Reasons for the Development of the Classical Studies in the past 150 years
1. Geographical and Political Conditions for the Classical Studies
Diplomatic contacts between Bulgarian rulers and the East Roman Empire had been established around the middle of the VII-th century, before the settlement of the Bulgarians to the south of the Danube. The attitude of the Empire to the Bulgarians of khan Asparuh after the year 680 AD is similar to its attitude to the Goths, who had settled in Thrace 300 years earlier – during the reign of the emperor Valent. In the same pattern as the Goths prior to them, the Bulgarians are converted into the Christianity and translate the Scripture and the liturgical books in a language, different from Latin and Greek. In the year 800, during the pagan ruler of Bulgaria khan Krum, the city of Serdica is included in the boundaries of the state.
The boundaries of the present day Bulgarian state are settled at a distance shorter than 200 km from then Constantinople and less than 100 km – from the North Coast of the Aegean Sea. Sofia yet, as the ancient Serdica is renamed since the XIVth century, is still situated on the main road, which connects Constantinople (Istanbul) and the East with the cities of Western Europe.
2. Ancient monuments in the Bulgarian lands
Monuments from the religion, the everyday life and the art of the Thracians had been discovered and till the present day continue to appear on the territory of the contemporary Bulgarian state and mainly to the South of Stara Planina (Haemus mountain). The most remarkable among them are the tombs (of the rulers), with their decoration (wall paintings, sculpture) and different objects for everyday and ritual application. Very few inscriptions in a Thracian language have survived and their decoding is quite uncertain.
The archeological findings with Greek and Graeco-Roman origin are extremely abundant. Among them, the epigraphic texts posses the greatest importance for the classical philology, and the majority of them are from the Hellenistic and the Roman epoch.
3. The Christianity as state religion
Soon after the middle of the IXth century, during the reign of Boris the First, the Christianity becomes state religion of Bulgaria. Before that, Boris has maintained for several years correspondence both with the Episcope of Rome (The Pope Nikolai the First) and Constantinople (Patriarch Photius). Finally, the Patriarchy of Constantinople is preferred and it becomes the Church-mother of the Bulgarian Church. One of the main reasons, which had led the prince (kniaz) Boris-Michael to this choice, had been the possibility for gaining independence for the Bulgarian Church, similar to the independence of the other Eastern Patriarchies, an independence never to be offered by the Roman Bishop.
But in the communication with Byzantium the impediments had been inescapable, as well. The reason is that the Bulgarian state then had been not only politically independent, but also territorially too close to Constantinople. The establishment of an independent Bulgarian Church, governed by a principal, who on his part could ordain Bishops among other people, would help this country to become a Christian empire, analogous to and competitive with Byzantium. Several centuries after that Russia had transformed into such an empire, but it hasn’t been a rival to Byzantium.
4. The translations from Greek to Slavonic
However, since the reign of Boris-Michael onwards Bulgaria remains connected with the Orthodox East. Boris succeeds to manage the already existing conditions for liturgical service in Slavonic language. Only one decade before his baptism the brothers Cyril and Method, born in Thessalonica, elaborate an alphabet for Slavonic language and make translations of the liturgical texts of an utmost necessity. After the unsuccessful end of their mission to Moravia some of their disciples are welcomed in Bulgaria and are put in charge of the governance of the educational centers in the both ends of the country – Pliska and Ohrid. The aim is to assure the liturgy in Slavonic all over the country and the empowering of the Slavonic language as a competitor of the Greek.
(I’m keeping your attention on these events, because without some knowledge about them it is impossible to understand the way in which the classical antiquity is regarded in Bulgaria till the present day)
The politics of Boris have been continued by his son Simeon and his grandson Peter. So, for less than 100 years the dialect of the South Slavs becomes the official one and the only one of the Bulgarian state and Church.
During this period a part of the ancient literary heritage, preserved in Byzantium, is transmitted by translations in Bulgaria. This activity is interrupted during the XI and XII centuries, but after that is resumed again during the XIII and XIV centuries. Thus testimonies about the ancient history appear in Bulgarian through the chronicles beginning with Malalas (VI c.) till Manasses (XII c.), separate writings – The Jewish War by Joseph, the Novel about Alexander, and also through numerous lives of the saints; testimonies about the mythology (the Troyan parable, inserted in the chronicle of Manasses); the philosophy of nature (The Hexaemeron by John Exarchus, based on the Greek Hexaemera, mostly on the one, written by St. Basil the Great); the rhetorics (the Poetical figures by George Choiroboscus). Another source for the antiquity are the translations of the works of the early fathers of the Church (Athanasius the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom).
5. The Ottoman rule XV-XVIII century
The bigger part of this literature is forgotten or entirely lost during the first centuries of the Ottoman invasion. The Bulgarian Church, which regained its independence in 1235 year, joins again the patriarchy in Constantinople, which is a condition for the limitation of the liturgical services in Slavonic.
The possibilities for a Christian and Mundane education are almost the same all over the East, with the exception of Russia. On the territory of Bulgaria and in the other parts of the Orthodox East as well no universities are established. The printing of books penetrates slowly.
(the first book printed in Bulgarian appears relatively early – in 1519, in Venice. But till 1801 the overall number of the known printed books in Bulgarian is only 91)
The Bulgarians preserve the language and the liturgy mostly in the monasteries which are small but numerous. They have primary schools in them – by the end of the XVIII century they are no less than 100.
6.
