Historicity

Why, if classic studies are on the decline, do novels about the ancient world remain so enduringly popular? Progress Magazine has a nice essay on the curious appeal of Greece and Rome in pop literature, and academia’s general ambivalence towards such pop culture artifacts:

…what’s clear is that the classical world still holds attraction for both authors and readers. Some of this interest may be “superficial,” but by no means all of it is. In any case, it is natural that there should be such interest. There is still an appreciation in our culture of the fact that our civilisation has its roots in Greece and Rome—as well, of course, as in biblical Israel—and that Greek and Roman history, legend and myth are part of our inherited culture. […] Some awareness of the ancient world has been transmitted even to those ignorant of the languages, often, indeed, by men who were not themselves classical scholars.

In other words, the classical world for some reason holds an attraction for people outside the formal academic field of classical studies–unlike, say, the Hittite empire or Byzantium, which have formed the bases for far fewer popular novels than their Greco-Roman colleagues. The non-academic novel-reading movie-watching public has an interest, however superficial, in the Greek and Roman world that sometimes confounds the literati.

I used to joke with friends in grad school that when I graduated, I was going to take my knowledge of the ancient world and use it to write trashy romance novels set in ancient Rome. I can’t say the prospect isn’t still a bit tempting….