The Bates Historical Society (BHS) and Classics Club (CC) have hit the ground running at the start of the ‘24-25 academic year, holding a joint Ge’ez language workshop on Sept. 24. 

Ge’ez, a Semitic language that is no longer used vernacularly, serves as the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Church. It dates back to the third or fourth century and is the means of many historical inscriptions in the region. 

BHS President George Miller ‘25 found his passion for learning languages during his sophomore year. After deciding to take that Short Term off, Miller filled the time by joining a professor for a one-on-one Coptic language class that offered him a “broadened [perspective] on language learning.” During the spring of last school year, Miller held a workshop that highlighted Coptic, which was the last spoken Egyptian language . 

This momentum carried over into the fall, when Miller held the second of the ancient language workshops, this time highlighting Ge’ez. Last spring, Miller applied for a Ge’ez program and turned down working at an archaeological site in Macedonia to learn the language. 

In order to shed light on the lost language, Miller approached the workshop by first “[teaching] the script [to give] grounding.” Being able to study preserved pieces of history and culture to read “what people meant and to be historically fair to people,” is a major objective of Miller’s in these workshops. Participants enjoyed the challenge of using alphabet charts to put sentences together, which they eventually shared with the group. 

As a History and Classical and Medieval Studies major, Miller seeks meaning in the history of these extinct and obscure languages, which help “gain access to [realms] of knowledge.”  

“We don’t really think about the periphery of classics,” Miller said when asked about why he chooses to share these languages at Bates. He hopes to shed light on cultures that aren’t part of the “binary Greek and Roman” classical history that we often limit our understanding of classics to. 

These workshops reflect the goals of both the BHS and CC. BHS officer Karan Kuppa-Apte ‘27 shared that the goal of the BHS is to “make history more interesting and accessible.” Through critiques of the media’s portrayal of history and workshops like these, the BHS hopes to offer many opportunities to take a dive into some of history’s forgotten rabbit holes.