Conceptions and Sources
takenow:not,atleastinthefirstinstance,bywayofself-questioningand
self-criticism,butrathertheopposite.Bydefiningwhatoursubjectamounts
to,wemightalsoremindourselves,andothers,justhowvastitsscopeis.
Letmebeginbyofferingapossibledefinition:classicsisthestudyofthe
culture,inthewidestsense,ofanypopulationusingGreekandLatin,from
thebeginningto(say)theIslamicinvasionsoftheseventhcentury..
SinceMichaelVentris’deciphermentofLinearB,‘‘thebeginnings’’ought
ofcoursetocoverthelatersecondmillennium..;andcertainlywecanon
noaccountleavethelateBronzeAgeoutofourconceptionofGreekhistory.
None the less, we could still choose to treat that as a sort of Greek ‘‘pre-
history,’’andtotakethedecisivebeginningasfallingintheeighthcentury
..Todothatwouldbetousetwointerrelatedmarkers:theappearanceof
theearliestscrapsofwritingwhicharenotonlyinGreekbutintheGreek
alphabet;andtheworksofHomerandHesiod.
Whether we ought, or ought not, to talk of a real, historical world of
Homer(followingM.I.Finley’sbrilliantThe World of Odysseus),itremains
veryimportantthataremarkablerangeofthebasicfeaturesofGreekcul-
ture and Greek social and political life is already represented for us in the
poemsofHomer:amultiplicityofgodsandgoddesses;sacrificesofferedto
them;temples;cities,andnewlyfounded‘‘colonial’’cities;war;competition;
honour;oratory;popularassemblies;competitivesport.Thusthehistoryof
Europeansportsjournalismbegins,veryappropriately,withIliad,anda
famous rowas towhether victory in a chariot race had been legitimately
won.(Perhaps,inviewofthefarceoftheGrandNationalin,theClas-
sical Association could offera prize for fifty lines of Homeric hexameters
describing a race which never got started because some deity maliciously
dulledthewitsoftheofficials?).
ButifwearetobeginwithHomer,itisabsolutelyessentialnottoletthat
misleadusintothinkingof ‘‘Greekhistory’’assomethingwhichhappened
first,followedsometimeafterby‘‘Romanhistory.’’Forthetwohistoriesand
thetwocultureswerecloselyconnectedfromtheeighthcenturyonwards,
andbecameevenmoreinextricablyintertwinedastimewenton.Thus,we
mustrecallthatimportedGreekvaseswerealreadyreachingRomearound
thenotional,orlegendary,dateofits‘‘foundation,’’..Andfromaround
thattimetoowehavetheEastGreekGeometricskyphosdiscoveredonthe
islandofPithekoussai(Ischia),theearliestGreeksettlementintheWest,and
notmuchoveronehundredmilesfromRome.Thefamousgraffitowritten
onit,‘‘I[am]thecupofNestor,goodtodrinkfrom,’’bothreflectsaknowl-
edgeofepic,and,beingwrittenfromrighttoleft,illustratesthe(probably
very recent) borrowing of the Greek alphabet from Phoenicia. Almost all