Three questions for researchers at the Department of Classics
What exactly does a professor of Classics/Latin Studies do?
I am often asked what I actually do; the ancient texts from antiquity should all have been translated by now. In fact, we still translate texts today; because many books have not yet been translated, or the translations are outdated and can no longer convey the interesting statements of the texts in our present day. In many cases, the original sound of the texts must also first be laboriously determined. Above all, however, I would like to understand the texts and their style, interpret them, and discuss with students, colleagues, and anyone else who is interested what they once had to say and how we can understand it today. At the moment I am working on fables. Why does a wolf actually speak?
Does your heart belong to research or teaching?
I enjoy teaching very much; in particular, the lively discussions in the seminars, whether about Ovid's teachings on love or about Cicero's philosophy, are among the most gratifying moments in my profession. In the hustle and bustle of the semester, however, there is often no time to pursue one's research in depth; one can do that in one of the longed-for research semesters, and these are most satisfying times when one can devote oneself quietly to a question and arrive at a solution. But one finds after a while that one lacks the lively exchange. What has not been asked here is the third part of my work, the administration, which consumes immense time, threatens to become more and more, and is more the duty than the freestyle.
What is the funniest thing that has happened to you in the teaching room so far?
As a very young assistant in Leipzig shortly after the fall of the Wall, it was my job to retrain former Russian teachers to become Latin teachers - the average age felt to be 55. To explain the concept of captatio beneuolentiae, I quoted the beginning of a speech by Cicero, where he says - somewhat abbreviated -: "credo ego uos, iudices, mirari quid sit quod ego potissimum surrexerim, is qui neque aetate neque ingenio neque auctoritate sim cum his qui sedeant comparandus - I believe, you judges, you ask yourselves why I of all people have risen, who am not comparable in age, talent or authority to those who sit here." - Rarely has laughter been heard so loudly in this teaching hall.