This is the second consecutive year when a few deserving students from the Faculty of Classical Languages at the University of Bucharest can attend the Annual Interdisciplinary School on Ancient Greek, Egyptology, and Oriental Studies, which is taking place these days in Potsdam, at the headquarters of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin. Carina Nițulescu, Valentino Musumeci, Marius Năstăsache, and Theodor Marin from the Faculty of Classical Languages in Bucharest, accompanied by Dr. Ana-Maria Răducan (Levant Institute), participated today in a tour of the city of Potsdam, guided by Mr. Mark Donfried, the General Director of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin. Among the sites visited: Sanssouci Palace, the summer residence of King Frederick the Great of Prussia; the University of Potsdam and the New Palace, as well as the Brandenburg Parliament and St. Nicholas Church. The parks and palaces of Potsdam have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990, and Frederick the Great's Potsdam is one of the places where we are able to see the way how the Antiquity was recovered and reinterpreted by modern European culture: in its architecture, sculpture, and gardens, one may find the Enlightenment Europe's fascination with Greco-Roman models. Thus, the Sanssouci Palace was designed not just as a residence, but also as a space for intellectual conversation, music, art, and philosophy.
During the opening of the Annual Interdisciplinary School of Ancient Greek, Egyptology, and Oriental studies, the president of the Levant Institute, Prof. Emil Constantinescu, discussed the theme of the sixth edition, "Law and Lawlessness in Antiquity," giving a brief history of this educational program at the Levant Institute, and also shared with the audience some of his experiences as a law student during the communist regime. The representative of the Romanian Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany, Ms. Alexandra Motică, conveyed the official message of support for such educational projects, which focus on young people and rediscovering the values of Antiquity. The speech of Mr. Mark Donfried, General Director of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin and the host of the event, highlighted the role of studying Antiquity as a model for modern cultural diplomacy. The message of the Director General of the Levant Institute, Dr. habil. Cătălin-Ștefan Popa, emphasized the growing importance of classical and oriental studies in Romania, which were in the global spotlight this month in Bucharest, through the organization of the World Congress of Syriac Studies by the Levant Institute at the Parliament Palace, highlighting both Romania’s desire and capacity to engage in international studies of this field. In closing, the speech of Associate Professor Dr. Maria Luiza Oancea (Faculty of Classics, University of Bucharest), the scientific director of the event, emphasized her joy as a classical philologist to spend this week engaging in dialogue across texts, languages, eras, and disciplines.
This was followed by the plenary lecture given by her, "From Nomos and Dike to the Rule of Law," which highlighted the Freek and Latin, terminology as well as the Greco-Roman tradition that addresses the same fundamental question: how can a legal order exist in which the law ensures order without detaching from justice? Thus, the history of Western law can be seen as a history of the tension between order and justice, between the authority of law and the individual's freedom. The lecturer traced the history of the many terms used in the Greek and Roman worlds to designate the concepts of 'law' and 'lawlessness,' as well as the philosophical issues they raise: the conflict between the city's law and a higher justice in 'Antigone,' or the Platonic Good and Justice associated with law. Rome inherited the Greek legacy, taking it further in a technical direction, systematized by jurists like Gaius, Papinian, and Ulpian, while Christianity internalized the norm through the concept of 'sin,' and Thomas Aquinas systematized the relationship between eternal, natural, human, and divine law. Modernity turned these ideas into rights, constitutionalism, and the limitation of power, and the experience of the 20th century showed that even the law can become an instrument of injustice.
