A Handbook to Classical Reception in Eastern and Central Europe E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: HCRZ - Wiley-Blackwell Handbooks to Classical Reception
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1271

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

* A Handbook to Classical Reception in Eastern and Central Europe is the first comprehensive English ]language study of the reception of classical antiquity in Eastern and Central Europe. This groundbreaking work offers detailed case studies of thirteen countries that are fully contextualized historically, locally, and regionally. * The first English-language collection of research and scholarship on Greco-Roman heritage in Eastern and Central Europe * Written and edited by an international group of seasoned and up-and-coming scholars with vast subject-matter experience and expertise * Essays from leading scholars in the field provide broad insight into the reception of the classical world within specific cultural and geographical areas * Discusses the reception of many aspects of Greco-Roman heritage, such as prose/philosophy, poetry, material culture * Offers broad and significant insights into the complicated engagement many countries of Eastern and Central Europe have had and continue to have with Greco-Roman antiquity

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

List of Illustrations

Notes on Contributors

Acknowledgments

Introduction Zara Martirosova Torlone, Dana LaCourse Munteanu, and Dorota Dutsch

Why This Volume?

Contexts

Challenges: Competition, Marxist Demotion, and Pragmatism

Reinstatements: Imaginary Realms and Redefinitions of the Classics

Trajectory

Conclusion

References

Part I: Croatia

1 Classical Reception in Croatia

A Civilization and a Takeover

A Father and a Metonymy

The Illyrians and Saint Jerome

Aristotle, Olympiad, Sarcophagus, Pirates

References

2 Pula and Split

Introduction

Pula and Split: Antiquity in the Early Modern Urban Context

The Renaissance Fortune of Pula Antiquities and the Three Drawings of Split

Rediscovering Pula in the Eighteenth Century

Split Arouses International Interest: The Diocletian Palace in the Eighteenth Century

Conclusion

References

3 Croatian Neo‐Latin Literature and Its Uses

Cadmus in Dalmatia: Thomas the Archdeacon of Split (c.1200–1268)

Peaches in a Letter: Ilija Crijević (1463–1520)

From the Borderline: Nikola Mikac (1592) and Bartol Kašić (1575–1650)

A Philological Joke: Ignjat Đurđević (1675–1737)

Language from Another World: Ton Smerdel (1904–1970)

Conclusion

References

4 The First Dalmatian Humanists and the Classics

Men of Empire and the Classics: The Diffusion of Venetian Patrician Humanism

Provincial Elites and the Classics: The First Two Generations of Dalmatian Patrician Humanism

The Third Generation Arises: Snippets from the Classroom (MS BAV Vat. lat. 5174)

Ancient Past and Contemporary Politics: Ilija Banjvarić, Curtius Rufus, and the Origins of the Turks (MS BL Add. 6794)

Some Considerations and Further Directions

Manuscripts Cited

References

5 The Swan Song of the Latin Homer

Introduction

Kunić and Zamanja: Parallel Lives

Arcadia: Il buon gusto

Kunić and His Iliad

Zamanja and His Odyssey

Conclusion and Suggestions for the Future

References

Part II: Slovenia

6 Classical Reception in Slovenia

References

7 Collecting Roman Inscriptions Beyond the Alps

Roman Stone Monuments: An Almost Lost Treasure

Augustinus Tyfernus: A Few Biographical Notes

Tyfernus’ Manuscript Epigraphic Collections

Who Was Antiquus Austriacus?

Tyfernus as a Collector of Roman Inscriptions

Aftermath of Tyfernus’ Epigraphic Activity

Conclusion

References

8 Sta. Maria sopra Siwa

References

9 Images from Slovenian Dramatic and Theatrical Interpretations of Ancient Drama

An Initiation

Slovenian Dramatic and Theatrical Interpretations of Ancient Drama in Brief: “Europeization” and “Slovenian‐ness”

Historical Circumstances

Absent Antigone and Creon with a Tulip

Longing, Ontological Surrealism, and Transcendence

The Tragic Truth

Powerful Men of Empty Hands and Slovenian Polyneiceses

Orestes in a Net

The Page of the Corn‐Gold Hair

Antigone Not Fulfilling Her Promise and Orestes Wearing a Paper Crown

Why Myth?

