Research at the Department of Classics
The discipline that involves the study of classical languages and culture is called classical philology, which traditionally explores classical culture through the Greek and Latin languages and the texts written in these languages. Due to this historical aspect, the research conducted in the field is very interdisciplinary: depending on the research topic, a classical philologist may employ various methods and discoveries from for example history, linguistics, archaeology, philosophy, literature, religion and gender studies.
The research conducted at the Department is not limited to antiquity, since the classical languages continued to flourish in later times as the languages of science, culture and religion. The over 2500-year history of the classical languages offers virtually infinite possibilities for choosing the topic of your research. In recent years, the research conducted at the Department has focused on for example
- Roman religion and administration
- Ancient views on language, literature and their study
- Ancient historiography
- Cicero’s correspondence
- Ancient games of chance
- Ancient and Byzantine theatre
- Dante’s De vulgari eloquentia
- English school plays from 1600 AD
- The Latinity of the Royal Academy of Turku
- Classical languages in Finland’s period of autonomy