Classical Languages Summer School

Classical Languages Summer School (CLaSS)

 

The Theological School of the Church of Cyprus (TSCC) launched in July 2020 the first Summer School in Cyprus focusing on the study of the classical languages. The Classical Languages Summer School (CLaSS) offers beginners and intermediate classes, in which participants have the opportunity to engage with original Greek and Latin texts. All courses are taught by experienced and enthusiastic academics and instruction is held in English, even though classes in Modern Greek may also run upon demand

CLaSS is primarily aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students in any discipline of the Humanities (e.g. Classics, History, Theology, Byzantine Studies) but it is also open to postdoctoral researchers, academics, teachers, or any other interested individuals (18+) who would like to learn Greek (Classical/Byzantine) or Latin from scratch or improve existing skills. As well as intensive tuition over up to four weeks, CLaSS also offers several extra-curricular activities.

Upon completion of the course all participants receive a Certificate of Attendance. Successful fulfillment of any course requires the students’ attendance of all classes, as well as preparation of all exercises and assignments.

More information regarding the first Classical Languages Summer School that was held in July 2020 can be reached here. 

COURSES

Classical Greek I is intended for beginners, with no or very little knowledge of Greek. The course will start from scratch, introducing the Greek alphabet and presenting the most basic grammatical and syntactical phenomena of Classical Greek. By the end of the course, students should be able to translate short Greek sentences/ texts into English.

Classical Greek II is intended for students who have completed successfully Classical Greek I or students with prior/ basic knowledge of Classical Greek, who would like to enroll in this course directly. The aim of this course is to develop command of Classical Greek up to an intermediate level by presenting a wide range of (more complex) grammatical and syntactical phenomena of the language. By the end of the course, students should be able to translate simple Greek texts of various genres into English.

Latin I is intended for beginners, with no or very little knowledge of Latin. The course will start from scratch, focusing on the most basic grammatical and syntactical phenomena of Classical Latin. By the end of the course, students should be able to translate short Latin sentences/ texts into English.

 Latin II is intended for students who have completed successfully Latin I or students with prior/ basic knowledge of Latin who would like to enroll in this course directly. The aim of this course is to develop command of Classical Latin up to an intermediate level by presenting a wide range of (more complex) grammatical and syntactical phenomena of the language. By the end of the course, students should be able to translate simple Latin texts of various genres into English.

Byzantine Greek is intended for students who have prior knowledge of Ancient Greek (up to an Intermediate Level) and would like to get hands on a variety of Byzantine texts. While grammar and syntax will be also examined, this is essentially a reading class, and interested participants will be asked to express their preference for texts/ genres of their choice.

 

  • Duration: Each course has a duration of 30 teaching hours (approx. 3 hours daily).
  • Timetable: The timetable for each course is announced upon the end of the registration period. 
  • Class size: Each class has approx. 6-8 students. A minimum number of 4 students is required for a course to run. 
  • Instruction Language: Whereas all instruction is held in English, there is a possibility to also run classes delivered in Modern Greek, upon request.

CLaSS STAFF

CLaSS DIRECTOR: Dr Maria Pavlou (m.pavlou@theo.ac.cy)

Dr Maria Pavlou is Lecturer of Ancient Greek Language and Literature at the Theological School of the Church of Cyprus. She teaches at the Undergraduate Programme of Theology and is also responsible for the School’s Public Relations and Quality Assurance. Dr Pavlou read Classics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (BA, 1997-2002) and Leeds University (MA, 2003). She received her PhD from the University of Bristol, UK (2003-2007) with a thesis titled “Time in Pindar”. She has recently received an MSc in Digital Education from the University of Edinburgh (2018); she also holds Diplomas in Distance Learning from the London IOE and Oxford University. From 2005 onwards she worked as a Teaching Fellow / Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Bristol (2005-2009), the University of Cyprus (2014-2018), and the Open University of Cyprus (2010-2013 & 2018), and was involved in a number of research projects at the University of Cyprus (2010-2011) and the Open University of Cyprus (2012-2015). She has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals and collective volumes and is the co-editor (with Prof. Vayos Liapis and Prof. Antonis Petrides) of Debating with the Eumenides (Cambridge Scholars 2018). Currently she is co-editing (with Prof. Antonis Tsakmakis and Dr Eleni Kaklamanou) the collective volume Framing theDialogues: How to Read Openings and Closures in Plato, to be published by Brill in 2020.

