W Collectanea Philologica publikowane są artykuły naukowe oraz recenzje wydawnicze, które stawiają sobie za cel propagowanie wiedzy o szeroko pojętej kulturze starożytnej Grecji i Rzymu. Materiał naukowy dzielony jest na trzy podstawowe dziedziny: hellenistyka, latynistyka, recepcja. Tematyka artykułów zawiera się w szeroko zakrojonych granicach literatury, języka, historii i filozofii świata starożytnego oraz recepcji antyku w kulturze nowożytnej. Odrębną część stanowi dział poświęcony recenzjom. Przedstawiane w Collectanea Philologica prace są autorstwa zarówno uznanych w dziedzinie antyku autorytetów polskich i zagranicznych, jak i młodych przedstawicieli nauki, w tym także doktorantów. Collectanea Philologica na platformie Digital Commons (Elsevier)
On the Destructive Role of „mneme” in „ Anonymus Iamblichi”
The article focuses on a passage from the so-called Anonymus Iamblichi (Diels, Kranz 1956: 404) in which the noun μνήμη (“memory”) appears. Contextual philological analysis allows the Author to establish the full semantic scope of mneme and to determine the role it plays in the passage (fragment 7, 25-40) which concerns the lack of respect for the law (lawlessness) and its consequences. Mneme – “the power of remembering” – contributes significantly to the moral downfall of man, which results from the submission to evil. Its evokes mental images (as forms of expression of mneme, most often representing misfortunes), which effectively destroy the psyche and arete – citizen’s virtue; thus leading one to abandoning ethical norms and, consequently, to moral self-destruction. Therefore, mneme has a very negative impact. Although it is undoubtedly an efficient “memory”, it is used for the mental degeneration of an individual, which consequently leads to the destruction of the civic community (polis).
Prawa autorskie (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Sposoby kuracji różnych dolegliwości laryngologicznych i stomatologicznych według „Compositiones medicamentorum” rzymskiego lekarza Skryboniusza Largusa — przekład z łaciny
Scribonius Largus’s (1st-century) Compositiones Medicamentorum is one of the most important sources in the history of medicine. The recipes it contains were used in European medicine until the end of the 17th century. The purpose of this article is to present [translated from Latin] the methods of treating laryngological and dental ailments according to the recipes of this ancient Roman physician.
Bartłomiej z Bydgoszczy wobec terminologii prawniczej omówionej w „Vocabulariusie” Johannesa Reuchlina
Vocabularius breviloquus by the German humanist Johannes Reuchlin contained specialized vocabulary, including legal terminology. Bartholomew of Bydgoszcz, who owned a copy of the work, made his own notes alongside certain entries. The article examines which equivalents of Latin legal terms Bartholomew introduced, their stability/variability, etymology, and collocations; which meaningsinterested him and which he omitted. The study also aimed to determine the monk’s legal awareness and identify the legal issues that caught his interest. The analyses followed a two-step approach: first, the Latin entries Ius and Lex were examined to explore how Bartholomew interpreted them; then, the Polish lexeme prawo (law) was analyzed to track which Latin entries it corresponded to. It was found that the monk annotated legal terms in both Latin and Polish. The Polish vocabulary he used was of native origin and reflected Slavic customary law. Bartholomew showed little interest in entries related to specific Roman legal statutes. Instead, he focused primarily on judicial practice, as evidenced by his notes, which expanded the lexical network of Vocabularius with terms related to this area.
Słownik polsko-łaciński jako narzędzie dydaktyczne. Analiza dostępnych pozycji pod kątem ich przydatności dla osób uczących się języka łacińskiego
Dictionaries are among the important materials used in language learning and teaching. The aim of this article is to examine the available Polish-Latin dictionaries from the point of view of their usefulness for native speakers of Polish in the process of Latin acquisition. As a reference, I use Monika Bielińska’s work “Leksykografia. Słownik specjalistyczny” (“Lexicography: A Specialist Dictionary”). In the course of the paper I present the needs of the two most important groups of addressees of the Polish-Latin dictionary, namely students of classical philology and participants in Latin classes in other study programmes (e.g. law, medicine). I analyse the advantages and disadvantages of two dictionaries: “Mały słownik polsko-łaciński” (“Compact Polish-Latin Dictionary”) edited by Lidia Winniczuk and “Słownik polsko-łaciński” (“Polish-Latin Dictionary”) by Antoni Bielikowicz. The conclusion of the study is that there is no dictionary that is well suited to the needs of either of the target groups, and for philology students, the best choice may be to reach for Bielikowicz’s 19th-century dictionary.