References

Part III: Czech Republic

10 Classical Reception in the Czech Republic

References

11 Classical Antiquity in Czech Literature between the National Revival and the Avant‐Garde

Jaroslav Vrchlický

Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic

Josef Svatopluk Machar

References

12 The Classical Tradition and Nationalism

The Case of Tyrš and His Laocoön

The Case of Czech neo‐Renaissance Architecture

The Case of Schnirch, Myslbek, and Classical Sculpture

Conclusion

References

13 The Case of the

Oresteia

References

Part IV: Poland

14 Classical Reception in Poland

References

15 From Fictitious Letters to Celestial Revolutions

In remotissimo angulo terrae

Fidus Achates: Copernicus’s Loyalties

E floscorum varietate: Theophylactus’s letters

Tanquam testamento relicta: The Dialectics of Truth

Contulit devia notasse: In Praise of the Paths Not Taken

Ne quis arbitretur: Copernicus’s Independence

Ad communem utilitatem: Conclusion

References

16 Respublica and the Language of Freedom

Acknowledgment

References

17 Two Essays on Classical Reception in Poland

“Latin as the Language of Freedom”

References

“Difficult Graft: Polish Hellenism(s)”

References

18 Parallels between Greece and Poland in Juliusz Słowacki’s Oeuvre

Leonidas’s Naked Corpse: Spartan Heroism Without Hope

God’s Cause Prior to Christ – Leonidas’s Sacrifice

Patriotism as a “Completely Spiritual Virtue”

The Greek Idea and the Polish Idea: “Fighting for the World in the Land of the Spirit”

Conclusion

References

Part V: Hungary

19 Classical Reception in Hungary

References

Further Reading

20 Classical Reception in Sixteenth‐Century Hungarian Drama

Classical Comedy in Hungary

Sophocles’ Electra in Hungarian

Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis in Hungarian

References

21

Truditur dies die

“Horatianism” Pro and Contra: How to Be “Horace” in Hungary

Reading Horace as a Form of “Passive Resistance”: Jókai Reads Odes 2.18

Reading Horace as “Inner Emigration:” Kerényi Reads Epode 16

Acknowledgments

References

22 The Shepherdess and the Myrmillo

References

Part VI: Romania

23 Classical Reception in Romania

References

24 Loving Vergil, Hating Rome

Acknowledgments

References

25 Noica’s Becoming within Being and Meno’s Paradox

Noica the Teacher

Noica the Philosopher

References

26 Reception of the Tropaeum Traiani

References

Part VII: Bosnia‐Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro

27 Classical Reception in Bosnia‐Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro

Between East and West

Bosnia‐Herzegovina

Serbia

Further Reading

28 Classical Antiquity in the Franciscan Historiography of Bosnia (Eighteenth Century)

References

29 Innovative Impact of the Classical Tradition on Early Modern Serbian Literature

Intellectual Enrichment

Adoption and Adaptation of Classical Literary Genres and Techniques

Imitation of Classical Versification and the Peak of Neoclassicism

Beginning of the Rearticulation of Neoclassical Poetics

References

30 Classical Heritage in Serbian Lyric Poetry of the Twentieth Century

References

31 The Ancient Sources of Njegoš’s Poetics

Introduction

Historical Background

Education and Early Oeuvre

Later Work

The Mountain Wreath

Last Writings

References

Part VIII: Bulgaria

32 Classical Reception in Bulgaria:

An Introduction

Historical Context Issues

Classical Education in Bulgaria: A Broader Context of Classical Reception

References

33 Bulgarian Lands in Antiquity

At the Crossroads of the Balkans

The Sequel of Antiquity: The Byzantine Empire and the First Bulgarian State

Science versus Ideologemes

References

34 In the Labyrinth of Allusions

What Kind of Hero is the Bulgarian Odysseus?

