Contemporary European culture has three pillars: Christianity, national memory and Antiquity. Although many changes happened to the first two pillars, the ancient heritage remains the basis of the European world to this day. We use ancient names and titles, political structure and legal norms, calendar, philosophical concepts, architectural principles, poetic meters and genres. During the lecture, we will figure out what we mean by Antiquity, go through the main historical periods and try to understand why it has stayed with us longer than any other historical period.

Let’s recollect the knowledge that remained with us from the 5th grade, from watching films and performances. Let us recall the periodization of these 2000 years, the main events of each period, the economic, political and social development of the Mediterranean and the surrounding area in the 15th-5th centuries BC. After that, we will again try to ask ourselves what we know about ancient history, and how these historical realities correlate with our understanding of them.