January Meme: Selena and the Classics

[selenak]

mildred_of_midgard wanted to know my state of knowledge re: the Ancient World/Classics: where I’m well versed, what I want to learn more about.

Languages: Well, Latin was the first foreign language I learned, and I do have das grosse Latinum, whiich is what they call it if you did seven to nine years of it in grammar school, but that was a life time ago, and I certainly couldn't read Latin now, at least not with a dictionary at my side and without any fun. Greek I don't know at all, to the great distress of my Latin teacher who thought I should have picked Greek, not French, as language No.3 (No.2 was English, which wasn't optional). No Hebrew, either, alas.

Myths: I'm pretty good with Greek and Roman myths, which I first was introduced to via a traditional gift geeky kids used to get for their first communion in my home state of Bavaria, Gustav Schwab's "Greek and Roman Myths". (Think late Victorian retellings of same in English, and you have the equivalent.) I later read Greek and some Roman plays in translation, plus Ovid's versions both in Latin and in translation, and the Iliad and Odyssey in German. I don't think I ever managed the complete Aeneid, as opposed to the retellings from my childhood, but that' partly because the translation situation for the Aeneid is less than stellar in German.

Poetry: Sappho, Alkeios, some Horace, Catullus, Martial, Ovid again.

History: I'm pretty good with the late Roman Republic and the Claudio-Jiulians thath followed, both in terms of primary sources and current day biographies of the most important players. When we get to the Flavians, I've read the Jewish War by Flavius Josephus/Josef ben Matthias, but not his other works. Once the Flavians are over, my knowledge is really sporadic - I don't think I ever read a non-fictional take on Hadrian or Marcus Aurelius, for example -, and the only era of the Byzantine Emperors I'm somewhat better informed in again is the Justinian and Theodora one. I did read the occasional novel about, say, Julian (the Apostate) or Helena the mother of Constantine, as well as Cavafy's withering poetry, but no non-fiction book. Oh, and due to a combination of movies, audio plays and opera, I know a bit about the Attila the Hun era, fiction not fact wise.

What I'd like to learn more about: Mildred has made me curious about the Tetrarchy (Diokletian, Maximinian, and their various junior Emperors), and Mike Walker's audio series Caesar! has gotten me intrigued about both the breakaway Gallic Empire and the melodrama in Constantine's family (his second wife Fausta, daughter of Maximian, got boiled alive after what sounds like a replay of the Phaedra myth involvng her stepson Crispus).

What I already know about but would have fun debating, retelling etc. about to cahn or other unsuspecting victims: We could always do a gossipy sensationalist take on the late Roman Republic, complete with Cicero's letters, Suetonius' biographies and Catullus' poetry. The later in the translation of Roz Kaveney, which I've been meaning to reccomend for a good while now.

Speaking of translations: I would also like to to read Emily Wilson's translation of the Odyssey, which I've been curious about.

Alternate book club ideas: for current day Aeneid-inspired novels, Jo Graham's "Black Ships" and Ursula Le Guin's "Lavinia": compare and contrast! For example.

Oh, and I suddenly realise, I didn't say anything about Greek history. Okay, here, too, I'm better with novels than with primary sources and biographies. I've yet to read more than excerpts from Plato, for example, and my knowledge of Athens' golden age - Pericles etc. - is school history plus fiction. Dito for the Spartans. I did read some Herodotus.

I would like to know more about: the Persians. I've been meaning to have a go at Tom Holland's book. If anyone has read it, I'd be grateful for impressions.

Lastly: Ancient Egypt. I'm reasonably good with the 18th Dynasty (courtesy of Hatshepsut on the one hand and Akhenaten ont he other), and extremely spotty in the centuries before and after until we get to the Ptolemies.

The other days

Comments

[cahn]

Oh, that's a good point! I mean, I imagine selenak has visited France way more than I have and has therefore had rather more in the way of practice, but my French is quite serviceable more than twenty-five years later without really much in the way of practice at all, and although I was a good student, I don't imagine I was any better a French student than selenak was a Latin student.

Now, this was also in the days when I actually had a good memory and retained everything. (I obviously don't have a good memory at all now, but I really did back in high school! If only I had had salon in high school :P ) I was going to say that I took in theory a similar level of Italian as an adult from the local community college and retain almost none of it, which is absolutely partially due to retaining things much better in high school, but also those classes were twice a week instead of every day, and then I only took two semesters' worth, in which we did about as much material grammar-wise as we would have done in two years of high school, but obviously I only got a year's worth of practice (and I wasn't motivated enough to practice outside of classwork).