History of the Institute
Classical Philology has been represented at TU Dresden since 1992; a Chair of Latin Studies was established in 1993 (holder: Prof. Dr. Fritz-Heiner Mutschler), a Chair of Greek Studies in 1994 (holder: Prof. Dr. Christian Mueller-Goldingen). The Chair of Latin Studies was filled by PD Dr. Wytse Keulen (University of Rostock) in the summer semester of 2010 due to an invitation to Oslo for a research project lasting several months. Following the retirement of Prof. Dr. Mutschler, the Chair was held by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Wulfram (then University of Bielefeld) in the winter semesters 2011/12 and 2012/13 and by PD Dr. Andreas Heil in the semesters summer 2012 and summer 2013 to 2014. Prof. Dr. Dennis Pausch has held the Chair of Latin Studies since the winter semester 2014/15. Under Prof. Mutschler, the study of poetry from the Augustan period and the early imperial period and comparative projects on Greco-Roman and ancient Chinese historiography were further focal points.
In many Saxon schools, the ancient languages subjects are now taught by graduates of the TU. In addition, numerous secondary school teachers have been trained as Latin teachers. Until 2005, in addition to the teacher training courses (the so-called 'old' teaching profession), Greek and Latin were also offered in the corresponding Master's degree courses.
Since the winter semester 2005/2006, the major subjects of Greek and Latin Studies can be studied in the subject-specific Bachelor's degree program of the Faculty of Linguistics, Literature and Cultural Studies. Since the winter semester 2007/2008, the subjects Latin and Greek can be studied in the Bachelor's teaching degree course for general education schools. The Institute also offers a consecutive Master's degree program in "Classical Philology" (Greek and Latin) and a Master's degree program in "Classical Studies". Since the winter semester 2012/2013, there has been a separate degree program for Teacher Training - Secondary Schools in the subjects Latin and Greek (so-called 'new' teaching degree).
A varied conference program serves the exchange with external colleagues from schools and academia: Every two years, the "Advanced Training Days for Saxon Greek and Latin Teachers" take place in Dresden, alternating with the University of Leipzig. In 2002, the Institute hosted the Federal Congress of the German Association of Classical Philologists and in 2003 and 2013 the "Aquilonia" conference. In 2008, the international conference "Empires and Humankind - China and the West Compared" took place in Dresden as part of Fritz-Heiner Mutschler and Achim Mittag's comparative research project. In 2016, the so-called "Kleine Mommsentagung" of the Mommsengesellschaft and the Nachwuchsforum Latein (founded by Therese Fuhrer and Marco Formisano) will be hosted in Dresden. In cooperation with the Chair of Ancient History (Martin Jehne), Catholic Biblical Theology (Maria Häusl) and Protestant Biblical Theology (Matthias Klinghardt), the "Dresdner Altertumswissenschaftliche Vorträge" have been held every semester since the summer semester of 2006. Since 2011, the Dresden Latin Days have been held annually, where students from eastern Saxony can find out about studying at our Institute.
Since 1994, the Institute has regularly organized excursions to ancient cultures, alternating every two years between one excursion to a more distant and one to a closer destination. In this way, our students have had the opportunity to travel to Rome (1995 and 2007), Vienna (1997), Campania (1998), Pannonia (2000), Asia Minor (2002), Saarland (2004), Xanten, Haltern am See and Detmold (Varus Battle exhibition 2009), Sicily (2011 and 2018), Osterburken and Würzburg (2014), Cyprus (2015), Wroclaw (2016 and 2018), southern France (2019), Trier (2022) and Athens (2024).
For many years, the Institute has organized an annual summer party and a Christmas party, which have always been attended by committed students who have put on a musical program (choir) and a short play in Latin. In particular, student initiatives have resulted in theater performances such as Plautus' "Mostellaria" (1999), Bakchylides' Dithyramb No. 17 (2002), a "Gyges" based on Herodotus (2003) and "Dido @ Aeneas" (2014). Latin plays by students have also been regularly performed at the Dresden Latin Days, which have been taking place since 2011.