Antiquity as a Setting: Historical Novels and Ancient Enigmas

Antiquity of Our Own

Straying in the Labyrinth

References

35 “Bulgarian” Orpheus between the National and the Foreign, between Antiquity and Postmodernism

Orpheus in Bulgaria: Foreign and/or Native Hero

Orpheus: Borderline Hero of Literary Postmodernism

Orpheus: Devoted Lover or Traitor and Misogynist

Orpheus: Thracian Poet and Christian God

Conclusion

References

36 Staging of Ancient Tragedies in Bulgaria and Their Influence on the Process of Translation and Creative Reception

The Role of Theater Translations and Staging in the Shaping of Modern Bulgarian Culture

Specificity of Translating Drama

Early Translations of Ancient Drama in Bulgaria

Alexander Balabanov and the Influence of the Staging of Medea Based on His Translation

Medea by L. Groys

A Postmodern Medea

Translations and Staging of the Main Texts of the Theban Cycle in Bulgaria

A Contemporary Trilogy

Conclusion

References

Part IX: Russia

37 Classical Reception in Russia

References

38 “Men in Cases”

References

39 Homer in Russia

References

40 Vergil in Russia

References

41 Russian Encounters with Classical Antiquities

Idols and Identity: Art in Eighteenth‐Century Russia

Archaeological Representation in the Age of Historicism

Revolutionary Conversion and Imperial Continuity

References

Part X: Armenia and Georgia

42 Armenian Culture and Classical Antiquity

References

43 Medieval Greek–Armenian Literary Relations

Old Armenian Translations and Original Writings

Translations from Greek and Literary Creativity

Influence of Greek and Latin Grammar

Traces of Greek Mythology in Medieval Armenian Literature

References

44 The “Classical” Trend of the Armenian Architectural School of Ani

References

45 Classical Reception in Georgia

References

46 Greek Tragedy on the Georgian Stage in the Twentieth Century

Introduction

Euripides’ Medea

Sophocles on the Georgian stage in the twentieth century: Antigone and Oedipus Rex

Concluding Remarks

References

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

Chapter 02

Figure 2.1 Antoine de Ville,

View of Pula Bay and the Antiquities

, in

Portus and Urbis Polae, Antiquitatum, ut et Thynnorum descriptio curiosa

, Venetia, 1633.

Figure 2.2 Arsenale gate, Venice, 1460.

Figure 2.3 Diocletian’s palace, reconstruction, in Daniele Farlati,

Illyricum sacrum

, vol. II, Venetiis, 1753.

Chapter 07

Figure 7.1 Tombstone of the Durrii family, reused for Nicolaus Merck.

Figure 7.2 Tombstone of the Durrii family: sketch from Tyfernus (

CVP

3528, fol. 59

r

).

Chapter 09

Figure 9.1 Scene from the first production of

Antigone

by Dominik Smole (directed by Franci Križaj, Oder 57, Ljubljana, 1960). From left to right: Ismene (Iva Zupančič), the page (Danilo Benedičič), Teiresias (Branko Miklavc), Haemon (Brane Ivanc).

Chapter 12

Figure 12.1 Josef Myslbek,

Music

, Foyer of the National Theater, bronze, 1907–1912.

Figure 12.2 Photo of the Esquiline

Venus

with Myslbek’s measurements.

Chapter 22

Figure 22.1 István Ferenczy,

Wise Pannonia

, 1825–1840s, Gemersko‐Malohontské Múzeum, Rimavská Sobota.

Figure 22.2 István Ferenczy, István Kultsár Memorial, 1829–1832, Inner City Church, Budapest.

Figure 22.3 István Ferenczy, Monument to Benedek Virág, 1830–1834, National Pantheon, Szeged (formerly in the Hungarian National Museum, Budapest).

Chapter 26

Figure 26.1 The Tropaeum Traiani today (reconstruction completed in 1977).

Figure 26.2 Clockwise from top left: F.B. Floresu’s Metope IV, Metope XXIV, Metope XXVIII, Metope LIV.

Chapter 33

Figure 33.1 Nicopolis ad Istrum (near present‐day Nikyup, Northern Bulgaria).

Figure 33.2 Ancient theater of Philippopolis (present‐day Plovdiv, Southern Bulgaria).

Figure 33.3 Roman villa Armira (near Ivailovgrad, Southeastern Bulgaria).

Figure 33.4 Mosaic with Greek inscription in Oescus (near village of Gigen, Northern Bulgaria).

