The authors of this paper examine the ancient concepts of translatio, imitatio and aemulatio. The text goes over some problems of the heritage of antiquity and its reception in European culture of the early modern period. These questions were discusssed during the international conference “Heredes et scrutatores. Attitudes towards Antiquity in the Renaissance and in the Early Modern Period”, which was held on 19–20 May 2016 at the University of Warsaw. It celebrated the 200th anniversary of classical studies at this university. The conference seeked to explore the changing attitudes towards the heritage of classical antiquity in post-classical European culture. The scholars participating in the meeting tried to (re)examine the diversity of these attitudes in the period between the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times and to reflect on a number of related problems, among which were the theoretical viewpoints that had been suggested to describe this diversity. One of them, which gave its name to this conference, distinguishes between two general approaches: that of the “users”, concentrated on adapting the classical legacy by means of procedures inherited from the ancient Romans, and that of the “researchers”, which replaced the former procedures with ones typical of scholarly cognition. The participants discussed theoretical issues and concrete cases illustrating the ways that the intellectuals of the Renaissance and Early Modern Times approached the Greek and the Roman legacy. The connections between past and present attitudes towards antiquity have also been be the subject of the debate.
The main theme of this contribution is the question whether artists were inspired by so‑called ‘small arts’ or ‘grand arts’ respectively ‘fine arts’. All of this is related to the fundamental distinction among ‘applied arts’ respectively crafts and ‘fine arts’. Subsequently the usefulness of arts is examined. In particular, the artworks of the sculptor Bohuslav Schnirch, whose sources of inspiration are analysed, could be held up as an example of the inclination to ‘grand arts’. Similarly Hugo Demartini’s affection towards ‘ancient arts’ in the 20th century is expressed by his own words.
This article introduces a vision of the new politics that emerges from my recent book Tractatus Politico‑Philosophicus. The Tractatus discusses a number of topics. To name just a few, these are: politics, human nature, the state, freedom, solidarity, democracy, civilization, family and marriage, power, international relations, war and peace. Also, it introduces new words, such as sophocracy, ennobled democracy; nativeculturalism (an alternative to multiculturalism); or parentsexuality, a privileged form of sexuality. It addresses many issues that concern today’s political thinkers. The main objective of my work is to demonstrate the necessity of, and provide a guide for, the redirection of humanity. The piece argues that this paradigm shift must involve changing the character of social life and politics from competitive to cooperative, encouraging moral and intellectual virtues, providing foundations for happy societies, promoting peace among countries and building a strong international community. The article attempts to show that the essence of politics is not a struggle for power, which can only be its derivative meaning, but rather the ability to organize society for cooperation and actualize a good life. It also reminds humanity of its high task, which is moral and intellectual perfection, and advancing human evolution.
Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853–1912), an important Czech Parnassian poet and translator wrote also a number of dramas for the newly established National Theatre in Prague (1883). Ten of these plays are based on topics from Ancient Greece and Rome, thus providing valuable information on the attitude of the Czech society in the autumn of the national revival to classical culture and antiquity in general. In the present study, we review the plays (except for the trilogy of Hippodamia which will be addressed in the next study) and their reception in the contemporary press. The conservative theatrical critics mostly highlight the modern approach of Vrchlický to classical themes, and appreciate that characters of his plays are comprehensible to the spectator. In spite of frequent anachronisms and historical inaccuracies, the plays are praised for vividly transmitting the spirit of the remote ancient civilization to the modern audience. On the other hand, the exponents of modern Realism point out that Vrchlický’s dramas suffer from illogical and affected plots and unlikely characters and criticize them for not addressing the real problems of the world. This all indicates that the attitude of the Czech public of the late 19th century to the ancient Greek and Roman culture and its reception was less rigid but also more indifferent than presumed.
This paper is a continuation of our study “Jaroslav Vrchlický’s Dramas Inspired by Classical Antiquity and Their Contemporary Reception” (“Antické hry Jaroslava Vrchlického a jejich dobová recepce”) in the previous issue of this journal. It deals with Vrchlický’s trilogy of Hippodamia (1890-1891), a stage melodrama with music by Zdeněk Fibich. We discuss its relationship to the Greek tragedy, in particular to the Aeschylus‘s Oresteia (quotations and paraphrases of Greek texts, use of the chorus, themes of guilt and atonement, etc.) and view it in the context of general tendencies of the fin de siècle culture. We also pay attention to the reception of the Hippodamia trilogy in the contemporary press. As in the case of other Vrchlický’s dramas inspired by Classical Antiquity, Hippodamia was appreciated mainly for modernization of the Greek myth and for transmission of the spirit of the remote ancient civilization to the 19th century audience.