CLaSS CO-ORDINATOR: Dr Chrysanthi Demetriou (chrysanthi.demetriou@ouc.ac.cy)

Chrysanthi Demetriou studied Classics in Cyprus and received her MPhil from the University of Cambridge (funded by Cambridge Trusts) and her PhD from the University of Leeds (funded by a Leeds University Research Scholarship). She teaches at the Open University of Cyprus, where she has been an Adjunct Tutor and course co-ordinator of Latin (the first—and only—online Latin course in Modern Greek) since 2012. She has also taught Latin at the University of Cyprus (2014-2019) and several Greek and Latin courses at the University of Leeds (2008-2011) and the English School, Nicosia (2011-2012). She specialises in Latin literature and her research and teaching interests primarily revolve around Roman comedy, ancient commentaries and scholia, the reception of classical (Latin) literature in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, as well as the position of Latin in education, from antiquity to the present (including online education). She has co-edited a volume (Plautus’ Erudite Comedy, 2020, with Prof. S. Papaioannou) and written several articles and book chapters on these topics. She is a member of the international research network RELICS, based at the University of Ghent (https://relicsresearch.com/), and member and co-ordinator of the editorial board of the Journal of Latin Cosmopolitanism and European Literatures (https://jolcel.ugent.be/).

INSTRUCTORS

Dr Maria Constantinou
Maria Constantinou studied Classics at the University of Cyprus (BA) and the University of Edinburgh (MSc and PhD, both funded by the School of History, Classics and Archaeology). She has taught several courses of Ancient Greek and Classical Civilisation at the University of Edinburgh (2008-2011), at the Hellenic School of St. Andrew and at Fettes College in Edinburgh (2014-2016), as well as at the Open University of Cyprus (2018). She has been a postdoctoral researcher in the ERC Starting Grant project ‘The Proceedings of the Ecumenical Councils from Oral Utterance to Manuscript Edition as Evidence for Late Antique Persuasion and Self-Representation Techniques’ at the University of Bamberg, Germany (2016-2020). In this framework, she has prepared an annotated English translation of the Acts of the Synods of Constantinople and Jerusalem 536 and written articles on the acts of late antique church councils. Her research interests also include Classical and Hellenistic literature and religion, and she is currently preparing a monograph on Demeter in Hellenistic poetry, based on her PhD thesis.

Dr Chrysanthi Demetriou
(see above)

Dr Christina Hadjiafxenti

Christina Hadjiafxenti studied Classical Philology at the University of Cyprus and then she obtained her MA (Programme: Classical Antiquity: “History and Literature”) at the University of Leipzig (2010-2011 DAAD-Scholarship), where she also received her PhD in Byzantine Philology with the thesis “The saint-encomia by Nicolaos Cabasilas. Introduction, critical edition and translation.” (2011-2014 DAAD-Scholarship). At the University of Leipzig she also gave several lectures on Ancient and Byzantine Greek language. From 2015 to 2017 she had a postdoc-scholarship at the Leibniz Institute of European History in Mainz. (Subject of the research programme: “The reception of Byzantium in the Church Historiography of the 19th century. A comparison of Greek and German sources.”) From September 2018 to April 2019 she worked in the research programme “Βyzart: Byzantine Art and Archaeology” of the Open University of Cyprus. As of January 2020 she teaches Byzantine Literature at the Theological School of the Church of Cyprus and she is research assistant in the Department of Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies of the University of Cyprus in the research programme “ThaumArt”. She specialises in Byzantine Greek literature, Greek Palaeography and critical edition of texts from the Late Byzantine Period. Also, her research interests revolve around miracle collections from the Byzantine period and the reception of Byzantium in the Greek and German church historiography and school books from the 19th century, as her publications and conferences’ participation indicate.

Dr Despina Keramida

Despina Keramida studied Classical studies at the University of Cyprus (2007) and obtained her MA in Classical studies, as well as her Ph.D. at the University of Leeds (2012). She is currently employed as a Research Fellow (Department of Classics & Philosophy, University of Cyprus), working on a research programme titled “The Reception of Ancient Cyprus in the Culture of the Western World” (Excellence Hubs, funded by the Research & Innovation Foundation). She has worked as a Teaching Assistant at the University of Leeds (2009–2011), as an Adjunct Tutor at the Open University of Cyprus (2016) and as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Cyprus (2014-2019) teaching modules on Latin language and literature. She has also worked as a Research Fellow for the needs of the research programme “Concepts and Functions of European Philhellenism in the era of the Restoration (1815–30)” (Department of French and European Studies, University of Cyprus, 2015–2016). Her research interests include female portrayal in Augustan poetry (in particular Ovid), emotions in antiquity, as well as Greco-Roman culture and religion, as indicated by her publications and paper presentations in workshops and international conferences.

