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The necessity of
the Department of Classical Languages in the Faculty of Letters and History
emerges from the very Europeanness we all want and to which, due to our origins,
we rightfully belong. If studying Latin means studying Europeanness (Caracalla
gave, in 212, Roman citizenship to all the inhabitants of the Empire), no other
arguments are, we believe, necessary to see the use of learning classical
languages in a Romanian, therefore European university. Besides the classical
languages section (Latin and Greek), the study of Latin and Greek has expanded
to the Romanian sections as well as to the History section and the foreign
languages sections.
This study does
not stop at the classical antiquity, but follows Latin on its trajectory through
the Middle Ages up to the Transylvanian Enlightenment. What is studied,
therefore, is not a language in a given historical period, but a powerful,
ever-lasting spirituality. Greek is also important in this project. If Latin is
the language of the European civilization, Greek is the language of culture par
excellence in the European space.
Studying Latin is
not an activity for itself, even or especially nowadays when even the name of
the sophisticated computer comes from Latin. Studying it is necessary also for
non-philologists. In the humanistic space, this section is necessary because it
confirms the existence of numerous disciplines that could not be understood
without the recognition of the Latin influence: Romanian, foreign languages,
law, history, philosophy, natural sciences, orthodox theology (Romanians being
the only Latin orthodox people). It is difficult to prove the importance of a
department of classical languages in a university, because, being something so
natural, it is self-evident.
Information:
Secretary of Department: Mitrica Mariana
mmitrica@litere.uvt.ro
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