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

该项目揭示了古典文学和古典史学如何在大英帝国时期形成白人身份的过程中发挥作用，以及由此产生的当代殖民后果。它将主要通过一个艺术的镜头来研究古典过去的粉饰以及当代环境中受古典影响的绘画。我的论点还将讨论与经典相关的其他社会政治问题，例如“西方文明”的概念，以及今天的经典如何面对白人至上主义和非殖民化的问题。古典世界不是白人世界，这是一个公开的秘密，但在公众的想象中，充斥着欧洲神话画中白人主角的形象。自18世纪正式诞生以来，古典文学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，人们坚持认为帕台农神庙的大理石雕像体现了英国的“国民性”，再到将大罗马与大不列颠进行更广泛的比较，都不乏证据表明英国人对古典历史的痴迷。但这也带来了殖民后果。“英国”身份的存在依赖于比较，在这种情况下，英国是在与它的殖民地进行比较。英国变成了它的殖民地所不具备的东西：白人、基督教和“西方”。古典文学沿着同样的帝国意识形态发展，其后果在今天仍然很明显。从BBC的《特洛伊》（由黑人演员饰演阿喀琉斯）受到的负面评价，到玛丽·比尔德（Mary Beard）宣称《经典》“不涉及政治”，很明显，《经典》仍然存在种族问题。一些学者探讨了这个问题。芭芭拉·戈夫和菲罗泽·瓦苏尼亚、丽贝卡·肯尼迪一起让我对这个问题有了第一次了解。然而，这个话题相对丰富，学术研究也从新的来源涌现出来，从《Eidolon》上关于当代问题的文章到《纽约客》上莎拉·邦德关于洗白的文章。因此，研究接收是一个激动人心的时刻，但本文所填补的学术空白仍然存在。许多人提供了关于大英帝国和经典的后殖民阅读，但视觉证据是次要的。相反，那些关注古典主义对英国艺术影响的人在讨论洗白的后果之前就停下来了。因此，这个项目旨在回答一个广泛的问题：在大英帝国时期，古典与白人之间的关系是什么？这种关系如何影响今天对古典世界的看法？它将通过探索几个关键主题来解开经典的殖民历史：例如，白色大理石雕塑对美的观念的影响，新兴的科学种族理论，大旅行的普及，大罗马和大不列颠的观念，以及在帝国最后几十年里经典形象的变化。这篇论文发表之际，英国正处于动荡时期。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，一个问题总是被提出来：英国是什么意思？不幸的是，最终的答案总是充满了白色。尽管几乎所有的学术领域都对白人身份进行了仔细研究（最近一个成功的例子是罗迪格的《白人的形象》），但古典文学在这个问题上保持相对沉默，而且该领域不愿根除其白人至上主义的根源。我想挑战这一领域，揭示古典文学在形成英国身份的过程中所扮演的角色，并在此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.