Chapter 41

Figure 41.1 Mikhail Zemtsov, Facade of the Grotto in the Summer Garden, St. Petersburg. Pen, brush, Indian ink and watercolour. 1725–1727. St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum.

Figure 41.2 “Picturesque” display of ancient votive reliefs and other sculptural fragments from archaeological sites on the northern Black Sea shore. Congregation hall of the Society of History and Antiquities in the Odessa Archaeological Museum. Early twentieth‐century photograph by K. Milisavlevich.

Figure 41.3 Antony Gormley. STILL STANDING (INSTALLATION), 2011–2012. Parian marble, Carrara marble, Italian fine‐grained marble, Greek fine‐grained marble, Seven elements of varying sizes. Photograph of the temporary reinstallation of antique sculptures in the Hall of Dionysus in the New Hermitage, originally designed by Leo von Klenze. The British artist Antony Gormley removed the statues from their plinths in order to make the Olympian gods inhabit a conceptual space continuous with that of the viewer and his or her experiential projections. The naked figure in the foreground is the renowned

Tauride Venus

acquired by Peter the Great.

Chapter 42

Figure 42.1 Garni Temple, Armenia.

Chapter 44

Figure 44.1 The Cathedral of Ani, Armenia, view from the northeast.

Figure 44.2 The Church of the Apostles in Ani, Armenia, northern portal.

Guide

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Wiley Blackwell Handbooks to Classical Reception

This series offers comprehensive, thought‐provoking surveys of the reception of major classical authors and themes. These Handbooks will consist of approximately 30 newly written essays by leading scholars in the field, and will map the ways in which the ancient world has been viewed and adapted up to the present day. Essays are meant to be engaging, accessible, and scholarly pieces of writing, and are designed for an audience of advanced undergraduates, graduates, and scholars.

Published:A Handbook to the Reception of OvidJohn Miller and Carole E. Newlands

A Handbook to the Reception of ThucydidesChristine Lee and Neville Morley

A Handbook to the Reception of Greek DramaBetine van Zyl Smit

A Handbook to Classical Reception in Eastern and Central EuropeZara Martirosova Torlone, Dana LaCourse Munteanu, and Dorota Dutsch

Forthcoming:A Handbook to the Reception of Classical MythologyVanda Zajko

A Handbook to Classical Reception in Eastern and Central Europe

Edited by

Zara Martirosova Torlone

Dana LaCourse Munteanu

Dorota Dutsch

This edition first published 2017© 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Registered OfficeJohn Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK

Editorial Offices350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148‐5020, USA9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UKThe Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK

For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley‐blackwell.

The right of Zara Martirosova Torlone, Dana LaCourse Munteanu, and Dorota Dutsch to be identified as the authors of the editorial material in this work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.

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Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and authors have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data

Names: Torlone, Zara Martirosova, editor. | Munteanu, Dana LaCourse, 1972– editor. | Dutsch, Dorota, editor.Title: A handbook to classical reception in eastern and central Europe / edited by Zara Martirosova Torlone, Dana Lacourse Munteanu, Dorota Dutsch.Description: Chichester, West Sussex : John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.Identifiers: LCCN 2016036904| ISBN 9781118832714 (cloth) | ISBN 9781118832684 (epub) | ISBN 9781118832721 (pdf)Subjects: LCSH: Classical literature–Appreciation–Europe, Eastern. | Classical literature–Appreciation–Europe, Central. | Classical literature–Appreciation–Russia (Federation) | Classical literature–Appreciation–Georgia (Republic) | Classical literature–Appreciation–Armenia (Republic)Classification: LCC PA3013 .H27 2017 | DDC 880.09–dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016036904

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover design: WileyCover image: Flory/Gettyimages

List of Illustrations

Figure 2.1 Antoine de Ville, View of Pula Bay and the Antiquities, in Portus and Urbis Polae, Antiquitatum, ut et Thynnorum descriptio curiosa, Venetia, 1633

Figure 2.2 Arsenale gate, Venice, 1460

Figure 2.3 Diocletian’s palace, reconstruction, in Daniele Farlati, Illyricum sacrum, vol. II, Venetiis, 1753

