How to Get Into Classics

By Charlie Whittle, Third Year Classical Studies

As we near the end of term, why not consider delving into the classics this summer? You may know about mythology and want to know more about the history or you may already consider yourself an expert, but want something new. This list will have something for you outside of traditional outputs like documentaries.

Whilst there are options like Assassin’s Creed and the Hades franchise, jumping into the classics doesn’t have to be expensive. Sources such as your local library, YouTube, and podcasts are free resources you can use.

The works of Rick Riordan

Most famous for Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan has written a number of series inspired by mythological worlds. Percy Jackson involves characters from Greek and Roman mythology, The Kane Chronicles features Egyptian gods and goddesses, and Magnus Chase is inspired by Norse legends. Whilst Egyptian and Norse mythologies are not under the umbrella of Classical Studies - Egyptology and Norse and Celtic Studies are their own disciplines - Riordan’s worlds are a unique, recent pop cultural twist on mythologies spanning millennia.

Assassin’s Creed

On the more expensive side, ancient cities and figures have appeared in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Assassin’s Creed Origins places you near the end of Ptolemaic Egypt, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has the player amidst the Ancient Greek Peloponnesian War. The games feature history as more of a backdrop than a focus, using their settings to establish an interactive world.

The protagonist of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Kassandra, discussing politics with Socrates.

Hades Franchise

Hades and its sequel Hades II follow the minor Greek deities Zagreus and Melinoë battling through the underworld to either escape, in the case of Zagreus, or battle Chronos, the God of Time, in the case of Melinoë. The games are a meticulously researched reception of both modern and contemporary ideas of life, death and the chthonic. Furthermore the depictions of the Olympians, the Underworld and many other aspects of the game are inspired by both Archaic and Classical aesthetics.

Horrible Histories

Self-branding itself as the history they ‘didn’t teach you in school’, the Horrible Histories franchise offers a humorous, if surface-level introduction to Classical cultures and history. However, the superficiality does not undermine the value of the medium, as Horrible Histories has been one of the most widely consumed depictions of history for the last thirty years, having an incredible influence on reception in Generation Z.

Overly Sarcastic Productions

A YouTube channel that began as the passion project of two high school students who enjoyed mythology and humorous discussion that has evolved into a professionally researched output covering literature, history and its intersections with pop culture. The channel is the epitome of ‘written by nerds, for nerds’, catering to a particular facet of online culture complete with particularly niche references.

Museums 

Many museums contain a host of exhibits and artefacts from Ancient History. For an example local to Bristol, The Bristol Museum and Art Gallery hosts a large section based on Ancient Egypt on the ground floor. The eponymous baths of Bath are another great, relatively local choice.

Elysium in Supergiant Games’ Hades.

Podcasts

Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby! discusses both myth and classical history, touching on topics like the role of women and queer people in Classics.

The Ancients by History Hits focuses on alternative parts of Ancient History. This podcast does not only focus on Ancient Rome or Greece but discusses Classical History throughout the world and deep dives into niche topics.

The Iliad and The Odyssey

Arguably the most well known of the Classical epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey have formed the backbone of the Western literary canon since their inception. Their influence on popular, religious, and academic culture has arguably dictated Classical reception and our idea of the Ancient world.

Ovid’s Metamorphosis

This is the book where myths from your youth likely came from. These stories are shorter reads than others and are easily digestible and can be a fun read.

Sappho’s fragments

While the poetry of Sappho may be dialectically obscure and fragmented, it is this broken-ness which makes it so fundamental to our reception of the Classical world: its early demonstrations of lyric mode made her a revolutionary figure within her time, and ensured that her words were remembered for generations after many of her contemporaries had faded into obscurity. However, her status as a woman—significantly as a queer woman—meant she remained perpetually othered, even within the contexts of her celebration. In her time, she was often known as the ‘Tenth Muse’, or simply ‘The Poetess’; an exception amongst women, rather than simply a female poet. Furthermore, much of her work has since been lost as a result of centuries of censorship imposed by the conservative and patriarchal structures that dictate much of Antiquity’s cultural survival. 

However, the fragments that do remain exist as a demonstration both of the radical beauty of queer femininity, and the hegemonies within which this beauty is not allowed to exist. Sappho was the first poet to use the term ‘bittersweet’ (γλυκόπικρος) to describe love, and the same can arguably be said of her legacy: while her poetry and its receptions are fraught with pain and loss, this is part of what makes them so beautiful, their fragmentary nature essential to their significance within the cultures that they have come to represent.

Edited by Ben Bryant, with gratitude to the Classical knowledge of Eleanor Flower.