Classics has been used for various social, cultural and political purposes on the African sub-continent. Part I highlights some theoretical considerations regarding the traditional models of the classical tradition and the classical reception in Africa. The idea of the classical ‘traception’ embraces the classical tradition through its suggestion of linear descendent and the classical reception through its ‘receptive’ and reconfigurative associations. Part II discusses how and when classical ideas and texts reached and extended into Africa from the time of the sixteenth century and the main areas that constitute the classical ‘traception’ on the subcontinent. Part III presents a case study in the area of drama to illustrate some of the interpretive consequences of using the model of the classical tradition as opposed to that of the classical reception. My proposed model of the ‘classical traception’ seems preferable to either of these models when describing the dynamics of Fugard, Kani, and Ntshona’s The Island (1974) since it spans both the European conception of the original Antigone and its linear descent as well as its reconfiguration by its split collective (hybrid) multi-racial ‘author’ in The Island. Considering the elements of the classical tradition along with those of the classical reception—what I jointly term classical ‘traception’—helps to provide a broader view of the ways in which Classics has helped to shape and been received by different African societies and their cultures from the perspectives of both the European colonizers and indigenous peoples.

在非洲次大陆，古典文学被用于各种社会、文化和政治目的。第一部分强调了关于古典传统的传统模式和非洲古典接受的一些理论思考。古典“traception”的理念通过其线性后代的暗示拥抱古典传统，并通过其“接受”和重构联想拥抱古典接受。第二部分讨论了从十六世纪起古典思想和文本如何以及何时到达并扩展到非洲，以及构成次大陆古典“传统”的主要地区。第三部分提出了戏剧领域的案例研究，以说明使用古典传统模型而不是古典接受模型的一些解释后果。在描述 Fugard、Kani 和 Ntshona 的《The Island》（1974）的动态时，我提出的“经典 traception”模型似乎比这两个模型更可取，因为它涵盖了原版《安提戈涅》的欧洲概念及其线性下降以及它由岛上分裂的集体（混合）多种族“作者”重新配置。考虑古典传统的要素以及古典接受的要素（我统称为古典“traception”）有助于提供更广泛的视角，了解古典学如何帮助塑造不同的非洲社会及其文化并被其接受。从欧洲殖民者和土著人民的角度来看。