The Age Old Question

Why study the Classics? According to many, including the philosopher Schopenhauer, the real question should be "Why not?!"

"From what I have said, it is obvious that to imitate the style of the ancients in their own language, which is so very much superior to ours in point of grammatical perfection, is the best way of preparing for a skillful and finished expression of thought in the mother-tongue. Nay, if a man wants to be a great writer, he must not omit to do this; just as, in the case of sculpture or painting, the student must educate himself by copying the great masterpieces of the past, before proceeding to original work. It is only by learning to write Latin that a man comes to treat diction as an art. The material in this art is language, which must therefore be handled with the greatest care and delicacy."

I'm swooning! (You can read more here.)

Odysseus and Veterans Day

Looks like the NYT has an interesting piece about Odysseus for Veterans Day, asking this central question: "Who is the veteran, and how does he stand in relation to his native land and people?"

MBA Greek and Latin Scholars Excel

Dr. Gaffney’s students achieved terrific results in national language tests recently.

Results from the National Greek Exam have come back to the school and reveal that Brian Swenson and Will Overton earned High Honors. This distinction is the equivalent of a Maxima Cum Laude paper on the National Latin Exam. Wade Longmire and Matt Wieck earned Merit citations (the equivalent of Magna Cum Laude on the NLE). These students all took the intermediate-level, not the beginning-level, exam in only their first year of Greek, and their scores represent a high level of achievement in the language.

In the Classical Association of the Middle West and South’s translation competition, both Thompson Barr and Quinton Burks earned Book Awards and Pat Killian and Matt Bellet earned letters of commendation. All four of these students are in Dr. Gaffney’s Advanced Placement Latin Literature (Catullus/Horace) class.

Congratulations to all these classics scholars!

The Sound of Ancient Greece

Very interesting article from the Times Online about ancient Greek music, as recreated by computer scientists.