Why I chose to study classics
Why Read This
What Makes This Article Worth Your Time
Summary
What This Article Is About
Charlotte Higgins, a Guardian writer, reflects on why she values classics in her final Classical Musing column. She describes how ancient literature offers both respite from journalism’s relentless pace and fresh perspectives on contemporary issues—reading Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus illuminates pandemic power dynamics, while Aeschylus’s The Kindly Ones reveals insights about modern patriarchy. Higgins candidly admits her initial motivations were mixed: genuine love for stories like those of Catullus and Euripides, desire to avoid competing with science-oriented family members, and attraction to the cultural capital that Latin and Greek conferred, especially to someone from a non-privileged background.
Acknowledging classics’ problematic history in promoting white European exceptionalism, Higgins argues this doesn’t justify abandoning the field but rather demands constant reshaping and critical rethinking—work already underway in exciting contemporary scholarship. Despite predictions of its death and setbacks like failed teacher training programs in Scotland, classics maintains cultural vitality through popular works by Madeline Miller, Mary Beard, and Emily Wilson, plus creative reinterpretations by artists like Chris Ofili. Higgins concludes that people still want to “think with the classics,” and she promises this engagement remains absolutely worthwhile.
Key Points
Main Takeaways
Dual Purpose: Respite and Perspective
Ancient literature provides escape from modern journalism’s frantic pace while simultaneously offering new lenses for understanding contemporary power, patriarchy, and social structures.
Dynamic Reading Process
Encountering ancient texts involves seeing ourselves reflected in old books while those texts simultaneously illuminate our present moment through reciprocal interpretation.
Cultural Capital Motivation
Higgins honestly acknowledges studying classics partly for the impressive cultural capital Latin and Greek conferred, especially valuable to someone from non-privileged educational backgrounds.
Problematic Historical Role
The discipline faces its history of promoting white European and North American exceptionalism through rhetoric positioning the Graeco-Roman world as superior civilization.
Constant Reshaping Required
Rather than abandoning classics as elitist, the field requires continuous rethinking and opening out, with exciting contemporary scholarship already pursuing this transformation.
Cultural Vitality Persists
Despite centuries of predicted death and current setbacks, classics maintains popular appeal through novels, histories, translations, and artistic reinterpretations that generate continuing creativity.
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Article Analysis
Breaking Down the Elements
Main Idea
Defending Classics Through Honest Reckoning
The article’s central argument defends studying classics not by denying its problematic history but by acknowledging it fully while asserting the field’s value lies in constant critical reexamination. Higgins contends that ancient texts provide both psychological refuge and analytical tools for understanding contemporary power structures, making classics worth preserving through transformation rather than abandonment despite legitimate critiques of its historical role in promoting European exceptionalism.
Purpose
Personal Testimony Meets Cultural Defense
Higgins aims to justify her career devotion to classics by combining personal reflection with broader cultural argument. By honestly examining her own mixed motivations—including attraction to cultural capital—she models the self-critical approach she advocates for the field itself. The piece serves as both valedictory statement for her column and defense against dismissals of classics as inherently elitist, positioning the discipline as vital for contemporary thinking when approached with proper critical consciousness.
Structure
Personal → Critical → Hopeful
The essay opens with personal testimony about finding respite in Greek myths during the pandemic and classics’ dual function as escape and analytical lens. It transitions to honest self-examination of motivations including cultural capital acquisition, then pivots to critical acknowledgment of the discipline’s problematic history. The piece concludes with hopeful evidence of classics’ continuing vitality through popular culture and scholarship. This progression moves from individual experience through institutional critique to collective cultural affirmation.
Tone
Candid, Self-Aware & Optimistic
Higgins employs a remarkably honest tone that acknowledges unflattering motivations like seeking cultural capital and avoiding family competition alongside genuine intellectual passion. She writes with the authority of professional experience but without defensiveness, candidly admitting classics’ “unfairly bestowed cachet” and historical role in damaging ideologies. The tone balances critical consciousness with optimism, neither romanticizing the field nor conceding to its critics, instead advocating for engaged transformation. This self-aware approach models the intellectual honesty she believes the discipline requires.
Key Terms
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New versions or adaptations of existing stories; narratives that present familiar tales from fresh perspectives or in updated forms.
“I was on leave, immersed in writing a book of retellings of stories from the Greek myths.”
Brief, witty, and often paradoxical sayings or poems; concise expressions that make a pointed observation, typically with clever wordplay.
