Φαινεται μοι, κηνος ἰσος θεοισιν
ἐμμεν ὠνηρ, ὀττις ἐναντιος τοι
ἰσδανει και πλασιον ἀδυ φωνει-
σας υπακουει
He seems to me equal to gods that man
whoever he is who opposite you
sits and listens close
to your sweet speaking
That’s the first stanza of Sappho’s most famous fragment, commonly known as Sappho 31, translated into English by Anne Carson. The poem has four stanzas in total, in Sappho’s signature structure of three long lines, followed by one short line. Most scholars would describe this fragment as a confession of love, from a woman to another, describing the anxieties of attraction. More and more I hear people discussing whether the Classics, be it Greek or Latin, should still be included in the curriculum. And yet the question of whether the Classics are redundant baffles me, when this singular poem could so easily be studied in English, History, or the Classics, and it discusses topics that are still crucial in our ever-changing world today – what is love, what it is to love and what it means to be queer.
There is a common misconception, that classical languages, and the literature that goes along with them, are irrelevant to young people today, although, as far as I can see, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Famous Greek playwrights such as Euripides tackle key themes and issues that are still entirely relevant to our modern day. Take Women of Troy, for example, set in the aftermath of the Trojan War, about a group of women from every class who are waiting in a holding camp to be taken into slavery by the Greeks. Sadly, this play is all too relevant today, with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine being consistently in our headlines, leading to millions of innocent people being displaced, and the war in Afghanistan, which only ended last August after 20 years of conflict (twice as long as the Trojan War). Classical tragedies are all too relevant to our modern world, and this relevance means that it is crucial that they remain in our curriculum, as they can provide significant teaching points on social issues for today’s young people.
Or, if you’d prefer to look at one of the epic poems, look no further than Homer’s Iliad. Though commonly known for describing battle during the Trojan War, it addresses what it is to be a family in a time of conflict, and the struggle of whether to prioritise one’s patriotic or parental duty. Today, more than ever, we are moving away from the typical middle class, heteronormative depiction of family life, and the Iliad provides an insight into what it means be a family when the father’s life is constantly at risk, a family in which the future is never certain, and where a parent is forced to choose between protecting their country and staying back to make sure that their child grows up with two parents.
And then the languages themselves. Though, on the surface, they are so far removed from the languages that we hear around us every day, Greek and Latin provide the foundation for many European languages. By studying and learning to understand ancient languages, students are able to find connections between the ancient language and their own, and for many, learning the grammar of Greek or Latin helps them understand its modern counterpart, making it easier to learn modern languages such as Spanish or French.
Furthermore, we live in a democratic society, which we owe to the people of Athens in the sixth century BCE, who developed what they called dημοκρατια (demokratia) – the first version of what we know as democracy. The very society in which we live owes its existence to the Greeks; without their advances, the way we live would have been so very different. Surely, then, it must be of utmost importance that we learn about this ancient civilisation that laid the foundation for our world today, so that we can better understand what is going on around us.
You see, classics are really anything but redundant – the language, the literature, the society; if anything, they are more relevant today than they ever have been, as they provide interdisciplinary connections between key subjects that students across the country and across the globe study every day. So, it is crucial that students from all backgrounds have access to classics.
