Why is it still important to study ancient Greek and Latin, languages which are hardly ever used in modern society? Why spend time and resources seeking to penetrate the cultures of the ancient Greeks and Romans? These questions must be asked in modern Europe and modern Europe will quickly find the answers. The ancient languages are the primary vehicles offering direct contact with the ancient world, so it is important to preserve knowledge of them as well as of the cultures within which they were used. This is part of our heritage, our cultural background and the self-understanding of western civilisation. Without knowledge of our past, we will not fully understand our present, nor be able to guess at the future. A society should not be bound by backward-looking tradition but should develop with regard to its heritage. A careful balance between tradition and innovation can enable us to go forward without losing the values of the past.

Greek and Latin are the crown jewels of western European culture. Ancient Greek permitted the creation of some of the foremost works of European literature, including the epics of Homer, the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides, the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, the comedies of Aristophanes and the philosophical works of Plato and Aristotle - just to mention the most prominent. The Greek language has helped to formulate some of the most important thoughts and notions of western culture, on subjects from warfare to medicine, from politics to ethics, from mythology to theatre, from poetry to psychology. Reading ancient texts in the original language helps us understand the debt we owe to the ancient people of Greece. They are our ancestors in spirit if not in flesh. We should remember that the New Testament was written in Greek, by writers themselves influenced by Greek thought and behaviour.

The Romans became the first western superpower, with large scale conquests in the Mediterranean region in the centuries leading up to Christ's birth. At that time the peasant civilisation of Rome met with the more sophisticated Greek culture which it adapted into something of its own. The Roman poet Horace expressed this process in the sentence: Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio (Ep. 2, 1, 156f.): - captured Greece captured the brute conqueror and brought culture to rustic Latium. Roman writers such as Cicero, Caesar, Catullus, Virgil, Horace, Propertius, Ovid, Livy, Martial and Seneca have had an enormous impact on later European literature and western European way of thinking. With Cicero and Seneca, the idea of humanitas was born and these ancient writers, their thoughts and ideas, have all given embodiment to a modern understanding of such issues. It is an interesting curiosity that we can now read the Declaration of Human Rights in Latin online (http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/ltn.htm).

Latin was the official language of the Roman Empire and was thus spread widely across a large area. In the western part of the Empire, Latin remained predominant even though Greek was taught in school as an important second language. In the eastern part of the Mediterranean, however, Greek continued to be the predominant language of culture all the way through the Roman period and up until the fall of Byzantium. With the fall of the Roman Empire, Latin developed into what are now known as the Romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian) but at the same time continued to be the official language of the Roman Catholic church as well as the international language of communication across borders within Europe. Latin was also the scientific language used by scholars of all fields well into the 20th century. Even now, Latin is still the international scientific language used in medicine, biology and other scientific fields.

Knowledge of Greek declined largely in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. A revival was brought about by Renaissance writers and scholars, who rediscovered the values of ancient Greek civilisation.

The impact of Latin and Greek as the foundation languages of culture, education and technology continues up to this very day. Countless new terms are added to European languages as technology marches forward: think, for instance, of computing, where disc, monitor, projector, compact, even computer, are all Latin derivatives.

Knowledge of Latin and Greek today still supports a deep-rooted understanding of both modern languages and religious and scientific terms. Even European languages that are not directly derived from Latin are still deeply influenced by it (and by Greek too, for that matter) by way of loanwords and derivatives. We are all much more influenced than we think by the ancient Latin and Greek languages and by our classical heritage.

The impact of Greek and Latin cannot be fully appreciated without also embracing material Greek and Roman culture. Architecture, sculpture, paintings and the archaeological remains of everyday life, all attest to the greatness of the civilisations which produced them. Every artefact bears witness to the Greek and Roman way of life and way of thought. An integrated study of both literature and archaeological remains, artefacts and artwork can lead to a better understanding of antiquity itself and thereby of the foundations for life in Europe today.

Learning Greek and Latin will support:

• improved general linguistic awareness and understanding
• better understanding of grammar and grammatical systems, applicable to the learning of modern European languages
• richer use of vocabulary
• improved understanding of loanwords and derivatives
• better ability to express oneself precisely and correctly
• better understanding of the ways in which languages are tied together

Learning about Greek and Roman civilisation will support:

• cultural awareness and understanding of what binds European countries together
• better understanding of our basic standards and ways of thinking
• the ability to judge the present on the basis of the past
  

A study of classical subjects (language and/or background) will support:

• general qualifications for further studies and prevocational training
• mastery of one's own language (the most important instrument for studying!)
• general training in languages
• general training in understanding, analysing and interpreting texts
• synthesis of understanding, moving from the specific example to a more general, contextualised understanding

It should be seen that these studies help to foster the best possible skills for any sort of study, scientific investigation or job, where individuals have to combine many strings of information to form a whole. Nevertheless, perhaps the most important reason of all to study Classics is for the enjoyment of the studies per se.