Dr Chrysovalantis Kyriacou 


Dr Chrysovalantis Kyriacou is Teaching Associate at the Theological School of the Church of Cyprus, specialising in the field of ecclesiastical history. He has taught Byzantine history as Teaching Associate at the University of Cyprus. Dr Kyriacou is Research Associate of the Hellenic Institute at Royal Holloway, University of London, the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation and the European University Cyprus. He has participated in conferences in Cyprus and abroad. He is author of the book Orthodox Cyprus under the Latins, 1191–1571: Society, Spirituality, and Identities (Lexington Books: New York–London, 2018).

 

Dr Eva Polyviou

Dr Eva Polyviou holds of a PhD in Ancient History and Culture (Université de la Sorbonne – Paris IV, 2008), a Master’s degree focused in Ancient History and Epigraphy (University of London – UCL, 1999) and a Bachelor in Classics (University of Cyprus, 1994-1998). She also holds certificates in Integrating ICT in Subject Based Learning and in Using ‘Second Generation Tools’ in the Teaching of Classics from the University of Cambridge and has recently completed training in Digital Humanities at the University of Oxford (Keble College, 2018).  From 2005 onwards she has been teaching Greek and Classical Civilisation at the English School Nicosia.  She has also cooperated as a research fellow with the University of Padua in Italy (2003-2005) and has taught as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Cyprus, Department of History and Archaeology (2007-2009).  She has published several articles in international journals and conference proceedings and has recently co-edited (with Aspasia Skouroumouni Stavrinou) the volume Classics in the Secondary Education (Cyprus Pedagogical Institute, 2018). 

Dr George Kazantzidis

 

Dr George Kazantzidis (BA: Thessaloniki; DPhil: Oxford) is Assistant Professor of Latin Literature at the University of Patras. His interests lie in the intersections of ancient medicine and literature, with an emphasis on the history of mental illness and the emotions. His book Lucretius on Disease: The Poetics of Morbidity in De rerum natura will appear by the end of 2020. 

 

 

LOCATION

The Theological School of the Church of Cyprus (TSCC) is situated in the Old City of Nicosia, within the famous Venetian walls and in close proximity to the city’s most important attractions of archaeological and historical interest. TSCC is housed in a recently renovated historic building. All teaching classes are equipped with interactive whiteboards and have internet connection; there is also a screening room to be used for lectures and film nights (watch a short video on the School’s premises).

Museums (e.g. the Cyprus Archaeological Museum, the Byzantine Museum, Leventis Gallery and Municipal Museum, CVAR, Bank of Cyprus Numismatics Museum etc), churches (e.g. Chrysaliniotissa, the oldest church in Nicosia), as well as historic buildings and monuments (e.g. the Pancyprian Gymnasium, the first Greek secondary school of the island, or the Omeriye Mosque, initially a Latin monastery), all lie in short walking distance from the TSCC, while the vibrant city centre with lots of restaurants, bars and shops offers the visitor numerous options for catering and entertainment.

More about Nicosia can be found on the Municipality’s official website (http://www.nicosia.org.cy/en-GB/home/).

Cyprus, situated on the crossroads of three continents, with a history spanning 10,000 years, developed a multi-faceted amalgamation of important civilisations and offers something for everyone: Greco-Roman archaeological sites, Early Christian basilicas and Byzantine churches, Gothic cathedrals, Venetian walls and Medieval castles along with Muslim Mosques, as well as buildings of Ottoman and British-colonial style. Its size makes trips across the island, from stunning beaches to overwhelming mountains, easy and affordable. Nicosia Central Bus Station, with Intercity buses linking Nicosia with all other cities of the island, is located within just a 15-minute walk from the TSCC, providing thus an easy escape to the coast, with beautiful beaches lying within just 40 minutes drive from Nicosia city centre.

 

ACCOMMODATION 

For students coming from abroad, accommodation at the Student Hall of the Cyprus Holy Archbishopric, located just across the street, can be offered at the special rate of 190 euros for a two-weeks stay.

The accommodation package includes modern, air-conditioned studios, equipped with a kitchenette, refrigerator, desk, private sanitary facilities, smoke detector, motion detector for energy saving, as well as free WI-FI. There is also a communal kitchen area and a roof garden.

