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<title>Classical reception studies</title>
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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Classical reception studies</span></span>
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<p><b>Classical reception studies</b> is the study of how the <a href="Classical_antiquity" title="Classical antiquity">classical world</a>, especially <a href="Ancient_Greek_literature" title="Ancient Greek literature">Ancient Greek literature</a> and <a href="Latin_literature" title="Latin literature">Latin literature</a>, have been received since antiquity. It is the study of the portrayal and representation of the ancient world from ancient to modern times. The nature of reception studies is highly interdisciplinary, including literature, art, music, film, and games. The field of study has, within the past few decades, become an increasingly popular and legitimized topic of interest in Classical studies.<sup id="cite_ref-martindale1_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-martindale1-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History">History</h2></div>
<p>This area of study was first, and historically considered a subset of the <a href="Classical_tradition" title="Classical tradition">classical tradition</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-:0_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Before <i>reception</i> gained interest, the <i>classical tradition</i> was discussed and popularized in the 1920s.<sup id="cite_ref-:0_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> While the <i>classical tradition</i> mainly focuses on how and why Classics fit into the modern world, the term <i>reception</i> now encompasses classical traditions, with a wide range over the interplay between the cultures that draw inspiration from classical societies and the past itself.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Due to the nature of classical reception, which was heavily influenced by <a href="Reception_theory" title="Reception theory">reception theory</a>, classical reception theory departs from the <a href="Classical_tradition" title="Classical tradition">classical tradition</a> in various ways.<sup id="cite_ref-:0_2-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>Tradition tends to put a premium on continuity, the simple passing down of one influence to another, the context that informed some earlier material. <sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Reception, on the other hand, stresses the mediated, situated, contingent character of readings, and the concept that there is no final, correct meaning for any text.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Charles Martindale, a pioneer in classical reception, stated that "our current interpretations of ancient texts, whether or not we are aware of it, are, in complex ways, constructed by the chain of receptions through which their continued readability has been effected. As a result we cannot get back to any originary meaning wholly free of subsequent accretions."<sup id="cite_ref-:1_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Classical texts are not simply handed down, as implied by the Classical Tradition, but are in fact transformed as they are passed along.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>While scholars generally agree that classical reception differs from the classical tradition,<sup id="cite_ref-:1_6-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> the term classical reception has a variety of definitions. Classical reception scholar Johanna Hanink defines classical reception as "how the ancient past is visibly interwoven in the fabric of the present moment."<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The Open University's Classical Receptions in Drama and Poetry in English project adds that "classical receptions also involves analysis of the mediating aspects, such as translation, scholarship, cultural narratives (oral, written and performed) and the artistic and literary practices that create these."<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Definition">Definition</h2></div>
<p><a href="Lorna_Hardwick" title="Lorna Hardwick">Lorna Hardwick</a> and <a href="Christopher_Stray" title="Christopher Stray">Christopher Stray</a> assert that Classical reception studies is devoted to examining "the ways in which Greek and Roman material has been transmitted, translated, excerpted, interpreted, rewritten, re-imaged and represented."<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Martindale notes that Classical reception "encompasses all work concerned with postclassical material."<sup id="cite_ref-martindale1_1-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-martindale1-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>Hardwick has also previously defined classical reception as "the artistic or intellectual processes involved in selecting, imitating or adapting ancient works," but which also treats display and viewing as active processes.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>Hardwick and Stray state that scholars of reception studies hold the relationship between the ancient and modern to be reciprocal, although they acknowledge that others believe that reception studies only shed light on the receiving society, and not on the ancient text or its context.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Although reception theory originated from <a href="Hans_Robert_Jauss" title="Hans Robert Jauss">Hans Robert Jauss</a> in the late 1960s, classicists took about 30 years to officially adopt the term. Wide-scale acceptance did not occur until 2009, with the launch of Oxford's on-line periodical, the <a href="Classical_Receptions_Journal" title="Classical Receptions Journal">Classical Receptions Journal</a>.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2></div>
<ul><li><a href="Neo-Latin_studies" title="Neo-Latin studies">Neo-Latin studies</a></li></ul>
<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>
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<li id="cite_note-martindale1-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-martindale1_1-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-martindale1_1-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">
