Who cares about ancient Greeks anyways? The classical world’s relevance today
This article was written by guest author Euan Bowman.
“Why does classics matter?” A question I, and I am sure anyone else studying the ancient world, will constantly come across. This uncertainty is understandable, especially when one of the subjects’ loudest supporters, Boris Johnson, argues learning Latin stops knife crime. As confusing as this statement is, people rightfully question the rationale of teaching a subject that has historically justified fascist rhetoric and violence. Even today, images from ancient Greece and Rome are weaponised by white supremacists; Greek hoplite helmets were a popular method of demonstrating “white pride” among alt-right groups during the 2017 Berkley protests and, more recently, during the US Capitol riots. I want to show some ways classics can be turned to more practical and progressive causes, as well as how charities like Classics for All are taking important steps in reducing the ancient world’s association with elitism and white supremacy.
A few centuries ago, there would have been little question of antiquities’ practical importance to society. From the Renaissance and the subsequent rebirth of classical wisdom, western civilisation strived to match the cultural feats of the Greco-Roman world – which represented the peak of human achievement. However, by the mid-18thcentury, European economies and advancements in technology began to eclipse the accomplishments of classical culture. The more these developments contradicted the claims of ancient authorities, the more classics began to lose the spotlight in favour of more obviously beneficial subjects at both school and university level education. Classical studies were gradually removed from mainstream teaching, facing a dramatic dip in British state school curriculums after education reforms in the 1970s.
For classics to ensure its own survival, it depended on its image as a marker of the elite. It flourished in private schools for several centuries, serving as the epitome of an aristocratic white male education – fully excluding any other race, class, or gender. The study of antiquity mattered because it refined the white gentleman’s mind and spirit. They were endowed with the secret knowledge of their European heritage. Classical art and literature’s emphasis on strength, purity, and beauty was interpreted to represent the innate superiority of ancient people – and their western inheritors. These “perfect master pieces of human creativity” were models to develop their elite successors’ soul, the Greeks and Romans mattered because they were a superior civilisation for the wealthy to learn from.
And this conception of classics as an exclusively upper-class pursuit has by no means receded today. Certain British politicians still proudly show off their classical education as a marker of their elite status; Jacob Reece-Mogg tweeting in Latin, to the joy of his wealthier supporters, is just one display of this blatant intellectual superiority and smugness associated with the discipline – or as one commentor put it: “Just another out of touch Tory millionaire old boy.”
Even in contemporary popular and academic works, you do not need to look far to find extravagant claims of classic’s self-importance. Ancient Athens is a notorious example, allegedly founding the world’s first democracy, as well as inventing politics and philosophy as rational disciplines along with it. This adulation is not limited to the intellectual sphere; painted Greek pottery can easily be sold upwards of one million pounds to private collectors, demonstrating the persisting importance of classical art as a marker of socio-economic privilege. The classical Graeco-Roman world is, to this day, still seen by many scholars as the foundation and cradle of western culture. And this image is tied to the subject’s status as aristocratic social capital – a reputation vital to the discipline’s survival in private schools. However, several scholars are now pointing to the baseless nature of these grand claims. Many of the “unique” achievements of classical culture, like the invention of democracy, were institutions and ideas already well- established by different contemporary peoples throughout the world.
First ‘million-dollar’ Greek vase, depicts the fallen Trojan hero Sarpedon being carried by Hypnos and Thanatos (Sleep and Death), Attic red-figured calyx-krater, ca. 515 BCE.
This inflated ego is not only unjustified and decades out of date, but has led to the appropriation of the ancient world as a means to destructive ends.
The idealisation of antiquity has informed and fully justified the rhetoric of some of the worst violence in the 20thcentury. This is true of Mussolini’s fascist regime in Italy, who saw themselves as the sole inheritors of the Roman Empire. In 1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia, and the hostility was vindicated by a reverence of the classical world; Africa was considered lost territory waiting to be reconquered by its rightful, ethnically superior, Roman owners.