Figure 7.1 Tombstone of the Durrii family, reused for Nicolaus Merck

Figure 7.2 Tombstone of the Durrii family: sketch from Tyfernus

Figure 9.1 Scene from the first production of Antigone by Dominik Smole

Figure 12.1 Josef Myslbek, Music, Foyer of the National Theater, bronze, 1907–1912

Figure 12.2 Photo of the Esquiline Venus with Myslbek’s measurements

Figure 22.1 István Ferenczy, Wise Pannonia, 1825–1840s

Figure 22.2 István Ferenczy, István Kultsár Memorial, 1829–1832, Inner City Church, Budapest

Figure 22.3 István Ferenczy, Monument to Benedek Virág, 1830–1834, National Pantheon, Szeged

Figure 26.1 The Tropaeum Traiani today

Figure 26.2 F.B. Floresu’s Metope IV, Metope XXIV, Metope XXVIII, Metope LIV

Figure 33.1 Nicopolis ad Istrum

Figure 33.2 Ancient theater of Philippopolis

Figure 33.3Roman villa Armira

Figure 33.4 Mosaic with Greek inscription in Oescus

Figure 41.1 Mikhail Zemtsov, Facade of the Grotto in the Summer Garden, St. Petersburg

Figure 41.2 Display of ancient votive reliefs and other sculptural fragments from archaeological sites on the northern Black Sea shore

Figure 41.3 Antony Gormley, Standing Still: A Contemporary Intervention in the Classical Collection, 2011–2012

Figure 42.1 Garni Temple, Armenia

Figure 44.1 The Cathedral of Ani, Armenia

Figure 44.2 The Church of the Apostles in Ani, Armenia

Acknowledgments

We, the editors, have occasionally referred to this volume as a “love child.” None of us has received any leaves, special funding, or encouragement to finish this project, but we have undertaken it in addition to our mainstream scholarly commitments.

We owe much to former professors in our countries of origin (Poland, Romania, and Russia) for teaching classics in spite of difficult political conditions and for instilling in us the belief that our own cultural tradition offers unique standpoints to the reception of classics in Europe.

All our contributors and chapter editors deserve special thanks for their hard work and for embarking on this difficult project, often dealing with authors who have never been translated into English.

We are grateful to Wiley‐Blackwell for the interest in our volume and particularly to Caroline Richards, our copyeditor, for her careful work on various details and for improving the overall uniformity of the chapters. We also owe a debt of gratitude to Shyamala Venkateswaran for her infinite patience and meticulous handling of details in the production stage for this volume.

Finally, we would like to thank our readers in anticipation for taking time to venture into unknown territory, which––it is our hope––they will continue to explore.

Zara Torlone, Dana Munteanu, and Dorota Dutsch

IntroductionZara Martirosova Torlone, Dana LaCourse Munteanu, and Dorota Dutsch

Why This Volume?

This volume has been conceived in defiance of a barbed wire fence. The Iron Curtain narrowed down Western Europe’s (and the United States’) notion of Europe and its classical heritage to the West, allowing the rest of the continent to disappear in the shadow of the Soviet Union. Our essays were designed to draw attention to the rich history of classical receptions in the regions that temporarily disappeared behind the curtain. This was a few years ago. Now the year is 2016. In Hungary, Slovenia, and Macedonia barbed wire fences rise anew. They are meant to slow the progress of the hundreds of thousands of refugees from war‐torn countries who have reached Greece and are now hoping to settle in the well‐to‐do democracies in the north. These fences put a humanitarian twist on our old question about the intellectual boundaries of Europe’s classical heritage. Who has the right to partake in Europe’s relatively prosperous present? Who has the right to benefit from Europe’s discourse of democracy and rationalism constructed on the model of the Athenian enlightenment? Today it seems that a volume like ours needs to be preoccupied with more than extending research into Europe’s uses of its classical heritage further east. We would therefore like to present the study of classical reception in Eastern and Central Europe as yet another opportunity to pose the question “Who—if anyone—owns culture?”1

Contexts

In the past several decades, classical reception studies have made impressive strides and become increasingly more visible in the field of classics, distinguishing themselves assertively from the study of classical tradition in its conventional sense of imitation and following the canon. Important theoretical studies have broadened the scope of research beyond a linear classical tradition and implied canonicity,2 and many scholars have focused attention on diverse cultures and geographical areas, making important contributions to classical reception studies beyond Western Europe.3 We as editors see this volume on classical receptions in Eastern and Central Europe as a part of this larger diversification of the classical tradition and a salutary reminder of the cultural differences within Europe.