The paper analyses the character of classical receptions and the proposed methodology of its analysys within the context of the new media. An example of a popular Polish website Filmweb, devoted to cinema, is used to present the case postulating new interdisciplinary methodology, necessary for the research on the receptions of antiquity in the new media.
This paper analyses the figural stucco in the Villa Hvězda (1555–1563) in Prague, depicting Aeneas with his father Anchises on his back and accompanied by his son Ascanius and his wife, Creusa. In numerous 16th century representations, Creusa always walks behind Aeneas, and Ascanius is always accompanying Ae neas. In the Villa Hvězda, the protagonists of the Flight from Troy are Aeneas and his wife, Creusa. Aeneas carries Anchises on his back, and in front of him, Creusa leads their son Ascanius. This anomaly calls for an explanation, and it may be this, that Creusa allegorically stands for Queen Anne as a model of a pious matriarch of the Habsburgs.
The short poem Urania is the last neoclassical work of Alessandro Manzoni, one of the greatest representatives of Italian Romanticism. This paper analyses the chance meeting between Pindar and the Muse Urania. It examines whether this scene is structured in the same way as those in which chance meetings between poets and divinities take place in ancient literature. My analysis is inspired by research conducted by Tomasz Mojsik - a Polish scholar in history and classical philology - on the role of the Muses in Ancient Greek culture.
IT
Il poemetto Urania è l’ultimo lavoro neoclassico di Alessandro Manzoni, uno degli esponenti del Romanticismo italiano. L’obiettivo del mio articolo è l’analisi della scena dell’incontro fra il poeta Pindaro e la Musa Urania. Le mie ricerche mirano a riconoscere le relazioni tra la scena del poemetto e la tradizione classica dell’incontro di un poeta con una divinità ispiratrice. Le mie analisi sono ispirate alle ricerche di Tomasz Mojsik, storico e filologo classico polacco, sul ruolo delle Muse nella cultura della Grecia antica.
The paper analyses the attitude of Joseph Ratzinger, pope Benedict XVI, towards classical culture and tradition. A careful analysis of the pope’s writings makes it obvious that he addresses Europe’s classical heritage with respect and deep understanding. A number of case studies analysed in the paper allows the reader to see a variety of perspectives on classical antiquity, present in the writings of Benedict XVI.
The article presents the reflection of the antique tradition in the memoirs of the Russian emigrant of the nineteenth century V.S. Pecherin. Written in epistolary form these memoirs are confessional in their character and one can traced a strong classical influence, formed by his education. Particular attention is given to Berlin as educational space, where V.S. Pecherin studied at the university and regularly visited the Altes Museum. There is a close relationship between the influence of Ancient Greek art V.S. Pecherin saw in the museum and his cultural and aesthetic views presented in his memoirs. According to the author, V.S. Pecherin presented himself as the second Xenophon wandering around Europe and expelled from his homeland in absentia. The title of the memoir Apologia pro vita mea, probably, has as its prototype both the Socratic tradition and the Christian tradition, especially expressed in the title of the work Apologia pro vita sua by John Henry Newman.
This paper aims to examine three Catalan proverbs about the concept of friendship, which are included in Sebastià Farnés’ volume entitled Paremiologia catalana comparada. These proverbs bear witness to their classical tradition and they are related to philosophical and literary passages that can be considered as previous samples of this tradition. These Greek and Latin passages are compiled, presented in chronological order and compared, so as to (1) determine the different ways the ideas included in those proverbs were expressed throughout the time; and, more specifically, (2) in order to clarify how these Catalan proverbs ended up being formulated the way they were. I conclude that the considerations about friendship presented by these proverbs are embedded into a long textual tradition which refers, ultimately, to Pythagoras, although Judeo-Christian tradition was involved in their final configuration as well.
The classical legacy in contemporary Spanish poetry is evident, especially in the creation of Aurora Luque (Almería 1962), one of the best representatives of the neoclassical and culturalist trend in Hispanic poetry. This article aims to show the two aspects of her poetry: the recovery of the Greco-Roman tradition and the female voice that reconciles aesthetics and morality. To defend the feminine voice of everyday life, the poet reinvents and modifies the classical tradition offering us a new vision of mythology, topoi, themes and motifs from Antiquity.
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