Antigone is never keen to blow her own salpinx but, now that she has reached the milestone of 100 days (and with a discernible skip in her step), we have prevailed upon her to say a few words about what we have done, what we wish to do, and what has helped us along the way.
We’ve had 100 volunteers write 135,000 words on all aspects of the Greek and Roman worlds – and we’re well on our way to half a million views from 175 countries worldwide. If you are reading these words, please accept from us our sincere thanks for all your support and enthusiasm!
What drives us on is the mission to excite and enthuse anyone and everyone by bringing the ancient world to life, and to show how fascinating and rewarding Classical languages, literature, history, philosophy, religion, art and architecture can be.
We are committed to making Classics open to all, whoever you are and wherever you find yourself. We seek no income or profit, we have no paywall, we have no funding of our own. If you are enjoying the varied content we put out, that is reward enough.
That said, if anyone does wish to support the essential mission of opening up the subject, we keenly encourage donations to be made to Classics for All, which is doing amazing work in UK schools. If in your part of the world you know of other charities doing similar work, please support them if you feel able to. We are all on – or at least should be on – the same team.
It’s been a very exciting journey over these first three months as Antigone has evolved and grown. We are really delighted that so many people from so many quarters have supported the project in so many different ways: your energy, humour and kindness are inspirational. Please get in touch, if you have something to pass on.
We wish to record our profound thanks to all our volunteer writers , not least to those who have offered us our five most read articles to-date:
- First comes Frisbee Sheffield, who set out the positive principles that can be taken from Socratic debate to inform and improve own ethics of discourse.
- As part of our launch issue, Stephen Fry wrote this sobering but stirring essay on the future of Classics for our launch back in March.
- Several of our writers came together to tell the chaotic tale of football from Ancient Greece to modern Britain. It’s longer than most pieces, so there should be plenty to help you enjoy or escape Euro 2020.
- As an early instalment of the educational resources Antigone intends to run, we’ve hosted David Butterfield’s lectures on the ins and outs of Greek and Latin metre.
- As an open forum, we’re always delighted to run pieces from anyone who has anything of interest to say. Among several pieces from non-specialists, Tully Williams’ tale of his autodidactic route into Greek literature and philosophy is well worth your time.
- And, er, you also humoured us when we talked up our Big Discovery. Were it not for the pending legal case about provenance (ob hinc adventura tacemus), we’d credit the fragment to Ov*d. Thanks to all the brilliant Neo-Nasonians who unleashed their expertise on this eye-popper, and the Guardian for rightly seeing that the story was of international significance.
We won’t say any more beyond this: on day one we set out how Sophocles’ Antigone inspired us. Beside our motto, one other quotation resonates: “Don’t exhibit this single habit of mind, to think that what you say and nothing else is true.” (705-6).[1]
Notes
| ⇧1 | μὴ νῦν ἓν ἦθος μοῦνον ἐν σαυτῷ φόρει, / ὡς φὴς σύ, κοὐδὲν ἄλλο, τοῦτ’ ὀρθῶς ἔχειν. |
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