Politics in the Classroom: An Interdisciplinary Proposal from Antiquity

Abstract

Several words from our political vocabulary originate from Classical Antiquity - democracy, aristocracy, oligarchy, tyranny - and are often used in daily life. However, the classroom approach of these concepts reveals some flaws. When addressing these issues, teachers often center their explanations on a conceptual non-historical perspective, and fail to demonstrate to students that these concepts were formulated in a given period of Human History - namely, in Antiquity. The object of this paper, Project Prolicen “Political Vocabulary of Antiquity: Reflections for the Exercise of Citizenship”, was elaborated with the objective to promote a teaching approach that values a historical aspect for the understanding of such concepts. In this paper we are going to report how the interdisciplinary perspective, which combines knowledge of both History and Classical Literature, was essential for the development of this Project. We will also comment on its main result: the elaboration of courseware containing excerpts from ancient sources (Herodotus, Aristotle, Polybius and Livy), with the aim to facilitate the use of such sources by primary and higher education teachers. This work stands out for its bilingual presentation of the texts (Greek/Latin and Portuguese), which provides access to or arouses interest in the languages of the past, and aims to prove that Antiquity is not so far from our reality.