The Student Hall does not provide white linen and towels; therefore, participants are expected to bring their own. Also, the Hall does not offer/have any other services such as room service, bar, café, gym etc.

Participants staying at the Student Hall will be asked to deposit an amount of 50 euros upon payment. This amount will be transferred directly to their account upon their day of departure, provided that no intended damage is caused to the room.

 
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE

Students attending Classical Greek I or Latin I should arrive at the Student Hall on the evening of Sunday, 5th of July 2020 and depart on Saturday, 18th of July.

Students attending Classical Greek II, Latin II, or Byzantine Greek should arrive at the Student Hall on the evening of Sunday, 19th of July and depart by Saturday, 1st August.

Please note that students attending courses of both Session 1 and Session 2 will be able to remain in the same room for the whole duration of their stay.

CATERING 

The Student Hall is self-catered and no food or drinks are provided; these can be purchased from nearby local markets and shops. However, each student will receive a 50% discount for lunch at the Cyprus Holy Archbishopric restaurant, located next to the TSCC. Usual prices for lunch without a discount range between 6-10 euros. Participants will also be able to use the common kitchen at the Student Hall to prepare their own meals.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES 

Beyond offering intensive language tuition, the Classical Languages Summer School aims to combine academic instruction with various cultural activities.

Cultural activities include – optional, for free:

  • Guided tour of Nicosia Old City
  • Museums’ entrance and guided tours
  • Lectures, workshops and round-table discussions
  • Film nights

Most museums in Nicosia offer discounted or free entrance to students, while during July there are several cultural activities going on in the city centre, often at low or no cost. Relevant information is provided upon arrival.

Additional activities – optional (payable on site):

Day trip to archaeological sites in Limassol and Paphos. Main stops: Kourion,  Amathus, Paphos – including the Archaeological Park (with the famous Roman  mosaics). Cost: appr. 25-30 euros (including transportation, a guided tour and light lunch).

Attendance of ancient drama performance. During July the International Theatre Institute hosts the International Ancient Greek Drama festival, presenting performances by troupes from all over the world, with English subtitles (where necessary). Tickets can be purchased at around 10 euros. More information will be given in due course (more information about the festival can be found at  https://www.greekdramafest.com/).

TUITION AND ACCOMMODATION FEES FOR 2020

Tuition fees for a two-week course:    360 euros

This amount includes:

  • Tuition
  • Teaching material provided by instructors during classes
  • Administrative costs

 Accommodation per single room for a two-week stay:  190 euros (N/A for 2020)

This amount includes:

  • Rent
  • Room cleaning once per week
  • Daily cleaning of the common areas

BOOKING AND PAYMENT

To participate to the CLaSS please download and fill in this application form and email it to summer-school@theo.ac.cy

 Tuition fees

Prospective students should reserve their place by paying a non-refundable amount of 50 euros by the 15th of May 2020. Please note that this amount should be paid only after you submit your application form and you receive a confirmation by us. In case that a class is cancelled due to low enrolment, this amount will be fully returned.

Payment for Tuition fees should be made through bank transfer to the following account (please ask your Banker to add the note: “Classical Languages Summer School-TUITION FEES”):

Bank of Cyprus, Theologiki Scholi Ekklisias Kyprou
Account Number: 357020644139
IBAN: CY82 0020 0195 0000 3570 2064 4139
BIC CODE: BCYPCY2N

The remaining tuition fee should be paid by the 5th of June 2020.

Please make sure that you give both your full name and the purpose upon payment (in both cases).

Accommodation  (N/A for 2020) 
Students wishing to stay at the Student’s Hall should make their payment by the 5th of June 2020.

Please note that payment for accommodation is made separately, through bank transfer to the following account: (please ask your Banker to add the note: “Classical Languages Summer School-RENT”)

Ηellenic Bank, Iera Archiepiskopi Kyprou (Cyprus Holy Archbishopric)
Account Number: 119-01-001832-01
IBAN: CY48 0050 0119 0001 1901 0018 3201
BIC CODE: HEBACY2N

The amount to be paid for accommodation is 240 euros (190 rent & a refundable fee of 50 euros – see Accommodation above).

Please note that places, both in the courses and at the Student Hall, are limited, so booking will be made on a first-come-first-served basis.

For more information please do not hesitate to contact us on summer-school@theo.ac.cy