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Why Study Classics?

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last update: 4/10/03

   

   

1) Why do we still need to learn Classical languages? Hasn't everything been translated already?

First of all, many ancient texts, especially technical treatises and late ancient or medieval works have never been translated into English or any other modern language.

Secondly, exciting new texts are constantly being discovered. Among the most spectacular finds of the last decades are several elegies by the 6th-century BCE Greek poet Simonides of Ceos (1992), among them the first surviving examples of a specific literary genre, elegies written in celebration of contemporary battles (Plataea and Artemisium). Other major discoveries in recent times include the Senate Decree on Gnaeus Piso the Father which throws light on a crucial event during the reign of Emperor Tiberius (1996), the Strasbourg Papyrus containing 70 lines of Empedocles' famous poem On Nature (1998), and the first autograph of Queen Cleopatra (2000).

Thirdly, our own views of antiquity and its remains are forever changing. Both the new discoveries that are constantly being made and the changing views of our own society result in new, quite frequently very different interpretations of ancient texts and artifacts. To name just one example, before the late 1960ies, nobody even looked at the lives of women in antiquity. Nowadays, many scholars are seriously interested in women's contributions to ancient societies, and that has resulted not only in a multitude of interesting textbooks, but also in a reevaluation of hitherto neglected female authors like the Greek Erinna or the Roman Sulpicia.

Finally, no translation of a foreign-language text can render all its connotations accurately. Every translation is but an interpretation, and every translator understands the original slightly differently. Below, you can compare different translations of the same passage from Aristophanes' comedy Lysistrata.

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2) What can I do with Classics?

The study of Classics opens up a large variety of interesting career paths. In order of frequency,

• many Classics BAs go on to professional schools (law, business, medicine).
       These schools tend to admit Classics graduates preferentially because of their strong verbal
       and analytical skills, see the testimonies on the Why Study Classics page and the large number
       of successful lawyers and politicians on the Classics VIPs page.

• many former Classics students are highly successful in the business world, especially in fields
  like computer technology and the media.
       See the short bios of some famous entrepreneurs, including Ted Turner (CNN), Chuck
      Geschke (Adobe), and Jim Manzi (Lotus), on the Classics VIPs page.

• some Classics Majors pursue a graduate degree (M.A. or Ph.D.), often in Classics
  and Classics-related fields, like Archaeology, Ancient or Medieval History, Byzantine Studies,
  Religion, etc.
      These students easily score above average on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) that
      most graduate schools require. On its verbal part, the GRE tests the familiarity with foreign
      words in English. Since the vast majority of these is derived from Greek and Latin, Classics
      students do extremely well on this part, even without any preparation.

• some Classics BAs become highschool teachers of Latin and sometimes even Greek.
     With the current surge in interest in all matters Latin and Greek, there is a huge demand
      especially for Latin teachers. The American Classical League, the national association of
     Classics highschool teachers, just conducted a National Latin Teacher Recruitment Week
     (March 3-7, 2003) to increase recruitment of Classics graduates as highschool teachers.
     Basically, every Classics BA interested in a teaching career can take his or her pick from many
     attractive positions. See the website of the National Committee for Latin and Greek.

• several classically trained students have made a name for themselves as writers and poets.
     Examples include J.K. Rowling ("Harry Potter"), Toni Morrison ("Beloved"), the mystery
     writer Colin Dexter ("Last Bus to Woodstock" and eleven other Inspector Morse novels), and
     the "fruit detective" David Karp (regular columnists with the "L.A. Times" and others). Some
     short bios can be found on the Classics VIPs page.

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Comparison of Lysistrata Translations
Can you decide which one of the following translations of Aristophanes' Lysistrata 149-154 is closest to the original in spirit, content, and form even if you don't know the Greek original? You can check your answer by looking at the literal translation at the bottom of the page.
Lysistrata explains to her female friends how women alone can indeed make an end to the Peloponnesian War:

                                                        "If we
Sit in our quarters, powdered daintily,
As good as nude in those imported slips,
And – just – slink by, with crotches nicely groomed,
The men will swell right up and want to boink,
But we won't let them near us, we'll refuse–
Trust me, they'll make a treaty at a dash."
     (tr. Sarah Ruden, Hackett Publishing Co., 2003)
   

"If we go home, and get ourselves made up,
and slip on one of our imported gowns
with nothing underneath, and show some crotch,
our husbands will get hard and want to screw;
but if we keep away and don't go near them,
they'll soon enough make peace, you have my word."
      (tr. Jeffrey Henderson, Focus Press, 1997, p. 99)

 
                                    "Here's how it works:
We'll paint, powder, and pluck ourselves to the last
detail, and stay inside, wearing those filmy
tunics that set off everything we have–
                                                                        and then
slink up to the men. They'll snap to attention, go
absolutely mad to love us–
                                    but we won't let them. We'll Abstain.
–I imagine they'll conclude a treaty rather quickly."
      (tr. Douglass Parker, in: W. Arrowsmith, ed., Meridian, 1994,
       p. 362)


Lys: Exactly! No sex anymore until the men make peace!
#1: What?!
# 2: (ca.:) He'll tell me to get off it!
# 3: Lysistrata, you are insane.
# 4: ... I should refuse him?!
# 5: (ca.:) Really, that's nonsense!
# 6: As if he wasn't home infrequently enough!
      (Ralf König, Lysistrata, Rowohlt, 1987, p. 16)
 
"Well, just imagine: we're at home, beautifully made up, wearing our sheerest lawn negligées and nothing underneath, and with our – our triangles carefully plucked; and the men are all like ramrods and can't wait to leap into bed, and then we absolutely refuse – that'll make them make peace soon enough, you'll see."
      (tr. Alan H. Sommerstein, Penguin Books, 1973, p. 185)
 
"All we have to do is idly sit indoors
With smooth roses powdered on our cheeks,
Our bodies burning naked through the folds
Of shining Amorgos silk, and meet the men
With our dear Venus plats plucked trim and neat.
Their stirring love will rise up furiously,
They'll beg our knees to open. That's our time!
We'll disregard their knocking, beat them off–
And they will soon be rabid for a Peace.
I'm sure of it.
     (tr. Jack Lindsay, in: M. Hadas, ed., Bantam, 1962, p. 293)
 
"If we should sit around, rouged and with skins well creamed,
with nothing on but a transparent negligé,
and come up to them with our deltas plucked quite smooth,
and, once our men get stiff and want to come to grips,
we do not yield to them at all but just hold off,
they'll make a truce in no time. There's no doubt of that."
    (tr. Donald Sutherland, Chandler Publ. Co, 1961, p. 7)		  
 
"We need only sit indoors with painted cheeks, and meet our mates lightly clad in transparent gowns of Amorgos silk, and employing all our charms and all our arts: then they will act like mad and they will be wild to lie with us. That will be the time to refuse, and they will hasten to make peace, I am convinced of that!"
    (tr. anon., Dover Publ. 1994, pp. 8-9; orig. publ. London 1912)
   

More literal, but obviously awkward translation:

"For if we would sit inside, having been rubbed in (with unguents or cosmetics),
and in (our) dresses, those from Amorgos [linen see-through chitons],
walk by naked, clean-plucked with regard to (our) deltas,
and the men would get an erection and would yearn to have sex,
but we would not let them come close but would keep away from them,
(then) they would make a truce quickly, I know (it) well."

  


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