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You’re Asking The Wrong Question About The Roman Empire

Edward J. Watts’ new book, The Romans: A 2,000-Year History, is not only an excellent introduction to Roman history, but a reminder of why the classics will always be relevant, especially for America.

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Remember the viral trend from a few years ago when America’s women were mystified to learn their husbands, fiancés, and boyfriends regularly daydreamed about the Roman Empire? Given this, you’d think those in the field of classics would be overjoyed, eager to capitalize on this masculine obsession. Millions of American men want to know more about ancient history, and who better to benefit from that interest than those Ph.Ds fluent in Latin and ancient Greek? Commence with the podcasts, YouTube channels, and web-based continual learning!

But no. At an event last September in Brooklyn entitled “Radical Re-Imaginings: Classics for the 21st Century,” prominent academics from leading American universities discussed the provocative theme, “Forget the Classics?” Many progressive classics professors now question the relevance of their field, which some now call “Ancient World Studies,” because of the academic discipline’s alleged association with white supremacism. One panel featured Princeton’s Dan-el Padilla Peralta, who has notoriously called for the destruction of classics because of its alleged ties to racism, sexism, and misogyny, while classics professor Curtis Dozier declared: “Doing classics in dark times may mean not doing as much classics as we’re used to doing.”

Thankfully, not all academics are driven by a political ideology that engenders a desire for professional irrelevance. Edward J. Watts, distinguished professor of history at the University of California, San Diego, is one such person. His recent book, The Romans: A 2,000-Year History, is not only an excellent introduction to Roman history, but a persuasive reminder of why the classics will always be relevant,........

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