A Commentary on the Development of the Neo-Latin Vocabulary with Reference to Recent Linguistic Studies
The practical use of Latin is uncommon in the 21st century. Since the collapse of the Roman Empire, it has been considered a ‘dead language’. The main reason for this is that there is no nation for which Latin is a mother tongue. However, there are still people who can speak Latin fluently in everyday communication. Thus, we can ask ourselves where this idea originated and how it is possible to speak an ancient language in modern times. The aim of this paper is to briefly describe the history of Latin’s development, focusing on the coining of vocabulary related to breakthrough discoveries after the collapse of the Roman Empire. This should lead to answering the question of whether the continuous interest in Latin and its growth throughout the centuries was a natural evolution of the language or rather an artificial attempt to keep it alive. Furthermore, it is also worth considering whether it is appropriate to refer to Latin as a ‘dead language’ in every sense of the word. To support the thesis of Latin’s continuous growth, several lexical examples with word-formation analysis will be provided, demonstrating that the analogical processes observed within Latin also appear in modern languages.
Greek μάρις — a Forgotten Name for Long Pepper
The Greek word μάρις ‘long pepper (Piper longum L.)’ that is attested in the lexicon of Hesychius (μ 289) has not been the subject of any research to date. The author’s hypothesis is that it is ultimately of Indo-Aryan origin (cf. Sanskrit marī̆ca- m. ‘pepper shrub’, marī̆ca- n. ‘black pepper’, Pali marica- n. ‘id.’, Prakrit maria-, miria- m./n. ‘id.’, etc.). However, it is difficult to say whether the Greeks borrowed μάρις directly from a language spoken in India or via another Oriental language (perhaps Iranian; cf. Modern Persian marič (mareč, murč) ‘pepper’).
Trudności w pracy nad przekładem fikcyjnej korespondencji Ksenofonta na język polski — analiza wybranych zagadnień
The fictional correspondence of Xenophon has survived to our times in a fragmentary form, thanks to Stobaeus, whose Anthology contains excerpts from the Socratic letters. This correspondence is also part of the collection Socratis et Socraticorum Epistolae. Translating these texts poses significant challenges due to the peculiarities of the epistolary language, particularly its Atticization, as well as the presence of allusions and quotations that reflect the authors’ intellectual processes. The translator’s task, therefore, is to unveil the implicit knowledge embedded in the original text for the reader. This raises the question of what translation techniques should be employed to achieve this. Is a footnote always the only solution? How can one create a comprehensible and faithful translation for the modern reader of texts rooted in the Second Sophistic movement, which reference the realities of the classical era and Socratic thought – texts marked by a third culture? The article pays special attention to the Greek particle δέ, seen as a characteristic element of Attic speech, particularly in Xenophon’s language, as well as the dualis form.
„Medea. Stimmen” Christy Wolf w kontekṡcie recepcji mitu w literaturze niemieckojęzycznej
This article examines the distinctive features of the German reception of antiquity. The first part highlights key aspects of this reception, particularly in the context of German Weimar Classicism and the Enlightenment. Subsequent sections explore the strong interest in mythology and antiquity in contemporary literature, especially in GDR literature, where mythological parables often served as a means to circumvent censorship. The main focus of the article is Christa Wolf’s novel Medea. Stimmen (1996). It demonstrates how Wolf reinterprets the Medea figure, discarding the traditional portrayal of her as a child murderer and instead depicting her as a victim of an inhumane, totalitarian system. This reinterpretation should not be read explicitly as a critique of the GDR or West German neoliberal capitalism, but rather as a broader, pessimistic vision of humanity – one that remains unwilling to renounce power struggles, xenophobia, and authoritarianism.
