Classics and Imperialism in the British Empire

While the study of Classics in postcolonial worlds has received a great deal of recent attention, this is the 1st comprehensive study of the relationship between classical ideas & British colonialism. In this collection of essays, classical scholars & modern historians demonstrate that ideas about the Greek & Roman world since the 18th century developed hand-in-hand with the rise & fall of the British Empire. Beginning with the history of the British Museum & its engagement both with classical antiquity & with the opportunities provided by the British Empire, the contributors address the role of classical scholarship in understanding British colonization, the development of theories about race in Europe & beyond, the exploitation of individual classical texts as imperial discourses, ideas about imperial decline & efforts to wrest ownership of the classical past from the dominating control of the British.