18th February 2013
Notes: 7
For anyone who has ever taken a course in a classical language, you’re probably familiar with the debate over which publisher’s editions of classical texts are superior. The three biggest players are the Loeb Classical Library, the Oxford Classical Texts, and the Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics, each of which has a distinctive visual style that makes each one instantly identifiable. In this video, a group of classics students jump to the defense of their Cambridge “green and yellows,” to a recognizable tune. It really does make the perfect soundtrack for a Sunday afternoon full of Latin homework.
[Click through to view the video on YouTube to see the lyrics, since it can sometimes be a bit hard to make out.]
Bonus post going off of today’s title: this is actually real. I love academia. Special thanks to Florencia for bringing this article to my attention.
As a person who spends a fair amount of time obsessing about the distant past, I can safely say there are times I’ve been amazed by the sorts of ridiculous things that seem completely normal to me at this point.
One time, I was reading for a mythology seminar and saw something along the lines of “No evidence for a ritual sacrifice exists, though there do appear to be signs of an elaborate cheese stealing ritual.” That’s not the direct quote, but you get the point. Really bizarre stuff, and I’m sitting there nodding being all, “Ah, yes, of course.” But right-now me wants to go back and point out to back-then me, “NO, NOT OF COURSE, THAT MAKES NO SENSE!!!!!!”
This is relevant because I think that this week’s guest submission, which comes from Classical Languages major Florencia F., gets at these Classics problems very nicely. Florencia is opting not to write her thesis on:
“Honey, I Killed the Kids!”: Why Disney Waters Down Myth, or a Sympathetic Exploration of Euripides’ Medea
Yes, for a Classics major, horrendous crimes like infanticide are all too commonplace - you’re dealing with that stuff all the damn time. I admire the way that this topic embraces that. And honestly, it’s got plenty of potential - I’m kinda secretly hoping that Florencia ends up actually writing this. I know that’s one presentation I couldn’t wait to sit through.
As always, I’ll take this opportunity to remind you that YOU can be the next guest submitter to Rejected Thesis Titles, regardless of your actual academic status or field, by hitting up the Submit link on the sidebar.
Yours in peace, love, and ancient cheese stealing rituals (but not infanticide - you gotta draw the line somewhere),
Jacob
