Projects in Latin Language and Literature
Prof. Dr. Lisa Cordes
Persona and Performance of Authorship in the Latin Literature of the Late Republic and Early Imperial Period
Drawing on a concept of authorship as a performative process within the framework of cultural networks, the project is dedicated to different types of ambiguity that can be found in the discussion and modelling of intra-textual speakers and their relationship to the extra-textual world. One focus is on the personae of the Cicero dialogues, for which the concept of ‘ambiguous authorship’ is proposed.
PD Dr. Alexander Kirichenko
Transformations of Autocracy in Greek and Latin Literature of the Imperial Era (DFG)
The aim of this project is to write the third part of a trilogy in which the history of ancient literature is analysed in connection with the transformations of political geography. The first two volumes are devoted to Greek literature from Homer to Theocritus and Roman poetry from Catullus to Ovid. The third part will analyse the connection between the idea of an autocratic world empire and the development of Greek and Roman literature in the imperial period.
Dr. Bianca Liebermann, Robin Beck
Translation of Sintaxis latina (Coord. José Miguel Baños Baños)
This functionalist handbook of Latin syntax, which is now in its third edition in its country of origin, Spain, is being translated into German by a group of mainly student translators at our Institute as part of the Latin Linguistics workgroup led by Bianca Liebermann. In the course of the project, we analysed, collaboratively discussed and finally adapted the text for a German-speaking audience in close cooperation with the authors, expressly preserving the specifically Spanish perspective (publication by BUSKE-Verlag, Studienbücher zur lateinischen Linguistik series, expected in 2025).
(Project leader: Robin Beck)
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schmitzer
Ovid — literature, politics, reception, and transformation
Extensive studies on narrative technique and the handling of Ovid’s sources (some of which he invented himself), especially in the Metamorphoses; methodological-theoretical questions on the handling of contemporary politics in Ovid’s poems; the reception and transformation of Ovid, especially since the early modern period (translations, handling of pseudepigrapha, Ovid in the classroom, individual studies on special forms of reception).
Editing of the final volume of the Metamorphoses commentary by Franz Bömer (Heidelberg 1969-1986; vol. 8/1: 2006) with indices for the complete works.
Virgil — an introduction
In the manner of the book on Ovid (first published in 2001), an introduction to Virgil is planned in the “Olms Studienbücher” series, which will present Virgil’s life in Augustan Rome, his work (the three canonical poems Eclogues, Georgica and Aeneid together with the Appendix Vergiliana) and the history of his reception from antiquity to the present day. Planned length: 200 pages.
The city of Rome as literature
Following on from “Rom im Blick - Lesarten der Stadt von Plautus bis Juvenal” (Darmstadt 2016), a sequel volume will present the literary treatment of late antique Rome, especially in the 4th and 5th centuries by Christian and pagan authors. The main topics are: the nostalgic or sober view of the traditional Rome of the Golden Age, the attempts at literary ‘restoration’ of ancient Rome, the transition from the pagan to the Christian city, and the narrative treatment of urban and topographical changes. Planned length: 300 pages.
Gymnasium — Journal for Humanistic Education and the Culture of Antiquity
Continuation of the activity as co-editor (since 2007: editor) of the journal since 2002 together with Andreas Luther (Kiel) and Markus Janka (Munich). Annual scope: 6 issues of approx. 100 pages each.
For more information, please visit: https://www.gymnasium.hu-berlin.de.
PD Dr. Darja Šterbenc Erker
Religion in Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars (2021-2024)
German Research Foundation Grant (Principal Investigator)
The aim of the project is to reveal Suetonius’ subtle questioning of the emperors’ authority through his references to their religious deviance (superstition, the practice of negatively connoted foreign rituals, worship of foreign gods). I also focus on Suetonian multi-perspectivity in his depiction of the emperors’ religion in order to emphasise his literary play with different sources, voices, and statements. I also examine the multifaceted construction of Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars and at the same time his questioning of imperial divinity within the work.
Ambivalence and distance in the representations of the past
HU DAAD Ostpartnerschaften
Several interdisciplinary conferences are planned in Ljubljana and Berlin, at which the ambivalences present in representations of the past from antiquity will be investigated. Classical philologists and ancient historians will analyse how ancient authors express their distancing from ideological themes, historical persons or religious institutions through ambivalent narrative styles. Different literary strategies of ambivalence will be analysed, from which readers familiar with the referential context of the statements can make out subtle suggestions and ironic remarks.
Conflicts and religious-political conflict resolution in the Greco-Roman world
(BAK workgroup, conference funding)
The different interests, opinions and values involved in the interpretation of conflicts will be analysed in order to identify the social, political and religious factors that led to the conflicts. The project focuses on the different or conflicting representations of the causes of disasters and conflicts. The dispute over the causes of the conflicts will be analysed in detail, as will the various options available for resolving them, the resolution measures then taken, and their protagonists.