Classics
Channel: 宇宙のすべての知識 プリンシピア
Date: 28/01/2019

Classics, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5178 / CC BY SA 3.0

#Ancient_Greece
#Study_of_ancient_Rome
#Classical_studies
#Humanities
Classics

Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. It encompasses the study of the Greco-Roman world, particularly of its languages and literature (Ancient Greek and Classical Latin) but also of Greco-Roman philosophy, history, and archaeology. Traditionally in the West, the study of the Greek and Roman classics was considered one of the cornerstones of the humanities and a fundamental element of a rounded education. The study of classics has therefore traditionally been a cornerstone of a typical elite education.

Study encompasses specifically a time-period of history from the mid-2nd millennium BC to the 6th century AD.

The word "classics" is derived from the Latin adjective "classicus", meaning "belonging to the highest class of citizens". The word was originally used to describe the members of the highest class in ancient Rome. By the 2nd century AD the word was used in literary criticism to describe writers of the highest quality. For example, Aulus Gellius, in his "Attic Nights", contrasts "classicus" and "proletarius" writers. By the 6th century AD, the word had acquired a second meaning, referring to pupils at a school. Thus the two modern meanings of the word, referring both to literature considered to be of the highest quality, and to the standard texts used as part of a curriculum, both derive from Roman use.

In the Middle Ages, classics and education were tightly intertwined; according to Jan Ziolkowski, there is no era in history in which the link was tighter. Medieval education taught students to imitate earlier classical models, and Latin continued to be the language of scholarship and culture, despite the increasing difference between literary Latin and the vernacular languages of Europe during the period.

While Latin was hugely influential, however, Greek was barely studie...