ST ANDREWS University’s 600th anniversary has been set in stone - literally. A stone inscribed with the Scots translation of Greek Poet Simonides work has been presented to the university by Historic Scotland to hang in its Main Library. It was created as part of a BBC Radio programme linked to Professor Robert Crawford’s translations of the ancient epitaphs for western soldiers killed in conflicts 2500 years ago in the territories of modern Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan.

Historic Scotland traditional skills officer, Charles Jones, carved the inscription which states: ‘The city is the Dominie o the man’ - dominie being the old scots word for teacher. He told the Citizen: “I was asked to begin the inscription as part of a BBC radio programme to reflect the classical tradition of inscribing these verses into stone. ‘Letter carving is a traditional skill worth preserving as inscriptions in stone have helped preserve the culture and identity of people and places for thousands of years. My role at Historic Scotland now is to promote traditional skills and I felt that this would be a good way to raise awareness that there are still people taking up stone carving and that there are opportunities for apprenticeships in stonemasonry.”