Outside of Central and Eastern Europe, the region’s rich and longstanding history of classical receptions is largely unknown. There are three notable exceptions: a brief essay by Jerzy Axer (2007) on the classical tradition in Central and Eastern Europe; a short chapter by Asen Kirin, “Eastern European Nations, Western European Culture, and the Classical Tradition,” discussing Russia and Bulgaria (2010); and a special issue of Classical Receptions Journal edited by Zara M. Torlone (2013), which addresses the classical receptions in Eastern and Central European poetry, namely in Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, and Russia.4 These publications broke new ground in Anglophone scholarship, and offered a new departure in the field of reception. They, however, addressed only a fraction of the multifaceted classical reception in the region.

The present volume is the first comprehensive English‐language study of the reception of classical antiquity in Eastern and Central Europe to offer detailed case studies of 12 countries that are fully contextualized historically, locally, and regionally. This project does not claim exhaustiveness of the material coverage given the wealth of data and the immensity of the subject. Our task for this collection is twofold: first, we hope to offer a significant insight into the complicated history of engagement with Greco‐Roman antiquity in 12 Eastern European countries (Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Bosnia‐Herzegovina, and Slovenia); second, many essays in this volume address the role of classical reception in mediating the relationship between emerging national identities and the assumed sovereignty/superiority of Western European culture (e.g., Bažant, Kalb, Sirakova, Slavova, Tamás, Torlone). The exploration of classical reception both confirms and challenges that sovereignty, negotiating at the same time independent rights to classical antiquity for the Eastern and Central European cultures.

Although the countries represented in this volume have no common vernacular or cultural denominator, classical antiquity has always been manifest in their modern intellectual and artistic output. In this volume we aim to unveil ways in which specific national cultures have engaged with classical Greece and Rome and to understand, in turn, how classical antiquity contributed to the idea of nation building in many of the countries represented. Our focus on the role of classical reception in the formation of nationalisms is a useful one because it yet again brings to the fore the local and regional nationalist and supranational debates about the entity of Europe. Studied in the light of classical antiquity, these debates address the complex negotiation of European identities in the regions that traditionally have been seen as the outskirts of Europe (Russia) or even not Europe at all (Armenia and Georgia).

This volume, following the example of Stephens and Vasunia’s work (2010), prompts readers to revise assumptions about the classical tradition and its reception within Europe and question the very concept of the image of classics and classical antiquity centered on the West. By producing this volume, we hope that studying the dissemination of classical influences within the whole continent of Europe all the way to the Black Sea, the very outskirts of the Greek concept of oikoumene, will remind us that there is no center or privileged site for European classical reception studies. We hope that this publication will finally open the long overdue floodgates of inquiries into the classical receptions in the parts of the world that have been previously ignored and demonstrate the potential of Greek and Roman texts and myths to cut across national and cultural limitations.

Any unified approach to the reception of classics in Eastern and Central Europe, a vast area covering many different linguistic and ethnic populations, over several centuries, remains in itself problematic. However, it may not be pointless to identify certain trends, some of which are already familiar to our readers and some specific to the region.5 In the East of Europe, as in the West, Latin represented the lingua franca in which scientists (for example, Copernicus), historians (Romanian Cantemir), and poets (Hungarian Rimay) would write for broad audiences during the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Enlightenment. In a majority of regions covered in this volume, classical languages and education became part of school and university curricula, a large body of literature and art drew inspiration from Greco‐Roman models, and classical texts have been invested with political meaning.

Without insisting on pan‐European similarities, we shall focus next on a few aspects of reception that seem to be unusual in our geographical part of the continent: (1) challenges: competition, Marxist demotion, pragmatism; and (2) reinstatements: imaginary realms and redefinitions of the classics.

