Classical Studies Support

It’s slightly odd that I’m running into Myth so much right now, since this is the first year in nearly 15 years that I’m not teaching a Myth course!

I never really thought of myself as having an interest in “Myth”, as such. Literature, yes: books were my thing, and I was happy in the realms of historiography, lyric poetry and political speeches. But Myth was just something that existed underneath all of those genres, and I never thought to look directly at it.

Then I started teaching A330: Myth in the Greek and Roman Worlds at the Open University, and realised just what a hold Myth has on people. Students who signed up to A330 weren’t just studying for a Classical Studies degree; mixed in were people from Art History, Religious Studies, English Literature, Education, Psychology and an assortment of other disciplines. Myth exists underneath a lot of things! Often people came to the Myth course driven by dim but fond recollections of childhood magic: picture books, Mary Renault, Harryhausen, Jim Henson’s StoryTeller… Increasingly, though, these days people are coming to Myth courses because they’ve been hooked by the recent trend of myth retellings in novel form.

Arguably the market is saturated with these now – there are new ones coming out all the time, as publishers jump on what is now a rather old bandwagon. And the quality isn’t always great. But I love that people are discovering Myth in a way that packages it as entertainment – so I’m entirely supportive of the trend!

That’s why I found myself in the audience at Durham Book Festival last weekend, listening to Jennifer Saint (author of Ariadne, Elektra and Atalanta) talking to Professor Edith Hall about ‘The Power of the Classics’. It was interesting to hear Saint talk about her route into Classics, and even more interesting to hear about her process and her way of thinking about her characters. She mentioned, for instance, that her next novel will have a focus on Hera – but she also said that, unlike her other novels, this one won’t be written in the first person. She said that she started out writing it like that, but had to switch to a third person narration because Hera is a goddess, and she felt that the gods could not be known in that way. I find it fascinating to see how writers even today find their writing shaped by the power of the stories and the unshakeable qualities of the characters.

Edith Hall and Jennifer Saint on stage at Durham’s Gala Theatre

It was also lovely to catch up with some ex-students at the talk – and to get a book signed by Jennifer Saint, of course!

Since then, I’ve been up to my ears in Myth with the Myth-themed #ClassicsTober, which is not just exciting but also instructive. I’m learning a lot, and am looking forward to writing a proper round-up when it’s all over.

I have the luxury of diving down more exciting rabbit holes this year, because I took the scary step of reducing my hours at work. I’m now down to teaching only two modules at the OU, which comes out at about two days a week – and I’ll be spending the rest of my time pursuing any project that comes up! It’s a risk, admittedly. I’ll have very little money coming in this year, and I’ll have to live very carefully indeed. But it’s time I took a chance, to see what else I can do.

But more on that next week! Have a good week, everyone!

This week from around the classical internet

News

Lots in the news about the British Museum this week…

Museum theft inside job – BBC

British Museum to digitise collection – Reuters

Thefts may have started 25 years ago – The Telegraph

Stolen items would make a good exhibition – The Times

British Museum suggests temporary Marbles exchange – Greek Reporter

From the Rogue Classicist’s vault, for #ClassicsTober

Comment and opinion

Myth understood, with Natalie Haynes – RTE Culture

From Politics to Poetics (Iliad 2) – Joel’s Substack

Happy Talk – Sphinx

Graduate funding – Pasts Imperfect

Epigram takes a bath – Blogging Ancient Epigram

Socrates in Love – Little Latin and More Greek

From the Rogue Classicist’s vault, for #ClassicsTober

Podcasts, video and other media

Special Victims Unit – The Partial Historians

Heavy Metal, Decolonialism and the Emperor Julian – Jeremy Swist

Time and Wine in Horace – Classics at Cambridge

Hades Playthrough – The Ancient Geeko-Roman

Gladiators in the Greek World – Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby!

From the Rogue Classicist’s vault, for #ClassicsTober