Clássicos no fundo das minas

Abstract

Over the course of this text we shall visit several sites of interaction between mineworkers and the ancient Greek and Roman classics. Beyond simply attesting to their existence, assessment of these interactions will cast some light on Graeco-Roman antiquity’s curious appeal to the mineworker of the period. But first I should contextualize this somewhat niche line of inquiry. The research into miner classics was undertaken when working with Edith Hall on her AHRC-funded project ‘Classics and Class in Britain 1789-1939’. The project was designed ‘to provoke a shift in the perception of the history of British classics, away from a conservative tradition of institutionalized elitism towards a brighter history of broadly inclusive cultural practice and inspired creativity’ (Stead; Hall, 2015, p. 19).