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</style><cite id="CITEREFMartindale2006" class="citation book cs1">Martindale, Charles (2006). "Introduction: Thinking Through Reception". In Martindale, Charles; Thomas, Richard F. (eds.). <span class="id-lock-limited" title="Free access subject to limited trial, subscription normally required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/classicsusesrece00mart"><i>Classics and the Uses of Reception</i></a></span>. Maldon and Oxford: Blackwell. p. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/classicsusesrece00mart/page/n16">1</a>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-:0-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:0_2-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_2-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_2-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFBudelmannHaubold2008" class="citation book cs1">Budelmann, Felix; Haubold, Johannes (2008). "Reception and Tradition". In Hardwick, Lorna; Stray, Christopher (eds.). <span class="id-lock-limited" title="Free access subject to limited trial, subscription normally required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/companiontoclass00hard_515"><i>A Companion to Classical Receptions</i></a></span>. Malden, MA: Blackwell. p. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/companiontoclass00hard_515/page/n20">1</a>. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1002%2F9780470696507.ch1">10.1002/9780470696507.ch1</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9780470696507</bdi>.</cite></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFBudelmannHaubold2008" class="citation book cs1">Budelmann, Felix; Haubold, Johannes (2008). "Reception and Tradition". In Hardwick, Lorna; Stray, Christopher (eds.). <span class="id-lock-limited" title="Free access subject to limited trial, subscription normally required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/companiontoclass00hard_515"><i>A Companion to Classical Receptions</i></a></span>. Malden, MA: Blackwell. p. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/companiontoclass00hard_515/page/n21">2</a>. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1002%2F9780470696507.ch1">10.1002/9780470696507.ch1</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9780470696507</bdi>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFBudelmannHaubold2008" class="citation book cs1">Budelmann, Felix; Haubold, Johannes (2008). "Reception and Tradition". In Hardwick, Lorna; Stray, Christopher (eds.). <span class="id-lock-limited" title="Free access subject to limited trial, subscription normally required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/companiontoclass00hard_515"><i>A Companion to Classical Receptions</i></a></span>. Malden, MA: Blackwell. pp. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/companiontoclass00hard_515/page/n23">4</a>–6. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1002%2F9780470696507.ch1">10.1002/9780470696507.ch1</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9780470696507</bdi>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFMartindale2006" class="citation book cs1">Martindale, Charles (2006). "Introduction: Thinking Through Reception". In Martindale, Charles; Thomas, Richard F. (eds.). <span class="id-lock-limited" title="Free access subject to limited trial, subscription normally required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/classicsusesrece00mart"><i>Classics and the Uses of Reception</i></a></span>. Maldon and Oxford: Blackwell. p. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/classicsusesrece00mart/page/n18">3</a>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-:1-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:1_6-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_6-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFMartindale1993" class="citation book cs1">Martindale, Charles (1993). <i>Redeeming the Text: Latin Poetry and the Hermeneutics of Reception</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 7. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9780521417174</bdi>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFKallendorf2017" class="citation book cs1">Kallendorf, Craig (2017). "Foreword". In Hunt, Jeffrey; Smith, R. Alden; Stok, Fabio (eds.). <i>Classics From Papyrus to the Internet: An Introduction to Transmission and Reception</i>. Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 2. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9781477313015</bdi>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFHanink2017" class="citation web cs1">Hanink, Johanna (1 May 2017). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://eidolon.pub/its-time-to-embrace-critical-classical-reception-d3491a40eec3">"It's Time to Embrace Critical Classical Reception"</a>. <i>Eidolon</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">1 July</span> 2019</span>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www2.open.ac.uk/ClassicalStudies/GreekPlays/Projectsite/genintro.html">"Classical Receptions in Drama and Poetry in English from c.1970 to the Present"</a>. The Open University<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">1 July</span> 2019</span>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFHardwickStray2008" class="citation book cs1">Hardwick, Lorna; Stray, Christopher (2008). "Introduction: Making Conceptions". In Hardwick, Lorna; Stray, Christopher (eds.). <span class="id-lock-limited" title="Free access subject to limited trial, subscription normally required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/companiontoclass00hard_515"><i>A Companion to Classical Receptions</i></a></span>. Maldon and Oxford: Blackwell. p. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/companiontoclass00hard_515/page/n20">1</a>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFHardwick2009" class="citation book cs1">Hardwick, Lorna (2009). <i>Reception studies</i>. Published for the Classical Association by Oxford University Press. p. 5. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-19-852865-4</bdi>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFHardwickStray2008" class="citation book cs1">Hardwick, Lorna; Stray, Christopher (2008). "Introduction: Making Conceptions". In Hardwick, Lorna; Stray, Christopher (eds.). <span class="id-lock-limited" title="Free access subject to limited trial, subscription normally required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/companiontoclass00hard_515"><i>A Companion to Classical Receptions</i></a></span>. Maldon and Oxford: Blackwell. p. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/companiontoclass00hard_515/page/n23">4</a>.</cite></span>
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