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Lucan
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Greetings!

Post by Lucan »

salve!

Long time lurker, first time poster. Thought I'd introuduce myself before I start chatting to you all. I'm a 19 year old university student from merry old England, and have been studying classical civilization for just one year now. This includes the wonderful language of latin :D Understandably, the relatively short length of my study means that my latin ability isn't of quite the same standard as many of you, but please bear with me and don't hesitate to correct me if I'm ever wrong. I'm also taking up ancient Greek in a couple of weeks, and I'm hoping to work on my latin independently over the summer. One day I'd like to be able to compare the works of Herodotus and Tacitus in their original languages. Well I won't waste any more of your time- hope to have some interesting conversations with all of you soon :)

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klewlis
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Post by klewlis »

Welcome here!
First say to yourself what you would be; then do what you need to do. ~Epictetus

mariek
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Re: Greetings!

Post by mariek »

Hi Lucan!

Welcome to Textkit!! :)


mingshey
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Post by mingshey »

Welcome!

:D

Emma_85
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Post by Emma_85 »

Hi Lucan!

Welcome to textkit! What exactly does studying classical civilisations include? Is most of it ancient history then?

Lucan
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Post by Lucan »

Hi everyone!

emma: classical civilisation is somewhere in-between your traditional classics course, and a traditional ancient history course (although obviously there is a lot of overlap between the three). This means that in the first year you receive a good detailed grounding on different areas of the Greek and Roman world. This year I've studied 'Greek Culture and Society', 'Roman Culture and Society', 'Introduction to Ancient History' and a 'Latin Language' module. Had I wanted to I could have studied ancient Greek and/or introduction to ancient philosophy too. But to be honest I find philosophy about as interesting as quantum physics (please don't hate me for this :D) and I didn't fancy taking up 2 new languages right away. Basically the course is a bit more well rounded in the first year than your traditional classics/ancient history course, allowing you to decide what your interests are as you go along and later 'specialise' in them.

In the second and third years you get considerably more flexability. Next year I'll be continuing with the latin, reading Greek comedy, literature produced under the time of Nero (Lucan, Sallust, Tacitus etc), and a general study of the Hellenistic period. I've no idea what I'm going to study in the third year. I'll have to wait and see :D

Emma_85
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Post by Emma_85 »

to be honest I find philosophy about as interesting as quantum physics
Hehehe, me too... only that I find quantum physics fascinating of course :P .

Sounds like a much better course than say just ancient history (which I find as fascinating as elegiac poetry :wink: ). I've always wondered if there was such a course, because basically in order to really understand any culture you'd need to know a bit about its history, language, literature and society.

Keesa
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Post by Keesa »

Welcome, Lucan! It's always nice to see new people posting--although, of course, the best thing about a new friend is that he may one day become an old friend. :D

Welcome to Textkit!

~Keesa


Edit: Okay, okay, I had to say it. I envy you your location. One day _I'll_ be studying in England!! :x

Lucan
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Post by Lucan »

emma: But I find elegiac poetry about as interesting as quantum physics... so does that mean you actually like it (and philosophy?)! Just kidding. Anyway, yes it's an extremely good course. Like you said it's important to understand all aspects of an ancient culture and not just their literature or history. Plus it's helped me discover where my real interests truly lie.

Keesa: Jealous? :P Where are you from? University here in England is great, but I'm not so sure about the country as a whole. I'm sure you'll make it over here. One day :wink:

Keesa
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Post by Keesa »

Lucan wrote:
Keesa: Jealous? :P Where are you from? University here in England is great, but I'm not so sure about the country as a whole. I'm sure you'll make it over here. One day :wink:
From Alabama, but I've grown up with English literature, steeped myself in as much English culture as I can reach, and love everything English, from landscapes to fog and smog to a British accent.

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