Challenges: Competition, Marxist Demotion, and Pragmatism

The role of classics in education and culture has been questioned at different times with intensity. Reasons have varied. Even though the field provided educational and cultural unity across the continent, it was sometimes viewed as a Western imposition. That Latin was not among Anton Chekhov’s favorite subjects in school finds reflection in his writing, as we may read with amusement in one of our essays on Russia (Starikovsky). This could appear to be an isolated case. Yet, it may underline a deeper sense of frustration, spread more broadly in the region. While adopting the classical tradition aligned the Central and Eastern European countries with their western neighbors, the West did not make a similar effort to understand the unique cultural treasures of the other side of Europe. Yet, some of those local traditions appeared older and sometimes more valuable than the Greco‐Roman heritage, especially from the eighteenth century onward, as national identities started to form. To compensate, scholars, writers, and artists have tried to revive and make known their particular cultures, not always in opposition but often in competition with the classics.6 In this vein, Czech architects wanted to develop a style independent from the classical cannon (Bazant’s essay), Romanian philosopher and poet Lucian Blaga wrote The Revolt of Our Non‐Latin Nature (Romanian introduction), and Brodsky composed bucolic poetry placed in the Russian winter, in contrast with Vergil’s Mediterranean summery meadows (Torlone). In elevating the regional heritage, may it be Scythian, Thracian, or Slavic, Eastern European thinkers sometimes propose a democratization of culture which should include a broader spectrum of traditions besides the classics. By assimilating the classical tradition and often writing in a language of circulation,7 Eastern and Central European intellectuals found a way to make themselves known to the world in a predictable jargon, through a Western lens, but that meant sometimes dimming an untranslatable part of their culture, veiled in the obscurity of the ante‐classical, if not anti‐classical, past.

Marxism brought a different way of thinking about the classical tradition. Overall, as an intellectual movement, it offered a new perspective for looking at classics, drawing attention to neglected aspects of scholarship: slaves, women, class tensions, and so on. Its legacy remains important to modern thought. Independently, however, for many countries of the Soviet bloc from 1950 to 1989, Marxism coupled with cultural indoctrination and propaganda raised a problem for classics, as well as for Western thought broadly understood.8 Why should young people study Greco‐Roman history and culture, which relied on social injustice, exploitation, and imperialism? In answer to the moral decadence of the classics, the foundation of corrupt Western capitalism, Soviet communism promoted “better” myths and narratives as the legitimate standards in art and literature.9 Sometimes the official rhetoric would further appropriate classical myths or imagery to sustain new societal goals. So, for instance, a New Man, through hard work and fraternal cooperation, was to reach the “Golden Age” of humanity.10

In connection with Marxist rhetoric, a common line of rejection of the classics invoked pragmatic considerations. Beyond evoking the unjust world of the classical past, learning Greek and Latin would bring no practical benefits, whereas sciences and technical skills would both be useful in the training of the young and ensure social progress. Neither new nor limited to the Soviet bloc in time and space, this line of thought continues in our time.11 Nevertheless, maintaining the classics in schools and universities appears nothing short of a miracle in some Eastern European countries during the Soviet era. Reminiscent of colonialism, Russian science and culture dominated the region for almost half a century, as Russian became briefly the lingua franca of the region, mandatory to learn in schools and used in scientific communications in Eastern Europe.12 Under the Soviet scientific revolution, Latin appeared outdated and ancient Greek entirely useless.

Reinstatements: Imaginary Realms and Redefinitions of the Classics

During the Middle Ages, southern, eastern, and central Europe, under constant Ottoman pressure, embraced the classics as a tradition cemented by Christianity. Later on, as clusters of political and military powers, such as imperial Russia (1721–1917), the Austro‐Hungarian monarchy (1867–1918), and the Soviet state (1949–1989), imposed their domination, the classics became, at times, a vehicle to express independence, to return to a prior, freer identity, or, finally, to escape politics altogether. The monuments and artifacts of Roman conquest and Greek colonization in the region represented a steady source of scholarly interest (see the chapters on material culture, Russia, and Romania) and were seen as valuable testimonies to the past, despite differences in scholarly interpretations;13 classical models also found compelling reimagining in the hands of artists (e.g., Hungarian sculptor Ferenczy).

