This collection investigates how classical Greco-Roman material, once a tool of colonial authority, has been repurposed by post-colonial subjects to challenge imperial narratives and construct new cultural identities. Editors Carol Gillespie and Lorna Hardwick assemble a group of international scholars to analyze the intersection of classical antiquity and the post-colonial experience. The contributors examine how writers, artists, and political figures utilize classical motifs to articulate resistance, liberation, and the synthesis of disparate cultural histories in a world defined by the decline of empires.

Scholars and students of classical reception studies view this volume as a significant contribution to understanding how ancient texts remain active in contemporary political discourse. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which serves as a foundational text for those exploring the intersection of classics and post-colonial theory.