|
Czech Classics: General State
In the Czech Republic (Bohemia/Moravia) much of the study in
the ancient Greek and Latin Classics is done at, or coordinated by, the Academy
of Sciences of the Czech Republic, which has an extensive Internet site with
substantial information already provided in English. The two most important
sections of the Academy relating to the Classics are the Section of Humanities
and Philosophy, and the Section of Historical Sciences.
Within the Section of Humanities and Philosophy the main
division is the Institute for Classical Studies, whose address is 110 00 Praha
1, Na Florenci 3/1420; e-mail:
uks@cas.cz.
This used to be called the Cabinet for Greek, Roman and Latin Studies, and dealt
with the Classical languages, ancient history, medieval and humanistic culture
(primarily Latin) in the Bohemian (i.e., the western and central districts of
the former Czechoslovakian) lands, and Byzantine studies. With the renaming of
the Institute in 1990 came a modification in focus that now substantially
stresses the broader impact, from antiquity to the present, of the ancient
civilizations on Bohemian lands, especially Latin-language literary works
produced in Bohemia. Within the Institute there exist four research divisions:
the Center for Biblical Studies; the Documentation and Research Team for the
Cultural Heritage in Czech Lands to the Year 1800; the Team for Medieval Latin
Lexicography, and the Team for Ancient Traditions in Czech Culture. The
Institute continues to publish twice yearly the venerable periodical Listy
Filologicke (Philological Letters) , the more recently established and
yearly Eirene journal (containing articles on the Classics by scholars
not only from the Czech Republic and Central and East Europe, but other lands as
well), and the Folia Philologica (four issues per year). On the Internet
there is a bibliography of scholarly works published by the Institute and its
associates for the past ten years, the listings given in Czech but frequently
translated also into Western European languages like German or English.
Another part of the Section of Humanities and Philosophy
is the Institute of Philosophy, located at 110 00 Praha 1, Jilska 1; e-mail:
tisksob@lorien.site.cas.cz
This Institute concentrates on philosophical thinking and writing of more recent times, but presumably
ancient philosophy is dealt with at least from a historical point of view and as
a foundation for later philosophical exposition. The major publication of the
Institute is the Filosoficky C(h)asopis (Philosophical Journal) which
comes out six times a year.
A third important unit of the Humanities Section is the
Oriental Institute, whose address is 182 08 Praha 8 Pod Vodarenskou V(y)ez(h)I
4, e-mail:
ou@cas.cz.
While the Institute conducts research on many other regions of the Ancient Near
and Far East, for the typical Classicist its most significant work lies in its
Department of Africa and the Near East . The Institute publishes a well-known
quarterly, the Archiv Orientalni (Oriental Archive) and the monthly
Novy Orient (New Orient).
The second major section of the Academy,
that of Historical Sciences, houses two institutes that are significant for
Classical Studies. These are the Institutes of Archaeology, one in Prague, the
other in Brno (within the Moravian District of the former Czechoslovakia). The
Prague Institute (which unfortunately suffered major devastation during recent flooding) is
located at 118 01 Praha 1, Letenska 4, e-mail:
arup@cas.cz
and publishes the quarterly Archeologicke Rozhledy (Archaeological Views)
and the twice-yearly Pamatky Archeologicke (Archaeological Monuments).
The Brno Institute, whose address is 612 64 Brno, Kralovopolska 147 ( e-mail:
arub@cas.cz
) , while generally covering the period from the Palaeolithic era to the Middle
Ages, deals extensively with the military and cultural impact of Rome in the
Central European/Danube region. Within the Brno Institute there is the Research
Center for the Archaeology of the Roman, Migration and Early Medieval Periods,
among whose projects as described on the Internet are "Ancient Rome and the
problem of acculturation in the region north of the Middle Danube, the Region
North of the Danube in the period between the decline of the Western Roman
Empire and the arrival of Slavs, and the Corpus of Roman finds in the Barbaricum
(jointly with the Roman-Germanic Commission in Frankfurt am Main)." The Brno
Institute’s publications include the irregularly appearing Fontes
Archaeologiae Moravicae and the twice- yearly Studie Archeologickeho
Ustava (Studies of the Archaeological Institute). As with the Institute of
Classical Studies (for that matter, all the Academy of Sciences institutes), the
Prague and Brno Archaeological Institutes list on their Internet sites the
publications of their fellows/associates in alphabetical order by author year by
year for the most recent ten years, the Czech information, again, being in many
cases translated into German or English.
