History is written and constructed by many, not just those few who proclaim themselves “the victors.” Classical Receptions in the Struggle for Justice examines how activists, artists, and writers of the past have found studying ancient Greece and Rome to be hopeful avenues for justice or personal liberation. These individuals, while sometimes critiquing the classical tradition, also saw in it ways to intervene in their contemporary reality for their struggle for justice. 

Each contribution to this volume contains original research that highlights how ancient Greece or Rome informed and inspired an individual or movement between the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries, such as the struggles against structural racism, sexism, and homophobia. These engagements included visual arts, poetry, political activism, rhetoric, philosophy, environmentalism, and fiction. Individuals profiled in this volume include Mary Shelley, Henry David Thoreau, and Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as figures whose work remains underrepresented in the study of classical reception. Classical Receptions in the Struggle for Justice speaks to the enduring power of the humanities and the ancient world in difficult times.

Ellen Perry is Distinguished Professor of Arts and Humanities at the College of the Holy Cross. She is coeditor of Roman Artists, Patrons, and Public Consumption: Familiar Works Reconsidered. 

Dominic M. Machado is Associate Professor of Classics and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at the College of the Holy Cross. 

Marina Haworth teaches Art History at North Hennepin Community College.