Classics
For other meanings, see Classics (disambiguation).Classics, particularly within the
Western university tradition, when used as a singular noun, means the study of the
language,
literature,
history,
art, and other aspects of
Greek and
Roman culture during the time frame known as
classical antiquity. As a plural noun
"classics" can refer to texts written in the ancient Mediterranean world. The study of classics is a primary subject for the
humanities, and the people reading classics are sometimes called
humanists but are more often referred to as
classicists.
The word is derived from the
Latin adjective classicus which literally means "belonging to the highest class of citizens", and has further connotations of superiority, authority and even
perfection. The first recorded use of the word was by
Aulus Gellius, a Roman author of the
second century who in his
miscellany Noctes Atticae (19, 8, 15) refers to
classicus scriptor, non proletarius. He was ranking writers according to the classification of the Roman taxation classes.
This method was started when the Greeks were constantly ranking their cultural work. The word they used was
canon; ancient Greek for a carpenter's rule. Moreover, early
Christian Church Fathers used this term to classify authoritative texts of the
New Testament. This rule further helped in the preservation of works since writing platforms of vellum and papyrus and methods of reproduction was not cheap. The title of
canon placed on a work meant that it would be more easily preserved for future generations. In modern times, a
Western canon was collated that defined the best of
Western culture.
At the Alexandrian Library, the ancient scholars coined another term for canonized authors,
hoi enkrithentes; "the admitted" or "the included".
Classical studies incorporate a certain type of methodology. The Rule of the classical world and of Christian culture and society was Philo's rule: :"Philo's rule dominated Greek culture, from Homer to Neo-Platonism and the Christian Fathers of late antiquity. The rule is: "μεταχαραττε το θειον νομισμα" ("metacharatte to theion nomisma"). It is the law of strict continuity. We preserve and do not throw away words or ideas. Words and ideas may grow in meaning but must stay within the limits of the original meaning and concept that the word has."
Classical education was considered the best training for implanting the life of moral excellence
arete, hence a good citizen. It furnished students with intellectual and aesthetic appreciation for "the best which has been thought and said in the world". Copleston, an Oxford classicist said that classical education "communicates to the mind...a high sense of honour, a disdain of death in a good cause, (and) a passionate devotion to the welfare of one's country".
Cicero commented, "All literature, all philosophical treatises, all the voices of antiquity are full of examples for imitation, which would all lie unseen in darkness without the light of literature".
At
Oxford University Classics is known as
Literae Humaniores, comprising the study of Ancient Greek and Latin language and literature, Greek and Roman art and archaeology, history and philosophy. It is sometimes known as
Greats after the nickname for the final examinations.
See
Chinese antiquity*"Nor can I do better, in conclusion, than impress upon you the study of Greek literature, which not only elevates above the vulgar herd but leads not infrequently to positions of considerable emolument."
—
Thomas Gaisford, Christmas sermon,
Christ Church,
Oxford.
*
Classical scholars*
Classics basic topics*
Literae Humaniores*
Ancient Greece*
Ancient Rome*
Philology*
Humanism*
Western culture*
Western WorldThe Oldest Dead White European Males, And Other Reflections on the Classics, Bernard Knox, W. W. Norton & Co., NY, London, l993.
*"Classicism in Literature", René Wellek,
Dictionary of the History of Ideas, Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas, ed. by Philip P. Wiener, Charles Scribner's Sons, NY, l968, l973.
Western Classical Reference Library
Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities, ed. by Harry Thurston Peck, Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1st pub. 1896, 2nd ed. 1897, reprinted l962. (1701 pages)
The New Century Classical Handbook, ed. by Catherine B. Avery, Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., Ny, l962. (1162 pages)
The Oxford Classical Dictionary, ed. by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, revised 3rd ed., Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 2003. (1640 pages) ISBN 0198606419
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, ed. by M.C. Howatson, Oxford University Press, NY, l989. (615 pages)
*
Loeb Classical LibraryMisc. Bibliography
*Beard, Mary; Henderson, John.
Classics: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995 (paperback, ISBN 0192853139); 2000 (new edition, paperback, ISBN 0192853856).
*Briggs, Ward W.; Calder, III, William M.
Classical scholarship: A biographical encyclopedia (Garland reference library of the humanities). London: Taylor & Francis, 1990 (ISBN 0824084489).
*Macrone, Michael.
Brush Up Your Classics. NY: Gramercy Books, l991. (Guide to famous words, phrases and stories of Greek classics.)
Dictionary of British classicists, 1500"1960 by Richard B. Todd (General editor). Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum, 2004 (ISBN 1855069970).
*
The Ancient Library*
American Philological Association*
L'Année philologique*
Bibliotheca Augustana*
Classical associations worldwide at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge.
*
Classical Resources on Internet at the Chair of Classical Philology, University of Tartu.
*
De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors*
Electronic Resources for Classicists by the University of California, Irvine.
*
Illustrated History of the Roman Empire*
International News Service for Historians (is not dedicated to the Classics only, but very useful, especially for book reviews).
*
New Pauly Online: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World by BRILL Academic Publishers.
*
The Online Medieval and Classical Library*
The Perseus Digital Library*
Pomoerium Classics*
Thesaurus Linguae Graecae*
Wiki Classical Dictionary