Also within the Section of Historical Sciences are the
Institute of History and the Institute for the History of Art. Both are to be
found in Prague, the former at 190 00 Praha 9, Prosecka 174, e-mail:
rakova@hiu.cas,cz and the latter at 110 00 Praha 1,
Husova 4, e-mail:
jahoda@kav.cas.cz . These
Institutes obviously range in their research and publication activities beyond
the Greco-Roman era, but of course, under their broader rubrics, deal also with
ancient topics. The History Institute puts out the quarterly C(h)esky
C(h)asopis Historicky (Czech Historical Journal) , and the quarterly
Historical Sciences in the Czech Republic, while the Art History Institute,
six times per year, publishes issues of Um(y)en(y)I
(Art).
Within the Academy of Sciences (and affiliated with
Charles University in Prague) there is found also the Center for Medieval
Studies, whose address is 110 00 Praha 1, Jilska 1. e-mail:
cms@flu.cas.cz
This research division supports many Fellows, some already
with academic appointments and others in the doctoral student stage. A number of these Fellows are
attached to traditional Classics departments in Czech universities, but, as is
frequently the case, combine the study of the ancient Greek and Roman world with
research and teaching in the Medieval and Humanistic areas.
Besides the Institutes constituting a part of the Czech
Academy of Sciences, there are two other major organizations whose work deals
extensively with Ancient Greek and Latin Studies. One of these is the Jednota
Klasickych Filolog(o)u or Union of Classical Philologists, whose President is
Prof. Pavel Oliva and the mailing address 120 00 Praha 2, Machova 7. There do
not appear to be any official or complete printed lists of the Union’s members,
but for many years the Union has been publishing its Transactions and
Proceedings (Zpravy Jednoty Klasickych Filolog(o)u)-AVRIGA This periodical
is extremely important not only because it contains excellent scholarly articles
and reviews by leading Czech Classicists, but also because it provides a
detailed annual bibliography of Greek and Latin studies including those
published in Slovakia as well as in the Czech Republic. Most recently the
ZJKF –AVRIGA has been printed by the Koniasch Latin Press, headed by Dr.
Jir(zh)I K. Kroupa, located at 169 00 Praha 6, Na Hubalce 7, and with the e-mail
address: koniasch@quick.cz
The KLP indeed has become a major organ for the dissemination of materials
relating not just to antiquity per se but likewise to the Medieval and
Humanistic periods.
A second major learned society for Classicists is the
C(h)eska Archeologicka Spolec(h)nost or Czech Archaeological Society, which is
headed by Prof. Dr. Karel Sklenar(zh), 120 00 Praha 2, Vinohradska 34, e-mail:
archaia@mbox.vol.cz The Society’s
members deal with all archaeological time periods and it has several regional
branches (the Central Czech Republic-Prague Branch, South Czech Branch, West
Czech Branch, East Czech Branch, North Moravian Branch and Silesian Branch),
each with its own president. There are also several subdivisions / working
groups involved with such topics as the history of glass, methods in
archaeological research taken from the natural sciences, experimental
archaeology, and, perhaps of the greatest interest to the traditional
Classicist, the working group on Classical and Roman - provincial archaeology,
headed by Prof. Dr. Jan Bouzek, Chair of the Department of Classical
Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University, 116 36 Praha 1, Celetna
20, e-mail:
ukar@ff.cuni.cz The
Archaeological Society’s members contribute extensively to numerous Czech
journals in the general field as well as to the Society’s own periodical, the
annual Studia Hercynia .
In addition to the Czech Archaeological Society, a
relatively new organization, ARCHAIA, is playing an increasing role in
archaeological research, though its training and publication activities are
mainly focused outside the time frame of Greek and Roman antiquity and deal with
monuments on Czech territory dating to more recent eras. ARCHAIA’s
organizational headquarters are located in 110 00 Praha 1, Truhlar(zh)ska
6/1112, e-mail:
praha@archaia.cz
and its archaeological park in 162 00 Praha 6-Liboc, V domocich 29, e-mail:
archeopark@archaia.cz. The
many scholars associated with ARCHAIA can also be reached by mail at 160 00
Praha 6, Zavadilova 24.
