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Hi, my name is Marco and I'm from Rome, Italy. Today I'd like to talk to you about the importance
of studying Latin and ancient Greek, and in general about the value of the knowledge
of classical antiquity. Latin is widely studied in Italy, 40% of high
school students have Latin as a principal subject, and a 10%
study also ancient Greek. I think this is a quite interesting feature
of the Italian school system. Studying the classics, people gain a better
mastery of their own language. In fact, many European languages, and Italian
in particular, were born as dialects of Latin. Also in English
there are thousand words borrowed from Latin. Some say that the European still speak in
Latin and think in Greek, meaning that while our languages originated in Rome, our
conception of the world was born in Greece. In fact, most things that we do and think
today were invented by the ancient Greeks. For example, the Greek language was the first
to be written in an alphabetical form. The word itself "alphabet" is a Greek word,
as Alpha and Beta were the first letters of the alphabet.
Also, in Athens they were the first to have an elected government, they invented democracy,
which is another Greek word, meaning "power of the people".
They were the first to mint coins and use money for trading goods,
they created tragedy and comedy, the first forms of entertainment.
That was the origin of the whole history of theater,
without which we wouldn't have movies or television. But more, the Greeks were the first to ask
themselves questions about the universe and about mankind, so that
they invented philosophy. For example, they imagined that the world
was all made of small particles called atoms, or they were the first to make a distinction
between good and evil, and between ideas and reality.
There's much else we could say about the Greeks, especially in Literature, Arts and Music.
Maybe the Roman contribution was less original. We could say that the Romans put into practice
what the Greeks had first imagined. They built up a wide and well organized Empire,
they had a powerful army, and advanced laws and technologies.
The Roman Empire collected elements from the Greeks,
and other Mediterranean and Middle East cultures, and then shared them all around Europe creating
a common base. Just think about the importance and the role
played by the Roman Empire in spreading the Christian religion.
So, in short, I think that the study of classical antiquity
is always essential to understand the world around us
and our own identity, that still owes so much to those origins.
Well, that's all folks, but still one more thing.
Somebody asked about this background picture.
This is a 1700 painting by Gaspar Van Wittel. He was a dutch painter who settled in Italy,
and years later his son Luigi Vanvitelli became the architect of the Royal Palace of Caserta.
This is a view of river Tiber in Rome, where once there was the port of Ripa Grande.
Van Wittel made plenty of these beautiful views,
of course this is not the actual painting, but only a copy I tried to do time ago.
Okay, now, thank you for listening, and I hope we can meet sometimes. I think
that travelling is always the best thing, and visiting Italy would be a good idea.
Ciao! See you! Bye!