Larry Miller, Tennessee Place Names: "The adoption of classical names was popular for a period in America. This one refers to the Greek capital. Often, towns given this name had some sort of academy, school, or 'seat of learning' that recommended the name."
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| In downtown Athens, I took a stroll through the small college located in the town, Tennessee Wesleyan University. A sign at an entrance displays the institution’s Latin motto: Lux et Veritas ("Light and Truth"). |
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| A historical marker commemorating the “Battle of Athens.” At first, I didn’t pay much attention to this, assuming that the “Battle of Athens” was just another long-forgotten Civil War skirmish. After taking the time to read the information on the sign and to visit a local history museum, however, I learned that the “Battle of Athens” actually happened in 1946, when a group of idealistic young World War II veterans stood up to a corrupt Athenian political machine to make sure that all of the votes in a local election were properly counted. |
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| This mural, painted in downtown Athens a couple of years ago, commemorates this episode, with a quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt framing the right side of the picture: “When the majority of the people know what they want, they will obtain it.” This may not be a full-scale replica of the Parthenon, but it is a beautiful expression of classical Athenian democracy. |
Ancient Athens
Sample Latin Text:
Cicero, De Officiis 1.1
Cicero, on his son's education in Greek language and literature in Athens
Quamquam te, Marce fili, annum iam audientem Cratippum idque Athenis abundare oportet praeceptis institutisque philosophiae propter summam et doctoris auctoritatem et urbis, quorum alter te scientia augere potest, altera exemplis, tamen, ut ipse ad meam utilitatem semper cum Graecis Latina coniunxi neque id in philosophia solum, sed etiam in dicendi exercitatione feci, idem tibi censeo faciendum, ut par sis in utriusque orationis facultate. Quam quidem ad rem nos, ut videmur, magnum attulimus adiumentum hominibus nostris, ut non modo Graecarum litterarum rudes, sed etiam docti aliquantum se arbitrentur adeptos et ad dicendum et ad iudicandum.
Loeb Translation:
"My dear son Marcus, you have now been studying a full year under Cratippus, and that too in Athens, and you should be fully equipped with the practical precepts and the principles of philosophy; so much at least one might expect from the pre-eminence not only of your teacher but also of the city; the former is able to enrich you with learning, the latter to supply you with models. Nevertheless, just as I for my own improvement have always combined Greek and Latin studies—and I have done this not only in the study of philosophy but also in the practice of oratory—so I recommend that you should do the same, so that you may have equal command of both languages. And it is in this very direction that I have, if I mistake not, rendered a great service to our countrymen, so that not only those who are unacquainted with Greek literature but even the cultured consider that they have gained much both in oratorical power and in mental training."
Loeb Translation:
"My dear son Marcus, you have now been studying a full year under Cratippus, and that too in Athens, and you should be fully equipped with the practical precepts and the principles of philosophy; so much at least one might expect from the pre-eminence not only of your teacher but also of the city; the former is able to enrich you with learning, the latter to supply you with models. Nevertheless, just as I for my own improvement have always combined Greek and Latin studies—and I have done this not only in the study of philosophy but also in the practice of oratory—so I recommend that you should do the same, so that you may have equal command of both languages. And it is in this very direction that I have, if I mistake not, rendered a great service to our countrymen, so that not only those who are unacquainted with Greek literature but even the cultured consider that they have gained much both in oratorical power and in mental training."
