The Classics Society Mk II
Classics discussion, revision, exam and homework help.
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Re: The Classics Society Mk III love old books, especially old classics books(Original post by Aesc)
Just got myself a second-hand Revised Kennedy's from the 1940s in very good condition for under a tenner, and feeling dead chuffed
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Re: The Classics Society Mk III've got a load of old ones from my uncles and such when they did Latin at school back in the 50s/60s (back when priests ran the show and Latin was compulsory lol), though most are too basic for me now(Original post by Aesc)
I used to volunteer in a charity shop and got first refusal on some real beauties, although unfortunately nothing really classics-related. Got this one from AbeBooks
I get all mine online now too 
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Re: The Classics Society Mk IICharity bookshop, feel good about yourself and being in a university town, many interesting historical and classical themed books can come in, of course I have to protect them from being thrown into the trash (hence why I volunteered to keep the store room in order, I can hide them amongst other books which are in no danger, hehe).Some don't know good books when they see them.
In a completely unrelated note, I was just looking back at the earliest posts in this thread. Bit of nostalgia and all that and amusing myself reading about the attempted coup to wrestle power from the original leader(s).
Last edited by RedDragon; 14-07-2012 at 14:58. -
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Re: The Classics Society Mk IIHiya again guys!
I've tried going through the past posts but I got bored and ate ice cream instead. What are some basic ancient stuff that I should read? Wow, poor English... Anyway, I'm going on an Amazon book buying binge after realising that I have read jack **** all literature. So, hit me with 'em. Please.
This is assuming that I get to have an actual life rather than working at the wonderful place I currently do every.single.day. Nervous breakdown: Buffering, 70% complete. -
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Re: The Classics Society Mk IIYou've had sugar recently haven't you?(Original post by Aemiliana)
Hiya again guys!
I've tried going through the past posts but I got bored and ate ice cream instead. What are some basic ancient stuff that I should read? Wow, poor English... Anyway, I'm going on an Amazon book buying binge after realising that I have read jack **** all literature. So, hit me with 'em. Please.
This is assuming that I get to have an actual life rather than working at the wonderful place I currently do every.single.day. Nervous breakdown: Buffering, 70% complete....oh wait yes, ice cream.
Last edited by RedDragon; 15-07-2012 at 10:40. -
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Re: The Classics Society Mk IIAbout a year ago, I remember reading about a school of thought which thought of sex as just the meeting of two slimy organs in combination with some unsightly spasms.
I myself have thought along similar lines, as it's all just hormone-induced hysteria, and so would like to find out more about this way of thinking.
As you can imagine though, putting that kind of thing into Google doesn't come out with terribly useful results
So does anyone know who these people were that thought this way? -
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Re: The Classics Society Mk IIMaybe you're looking for something more obscure, but Marcus Aurelius' Meditations certainly has a lot of content along those lines -- this page summarizes better than I probably could. So those kinds of mental exercise were a part of Stoicism (and, to some extent, most of the ancient philosophical schools); see Seneca's De Vita Beata for an ancient overview of Stoicism. And you get similar sorts of things in Buddhist koans and suttas/sutras (no doubt in other traditions too). Then in more modern times, Shopenhauer came from a similar tradition, holding that the negation of the will was the root to human fulfilment (Nietzsche coming to quite the opposite conclusion from similar premises). For a modern-day sexual pessimist, I suppose there's Michel Houellebecq (although a novelist rather than a philosopher). And here's what Wikipedia has to say about "antisexualism".(Original post by placenta medicae talpae)
About a year ago, I remember reading about a school of thought which thought of sex as just the meeting of two slimy organs in combination with some unsightly spasms.
I myself have thought along similar lines, as it's all just hormone-induced hysteria, and so would like to find out more about this way of thinking.
As you can imagine though, putting that kind of thing into Google doesn't come out with terribly useful results
So does anyone know who these people were that thought this way?
I don't think, however, that any of these people in fact actively disliked sex or other such sources of desire: it was becase they, like most of us, were so attracted to things that they considered to be ultimately harmful [at least without some form of control] that they needed to produce their philosophical systems (Freudian sublimation, anyone?). In other words, I'm not sure that any of them was actively asexual, if that's what you're getting at. -
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Re: The Classics Society Mk II(Original post by SirMasterKey)
On my year abroad I'm going to be going away abit from traditional ancient Greece and Rome and instead looking at the Ancient Near East and Levant.
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Re: The Classics Society Mk IIWell the ancient near east is sort of a massive part of Greece now so it will be helpful. On the one hand al the really cool stuff is in German which is a problem. I think when it comes to stuff like Assyrology the Germans are a generation ahead of everybody else.
re: ode. Aaaah Armand, breaking the cardinal rule he told me about eh. -
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Re: The Classics Society Mk IISounds like something I should go into(Original post by The Lyceum)
Well the ancient near east is sort of a massive part of Greece now so it will be helpful. On the one hand al the really cool stuff is in German which is a problem. I think when it comes to stuff like Assyrology the Germans are a generation ahead of everybody else.
re: ode. Aaaah Armand, breaking the cardinal rule he told me about eh.
Haha, what was that rule?
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Re: The Classics Society Mk IISorry guys I've got only (very) intermittent net access ontop of my current workload. Quite a few people I need to get back too.
The rule was basically not to write from and factorise from English to Greek if it can be helped. Clearly this rule has been broken here.
Saying that I'm guessing its only Homerists forced to develop a ridiculously tight grasp of early Greek semantics who are going to spot that. It's pretty and I like it.
re: The East.
Well German speakers do have massive advantages. The thing is the state of the discipline is odd....lets take the Gilgamesh. Arguably one of the most important sources for a Homerist. Well the best critical edition and commentary is in English.
Great! but....in order to actually learn the language, use a dictionary etc one needs German. Very odd. In general by far the best historical treatments are in German etc. Essentially one of the reasons my reading speed in the language has rocketed this year.
Well to be fair if you focus on Rome its superfluous knowledge. I think like Walter Burkert et al were saying decades ago, about this stuff being to (early) Greek what Greek is to Latin is very rapidly coming true. Which is terrifying since my principal philological training is an Indo-Europeanist and not in Assyriology. So. Un.Fair. 