When we come to the major university centers for Classical
Studies in the Czech Republic, the two leading institutions are Charles
University in Prague and Masaryk University in Brno. At Charles University most
study dealing with ancient Greece and Rome is conducted in the Faculty of
Philosophy. For the Classicist the most important components within this Faculty
are the Institute of Greek and Latin Studies, located at 116 42 Praha 1, Celetna
20 (e-mail:
URLS@ff.cuni.cz) and the Institute for
Classical Archaeology (116 36 Praha 1, Celetna 20, e-mail:
ukar@ff.cuni.cz
). Within the Institute of Greek and Latin Studies are found the Seminar for
Classical Philology and Medieval Studies and the Seminar for Ancient History.
Other subdivisions of the Faculty of Philosophy offering substantial course and
research work in Ancient Studies are the Center for Egyptology (110 00 Praha 1,
Celetna 20, e-mail:
egyptologie@ff.cuni.cz ), Department of
Theatre Studies (116 38 Praha 1, Nam. Jana Palacha 2; e-mail:
petr.pavlovsky@ff.cuni.cz
), Department of Auxiliary Historical Sciences and Archive Studies (116 38 Praha
1, Nam. Jana Palacha 2; e-mail:
marie.blahova@ff.cuni.cz
), Institute of Philosophy and Religious Studies (116 38 Praha 1, Nam. Jana
Palacha 2; e-mail:
ufar@ff.cuni.cz ), and the
Institute of Linguistics and Finno-Ugric Studies (116 38 Praha 1, Nam. Jana
Palacha 2). Some further courses touching, at least in part, on the ancient
world are offered by the Pedagogical Faculty (Departments of History and the
Teaching of History, French Language and Literature, Citizenship Education and
Philosophy), Faculty of Law (Department of History of Law, Institute for the
History of Law), the Faculty of Catholic Theology (Departments of Philosophy,
Biblical Studies, and History of Christian Art), the Hussite Faculty of Theology
(Departments of Biblical and Judaic Studies, Philosophy, History of Religion and
Church Law, as well as Orthodox Theology, and Religious Studies and the Theory
of Religion), and the Evangelical Theological Faculty (Departments of New
Testament, Church History, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Bible Studies),
the last of which publishes the major, annually appearing periodical Communio
Viatorum .
At Masaryk University in Brno most of the courses
concerned with the Greco-Roman world are taught in the Faculty of the Arts (660
88 Brno, Arna Novaka 1), and many of the instructors are visiting or on loan
from either other Faculties/Departments at Brno or educational and cultural
institutions outside Brno. Within the Faculty there is a very large Department
of Classical Studies (602 00 Brno, Arna Novaka 1), covering Classical/Medieval
Latin and Classical / Medieval Greek Language and Philology, Ancient Philosophy,
Linguistics, Archaeology, History, Religion and Pedagogy. Although separate
Faculties/Departments/Institutes are also listed for Religious Studies,
Archaeology and Museology, Law, Linguistics and Philosophy, it appears that
these subdivisions concentrate more on times, places and topics outside the
ancient Mediterranean civilizations.
Several universities besides those in Prague and Brno
offer courses dealing with the ancient world, though on a smaller scale. At the
Palacky University in Olomouc, the Faculty of Philosophy houses a medium-sized
but distinguished Department of Classical Philology (771 80 Olomouc, Vodarni 6;
e-mail:
janousj@ffnw.upol.cz ). In the same
Faculty, and most likely offering courses touching upon antiquity, are the
Department of the Theory and History of Dramatic Arts, the Department of History
of Art (770 00 Olomouc, Wurmova 13; e-mail:
touner@ffnw.upol.cz
), the Department of Philosophy (771 80 Olomouc, Kr(zh)iz(h)ovskeho 12; e-mail:
blecha@ffnw.upol.cz
), the Department of History (771 80 Olomouc, Kr(zh)iz(h)ovskeho 10, PO Box 207;
e-mail:
khist@ffnw.upol.cz ), and the Department of Applied
Linguistics (770 00 Olomouc, Vodarni 6; e-mail:
markova@ffnw.upol.cz
). Within the Faculty of Law at Palacky University (771 11 Olomouc, 17 Listopadu
8, PO Box 16), the Department of the Theory of Law: Legal History and Present
Foundations gives training in Roman Law, the Development of Legal Thought and
the Philosophy of Law. It appears as well that Latin is taught in the Faculty’s
Department of Languages. The Cyril and Methodius Theological Faculty at Palacky
Unversity, in its Departments of Philosophy and Philosophy/ Patrology, has
numerous course offerings (the ancient Biblical languages, Latin, Church
History, Patrology, Universal Church History, and the Christian East, that touch
to a greater or lesser degree on the Greco-Roman world. Finally, in the Palacky
University Faculty of Medicine (772 00 Olomouc, Vodarni 6) there is a Department
of Foreign Languages in which training in Greek-Latin based medical terminology
is very likely available.
