Division of Latin Language and Literature

The Division of Latin Language and Literature has admitted undergraduate students since the autumn semester of 2019 and is one of the first independent undergraduate programmes of its kind to be established in Turkey. The division forms one of the two foundational pillars of the department alongside the Division of Ancient Greek Language and Literature, and the intertwined academic identity of these two units constitutes the most distinctive feature of the department as a whole.

It is impossible to separate the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome — whether in terms of linguistic structure or historical, cultural, and administrative development — and for this reason the two civilisations are treated as a single whole under the concept of Graeco-Roman culture. The division teaches the Latin language and literature together with the historical and cultural context of Roman civilisation, training students to read and interpret both literary texts and epigraphic documents directly from primary sources.

MIssIon

The division's primary mission is to train researchers who are able to engage with the language, literature, law, and culture of the Roman Empire in conjunction with ancient Greek civilisation, who have direct access to Latin and ancient Greek sources, and who are competent in Classical Philology and epigraphy. To this end, the division regards as a primary goal the training of students in the skills of deciphering, reading, understanding, and interpreting ancient documents inscribed on stone, fired clay, metal, and similar materials — in other words, inscriptions.

With its distinctive approach combining Classical Philology and epigraphy, the division aims to become an internationally recognised centre of research and teaching. Filling the academic gap in Latin epigraphy in Turkey, and contributing to international scholarly collaborations through trained specialists, stands as the division's primary vision.

The division's approach to teaching, which is directly connected to the active research programmes of its academic staff, transforms it from a mere teaching unit into a living research environment. The translation and interpretation of Latin literary texts, Latin epigraphy, and the documentation of the Roman period in Anatolia form the central axes of this environment.