Publisher's Synopsis
The volume offers a study of Antiquity in a dialectic, wide social perspective, stressing the role of popular classes as active producers of culture, while reflecting upon the scientific and ideological influence of contemporary social issues on academic investigations of the ancient world.
The volume is divided into four sections: the first three sections (History and Literature, History of Classical Scholarship, Reception) are dedicated to the production of culture and ideology by the ancient subaltern classes, the Marxist approaches in the history of Classical studies, and the reception of Classics in popular culture since the XIX century. The last section focuses on Pedagogy and deals with the social limits of the fruition and production of Classical knowledge in the contemporary world, reflecting on how to overcome these limitations.
The conclusion stresses that Gramsci's dichotomy of intellectuals and subalterns can provide a theoretical and methodological framework useful for students, teachers, and scholars in the field of Classics to devise pedagogical strategies that aim to renovate our school and academic systems, with a keen eye on the epistemic transformations that might characterize the future of Classics.