“Neither of whom were from the kind of background where Greek epigrams ran in the veins.”
Relating to or denoting the combined cultures of ancient Greece and Rome; pertaining to the intertwined classical civilizations and their shared heritage.
“The discipline is currently beginning to face up to its historical role in shaping a damaging worldview that put the Graeco-Roman world at the centre.”
The art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing; language designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect, often regarded as lacking sincerity.
“A damaging worldview that put the Graeco-Roman world at the centre of a rhetoric of white European and north American exceptionalism and superiority.”
A philosophical doctrine that physical matter is the only reality and that everything, including thought and consciousness, can be explained by material interactions.
“Karl Marx was a classicist, and his PhD in Greek materialist philosophy palpably shaped his theories of historical materialism.”
In a manner showing or involving great activity, effort, or enthusiasm; with vigor, force, and determination.
“This kind of knockback is being energetically fought by educators and organisations such as Advocating Classics Education.”
Reading Comprehension
Test Your Understanding
5 questions covering different RC question types
1According to Higgins, she chose to study classics primarily because both of her parents came from backgrounds where Greek epigrams ran in the veins.
2According to Higgins, what does classics’ problematic historical role mean for the discipline’s future?
3Which sentence best captures Higgins’ concept of how reading ancient texts functions as a dynamic process?
4Based on the article, evaluate these statements about Karl Marx’s relationship to classics:
Marx is cited as evidence that the left should dismiss classics as inherently elitist.
Marx completed a PhD in Greek materialist philosophy.
Marx’s classical training palpably shaped his theories of historical materialism.
Select True or False for all three statements, then click “Check Answers”
5What can be inferred about Higgins’ view of the relationship between classics’ popular cultural presence and its academic survival?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Ancient texts provide analytical frameworks for understanding contemporary phenomena by revealing patterns and structures across time. Reading Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus illuminates pandemic power dynamics because the play explores how authority functions during crisis, while Aeschylus’s The Kindly Ones offers perspectives on patriarchy through its treatment of gender and justice. These works aren’t simply historical artifacts but active tools for interpreting present circumstances, defamiliarizing modern assumptions by showing their antecedents or alternatives in ancient contexts.
Admitting she studied classics partly for its prestige value requires honesty because it acknowledges less noble motivations alongside intellectual passion. The desire for cultural capital—seeking status through association with elite knowledge—contradicts idealized narratives of pure intellectual curiosity. By candidly revealing she wanted Latin and Greek partly because they sounded impressive to her non-privileged parents, Higgins models the self-critical approach she advocates for the field itself, refusing to romanticize either her personal history or the discipline’s broader social functions.
Marx’s classical training in Greek materialist philosophy demonstrably shaped his revolutionary theories of historical materialism, proving classics doesn’t inevitably produce conservative ideology. This example counters leftist dismissals of the field as inherently elitist by showing how ancient philosophical frameworks can inform radical political thought. If classical education could contribute to one of history’s most influential critiques of capitalism, the discipline clearly isn’t reducible to promotion of European superiority, supporting Higgins’ argument for critical engagement rather than wholesale rejection.
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This article is rated Advanced. It employs sophisticated vocabulary (bewildering, palpably, exceptionalism), engages with complex academic debates about cultural capital and disciplinary politics, and requires readers to follow nuanced arguments that simultaneously defend classics while acknowledging its problematic history. The piece assumes familiarity with concepts like cultural capital and intellectual movements, balancing personal reflection with theoretical sophistication in ways that demand careful reading to appreciate the full argumentative structure and its self-aware rhetorical strategy.
Citing Madeline Miller’s novels, Mary Beard’s histories, Emily Wilson’s Odyssey translation, and Chris Ofili’s artwork demonstrates that classics retains cultural vitality beyond academia despite institutional setbacks. This popular engagement counters narratives of the field’s death by showing how ancient material continues inspiring contemporary creativity across media. The examples also illustrate the “reshaping, opening out, rethinking” Higgins advocates—these works don’t simply preserve traditional classics but actively reinterpret it, proving the discipline can evolve while maintaining relevance and public interest.
The Ultimate Reading Course covers 9 RC question types: Multiple Choice, True/False, Multi-Statement T/F, Text Highlight, Fill in the Blanks, Matching, Sequencing, Error Spotting, and Short Answer. This comprehensive coverage prepares you for any reading comprehension format you might encounter.
