    classics (also classical studies) is the study of the languages, literature, laws, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other material culture of ancient greece and ancient rome; especially during classical antiquity (ca. bce 600&nbsp;â ad 600). traditionally, the study of classical literature (greek and roman) was the principal study of the humanities. ==etymology== the word classics is derived from the latin adjective classicus, meaning "belonging to the highest class of citizens." ==history of the western classics== the first âclassicâ writer was aulus gellius, a 2nd-century roman writer who, in the miscellany noctes atticae (19, 8, 15), refers to a writer as a classicus scriptor, non proletarius (âa distinguished, not a commonplace writerâ). such classification began with the greeksâ ranking their cultural works, with the word canon (âcarpenterâs ruleâ). moreover, early christian church fathers used canon to rank the authoritative texts of the new testament, preserving them, given the expense of vellum and papyrus and mechanical book reproduction, thus, being comprehended in a canon ensured a bookâs preservation as the best way to retain information about a civilization. contemporarily, the western canon defines the best of western culture. in the ancient world, at the alexandrian library, scholars coined the greek term hoi enkrithentes (âthe admittedâ, âthe includedâ) to identify the writers in the canon. the method of study in the classical world was âphiloâs ruleâ: (lit.: "strike the divine coin anew")âthe law of strict continuity in preserving words and ideas.werner jaeger, paideia, eng. trans. 1939â44, vol. 2, p.xii. although the definitions of words and ideas might broaden, continuity (preservation) requires retention of their original arete (excellence, virtue, goodness). âphiloâs ruleâ imparts intellectual and aesthetic appreciation of âthe best, which has been thought and said in the worldâ. oxford classicist edward copleston said that classical education âcommunicates to the mind...a high sense of honour, a disdain of death in a good cause, [and] a passionate devotion to the welfare of oneâs countryâ,edward copleston, the victorians and ancient greece, richard jenkyns, 60. thus concurring with cicero that: âall literature, all philosophical treatises, all the voices of antiquity are full of examples for imitation, which wou
Ancient_Greece Ancient_Rome Classical_studies Humanities