In the Silesian University at Opava, the Faculty of Arts
and Sciences includes a Department of Foreign Languages (746 01 Opava,
Masarykova Tr(zh)ida 37) where the Latin language and grammar are taught in the
Section for Italian. Within the same Arts and Sciences Faculty, the Department
of History and Museology lists courses in Ancient History, the Auxiliary
Sciences of History, Medieval Czech History, and Classical and Medieval Latin.
Elsewhere, the University of East Bohemia/Pardubice has an Institute of
Languages and Humanities (532 10 Pardubice, Studentska 84) where Latin is
taught, and Departments of Historical Sciences and Religious Studies/Philosophy
that in their programs obviously touch on the ancient world.
The University of Ostrava in its Faculty of Philosophy
(701 03 Ostrava 1, Realni 5, e-mail:
Zdenka.Kalnicka@osu.cz
) lists several departments with courses related to Greece and Rome. The
Department of History offers Ancient History, Historiography, Medieval History,
the Auxiliary Sciences of History, the Teaching of History, the History of
Material Culture, and Latin; the Department of Philosophy has courses dealing
with the History of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, the Philosophy of History,
Aristotle, Plato/Socrates; Greek and Latin Philosophical Terminology, and Select
Problems in Ancient Philosophy ; and the Department of Czech Literature,
Literary Studies and Art History has programs in the Cultural History of
Antiquity, Antiquities, Ancient Religion, and the Auxiliary Sciences of History
(including Latin Palaeography and Codicology and the History of Papyrology).
South Czech University in C(h)eske Budejovice has a
substantial Classics presence in its Department of History (371 15 C(h)eske
Bud(y)ejovice, Jeronymova 10) and in the Faculty of Theology ( 370 01 C(h)eske
Bud(y)ejovice Kn(y)ez(h)ska 8 - Departments of Biblical Studies, Church/Civil
Law, Church History/Patristics, and Philosophy/Religious Studies). West Czech
University in Plzen(j) has course work in Roman Law in the Department for the
History of Law of its Faculty of Law (306 14 Plzen(j), Americka 42, PO Box 314),
offerings in the Department of Philosophy (Faculty of Humanistic Studies) that
touch on ancient philosophy and religion, and many courses in a very large
Department of Archaeology (also within the Faculty of Humanistic Studies),
including work in Classical Archaeology. The Jan Evangelista Purkyn(y)e
University (location: 400 21 Usti nad Labem, C(h)eske Mladez(h)e 8), within its
Faculty of Pedagogy, has a broad-ranging Department of History with numerous
courses relating, in greater or lesser degree, to Ancient Greece and Rome:
History of Antiquity, Latin at several levels, Numismatics, History of Creative
Art, Palaeography, History of Philosophy, Cultural History; History of
Philosophy, the Documentation of Material Sources; Historiography; Museology;
the History of Architecture; the Reconstruction of Historical Objects; History
of City Planning, History of Science and Technology; Epigraphy; and Codicology.
The above institutions and organizations comprise the
principal centers in the Czech Republic for the study of the ancient Greek and
Roman Classics and related fields. There are in addition several other seminary
and theological institutions where Classical Antiquity is to some degree dealt
with in the educational programs. Furthermore a number of public and private
secondary schools exist in which the basics of the ancient languages and history
are offered . As in the other countries of post-Soviet Central and East Europe now caught up in a somewhat phrenetic attempt to "reform"
education and make it more "relevant" to the newly emerging "democratic, "
capitalistic and market-oriented societies, Classical Studies are struggling,
but there is still a cadre of distinguished senior scholars and an energetic
emerging cadre from the younger generation that give hope for a continuation of
the time-honored disciplines in a country with strong past historical and
cultural ties to Greece and Rome, to Greek and Latin.
|