I revisit the perennial question, "What is a Classic?" to consider the emotions and contemporary investments attached to professional classical studies and its popular counterparts. The success of the recent cinematic adaptation of The Odyssey demonstrates the ability of Greek myth and literature to still hold cultural value. But why? What is it about the classical that still compels? In the lecture, I depart from ideas of intrinsic value or heritage to understand what might be at the foundation of our cultural infatuation. I grapple with value as economic and emotional to understand what the classics are, where else we might find them across society, and why it is important to relocate value outside of academic field of professional classical studies.

This lecture will be presented by Patrice D. Rankine, Professor of Classics, Committee on Theater and Performance Studies, University of Chicago.