Day 5

Day 5 was dedicated to ancient Greek too, through the session dedicated to the alumni of the previous editions: MA Cristian Șimon and Valentin Cocan (University of Bucharest), who organized a seminar. The first speaker presented some remarks about the works of Lucian of Samosata (2nd century AD), a representative of the Second Sophistic. He read and translated, together with his colleagues, some fragments from „The True Story”, a writing considered to be the earliest science-fiction text, a parody of the previous literature. Unlike his illustrious predecessors, poets, historians and philosophers, who propose to the readers some fantastic events and characters, he considers them to be authentic, Lucian warns the audience his story is entirely fictional. The seminar explored the metamorphosis of time and space during a journey past the Pillars of Heracles to the Moon. PhD c. Valentin Cocan read together with the students a fable adapted from Aesop and the episode from Matthew 26, 69-75, both texts focusing on the figure of the rooster, followed by a commentary on the genesis of Theodoretus of Cyrus, depicting the creation of the skies.