At various times, staging classical plays could provide both a cross‐cultural exploration of universal themes and an outlet for incorporating political allusions that would not be permitted otherwise (see the essays on staging Greek tragedy in Bulgaria and Czech lands). In the isolating world of the Soviet era, in which one could not officially travel west, or exchange ideas with the other side of the Iron Curtain, exile came from within. Since many intellectuals felt imprisoned metaphorically (and sometimes not only so) in their own countries and confined by the narrow official ideology, they longed for a return to a tradition no longer venerated.14 A book then, such as Ovid’s Tristia (1.1–14), could take one to an imaginary trip to Rome or anywhere else where one could not physically go or publicly enunciate. Reading classical texts, therefore, in this context had less to do with interpreting them and more with entering another world, through secret linguistic codes (for example, learning ancient Greek). Overall, teaching classical languages was tolerated as a branch of linguistics, and reading classics in translation remained acceptable as part of the literature of the world. Philosophy enjoyed less lenience, since Marxism‐Leninism held a monopoly on the truth. A few men reading Plato and Hegel, away from standard classrooms, in the Carpathian Mountains, discovered an oasis of freedom from immediate politics (Antohi 2000). But lending even one blacklisted book, especially if it dealt with pernicious metaphysics, could provide a pretext for beatings and persecutions in an absurd regime (see essay on Noica by Gabor), (Noica 1990). Fortunately, such repressive actions remained infrequent, but they granted the field a certain aura of mysterious attraction to the young. Since 1989, learning classical languages has no longer constituted an act of defiance and deliverance from an oppressive reality. The twenty‐first‐century generations will have to shape anew their ways of receiving and reimagining the Greco‐Roman heritage.

Trajectory

The chapters in the present volume form a whimsical guidebook, combining travel through the contemporary—post‐Iron Curtain—political landscape of Central and Eastern Europe with time travel. On the modern map of Eastern‐Central Europe we find points of entry into the different national cultures’ engagement with the Greco‐Roman past. Through these points, the reader enters deeper into the past to discover networks of exchange that overwrite the confines of modern national identities. We will follow two major, often intertwined trails, shaped very loosely by the historical spheres of influence of empires, gravitating either toward the West or toward the East. The western trail leads to Rome via what once was the Western Roman Empire and then became the Holy Roman Empire. The eastern trail leads to Constantinople and Istanbul, first the heart of Byzantium, then, of the Ottoman Empire. These “trails” do not constitute fixed historical or cultural entities. Rather, they are loosely inspired by history and are creations of convenience and imagination.

Our trajectory begins with the imaginary western trail which links communities whose cultural elites during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance learned Latin, and whose populations have been and often still are predominantly Roman Catholic or Protestant. This trail takes us from the Dalmatian Coast and the modern countries of Croatia and Slovenia up north to the borders of what are now the Czech and Polish Republics. The Southern Slavs who settled in the sixth century on the Adriatic Coast in the Roman provinces of Illyricum, Panonia, and Noricum built their cultures around “their” lands’ Roman past. The chapters reveal the pride the Croats take in the influence of their Roman architecture (Gudelj) and their deep devotion to neo‐Latin artistry, which they have cultivated well into the late twentieth century (Jovanović). The Slovenian chapters highlight the country’s contribution to collecting Roman inscriptions (Šašel Kos), and the role of Venus in forging the history of a local Slavic religion (Marinčič).

From these regions, in which Rome’s presence has been felt as intimate and material, we move further north to the Czech Republic and Poland, where the classical tradition was a political transplant, a part of the process of acculturation meant to connect the Western Slavs to Western Christianity, which began in response to the Carolingian and Ottonian dynasties’ nascent Drang nach Osten in the early Middle Ages. Almost immediately, the Slavs appropriated classical ideals as paradigms for their own identity. Our Czech chapters show how, when a wave of nationalism swept Europe in the 1800s, Latin literary allusion helped forge the idiom of Czech national identity against a Germanophone background (Čadková). The Polish essays take us farther back in time and focus on the crucial roles of the Roman Republic and principate as the models that enabled the functioning of the Polish–Lithuanian commonwealth (Grześkowiak‐Krwawicz). An important essay by Jerzy Axer draws attention to Poland’s complex relationship with the Greek heritage.