Classics in Copenhagen: a plea for support

I know that I have recently been in a head to head with Boris Johnson about Greece versus Rome. B ut the truth is, of course, that as a subject of study they are symbiotic: Greece wouldnt we with us without Rome, Rome wouldn't have a sense of its "own" culture without Greece. That's why the announcement that the University of Copenhagen MAY be about to close its ancient Greek department seems to spell the end for Classics in Denmark (a country not currently distinguishing itself for liberal values in other ways).

There is a long and lustrous past to the study of Greek in Denmark. I think only of the work of Mogens Hansen on the ancient city (I disagreed with all kinds of premises, but still hugely important and unmatched in many ways). There is also the Ny Carlsberg Museum in the same city, with one of the best classical collections in the world. And the truth is that a great classical collection and a thrivig classical department in the local museum add up to more than the sum of its parts. In many ways, forget Edinburgh (sorry), Copenhagen is the Athens of the North.

I dont know exactly where we write to if we want to object, but I think an email to saxoinst@hum.ku.dk would eventually hit the spot. The idea that Denmark would have no place for the university-level study of ancient Greek is bad enough. But we also know that where Greek goes today Latin goes tomorrow, or the next day. Amd that would mean no classical culture, in the original languages at all in Denmark.

I hope we can save Denmark from itself. I know that it seems unpleasantly culture-colonial. But where Denmark goes tomorrow, we go the day after.

And if you want to know why I think that the abolition of Classics in wider terms is a bad idea, try this.