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A lot of the current navel-gazing over the validity or otherwise of studying Greek & Roman history neglects to acknowledge an obvious truth about it: the stories are amazing. Why read Herodotus? He's fun. He's fascinating. He's inexhuastibly entertaining. https://twitter.com/ProfSimonton/status/1360034542690607108?s=20
Yes, his writings may well have been used to reify the figure of the non-Greek as other blah blah (though Herodotus himself was condemned by Plutarch as a a 'barbarian lover') - but the bottom line IS, he has been read & loved for 2500 years NOW because he is such FUN.
I've been thinking a lot about the inherent drama & colour that classical history possesses, compared to other, equally significant ancient civilisations, while translating Suetonius' lives of the Caesar. That they are racy, gossipy, scandalous is a huge part of the point.
That Rome tends to live more vividly in people’s imaginings than other ancient empires owes a huge amount to Suetonius. Pharaohs and Shahs may have presided over civilisations quite as brilliant & influential, but no one ever wrote about them as Suetonius wrote about the Caesars.
Much though I admire the subtlety, sophistication & moral nuance of scholars who study the reception history of classics, I do fear that they risk neglecting the most primal reason of all for studying Greece & Rome: that they are FASCINATING.
At the end of the day, yes - more than enough. https://twitter.com/llewelyn_morgan/status/1360302076811689993?s=20
Yes - to me, ancient Chinese history stretches away like a great undiscovered realm of wonder & fascination https://twitter.com/AlexBirsan/status/1360323785212260356?s=20