However, as white supremacist rhetoric has adapted to more covert forms in the modern age, it’s manipulation of classical culture has changed with it. “The Hundred Handers” are an anonymous network who print and post racist stickers in public areas, spreading hate messages across Europe North America, Australia, and New Zealand. The group’s name is inspired by the many limbed monsters in Greek mythology called Hekatoncheires, who in Hesiod’s poem Theogony help Zeus and the other Olympian gods overthrow the Titans to control the universe. Like the Roman Empire’s attraction to fascist Italy, the appeal of this myth to white nationalists lies in the classical world’s overvaluation as the foundation of white European culture; Zeus is identified by hate groups as a symbol of ‘white and Aryan spirit’ and the mythical struggle agaisnt the Titans parallels, in the minds’ of The Hundred Handers, their battle against ‘anti-white rhetoric’.
Despite these new clandestine strategies, what has remained consistent is the excessive idolisation of antiquity, one which stems from classics’ virtual exclusivity to private schools and its value as elite social capital.
Yet, it is important to remember classics is no more innately aristocratic or racist than the study of any other historical culture. The Greco-Roman world is by no means bound to this elitist image and it is not the sole property of wealthy white men to be abused. Founded in 2009, the charity Classics for All has been one of the leading organisations to spear-head the wider availability of classical studies in public schools across the UK. So far, they have trained more than 3,000 teachers and introduced classics to 940 primary and secondary state schools in Britain. Their efforts have brought the ancient world to over 60,000 pupils, many of which live in socio-economic disadvantaged areas.
Now, this much needed diversity is, unsurprisingly, being met with the kicks and screams from those wanting to maintain the status quo, those who would love nothing more than to keep classics as white and as privileged as humanly possible. Yet, these are also the same “activists’” who wholeheartedly believe climate change is the biggest hoax in history, so, giving their rhetoric too much thought will only lead to frustration and an urge to scream.
Though the question remains, why does it matter that classics has reached these 60,000 public school students? According to school surveys of pupils studying Latin, 71% reported a better understanding of grammar, 78% indicated they had a larger vocabulary, and 80% exceeded targets in modern foreign languages. Studying classics has clear practical benefits, but what else can it offer?
One of Classics for All’s main objectives is to “break the link between educational opportunity and disadvantage,”. They propose this will give pupils in less wealthy areas the confidence to progress to higher education, a fact reflected in a 2018 survey where 90% of students said learning classics has had a possitive impact on their aspirations and attainment. State education Teachers support this sentiment, indicating classics in schools with low social mobility has “raised aspirations and offered pupils a route to better universities by levelling the playing field.” And while this goal is undeniably important, breaking this link is also a necessary step to reduce classics’ status as a marker of socio-economic privilege. With greater diversity in the field, the Greco-Roman world will become a history for all to own. It will start to hold less prestige as exclusive knowledge belonging to the white elite, reducing classics’ glorified self-importance and potency as a weapon for white supremacy.
In Helen Morales’ newly published Antigone Rising, she argues classical mythology is a plank within the “ideological scaffolding” of modern cultural narratives. While classical culture should not be idolised as the foundation of western civilisation, Morales argues understanding both the good and bad aspects of the Greco-Roman world - and it’s actual impact on modern society - is necessary to turn antiquity to more progressive purposes.
Greek and Roman myths have demonstrated their potential to affirm social acceptance and equality. And it is easy to see why. There are untold figures from ancient myth that challenge what modern society considers “normal” or “natrual": The Roman deity of seasons and change, Vertumnus, had no fixed gender and changed at will; the popular myth of Caeneus shows his transition from a woman to a man; Greek epic foregrounds Achilles and Patroklos’ same-sex relationship; and the list goes on. The value of these myths reveals itself through responses to the survey The Impact of Classics on Queer Youth Identity. Participants stated how learning about these figures made them feel accepted and validated, assuring them that LGBTQ+ experiences have existed long before the beginning of modern society.
In short, the Greeks and Romans do not need to be the founders of the western world for classics to still be relevant today – no matter how much this idea may appeal to traditional classicists.
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