Classical reception studies

Classical reception studies is the study of how the Classical world, especially Ancient Greek literature and Latin literature, have been received since antiquity. Influenced by reception theory, it departs from the Classical tradition in various ways.

Definition

Lorna Hardwick and Christopher Stray assert that Classical reception studies is devoted to examining "the ways in which Greek and Roman material has been transmitted, translated, excerpted, interpreted, rewritten, re-imaged and represented." Martindale notes that Classical reception "encompasses all work concerned with postclassical material".

Hardwick and Stray state that scholars of reception studies hold the relationship between the ancient and modern to be reciprocal, although they acknowledge that others believe that reception studies only shed light on the receiving society, and not on the ancient text or its context.