Antiquity and Antiquities in the Long 18th Century. Construction and Dissemination of the Classical Past in British Dictionaries and Periodicals

In the long eighteenth-century, British society underwent enormous changes owing, among other things, to the rise of a new middle class in need of reading and writing. !is phenomenon triggered a significant increase in the production of books, including dictionaries and encyclopædias, as well as in the publication of periodicals, such as newspapers, journals, and magazines. [...] In this perspective, the general aim of this monographic section of LEAis to investigate the notion and the representation of the distant past as it emerges from those words and contents labelled as and/or tracing back to antiquity. !is approach is also crucial to highlight the relationship between past and present in 18th-century contemporary (educated) society, and the status of antiquity in a changing world.