Since the beginning of the XIX century, the national education starts its development. An impulse for this undoubtedly is received by the autonomy and the independence of the neighboring countries – Greece, Serbia, Romania, in some of which there are already universities. In the first half of the century the first Mundane manuals in Bulgarian for the primary education appear and the first secondary mundane schools with teaching/instruction in Bulgarian are founded (Gabrovo, 1835). The number of the Bulgarian books multiplies, although almost all of them are printed beyond the boundaries of contemporary Bulgaria (Constantinople, Thessalonica, Smyrna, Bucharest, Belgrade, Budapest, Vienna). The first publishing house for Bulgarian books on the territory of contemporary Bulgaria appears in the 60s in Ruse.
But translations from the works of ancient authors are seldom published. Between 1801 and 1878 the number of the books printed in Bulgarian is approximately 1800; but no more than 15 from them contain translations from ancient authors.
The middle of the XIX century is the time of the Bulgarian-Greek ecclesiastic conflict, well-known in the Orthodox world, and the subsequent separation of the Bulgarian Church from the Constantinople Patriarchate.
This conflict and the establishment of the Bulgarian Uniat Church (which will be mentioned in a while), are made possible after the announcement of the edict for religious tolerance of the Sultan Abdul Medzhid from 1856, known as Hati Humayun.
The Bulgarian Autocephaly, although recognized by some local Orthodox churches, remains unaccepted by Constantinople till 1945. This conflict impedes enormously the Bulgarian-Greek relations, which have always been tensed, and probably cooperates for the limitation of the interest to the Greek antiquity. On the other hand the instruction and education in Latin before the Liberation unavoidably is perceived by the Bulgarians as connected with the activity of the Roman-Catholic Church, which is activated noticeably after the middle the XIX century and leads to the establishment of the Uniat Church (1861). However then the majority of the Bulgarians, being Orthodox, have negative attitude to the Unia and to Catholicism in general. This might have impeded the spread of the Latin language education, especially before the Liberation.
7.
The specialized classical education in Bulgaria appears with the creation of the independent Bulgarian principality. (The Classical gymnasium opens doors on the 7th of January 1879. In a report written by the headmaster of the school it is noted especially that The Latin language is a new subject, which never had been taught in Bulgaria so far).
In 1888 a State University is created – the present day Sofia University. The teaching of classical languages and philology is done initially in the Faculty of History and Philology. In 1921 the specialty Classical philology is opened with two departments – in Greek and Latin Philology. Since then till the Second World War a number of students, varying from 10 to 15 receive yearly their instruction there.
We can judge the intensity of the classical studies during this period on the basis of the number of the published translations. For approximately 60 years – from the Liberation till 1947 - almost 300 publications appear with Bulgarian translations of ancient authors. This number includes not only the separate publications, but also the ones in anthologies and periodicals.
8.
In the first years after the Second World War the changes are significant. The teaching of the classical languages in the secondary schools is put to an end. The University itself is in a difficult situation. The contacts with the western universities are interrupted. The teaching obligations of the professors are doubled and the demand for permanent physical presence on the working place is introduced. The new-coming scholarly literature is drastically reduced or its incoming is stopped altogether.
One of the results from all these is the fact, that for the period from 1947 till 1955 there are only two new publications with translations from a classical language (these are the Antigone by Sophocles and the De rerum natura by Lucretius).
The Department in Classical philology is kept under the title Institute for classical philology. By the way, several years after that the traditional division of the university in faculties is restored. There is a Party organization created in the department, but there are no purges of teaching faculty in an active age.
Since 1956 there are attempts for the return to the classical education and studies. The number of the translations gradually increases and for the last 12 years (of the socialist period from 1978 till 1989) it is several times bigger than the number for the period of the previous 30 years (from 1956 till 1977 – 21 publications, from 1978 till 1989 – 51 publications). This is an increase in a proportion 5.5 compared to the period 1947-1977.
After 1989 there is already decline in the number – the translations between 1990 and 2001 are 31. In the same time it should be noted that the production from 1977 till 1989 (which gives 4.3 publications per year) is lesser than the one for the 60 years from 1878 till 1947 ( approximately 5 per year).
However, it shouldn’t be forgotten that a great number of the translations, published before 1947 are translations of parts of the texts, not of the entire works. After 1956 full translations of the classical authors began to appear:
all the works or almost the entirety of the works of the epics were translated (for the first time Hesiod and new translation of Homer);
the Greek drama (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Menander); the Greek classical historiography (Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon); the Roman poetry from the time of August (Vergil, Horace, Ovidius); some Roman historians (Caesar, Sallust, Suetonius). Also – Plato in 4 volumes, Quintilian, Greek and Roman novels.
(After 1989 full translations of Polybios and Pausanius were added to them, the majority of the letters and the treatises of Seneca, a fifth volume of Plato and many of the treatises of Aristotle, which were not translated till then. Out of print are the first 6 volumes of the translation of Livius).
A full edition of the Greek epigraphic monuments, found on the territory of the country was made, and an edition of some of the Latin inscriptions.
The classical education gained a lot from the creation of a National Gymnasium for ancient languages and cultures (1977). Since then between 80 and 90 pupils are enrolled yearly, who study there intensively Latin (for 5 years) and Greek (for 4 years).
Also, in the 70-ties the Institute for Thracian studies was created as a branch of BAS. There is also a separate Archeological institute with a museum (AIM) and there is a section in Classical archeology.
The classical languages nowadays are studied in almost all humanitarian faculties of the SU, and also in the universities of Turnovo, Plovdiv and Blagoevgrad.
***
An abridged version of this text was read at the Conference
Gnothi seauton! Classics and Communism. The History of the Studies on Antiquity in the Context of the Local Classical Traditions in Socialst Countries 1944/45-1989/90
Warsaw, 5-6 Dec. 2009