„Non omnis moriar”. O nawiązaniach do antyku w hiszpańskich przekładach wierszy Wisławy Szymborskiej
The primary objective of this article is to examine the Spanish translations of three poems by Wisława Szymborska in which the Horatian formula Non omnis moriar appears: The Rest, Autotomy, The Great Number. This well-known literary motif is open to diverse interpretations in each of the translations discussed. The analytical and interpretative remarks are an expression of a hermeneutic reading (based on the understanding of hermeneutic translation criticism by Piotr De Bończa Bukowski and Beata Piecychna), in which the adequacy of the translation in relation to the original is not the primary concern. Instead, the value of the translation as an interpretatively inspiring poetic text is emphasised.
„Hellenism and Judaism”. Tadeusz Zieliński’s (1859–1944) Reflections on the Origins of Christianity
Robert K. Zawadzki examines the representation of Hellenism and Judaism in the religious studies of Tadeusz Zieliński, one of Poland’s foremost scholars of antiquity. The relationship, contacts and dealings between the representatives of the two cultures provided Zieliński with fertile ground for articulating his ideas about the origins of Christianity. By examining these conclusions, the author of this article shows how Zieliński constructed a specific image of Judaism in line with the aims and assumptions of his own work, while at the same time creating a vision of Hellenism as the real and true source of Christianity. In this article the author also proposes that Zieliński’s work should not be viewed from the perspective of contemporary religious studies, but rather as an excellent source for the history of Polish science. After all, the book is a testament not only to the author’s views, but also to the era.
Un viaje al pasado: Pompeya según tres relatos de viaje latinoamericanos (1861–1868)
Since the mid-19th century, traveling to Europe has become a common practice among Latin American elites. The city of Naples, renowned since the 18th century for the Roman sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum, became a must-visit destination. Travelers such as the Peruvian writer and diplomat Pedro Paz Soldán, Colombian politician Aquileo Parra, and Mexican artist Felipe Gutiérrez visited these ruins and left accounts of their experiences. This article aims to examine these testimonies and demonstrate how the experience – made possible by various factors – enabled these individuals to develop their own discourse on antiquity. Moreover, it allowed them to consolidate a cosmopolitan identity that legitimized their privileged social status and contributed to shaping the national identity narratives of their respective countries.
Virgilian Reception in the „Sulpiciae Conquestio”
The Sulpiciae Conquestio that has been transmitted as part of the Epigrammata Bobiensia is a curious work, one that is replete with intertextual allusions to Virgil’s Aeneid in particular. Close examination of the course of its argument will reveal that its author offers reflections on Virgil’s depiction of the place of war and peace in Roman history, with emphasis on the point that peace can be enervating and corrosive to the Roman polity. The Conquestio thus stands forth as a late Flavian Age commentary on the problems that may result from such seemingly successful initiatives as the implementation of the Pax Augusta.
Dlaczego lew ma długi ogon i sypia z otwartymi oczami? Antyczne i biblijne korzenie „Fizjologa”
At the center of the article is the Physiologus – probably the best-known text of late antiquity and the Middle Ages after the Bible – and the descriptions of animals presented there. The depictions of the individual animals are based on the idea that, in addition to the external characteristics of an animal, they should also explain its theological significance. The animals and their characteristics should also convey a moral lesson to the reader and appear exemplary and worthy of imitation in their eyes. This article will now examine the question of how allegorical representations of animals as an interpretation of the world illustrate the logic of divine creation. Selected examples are used to show the way in which the author, inspired by the pre-Christian and Christian tradition, designs the animal images, and interpretative models are analyzed that go beyond the usual equations and often bring to light multifaceted and unexpected meanings.
