Continuing the theme from the previous post, read this Salon review of “The Great Debaters”, one of the characters of which is an African-American professor of classics and theology. Here’s an excerpt: About midway through Denzel Washington’s new film “The Great Debaters” comes a raw and terrifying scene that exemplifies why the movie’s [...]
For some really interesting reading on the social, educational, and political role of Classics in recent African-American history, read Kenneth W. Goings and Eugene O’Connor, “‘Tell Them We Are Rising’: African Americans and the Classics” (starts on p. 6) in this issue of Amphora (the newsletter for the American Philological Association). From the time [...]
Read more about the growing appreciation and revival of Latin here: Latin, it was reported last week, is making a comeback in inner-city schools in London: 20 primaries are trying Latin lessons, under the aegis of Project Iris, run by teacher Lorna Robinson. Something similar is happening in Oxfordshire, where the language is also being introduced [...]
from an article on a new exhibition: After being made emperor AD117, he inherited a Roman Empire in its prime, which had thrived on a policy of endless expansion and conquest. His first move, within hours of coronation, was to withdraw his troops from Mesopotamia, now Iraq, and fortify the empire’s boundaries by building his eponymous wall [...]