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Romance in Rome and a very important question………
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An Istanbul Turkey Trip Teaser
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Labour’s axing of the Latin Excellence Programme vs ‘just doing the right thing’
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Teaching approaches from abroad – fighting back
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Classical Statuary and perfect human development (an alternative New Year Get Fit Routine!)
Χαίρετε! Salve! Καλή χρονιά! Auguri di Buon Anno!
Happy New Year to one and all and welcome back to the fray…….
Whilst some curmudgeonly Greeks and Romans weren’t convinced that holiday time was a period of gainful employ
Claudius Aelian “Look at you men – devising endless pretexts and excuses for idling!”
the same certainly can’t be said of the Hellene Team on recent trips to Rome and Istanbul!
I. 2024 concluded with a Roman Romantic interlude and a very important question
It’s wise for Classicists to choose non-Classicist spouses and partners with care as most holiday breaks involve an awful lot of walking around Museums and Archaeological Sites!
Back in November 2023, to celebrate their two-year anniversary, James took his partner Charlotte to Paris.
A Rome-heavy Weekend in Paris – Attachment A
Figure 1: Bust of Antoninus Pius as an Arval Brother
Figure 2: The Velletri Athena
Figure 3: The Grand Cameo of France
Charlotte has survived many a Classical sojourn now for the big one.
Figure 14: Fragments of the Forma Urbis
Figure 16: The Great Hall of Palazzo Colonna
Rome’s New Sites and a Very Important Question atop the Victor Emmanuel Monument – Attachment B
Well, what do you think happened?
HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU BOTH
Yes, Jamie certainly knows how to put the Rome into Romantic!
II. 2025 began with an Istanbul, Turkey Trip Teaser
At time of writing, Kerry and Claudia are enjoying a long weekend in Istanbul Risk Assessing Hotels and visiting as many Sites and Museums as possible – including a day trip to Troy.
More detail in the next Newsletter, but meanwhile enjoy Day 1 photographs.
Kariye Mosque, Basilica and Theodosius Cisterns, Topkaki Palace, Aghia Irene and Hagia Sophia in one day is pretty good going!
Kerry on X:
“A rainy day in Istanbul but that didn’t stop the Hellene team from exploring some of the city’s highlights”
“An evening stroll for coffee and sweet treats”
III. Labour’s axing of State School Latin Excellence Programme vs Centre for Classics Education Research & Engagement and Working Classicists
The hugely disappointing news of the Government’s axing of the Latin Excellence Programme has been strongly countered by the creation of CERES the Classics Education Research & Engagement, the world’s first department dedicated to researching classics learning and teaching at Durham University.
The former was described as ‘cultural vandalism’, the latter as ‘just doing the right thing’.
Hellene School Travel will of course continue to subsidise any future trips by schools on the original Latin Excellence Programme Trip List, even though the Government initiative has been cancelled.
The publishers of the newly released “Periodic Table of Greek Mythology” are also ‘doing the right thing’ in agreeing that all profits (after costs) go to Working Classicists and their outreach projects.
Well Done to Working Classicists and their contributors, one of whom is our very own Dr Kerry Phelan!
IV. Teaching approaches from abroad – fighting back
The Australian Classical Education Society aims to cultivate virtues and wisdom, seeking to develop good people distinguished for their humanity and ethical integrity and held its first event back in May.
“We are no longer talking about mathematics, philology, biology as individual subjects, but about an integration of all these arts as a whole. That is the key,” says the ACES president. “Don’t our children deserve to learn truth, goodness and beauty over competing relativistic terms? Shouldn’t education be based on time-tested methods rather than social and political fads?” he asks.
The article Enduring importance of studying Western Classics in the 21st Century (a review of Classics and Humanities in Sri Lankan Universities) contains this response to a query whether the popularity of a subject like Classics is decreasing due to more popular subjects like mathematics and science, Dr Varunadatta had this to say,
“No, I do not believe it is, at least not at the moment. That aside, it is not possible to imagine human societies without math and science. However, that does not, and should not cancel or lower the significance of the Humanities, and the classics in particular, simply because they are not mutually exclusive. The interest in Classics is, and will be significant in the future, especially because in the world we live in today due to flawed human behaviour, lack of ethics and the erosion of human values essential for human existence, the quality of life everywhere is decreasing rapidly.”
In Spain… whilst enrolments for English, Europe’s lingua franca, have fallen by as much as 25% interest in Greek and Latin at the university level is booming!
From USA Ancient Greek role-play revives political debate: Classics class immerses students in politics then and now – a great quote from a student,
“We’re no longer just reading from a textbook and being quizzed on a sequence of events. By taking on roles and objectives and discovering others’ motivations, we are exploring nuances in a way that feels real to us,” said Thomas Raiford, whose character was modelled on the ancient Greek sophist Gorgias. “By researching and questioning the role I had been given, I found complexities that were both challenging and exciting to expand on. That’s not something that happens in a normal class often.
V. WHAT ELSE HAS BEEN HAPPENING IN THE CLASSICAL WORLD?
GREECE – Attachment C
ITALY – Attachment D
UK – Attachment E
CROATIA, ALBANIA, SCANDANAVIA, BALKANS, POLAND, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, BLACK SEA – Attachment F
SWITZERLAND, GERMANY/AUSTRIA, FRANCE, SPAIN – Attachment G
TURKEY, EGYPT, ISRAEL, IRAN, IRAQ, LIBYA, JORDAN – Attachment H
VI. A miscellaneous collection of diverse and eclectic articles on Greece and Rome for your whimsy – Attachment I
VII. Classical Statuary and perfect human development (an alternative New Year Get Fit Routine!)
The Paris Olympic Games may now feel as if a distant memory, but how many of you are aware of how other centuries and decades incorporated the ancient Olympic Sporting ethos into their daily lives?
Georges Hebert used classical statuary as the model of perfect human development in men and women. Check out Georges Hebert Methode Naturelle Article at Pete Kautz Alliance Martial Arts
The George Hebert. Practical Guide of Physical Education is available on Amazon and would be a perfect New Year Gift for anyone trying to lose those extra Festive Fayre pounds and kilos! Amaze your neighbours, friends, colleagues and pupils with an alternative New Year Get Fit Routine!
Alternatively, follow the advice of Girolamo Mercuriale’s “On the Art of Physical Exercise” a 16th Century Account Of Ancient Sports And Workouts
Mercuriale writes of his hope that his patron, Cardinal Farnese, will learn how to live more healthily and take better care of his body by reading the work: “It remains for you, following the example of the ancients, to exercise your own body so widely that you not only achieve the long life that heaven promises you and your nature suggests, but also, if possible, may extend it further.”
It’s not known whether Mercuriale practised what he preached and followed his own advice, or if Farnese took up his recommendations. Farnese died of apoplexy in 1589, 20 years after the above words were written.
Wishing you Health, Wealth and Happiness – here’s to an optimistic and successful 2025.
All the Best from the Hellene Team
Sarah, John, Claudia, James, Kerry, Nidhi and Vishal