Rytuały ofiarne w starożytnym Rzymie na podstawie „Nocy attyckich” Aulusa Gelliusza. Wybrane zagadnienia
The article discusses selected issues related to sacrificial rituals in ancient Rome based on Aulus Gellius’ Attic Nights. The work focuses primarily on information related to the circumstances and reasons for making some sacrifices, the age of sacrificial animals, as well as linguistic curiosities related to sacrificial rituals. The antiquarian characterizes, among other things, what hostiae maiores, succidaneae, praecidaneae and bidentes were, and also explains that it is not clear to which deity a sacrifice should be made in connection with the occurrence of an earthquake.
„At vos … Primus in Epirum Boreas agat!” The Consuls’ Sea-passage to Greece in Lucan’s „Civil War” (2.645-648)
This article analyzes lines 2.645-648 of Lucan’s Civil War. These four lines contain Pompey’s command for the consuls to sail from Brundisium to Epirus, and from there to proceed to Greece and Macedonia, where they were to gather reinforcements. According to the historical sources available to us, the consuls crossed to Dyrrachium, transporting the majority of the army and possibly civilians staying in Pompey’s camp. However, the issue lies in the north wind, Boreas, mentioned in line 2.646, where we would expect a south wind. The first part of the article examines various proposed solutions to this issue, which aim to reconcile Lucan’s lines with historical accounts. The second part offers an alternative interpretation: the consuls’ destination is not Dyrrachium. Instead, the analysis suggests that Lucan’s narrative assigns the consuls a new mission and alters their route for poetic purposes. This change stems from Lucan’s intertextual engagement with Virgil’s Aeneid and enhances the metaphorical dimension of the narrative. It helps establish a stronger parallel between Pompey’s departure from Brundisium and Aeneas’s flight from Troy.
Marek Waleriusz i kruk. Historia pewnej symbiozy bitewnej (Liv. 7.26)
In the seventh book of Ab Urbe Condita, Titus Livius describes an extraordinary phenomenon of battle symbiosis involving a bird. During the campaign against the Gauls in 349 BC, a Gallic warrior challenged a Roman to single combat – this Roman was Marcus Valerius. During the fight, a raven landed on his helmet and aided him in the duel, which earned him the cognomen Corvinus. Livy presents this event within the framework of monomachy, aristeia, and the etymological explanation of the epithet, emphasizing the role of the gods. However, this story may also be a reinterpretation of avian imagery appearing on Gallic warriors’ helmets, such as the so-called Ciumeşti Helmet, discovered by archaeologists in 1961 in western Romania.
The article aims to analyze various issues concerning the status of women in the context of wine consumption in ancient Rome. The study focuses on Latin literary texts that narrate prohibitions against Roman women drinking wine, revealing that they were not allowed to consume wine spontaneously. Additionally, the article highlights passages describing what was considered absolutely inappropriate in terms of wine consumption, as well as how compliance with these bans was monitored. Alongside these prohibitions, the texts also mention “wines” specifically intended for women.
Przestrzeń pozasceniczna w „Fenicjankach” eurypidesa i jej funkcja dramaturgiczna
Euripides’ The Phoenician Women belongs to the category of tragedies in which the offstage space – that is, events occurring beyond the immediate visual perception of the audience – plays a significant role. These events are crucial not only for the development of the drama but also for the poetic vision conveyed by the author through them. In depicting actions that, due to their nature, could not be shown ad oculos to the spectators, Euripides employs messengers’ speeches and dialogues among the dramatis personae, thereby drawing upon the audience’s imaginative faculty and utilizing the commentary layer of the drama. Thus, the spectator participates in the expansion of the tragic stage space, conjuring in the mind’s eye poetic images of the offstage world. Given the rich textual representation of offstage space in The Phoenician Women, the present analysis will focus on two scenes: the teichoscopy (lines 98-201) and the first part of the Messenger’s speech to Jocasta (lines 1090-1138), which alludes to the former.
