Last week Ralston students ended their first term, a two-month residency in Greece.
Beginning on the island of Samos, where Pythagoras first forged the term "philosophy", the cohort took up the challenge of learning Ancient and Modern Greek in tandem. From the outset, Greek was not just the language of the classroom but also a companion to students' daily lives as their linguistic facility steadily increased: at the meal table, on the beach, during exercise, and on excursions to a wide array of ancient sites.
Passing through Ephesus and its famous Library of Celsus, to Istanbul - ancient Constantinople - where the Eastern Roman Empire outlived its Western counterpart for another millennium, the students ascended to the mountain seclusion of Dimitsana, amid the Peloponnesian paradise of Arcadia. In addition to the lectures on Greek history, philosophy, and literature by Dr David Butterfield, and the seminars on Plato and his thought by Dr Anna Corrias, the cohort's studies were enriched and inspired by visits to Mycenae, Patmos, and Athens, where the term came to its beautiful close atop the Acropolis and in the shadow of the Parthenon.
