Best products from r/classics

Do you have this book? I really liked it. You can spend weeks learning the info on a single page, but I thought it was really clear and well-written. I spent a semester teaching a tiny bit of it to a bunch of elementary to middle-school aged kids a while ago, so it looks intimidating but if you’re just looking at it for fun and don’t mind going really slowly then it’s not too hard. Or maybe it would be good to look at in a few years if you’re still interested then.

Also there is an introductory course on Egyptian language that I liked (I think it’s also Middle Egyptian, like that book) on The Great Courses. It’s not too hard. It’s available with the monthly subscription option so you don’t have to buy it (their courses are always too expensive to buy, unfortunately).

There are universities with awesome Egyptology programs. And then there are universities with Classics departments and a big goose-egg when it comes to other ancient languages. Unfortunately my daughter got stuck at a university that only offers Greek and Latin, but they seem to have a huge variety of study-abroad options so I’m hoping she can find a way to study at an international university that offers more fun courses in other ancient languages and cultures. We will see. There’s always more than one way to get where you want to go.

Have fun.

Catullus

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Betrayal-Catullus-Bruce-Arnold/dp/0130433454/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?crid=22K0V9X7X9C74&keywords=love+and+betrayal+a+catullus+reader&qid=1558536403&s=gateway&sprefix=love+and+betrayal+%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

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Ovid

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Transformation-Reader-English-Latin/dp/067358920X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=28WT9VPC88Q7S&keywords=love+and+transformation+an+ovid+reader&qid=1558536463&s=gateway&sprefix=ovid+love+and+trans%2Caps%2C157&sr=8-1-spell

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https://www.amazon.com/Ovids-Amores-Book-One-Commentary/dp/0806141441/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=amores+book+1+ovid&qid=1558536435&s=gateway&sr=8-2

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https://www.amazon.com/Ovid-Metamorphoses-VIII-Latin-Texts/dp/1853997226/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=ovid+metamorphoses+8&qid=1558536602&s=gateway&sr=8-11

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Cicero

https://www.amazon.com/Cicero-Pro-Caelio-Marcus-Tullius/dp/0865165599/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=cicero+pro+caelio&qid=1558536500&s=gateway&sr=8-1

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I really enjoyed Ovid at your level, which is why he is over-represented in this list. I know Perseus has commentaries on all the Catullus poems except the more risque ones. Unfortunately, those are also left out of the book I posted here. I would probably go with the Catullus one or the first/second Ovid books, just because I think love poetry is entertaining. The Cicero was definitely more difficult, but had a lot of juicy insults and was also quite fun. I used all of these and they definitely helped me improve my Latin, so whatever you choose will be good, just pick something you'll have fun reading. Good luck and enjoy!

Always great to see children showing interest. 12 is certainly old enough to read and comprehend Homer, but like others have said, context will definitely be key. Regularly discussing it with her will likely help to give her background information and also just help her to enjoy it more. As for illustrated editions, this one is gorgeous. I gave it to my nephews (all under 10), and almost wish I had just kept it for myself.

https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Homer/dp/1454922435/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511192345&sr=1-1&keywords=ISBN10+1454922435

Some of your salt I understand, but mainly you are arguing from unstable ground. You say "logically inconsistent," so I am going to assume you are interested in logic and facts. That's great. Let's start with the logic of a "social construct."

>The brothers and the guy with "4 degrees" seem to think that race is a social construct. If so, then how did they categorize "White Lady" as white?

You seem to think that acknowledging something as a construct means that it has no affect over how people live or identify themselves. That is flawed logic. Before we think about race, it might be easier to consider another construct: national identity. National identifiers like American or Roman are, of course, made up, i.e. socially constructed, and they change over time. The boundaries of Romanness/Americanness are constantly in flux, the definitions fluid and ever-changing. Does national identity correspond with geographical boundaries, or citizenship rights, or language, or shared religion, or skin color, or governmental system, or what? Again, over time, the answer has been yes to all of those things and no to all of them. Yet, even as we constantly redefine what it means "to be American," even as we recognize that we can redefine what it means, that identity matters a great deal to many people and it measurably affects peoples' lives. I call myself and others Americans, knowing full well that our national identity is made up, but it still can be a useful shortcut for understanding something about one another. So, to consider race, when people call it a social construct, they are pointing out that it only exists insofar as we, as social beings, define it. But the things that people make up still very seriously affect their lives. The brothers in the video recognize that the notion of "blackness," which was something that human beings constructed alongside the idea of "whiteness," has shaped the way their world arranges itself and their relationships in it (hence calling the black man "brother" and the white women "white lady"). Blackness is made up, just as made up as Americanness, but both seriously affect how we live our lives and the types of relationships open to people.

>Yes, the term "white" has undergone changes in its definition by racists, but has the term "black" undergone any changes?

Short answer, yes. There's a reason we used to have terms like "mulatto," "mestizo" and "Creole" in America. In South Africa, "mixed" is still a racial category distinct from black or white.

>If race is a social construct then why would it matter if the ancient world was entirely white?

So, the video is trying to point out how the alt-right tries to co-opt the ancient world's "whiteness" as an identity building tactic when they argue for white ethno-states. Here's one good article about fashwave propaganda; here are three more pieces about alt-right using the whiteness of statues for their anti-illectual ideological aims from New Yorker, then Forbes, and another from HyperAllergic. They are trying to point out that our idea of whiteness did not exist in antiquity, but modern fascists still like to appeal to an idea of a transhistorical white/European culture. The stakes here are paramount, as evidenced by growing fascist and white nationalist trends from around the globe. Anyone interested in classics has a responsibility to call out bad scholarship anywhere they see it. Our discipline is currently being ransacked by those uninterested in the beauty and complexity of ancient life and literature, and we should be the first to point out their ideological manipulations.