How much New is there in the Old? „Themis, Dike” and an Evolutionary Understanding of Ancient Greek Normativity
The study of normative and legal systems in archaic Greece reveals two competing interpretative models. The first highlights the autonomy of early lawmakers, portraying them as largely free from the constraints of inherited traditions and capable of enacting diverse laws and decrees. The second posits the existence of shared pan-Hellenic practices, a standardized legal terminology, and, above all, common cultural norms underlying the sanctions applied across various poleis. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, these seemingly opposing perspectives were synthesized into a progressive interpretative framework. This new model presented the history of ancient Greece, starting in the early archaic period, in terms of tension and conflict between two normative systems, the old and the new – and, by extension, two contrasting approaches to the administration of communal justice. Importantly, the conceptual categories for these two historical “moments” were embodied in the terms themis and dike. The article offers a hermeneutic reconstruction of early 20th-century research on the themis–dike distinction, highlighting its influence on contemporary scholarship. It examines how these old assumptions and paradigms have shaped current interpretations of these foundational concepts.
Castro-Páez, Encarnación (2023). „De Tartesos a Hispania. Geografía y etnografía en la literatura greco-latina”. Barcelona: Editorial Bellaterra. ISBN 978-84-18723-65-0. 322 pp.
W 2025 roku świętujemy 20-lecie konferencji łacińskiej Concilium Latinum Lodziense, organizowanej corocznie od 2004 roku na Uniwersytecie Łódzkim przez Katedrę Filologii Klasycznej UŁ, Polskie Towarzystwo Filologiczne oraz Centrum Języków Obcych UŁ. W tym artykule ukazana jest krótka historia konferencji wraz z tematyką poszczególnych edycji. Celem pracy jest nie tylko przybliżenie wydarzenia, ale przede wszystkim promocja żywej łaciny i zachęcenie do udziału w kolejnych edycjach Concilium latynistów z Polski, jak i z zagranicy.
Platoński „Parmenides” i pochodzenie neoplatońskiego „Jedna”
Niniejszy tekst jest przekładem na język polski artykułu: E.R. Dodds, The Parmenides of Plato and the Origin of the Neoplatonic ‘One’. „The Classical Quarterly”. 1928. Vol. 22. No.3/4. 129–142. Eric Robertson Dodds (1893–1979) – irlandzki filolog klasyczny i zasłużony badacz myśli Plotyna oraz neoplatonizmu. Autorem tego przekładu jest Marcin Komorowski - badacz niezależny, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1209-8810 , e-mail: komorowskimarcin@tlen.pl
In memoriam honoremque Ioannae Rybowska (1963–2023)
Kuracja bólu głowy, epilepsji, chorób oczu i uszu według Skryboniusza Largusa (I w.) "Compositiones medicamentorum" – przekład
Compositiones Medicamentorum by Scribonius Largus, dating from the 1st century, is one of the most important sources of the history of medicine. The recipes contained therein were used in European medicine until the end of the 17th century. The aim of this article is to present [translated from Latin] the methods of treating headache, epilepsy and diseases of the eyes and ears according to this ancient Roman physician.
Prawa autorskie (c) 2024 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Il contributo delle Digital Humanities per un approcio allo studio dell’epigrafia Ispano-Romana
Within the various research areas of Ancient History, Digital Humanities have gained a significant role in recent years. However, in the more specific field of Epigraphy, which is the topic of this contribution, although the usefulness of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has begun to be evaluated, these resources have largely been used as a complementary tool and not as an integral part of the epigraphic discipline. For this reason, it can be to present and describe those ICT-related tools that can be consider fundamental for a modern epigraphic study, with a particular focus on the Latin epigraphy of Roman Hispania.
Antyk – germańskość: dwie tradycje nazizmu?
Nazi ideology appropriated many traditions of thought, syncretistically combining them to justify German’s racial superiority. This belief stems from Volkist thought, with its concept of the Aryan/Germanic superman, racial purity and the connection to ‘blood-and-earth’. Ancient art, which was the formal basis for the architecture and sculpture of the Third Reich, was also treated as an expression of Germanic culture. The article discusses how Nazi ideology attempted to combine the volkist concept of Germanicness with the legacy of ancient art, and use both to legitimise the idea of racial superiority justifying the practice of conquest, annihilation and subjugation of other peoples. The juxtaposition of classicist artistic concepts with the shaping of a “Germanicˮ nature also reveals the total dimension of the indoctrination of its own citizens to participate in the construction of a new “orderˮ.
