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Hooked on classics: the far right’s appropriation of ancient Greece and Rome

Hooked on classics: the far right’s appropriation of ancient Greece and Rome
Hooked on classics: the far right’s appropriation of ancient Greece and Rome
Classical antiquity is often portrayed as the exclusive foundation of ‘Western Civilisation’, creating a narrative that draws a direct line from ancient Greece and Rome to modern Western countries. These civilisations have long served as sources of inspiration for the far right, who manipulate and weaponise history to portray a false image of the ancient world as exclusively white. This chapter will focus on understanding how and why the far right utilise Greco-Roman symbolism in their propaganda. Attention will be placed on the ways in which the classical Greek city-states of Sparta and Athens, and the Roman Empire have been utilised to provide support for racialised, xenophobic, and Islamophobic narratives. Consideration will also be given to the paradigm of whiteness in the sculpture used in their imagery, designed to manipulate and legitimise ideas about cultural and racial superiority. By considering how audiences view the classical world, and how race is imagined through narratives of whiteness, this chapter will outline how the far right’s appropriation of antiquity as an archetype of prestige and power is used to develop a narrative that incorporates misogyny in a toxic blend with white supremacy, resulting in a form of racialised masculinity that assumes whiteness as a prerequisite for success and domination.
2947-6364
69-91
Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
Kingdon, Ashton
c432a21d-9395-47d2-bc34-1ee77f63bc5c
Kingdon, Ashton
c432a21d-9395-47d2-bc34-1ee77f63bc5c

Kingdon, Ashton (2024) Hooked on classics: the far right’s appropriation of ancient Greece and Rome. In, The World White Web: Uncovering the Hidden Meanings of Online Far-Right Propaganda. (Palgrave Hate Studies) 1 ed. Palgrave Macmillan Ltd., pp. 69-91. (doi:10.1007/978-3-031-75393-0_3).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

Classical antiquity is often portrayed as the exclusive foundation of ‘Western Civilisation’, creating a narrative that draws a direct line from ancient Greece and Rome to modern Western countries. These civilisations have long served as sources of inspiration for the far right, who manipulate and weaponise history to portray a false image of the ancient world as exclusively white. This chapter will focus on understanding how and why the far right utilise Greco-Roman symbolism in their propaganda. Attention will be placed on the ways in which the classical Greek city-states of Sparta and Athens, and the Roman Empire have been utilised to provide support for racialised, xenophobic, and Islamophobic narratives. Consideration will also be given to the paradigm of whiteness in the sculpture used in their imagery, designed to manipulate and legitimise ideas about cultural and racial superiority. By considering how audiences view the classical world, and how race is imagined through narratives of whiteness, this chapter will outline how the far right’s appropriation of antiquity as an archetype of prestige and power is used to develop a narrative that incorporates misogyny in a toxic blend with white supremacy, resulting in a form of racialised masculinity that assumes whiteness as a prerequisite for success and domination.

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Published date: 15 December 2024

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 498671
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/498671
ISSN: 2947-6364
PURE UUID: 5abfde42-64c5-435a-a06d-bd7f7cd085b4
ORCID for Ashton Kingdon: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0103-7361

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Date deposited: 25 Feb 2025 17:43
Last modified: 22 Aug 2025 02:32

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