>One of those degrees must have missed anything to do with the basic physiological differences between the races. Skeletal structure for one, is a good indicator of race. Hell, the production of more melanin in the brothers' skin is proof that race is not a social construct

So, here you've just got the facts wrong. I'm going to assume you aren't arguing from bad faith, but rather are actually interested in "the truth," or some form of it. So, let's hope that we can use logic and facts together to sort this one out! One easy place to start is National Geographic's "There’s No Scientific Basis for Race—It's a Made-Up Label". It's a good, quick read. Give it a try. If you don't like those facts, bounce on over to "Human Genetic Diversity and the Nonexistence of Biological Races", from Human Biology, or American Psychologist's "Race as biology is fiction, racism as a social problem is real: Anthropological and historical perspectives on the social construction of race", (both of which are behind a paywall, but as long as you are on a college campus, you have access to them). Then, you could follow up with Scientific American's "Race Is a Social Construct, Scientists Argue", which is not the best article on its own, but links you to the study it discusses. If you'd prefer a book, you could get How Race Is Made, or, you know, one of any modern book written about race besides pseudo-science like Bell Curve. Good ol' facts and logic!

So, as you know by now from doing some reading, bone structure and melanin production actually don't correspond with different racial subcategories, because those categories are constantly in flux. They are, again, socially constructed labels. I hope this helps make your salty dish taste a little sweeter!

For grammar drills, Wheelock's is always a good bet. The workbook as well if you want the extra practice. On top of this, Groton's 38 Latin stories corresponds to the Wheelock's chapters relatively well, and provides more reinforcement of the respective chapters grammar points. As an alternative to Wheelock's, there is Moreland's An Intensive Latin Course.

Most beginning prose translation classes in Latin tend to go with either Caesar or Cicero. You may want to pick up a reader with running vocabulary on the right.

If you're up for it, there is an excellent resource on Cicero's pro archia, which helps you diagram the sentences and better understand Cicero's style. I have had other students tell me that this process was immensely helpful:
https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Archia-Poeta-Oratio-Structural/dp/0865164398/ref=pd_sbs_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0865164398&pd_rd_r=5KQG7MAXNWHV1QNT78D7&pd_rd_w=YWHsf&pd_rd_wg=AXBVW&psc=1&refRID=5KQG7MAXNWHV1QNT78D7

There is also this Cicero reader:
https://www.amazon.com/Ciceros-First-Catilinarian-Vocabulary-Commentary/dp/0991386094/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1499640770&sr=8-13&keywords=Cicero

The best book is English Grammar for Students of Latin. I make the students I teach take this book.

https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Students-Latin-Learning/dp/0934034346

It helps because you can easily understand what a gerund or a participle is in English so that a gerund or participle in Latin is easier to understand.

It has little exercises at the end of each chapter to help you practice and apply what you learned about English and Latin grammar.

It isn't very comprehensive, so eventually, you want to use Allen and Greenough or Bennet's Latin grammar. You can download those for free here

http://www.textkit.com/latin_grammar.php

However, as you said, grammar is your bane, so this is why I recommend English Grammar for Students of Latin. It's elementary and will get you up to speed with understanding how grammar works in general so that you can grasp Latin grammar more easily.

Hi there! As a graduated classics major, it warms my heart you want to get back into Latin. For relearning Latin I would suggest finding a workbook of the appropriate level and doing it for an hour every day before you hit your classes (say a week or two). Depending on the teacher they will typically let you ease back into groove of Latin as even a summer away from the materials takes time to recover. One that I used to keep up and that my friend who uses it for her English Ph. D. to keep up her skills is on one Cupid ans Psyche. Link below.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions and bona fortuna!


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0199120471/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1499631745&sr=8-5&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=cupid+and+psyche&dpPl=1&dpID=51P4KC3A54L&ref=plSrch

Check out Marilyn Skinner's "Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture". I just did an IS on gender and sexuality in antiquity and that was the most useful and comprehensive text that I came across. In fact, I just wrote a syllabus for a 3000 level course on the topic which centered around her text.

Also, don't forget that Greece is not a state until somewhere around 1830 and that women were treated differently and held different roles in different poleis at different time periods. There are major differences between Athenian Upper class Wives and Hellenistic Queens or Spartan wives. Often slaves (particularly in Rome) could hold positions of power and certain classes of women had much more independence that you might think. Don't try to judge them with your own cultural morals. The key is to examine Greek concepts of ethnicity, class, and gender as part of the same picture. Hope that helps :)

Since he’s a classics major I’d recommend this pencil holder:
Caesar Pencil Holder
I got it as a birthday present last year and all my classics friends + some of my non classics friends love it

It's not exactly what you asked, but you would probably really enjoy The Shape of Ancient Thought by Thomas McEvilley. "Spanning thirty years of intensive research, this book proves what many scholars could not explain: that today’s Western world must be considered the product of both Greek and Indian thought—Western and Eastern philosophies. Thomas McEvilley explores how trade, imperialism, and migration currents allowed cultural philosophies to intermingle freely throughout India, Egypt, Greece, and the ancient Near East."

https://www.amazon.com/Shape-Ancient-Thought-Comparative-Philosophies/dp/1581152035

P.G. Walsh is a very modern translator, so all of his works are under copyright still. I mean, you can go to the dark recesses of the Internet and get a copy, but I would not be able to help you with that.

My recommendation is to go get it used off Amazon. I'm looking right now, and it's $7.25 there with free shipping. I don't know about you, but that's not really prohibitive. Just read it and stick it on your shelf so you can read it again in a few years.

I'm not sure what you mean by scholarly, but there was an original fiction novel published a few years ago in Classical Latin.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1456759736/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_oX00Bb4BDSP4P