The term “Classics” is primarily used in Western contexts to describe the field that studies Ancient Greek and Roman literature and culture. But in my Latin 699 class this year, I was given the opportunity to explore any piece of ancient classical society. After seeing a picture of the Indo-European language tree, I was really interested in the broader view of Classics beyond Latin and Greek. I had taken Sanskrit in the spring of 2022 as an elective generously taught by Dr. Houston, as a result of his interest in the language. While searching through the Indo-European language tree I wanted to look at languages other than Latin and Greek and I found the language of Pali which falls under the Indo-Aryan language family, closely related to Sanskrit.
During the fall of 2022, I decided to center my independent research on Pali, an ancient classical language that is primarily used within Buddhist texts. I learned about the grammar, structure, and vocabulary of Pali, as well as the Buddhist religion and Southeast Asian traditions. As a Thai Buddhist, I grew up in Washington state where the population of Buddhists is extremely low. At the age of 16, because of Dr. Houston’s generosity in supporting an independent Classics course, I had a revival of interest in Buddhism and can now attribute my Classical studies in stereotypically white antiquity to my journey of self-exploration. I’m forever grateful for Latin and Greek, specifically Deerfield, for giving me the chance to explore things outside of my STEM background and allow me to cultivate a love for the humanities and the Classics.
My first official Latin class was in the Deerfield Classics Department. But if I had the opportunity to start Classics before high school, I would have started far earlier. Unfortunately, Richland, Washington did not provide me with the opportunity to study Latin. I knew I came from an untraditional Classics background. My vision for starting Calliope, Deerfield's first Classics and linguistics journal, was to expand the accessibility of Latin and give us the chance as a Deerfield community to celebrate student work in a shrinking field.
Bene vale!