ABSTRACT
This chapter detects into two important 'lines' in the phenomenon of British Hellenism: First the line characterised by serenity, clarity, reason, restraint, grandeur and collectedness; second the line inspired by the darker side of Greek literature and culture: the ritualistic and mythical element; the religiosity; the violence; the excess; the irrationality. All literary and cultural historians who have explored the phenomenon of British Hellenism, from the very early ones to the most recent conclude that there are certain recognisable characteristics, a comment on which is highly pertinent at this stage. Apart from the concept of synthesis put forward by David DeLaura, another important aspect of British Hellenism was that its emergence was not confined to the academic cloister, but stretched across every socio-political, cultural, educational or religious thread of the nineteenth-century British fabric. The latter half of the eighteenth century marked an epoch of social and political upheaval and Rome had for centuries been the centre of power.
