The Colour of Classics: The Weaponisation of the Classical World in the Formation of White, British Identity

这个项目揭示了古典和古典史学如何在不列颠帝国时期白色身份的形成中发挥作用，以及当代殖民后果。它将主要通过一个艺术的透镜，通过检查古典过去的粉饰，以及在当代设置的古典影响的绘画。我的论点还将讨论与古典文学有关的其他社会政治问题，例如“西方文明”的概念，以及今天的古典文学如何面对白色霸权和非殖民化的问题。古典世界不是一个白色世界是一个公开的秘密，然而在公众的想象中，想象出来的形象是一个充满了欧洲神话绘画中的白色主角的世界。自18世纪古典文学正式问世以来，它就被用作帝国的武器，并被用来推动英国成为“西方”的典范。从1816年的一场议会辩论中坚持认为帕台农神庙大理石浮雕代表了英国的“民族性格”，到大罗马和大不列颠之间更广泛的比较，英国对古典历史的痴迷并不缺乏证据。但这也带来了殖民主义的后果。“英国”身份的存在依赖于比较，在这种情况下，英国是在与其殖民地进行比较。英国变成了它的殖民地所没有的东西：白色、基督教和“西方”。经典沿着同样的帝国意识形态发展，其后果在今天仍然显而易见。从英国广播公司的特洛伊，其中一个黑人演员扮演阿基里斯的负面反应，到玛丽比尔德的声明，经典是“非政治”，很明显，经典仍然有一个种族问题。一些学者已经探讨了这个问题。芭芭拉·戈夫（Barbara Goff）与菲罗兹·瓦苏尼亚（Phiroze Vasunia）和丽贝卡·肯尼迪（Rebecca Kennedy）一起为我提供了对这个问题的第一次洞察。然而，这个话题是相对肥沃和学术正在出现新的来源，从作品在Eidolon对当代问题的经典莎拉邦德的一块在纽约客粉饰。因此，这是一个令人兴奋的时间来研究接收，但仍然有一个空白的学术，这篇论文填补。许多人提供了对大英帝国和古典文学的后殖民解读，但视觉证据是次要的主要论点。相反，那些关注古典主义对英国艺术影响的人在讨论粉饰的后果之前就停止了。因此，这个项目旨在回答一个广泛的问题：在大英帝国时期，古典和白人之间的关系是什么，以及这如何影响了当今对古典世界的看法？它将通过探索几个关键主题来解开古典主义的殖民历史：白色大理石雕塑对美的影响，新兴的科学种族理论，大旅游的流行，大罗马和大不列颠的想法，以及帝国最后几十年中古典主义的变化形象。这是一个身份处于政治思想前沿的时代。在关于英国退欧的辩论中，人们总是会提出一个问题：英国意味着什么？不幸的是，最终的答案总是充满了白色。虽然这种白色身份几乎在所有的学术领域都受到了仔细的审查（最近一个成功的例子是Roediger的The Image of Whiteness），但经典在这个问题上保持相对沉默，该领域不愿意根除其白色至上主义的根源。我想挑战这个领域，并解开经典在形成英国身份方面所扮演的角色，并在这样做的过程中，为未来的有色人种学者完成我们开始的工作铺平道路。

This project exposes how Classics and classical historiography played a role in the formation of white identity during Britain's empire, and the contemporary colonial consequences of that. It will do this primarily through an artistic lens by examining both the whitewashing of the classical past as well as classically-influenced paintings in contemporary settings. My arguments will also discuss other socio-political issues in relation to Classics, such as the idea of 'Western Civilisation' and how Classics today can confront its problems with white supremacy and decolonisation.It is an open secret that the classical world was not a white one, yet the image that is conjured up in public imagination is one filled with the white protagonists of European mythological paintings. Since its formal inception in the eighteenth century, Classics was used as a weapon of empire and was wielded to promote Britain as the paradigm of the 'the West'. There is no shortage of evidence that demonstrates Britain's obsession with the classical past, from a parliamentary debate from 1816 that insisted the Parthenon marbles spoke of Britain's 'national character' to wider comparisons between Greater Rome and Greater Britain. But there were colonial consequences of this. The existence of a 'British' identity relied on comparison, and in this case Britain was identifying itself against its colonies. Britain became what its colonies were not: white, Christian, and 'Western'. Classics evolved along the same imperial ideologies, the consequences of which are still apparent today. From the negative reception of BBC's Troy, where a black actor played Achilles, to Mary Beard's declaration that Classics is 'apolitical', it is clear that Classics still has a problem with race. Several scholars have explored this issue. Barbara Goff provided me with my first insight into the issue, alongside Phiroze Vasunia and Rebecca Kennedy. However, this topic is relatively fertile and scholarship is emerging from new sources, from pieces in Eidolon on contemporary issues in Classics to Sarah Bond's piece on whitewashing in the New Yorker. As such, it is an exciting time to study reception, but there is still a gap in the scholarship that this thesis fills. Many have offered postcolonial readings of Britain's empire and Classics, but visual evidence is secondary to the main arguments. Conversely, those looking at classical influence over British art stop before the consequences of whitewashing can be discussed. Thus this project aims to answer one broad question: What was the relationship between Classics and whiteness during Britain's empire and how has that affected the perception of the classical world today? It will do so by exploring several key themes that work together to unravel the Classics' colonial past: the influence of white marble sculptures on ideas of beauty, emerging scientific race theories, the popularity of the Grand Tour, ideas of Greater Rome and Greater Britain, and the changing image of Classics in the last decades of the empire, for example.This thesis comes at a turbulent time in Britain. It is a time where identity is at the forefront of political thought. In debates about Brexit, one question is always brought up: what does British mean? Unfortunately, the resulting answer is always steeped in whiteness. While this white identity has been scrutinised is almost all academic fields (one successful recent example is Roediger's The Image of Whiteness), Classics has remained relatively silent on the issue, and the field is reluctant to uproot its white supremacist roots. I want to challenge this field and unpack the role Classics has played in forming a British identity, and in doing so, pave the way for future scholars of colour to finish the job we started.