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[[Image:Homere.jpg|right|thumb|"Homer"]]

[[Image:Homere.jpg|right|thumb|<center>[[Homer]]</center>]]

'''Classics''' or '''Classical Studies''' is the branch of the [[Humanities]] dealing with the [[language]]s, [[literature]], [[history]], [[art]], and other aspects of the ancient [[Mediterranean]] world; especially [[Ancient Greece]] and [[Ancient Rome]] during the time known as [[classical antiquity]], roughly spanning from the Ancient Greek [[Bronze Age]] in 1000 [[BCE]] to the [[Dark Ages]] circa [[Common Era|CE]] 500. The study of the Classics was the initial field of study in the humanities.  The word "Classics" also refers to the literature of that period.

'''Classics''' or '''Classical Studies''' is the branch of the [[Humanities]] dealing with the [[language]]s, [[literature]], [[history]], [[art]], and other aspects of the ancient [[Mediterranean]] world; especially [[Ancient Greece]] and [[Ancient Rome]] during the time known as [[classical antiquity]], roughly spanning from the Ancient Greek [[Bronze Age]] in 1000 [[BCE]] to the [[Dark Ages]] circa [[Common Era|CE]] 500. The study of the Classics was the initial field of study in the humanities.  The word "Classics" also refers to the literature of that period.

Classical studies incorporate a certain type of methodology. The rule of the classical world and of Christian culture and society was Philo's rule:  

Classical studies incorporate a certain type of methodology. The rule of the classical world and of Christian culture and society was Philo's rule:  

:"Philo's rule dominated Greek culture, from Homer to Neo-Platonism and the Christian Fathers of late antiquity. The rule is: "μεταχαραττε το θειον νομισμα" ("metacharatte to theion nomisma"). It is the law of strict continuity. We preserve and do not throw away words or ideas. Words and ideas may grow in meaning but must stay within the limits of the original meaning and concept that the word has."{{Fact|date=April 2007}}

:"Philo's rule dominated Greek culture, from Homer to Neo-Platonism and the Christian Fathers of late antiquity. The rule is: "μεταχαραττε το θειον νομισμα" ("metacharatte to theion nomisma"). It is the law of strict continuity. We preserve and do not throw away words or ideas. Words and ideas may grow in meaning but must stay within the limits of the original meaning and concept that the word has."

Classical education was considered the best training for implanting the life of moral excellence [[arete (excellence)|arete]], hence a good citizen. It furnished students with intellectual and aesthetic appreciation for "the best which has been thought and said in the world." Edward Copleston, an Oxford classicist, said that classical education "communicates to the mind...a high sense of honour, a disdain of death in a good cause, (and) a passionate devotion to the welfare of one's country." Edward Copleston, in ''The Victorians and Ancient Greece,'' Richard Jenkyns, 60. [[Cicero]] commented, "All literature, all philosophical treatises, all the voices of antiquity are full of examples for imitation, which would all lie unseen in darkness without the light of literature."

Classical education was considered the best training for implanting the life of moral excellence [[arete (excellence)|arete]], hence a good citizen. It furnished students with intellectual and aesthetic appreciation for "the best which has been thought and said in the world." Edward Copleston, an Oxford classicist, said that classical education "communicates to the mind...a high sense of honour, a disdain of death in a good cause, (and) a passionate devotion to the welfare of one's country." Edward Copleston, in ''The Victorians and Ancient Greece,'' Richard Jenkyns, 60. [[Cicero]] commented, "All literature, all philosophical treatises, all the voices of antiquity are full of examples for imitation, which would all lie unseen in darkness without the light of literature."

===[[Philology]]===

===[[Philology]]===

Traditionally, classics was essentially the [[philology]] of ancient texts. Although now less dominant, philology retains a central role. One definition of classical philology describes it as "the science which concerns itself with everything that has been transmitted from antiquity in the [[ancient Greek|Greek]] or [[classical Latin|Latin]] language. The object of this science is thus the Graeco-Roman, or Classical, world to the extent that it has left behind monuments in a linguistic form." J. and K. Kramer, ''La filologia classica'', 1979 as quoted by [Christopher S. Mackay [http://www.ualberta.ca/~csmackay/Philology.html]. Of course, classicists also concern themselves with other languages than Classical Greek and Latin including [[Linear A]], [[Linear B]], [[Sanskrit]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Oscan]], [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]], and many more. Before the invention of the [[printing press]], texts were reproduced by hand and distributed haphazardly. As a result, extant versions of the same text often differ from one another. Some classical philologists, known as textual critics, seek to synthesize these defective texts to find the most accurate version.

Traditionally, classics was essentially the [[philology]] of ancient texts. Although now less dominant, philology retains a central role. One definition of classical philology describes it as "the science which concerns itself with everything that has been transmitted from antiquity in the [[ancient Greek|Greek]] or [[classical Latin|Latin]] language. The object of this science is thus the Graeco-Roman, or Classical, world to the extent that it has left behind monuments in a linguistic form." J. and K. Kramer, ''La filologia classica'', 1979 as quoted by [Christopher S. Mackay [https://www.ualberta.ca/~csmackay/Philology.html]. Of course, classicists also concern themselves with other languages than Classical Greek and Latin including [[Linear A]], [[Linear B]], [[Sanskrit]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Oscan]], [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]], and many more. Before the invention of the [[printing press]], texts were reproduced by hand and distributed haphazardly. As a result, extant versions of the same text often differ from one another. Some classical philologists, known as textual critics, seek to synthesize these defective texts to find the most accurate version.