Head of Classics, Miss Van Dal, recently recorded a podcast about race and ethnicity in the Classical world for Fifth Years and the Middle and Upper School Classics Societies to enjoy.
She explains: “Over the summer, following the recent events and the global coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement, there has been quite a furore in the Classics world. Classicists everywhere – myself included – have been re-evaluating our approach to the subject and university students have been urging university departments to de-colonise their Classics curricula.”
In the podcast, she takes a look at some recent debates about race in the Classical world, from whether David Gyasi or Brad Pitt is a better choice to play Achilles in adaptations of the Iliad, to asking the question about what ancient sculptures really looked like and why we propagate the myth that they were white.
She also considers how the ancient Greeks thought about race, from Hesiod, to Homer, to Plato, and what we can learn from their ideas to help us in our own approach to the topic in the present day. It can be accessed here. Enjoy!
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