Confronting the Classics
By Mary Beard
Review by Katie K (Classics)
As a person who really wanted to study Classics at university, I realised didn鈥檛 know a lot about Classics at all. Classical books can be very intimidating 鈥� I felt like I needed to know everything! 鈥� which is why Mary Beard鈥檚 Confronting the Classics is such a good read. Having received it for my birthday, I began reading. I was determined to learn everything ever about my subject and finished certainly not knowing everything, but at least feeling like I did. Which was a good start.
It covers a good range of topics and some interesting situations 鈥� suggesting that the emperor Caligula appointed a horse as a consul for joke, for example, which makes the whole thing far more enjoyable to read than a textbook. There is a mix of more serious topics, some of which I referenced in one of my Oxford interviews, with some light-hearted ones,, such as the chapter right near the end entirely dedicated to the Asterix comic. Beard is a fantastic and accessible writer, which is incredibly important when learning about a topic for the first time 鈥� you want to be informed, but you also want to enjoy what you鈥檙e reading!
However, what I found best in this book is that it didn鈥檛 simply give you information 鈥� it explored and challenged ideas, and again and again it justified the importance of Classics to the modern world. In a world where people are constantly asking 鈥渨hat are you going to do with your Classics degree?鈥�, that鈥檚 an incredibly important thing.
Confronting the Classics by Mary Beard
ISBN-10: 1781250499
ISBN-13: 9781781250495听
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