idea:
🌿 Hortus Ethica – A contemplative garden design studio using ancient ecological and archaeological methods to guide sustainable landscapes.
3. Dissertation: “Epic and Empire: Power in Virgil’s Aeneid”
Business Idea:
📚 Narrative Power Lab – A storytelling consultancy that helps activists and nonprofits use classical narrative structure to frame modern political change.
4. Dissertation: “Greek Concepts of Justice in Tragedy”
Business Idea:
⚖️ Ethos Mediation – A justice-informed facilitation and dialogue service for communities, based on classical ethics and restorative principles.
5. Dissertation: “Rhetoric in Cicero’s Political Speeches”
Business Idea:
🎤 Civitas Rhetoric – Public speaking and persuasion workshops for climate advocates and community organizers, drawing on classical rhetoric for contemporary issues.
6. Dissertation: “Time, Memory, and Monument in Roman Funerary Inscriptions”
Business Idea:
⏳ Living Legacy Design – A digital memorial service that helps families design ritual-rich, ethically curated legacy websites with classical aesthetic inspiration.
7. Dissertation: “Epigraphy and Memory in Republican Rome”
Business Idea:
🔠 Inscripted – A visual design and engraving service turning personal stories into custom, typographic inscriptions for modern rituals and milestones.
8. Dissertation: “Imagining the Underworld: Katabasis in Greek Epic”
Business Idea:
🌌 Thresholds Coaching – A life transition coaching business (grief, career shifts, identity work) grounded in mythic journey structures and transformation.
9. Dissertation: “Agriculture and Imperial Power in Roman North Africa”
Business Idea:
🌱 Classical Soil – A sustainability education project that explores food justice, land use, and ancient agricultural wisdom through workshops or publications.
10. Dissertation: “Myth and Ecology in Ovid’s Metamorphoses”
Business Idea:
🦋 Mythos Studio – A creative consultancy that helps eco-brands and climate initiatives tell stories of transformation using classical myth.
My name is David Wallace-Hare. I’m a Classicist.
I founded The Taberna to help classicists like you reimagine your work beyond the academy. With a PhD in Classics (University of Toronto) and an MSc in Charity Marketing & Fundraising (Bayes Business School, City, University of London), I’ve also worked across digital strategy and ethical finance. I’m a PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner certified project manager, and currently Chair of the Fundraising Committee at the Society for Classical Studies, where I lead major giving and donor research efforts.
Your Venture Guide at
The Taberna
The Taberna is grounded in a simple idea: that research doesn’t need institutional permission to matter. Many of us—PhDs, ECRs, contingent faculty, and independent scholars—are already creating teaching resources, public history platforms, research-led projects, and mission-driven ventures. The Taberna helps you treat that work as real, and supports you to structure, fund, and grow it with intention.
Follow me here: www.linkedin.com/in/david-wallace-hare
Process & Pricing – Build with Flexibility
We believe in value without gatekeeping. All prices below are designed for early-career researchers, sessionals, and PhDs building futures from their work.
💡 Installments available for all tiers. Sliding scale options can be discussed in the initial call.
We welcome payments in all currencies via Stripe (or bank transfer). Please note that prices are listed in GBP (£), as The Taberna is based in the UK. Stripe will automatically handle currency conversion at checkout.
🧭 Starter Session – Free
30 minutes | 1:1 exploratory call
For classicists curious about whether their ideas could become real ventures.
✔ Discover what’s possible
✔ Talk through barriers
✔ No jargon, no pressure
🏗️ Mini Build – £90
3 sessions (45–60 mins each)
Map your idea and build the early foundation.
✔ Identify your value proposition
✔ Understand your audience (market segmentation, positioning, branding inter alia)
✔ Start outlining a service or offer
✔ Start outlining mechanics of running the business and options (banking options, accounting software, CRM choice, etc.)
💳 Split it!: £45 x 2
Best for:
ECRs, sessionals, and PhDs testing an idea or working on a tight schedule.
🏛️ Full Build – £180
6 sessions
Go from idea to initial offer with structure and storytelling.
✔ All of Mini Build +
✔ Craft your brand and message
✔ Design your value proposition and price
✔ Set up basic legal/registration steps (we will help you set up your business for your location)
✔ Website hosting and build
💳 Split your payment: £60 x 3 or £90 x 2
Best for:
Those ready to turn research into a real venture, solo practice, or paid project.
🔧 Custom Support – £30/hr
Light touch feedback, 1-off coaching, design reviews, or brand clarity work.
✔ Website copy check
✔ Branding brainstorm
✔ 1:1 narrative or compliance consult
You can book this as needed after the Starter or Mini Build.
Ready to explore what your research could become?
If you’re a classicist—PhD, ECR, or sessional—who wants to build something real from your ideas, let’s talk.
This is a free hour session to help you imagine new possibilities for your work—no pressure, no prep required. Just curiosity and a willingness to begin.
You’re not leaving your research behind. You’re living it differently—through design, policy, storytelling, coaching, publishing, or systems change. The form changes, but the fire doesn’t.
Still a Classicist. Still a Thinker. Now, a Maker.
Not ready to book a call? That’s okay.
Whether you’re curious, cautious, or quietly cooking up an idea, this space is for you.
Use the form below to ask a question, start a conversation, or share what’s on your mind.
We're always glad to hear from classicists exploring new paths—or wondering if there might be one.
