Department of Ancient Languages

The department of ancient languages was created in the faculty of history in 1949 and chaired by Professor V.S.Sokolov. From 1967 to 1995 professor A.Ch.Kozarzhevsky chaired the department. Among the department's staff members are philologists of the 'classics', as well as historians (specialists in the Antiquities and Medieval history), possessing solid language preparation. At present, classes are conducted by senior lecturers E.V.Prikhod'ko, N.G.Tkachenko, I.Y.Shabaga, teachers O.V.Smyka, I.V.Kuvshinskaya, E.V.Finogentova. Since 2008 doctor of history, professor A.V.Podosinov, has chaired the department.

The department's staff members teach Latin for students of the history and law faculties, Latin and Greek for students of the faculty of philosophy's department of religious studies, and also teach Latin and Ancient Greek to students and post-graduate students in the departments of ancient history, Medieval history, history of southern and western Slavs, archaeology, and the department of art history and the theory of art history. The department's educators also conduct special courses on Latin and Greek paleography, (D.A.Drboglav, I.S.Chichurov) and Latin epigraphy (E.V.Fedorova). The department's professors offer an audiovisual course entitled "monuments of world history and cultures" (E.V.Fedorova), special courses on the history of the church (I.S.Chichurov), history of Byzantium at the Orthodox University Ioann Bogoslov (I.S.Chichurov). E.V.Prikhod'ko further conducts a special course in the faculty of philology on Ancient Greek prophesy (the art of soothsaying). The department's professors are members of a number of academic councils not only in the faculty of history, but also in the faculty of philology, the State Historical Museum, and the Svyato-Tychonoff Theological Institute.

The department has prepared and issued a number of textbooks: "Textbook of Ancient Greek for Non Philological Humanitarian Faculties of Universities" (A.Ch.Kozarzhevsky, 3rd edition, 1998), "A Manual on the Latin Language for Law Faculties" (A.Ch.Kozarzhevsky, 1992), "Early Latin Literature" (E.V.Fedorova, 1992), "A Manual on Medieval Latin" (D.A.Drboglav, 1993). Presently (in 2001), the department is preparing to issue "Latin Grammar" (D.A.Drboglav).

The fundamental directions of the department's academic work are in the theory and technique of teaching, ancient languages, theory and technique of special historical-philological disciplines (paleography and epigraphy), the theory and practice of translating Greco-Latin sources on the history of the ancient world, the Middle Ages, medieval Russia and Slavic countries, problems in source studies with reference to the antiquarians and medievalists.

The department's publications include: "Moscow's Orthodox Calendars (1992); "The Stones Tell" (1988, D.A.Drboglav); "Famous Italian Cities" (1985), "The People of Imperial Rome" (3rd edition, 1999) (E.V.Fedorova); papers in "The Bulletin of Ancient History", "Bulletin of Moscow University", and the "Byzantium Annals". The faculty actively cooperates with the Church-center of science's "Orthodox Encyclopedia", supervising one of the first editions of the Encyclopedia on Eastern Churches (I.S.Chichurov). A collection of articles written by the department's staff containing sketches on the history of the department, on the history of the ancient world and Middle Ages, a large section with translations and publications, and also a series of academic programs for special courses and proseminars was issued for the 50th anniversary of the department.

The department's staff members are regular participants in All-Russian and international conferences of antiquarians, medievalists, and specialists in Byzantium.