“You Started the Dispute” – an Essential Argument in Controversies Typical of Oral Cultures and the Discoursive Blueprint of the "Iliad"
The paper argues that in the imagery found in the narrative context of the Iliad, the image of public debates is involved. Especially the argument “you started the dispute” is emphasized because it is connected with the concept of blame attributed to Paris and all the Trojans. Under the influence of such works like Graeber and Wengrow (2021), that shed a new light on the prehistory of mankind, I postulate a change in the paradigm of the interpretation of the Homeric world. I believe it would be much more comprehensible if interpreted as expressing egalitarian relations. After all, social and political circumstances described in the Iliad correspond to the phase in which hierarchy is only an increasing tendency. Comparisons drawn from other egalitarian cultures indicate how significant it is who started the dispute and how this argument can be cancelled. In the blueprint of the Iliad, however, Paris’ blame defines the meaning of the Trojan story and, therefore, the indictment that it was Alexander who started the dispute plays a paramount role.
Polifem między nomos oraz physis. Homer, Sofiści i „prawa ludzkiej miary” w dramacie satyrowym "Cyklop" Eurypidesa
At the height of their development and popularization, the Odyssey and the Iliad were part of a rich tradition of oral epic poetry. And while the transmission of Homer’s epics was facilitated by a Panhellenic framework, these works themselves became catalysts for the consolidation and unification of Greek culture; they shaped a shared Greek identity and a common value system. Particularly significant in this regard is the episode from Book IX of the Odyssey, namely the scene of the Odysseus-Polyphemos encounter. The island of the Cyclopes, as I argue in this article, represents a structural inversion of a civilized and orderly human community; the image of Polyphemos embodies “wildness” and delineates (or redefines) the boundaries of discourse on civilization, culture, and community. This motif anticipates, thus, the debate on nomos (“law”) and physis (“nature”) that engaged the intellectual elite of Athens, known as the sophists, around the turn of the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. This article traces the reception of the Polyphemos motif within this sophistic discourse of that period. Euripides’ satyr play Cyclops, filled with allusions to the sophists who were keenly interested in the Homeric motif of the island of the one-eyed monsters, serves as the focal point for this analysis. Furthermore, I will show that Euripides uses the dramaturgical framework inspired by Homer’s epic to confront two worldviews: on the one hand, respect for tradition and values associated with ancient poetry (the attitude represented by Odysseus), and on the other, the rationalism, radicalism, and tradition-directed criticism that characterized Euripides’ contemporary political thinkers and philosophers (represented by Polyphemos).
Homerowe ślady w "Prawdziwej historii" Lukiana z Samosat
Lucian of Samosata was one of the representatives of the Second Sophistic who referred to Homer’s poems in his work. There are many opinions in the literature that Lucian mocked Homer in order to belittle his authority. Lucian’s work A True Story does not shy away from references to Greece’s first poet, including in the context of humour and parody. The aim of this article is to show how Lucian uses Homer’s epics in A True Story – can we say that the reception Lucian makes in his satire only shows that the Greek poet was fodder for mockery, or can we also see there some signs of respect for Homer.
Pułapki przekładu, czyli o różnicy między skromnością i małodusznością w pismach Arystotelesa
The article raises the issue of the proper understanding of the concept of mikropsychia in Aristotle’s works. In modern Polish translations, the term is translated as “small-mindedness” or “exaggerated modesty”; according to one of the translators, it is the equivalent of Christian “humility”. In the first part of the article, it is shown that in the writings of Aristotle and his contemporary authors, mikropsychia is a serious moral vice, the source of which is self-ignorance and the resulting low self-esteem. It is often associated with cowardice, envy, greed and selfishness. Understood in this way, this character trait has nothing to do with modesty, which we consider a virtue. The second part of the article discusses various ways of understanding modesty and its place in Aristotle’s ethics. The interrelationship between modesty, pride, moderation and proper self-esteem is also shown.