..We offer Greek, Latin and courses in Classical Civilizations. Why should you study Classics? The following paragraphs explain why.
Who needs Classics
Dimidium facti qui coepit habet: sapere aude
In Classics, Greek and Latin you will read for a degree that will challenge you to be analytically intelligent and imaginatively open minded. While the content of this education will be the history, myth, geography, culture, literature and languages of the Ancient World, the very modern methods and techniques we cultivate in you will enhance your appreciation of and ability in all subjects. If once a classical education was the preserve of the aristocratic classes, today Classics graduates are highly sought in the professions and for the managing classes. It is traditionally recognized as a subject in which the very best flourish and develop the abilities indispensable for demanding environments. These are such as the skill to synthesize all manner of information into the clear picture of a dynamic system; to master language and rhetoric and its effect on oneself and others; discovering patterns and being alert to continuities across broad spectrums of disciplines.
Above all, Classics gives depth to an education, which otherwise would remain superficial. Modern English literature, psychology, sociological and anthropological techniques, all the modern human sciences, were founded in the Enlightenment and revolutionized in the 20th Century by students of the Ancient World. The entire environment of modernity is built in a landscape first elaborated by the Greeks and their younger cousins the Romans. Christianity, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and even chaotic Modernism were all inspired and realized by men and women with a deep sense of their being rooted in history, who knew that they would make nothing new and original without a knowledge of the past and tradition. Erasmus, Shakespeare, Karl Marx, Nietzsche, all the English Romantic poets, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), TS Eliot, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Sigmund Freud, Michel Foucault, several British prime ministers are just a few of those whose achievements were quite consciously founded upon or informed by their early Classical education. To remain ignorant of the formative phases of human history is to remain uneducated in the fuller sense of the term, a dazzled outsider.
Greek and Latin are strange and difficult ancient languages. They are demanding and only for the most curious and determined of students. Anyone who studies them with application will have for the rest of her or his life a source of infinite delight and constantly renewed discovery. As long as one lives, one will never be able to read all of Greek literature, but you can never be poor once you can read Greek. Studying Latin too will enable you to read and participate in the great living tradition of literary and scholarly investigation and exploration. One can remain overwhelmed by the greatness of those who lived before ourselves or one can decide not to be excluded but to learn, to know and master so that one can participate fully in the dialogues of learning and governing. Classics is the study for future rulers and leaders. Most of all, for me, the fascination of the Mediterranean crossroads, the pleasures of Greek and Latin literature, the history of ideas and the exuberant, enterprising vitality of Hellenic culture have made me determined to devote my life to these studies.
The study of these languages is an uncommon privilege available here at Rhodes and flourishing. Take advantage to possess the most enabling and empowering kind of knowledge, a mastering literacy in cultural forms. From the ages of 18-24 is the best period in a life to study a language. One is mature enough to grasp the complexities of a difficult new discipline but still young enough to absorb and memorize with great ease. People who do not take this opportunity always regret it. It is the best kind of adventure because it never ends. Many of our senior students are staff members from other departments who have grown to love the discipline so much they wish to never stop studying it. Within two weeks you will be able to read out and pronounce Greek. Greek was the most important global language for a millennium. Compare that with English, an infant which has only been prominent for about 150 years. This is why the original language of the New Testament is Greek and why, written in an easy form of the Mediterranean lingua franca, early Christians succeeded in getting across their message. Roman and later European education was based on its study up until the 20th Century. The History of Western thought and advancement is a history of a continually renewed relationship with its Greek origins. Consider taking up Greek and Latin.
You will read a great deal in Classics and be expected to develop the observant and investigative skills of a lawyer, a journalist, a critic, a geographer, historian, mythographer and logician. Your knowledge of English and your ability to express yourself lucidly will be greatly enhanced when you take advantage of the demanding activities, resources and assessments we offer. In the dedicated study of the Ancient World you will acquire a mastery of cultural forms, which will be commanding and very impressive to others. Our curricula are expanding and our department growing. We are establishing a strong community of scholarship and research. We are very involved in the organization of the School of Languages and International Office film series, which runs throughout the year. We offer access to the private study of several languages in the new Language Labs and we run a very successful and popular reading group for our senior students, which meets fortnightly for wine and sociable reading in translation of the great works of the past.
If you think Classics is an easy option, be warned it is not for the lazy. If, however, you are inquisitive about the world around you and the strong world that came before, if you wish to understand why things are as they are, why we think and speak and write and build and fight and love and argue and analyse and study as we do; if you enjoy the excitement of travel and learning; if you may identify with the Hellenic ideals of intellectual exploration, vitality and life as a striving for excellence; if you wish to be challenged in your assumptions and become truly well educated and to also nurture your imaginative powers, welcome to the Department of Classics.
David van Schoor
Department of Classics, School of Languages
d.vanschoor@ru.ac.za
j.jackson@ru.ac.za
The following link will take you to an interesting discussion of the kinds of jobs that Classics Majors can expect to find:
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