Classical Studies

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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 is 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.
== Etymology: ==
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.[2] For example, Aulus Gellius, in his Attic Nights, contrasts "classicus" and "proletarius" writers.[3] By the 6th century AD, the word had acquired a second meaning, referring to pupils at a school.[2] 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.
== History: ==
=== Middle Ages: ===
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.[4] Medieval education taught students to imitate earlier classical models,[5] 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.[5]
While Latin was hugely influential, however, Greek was barely studied, and Greek literature survived almost solely in Latin translation.[6] The works of even major Greek authors such as Hesiod, whose names continued to be known by educated Europeans, were unavailable in the Middle Ages.[6] In the thirteenth century, the English philosopher Roger Bacon wrote that "there are not four men in Latin Christendom who are acquainted with the Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic grammars."[7]
Along with the unavailability of Greek authors, there were other differences between the classical canon known today and the works valued in the Middle Ages. Catullus, for instance, was almost entirely unknown in the medieval period.[6] The popularity of different authors also waxed and waned throughout the period: Lucretius, popular during the Carolingian period, was barely read in the twelfth century, while for Quintilian the reverse is true.[6]
=== Renaissance: ===
The Renaissance led to the increasing study of both ancient literature and ancient history,[8] as well as a revival of classical styles of Latin.[9] From the 14th century, first in Italy and then increasingly across Europe, Renaissance Humanism, an intellectual movement that "advocated the study and imitation of classical antiquity",[8] developed. Humanism saw a reform in education in Europe, introducing a wider range of Latin authors as well as bringing back the study of Greek language and literature to Western Europe.[9] This reintroduction was initiated by Petrarch (1304–1374) and Boccaccio (1313–1375) who commissioned a Calabrian scholar to translate the Homeric poems.[10] This humanist educational reform spread from Italy, in Catholic countries as it was adopted by the Jesuits, and in countries that became Protestant such as England, Germany, and the Low Countries, in order to ensure that future clerics were able to study the New Testament in the original language.[11]
=== Neoclassicism: ===
The late 17th and 18th centuries are the period in Western European literary history which is most associated with the classical tradition, as writers consciously adapted classical models.[12] Classical models were so highly prized that the plays of William Shakespeare were rewritten along neoclassical lines, and these "improved" versions were performed throughout the 18th century.[13]
From the beginning of the 18th century, the study of Greek became increasingly important relative to that of Latin.[14] In this period Johann Winckelmann's claims for the superiority of the Greek visual arts influenced a shift in aesthetic judgements, while in the literary sphere, G.E. Lessing "returned Homer to the centre of artistic achievement".[15] In the United Kingdom, the study of Greek in schools began in the late 18th century. The poet Walter Savage Landor claimed to have been one of the first English schoolboys to write in Greek during his time at Rugby School.[16]
=== 19th century: ===
The 19th century saw the influence of the classical world, and the value of a classical education, decline,[17] especially in the US, where the subject was often criticised for its elitism.[18] By the 19th century, little new literature was still being written in Latin – a practice which had continued as late as the 18th century – and a command of Latin declined in importance.[11] Correspondingly, classical education from the 19th century onwards began to increasingly de-emphasise the importance of the ability to write and speak Latin.[14] In the United Kingdom this process took longer than elsewhere. Composition continued to be the dominant classical skill in England until the 1870s, when new areas within the discipline began to increase in popularity.[19] In the same decade came the first challenges to the requirement of Greek at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, though it would not be finally abolished for another 50 years.[20]
Though the influence of classics as the dominant mode of education in Europe and North America was in decline in the 19th century, the discipline was rapidly evolving in the same period. Classical scholarship was becoming more systematic and scientific, especially with the "new philology" created at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century.[21] Its scope was also broadening: it was during the 19th century that ancient history and classical archaeology began to be seen as part of classics rather than separate disciplines.[19]
=== 20th century to present: ===
During the 20th century, the study of classics became less common. In England, for instance, Oxford and Cambridge universities stopped requiring students to have qualifications in Greek in 1920,[20] and in Latin at the end of the 1950s.[22] When the National Curriculum was introduced in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland in 1988, it did not mention the classics.[22] By 2003, only about 10% of state schools in Britain offered any classical subjects to their students at all.[23] In 2016, AQA, the largest exam board for A-Levels and GCSE's in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, announced that it would be scrapping A-Level subjects in Classical Civilization, Archaeology, and Art History.[24] This left just one out of five exam boards in England which still offered Classical Civilization as a subject. The decision was immediately denounced by archaeologists and historians, with Natalie Haynes of the Guardian stating that the loss of the A-Level would deprive state school students, 93% of all students, the opportunity to study classics while making it once again the exclusive purview of wealthy private-school students.[25]
However, the study of classics has not declined as fast elsewhere in Europe. In 2009, a review of Meeting the Challenge, a collection of conference papers about the teaching of Latin in Europe, noted that though there is opposition to the teaching of Latin in Italy, it is nonetheless still compulsory in most secondary schools.[26] The same can be said in the case of France or Greece, too. Indeed, Ancient Greek is one of the compulsory subjects in Greek secondary education, whereas in France, Latin is one of the optional subjects that can be chosen in a majority of middle schools and high schools. Ancient Greek is also still being taught, but not as much as Latin.
== Links: ==
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classics
-https://classicalstudies.org/
-https://duckduckgo.com/?q=classical+studies&atb=v33-1__&ia=web
Category:Classical Studies
Category:Italian Art
Category:Art History
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