(Cambridge, May 25-28, 1999)

At the end of May 1999, the Faculty of Classical Studies of the University of Cambridge hosted a traditional seminar, this time devoted to the problems of national peculiarities of the historiography of ancient Greece. It was organized by the University of Cambridge and the British Academy, and the actual selection of participants was carried out by Paul Cartledge and Peter Gurney. About 20 people took part in it

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Participants were invited from Europe, North America, Israel and Japan, and 40-50 interested (judging by the heated discussions) listeners were present during the discussion of each report. A total of 18 reports were heard and discussed.

On May 26, six reports were heard. Mary Bird (Cambridge) spoke about the evolution of teaching ancient history in English universities of the Victorian era. Interest was aroused by the analysis of exam tasks for students. Paul Millet (Cambridge) demonstrated Alfred Zimmern's proof methods in his book The Greek Commonwealth. "Cambridge Ancient History" - not only as a historiographical, but also as a cultural and historical phenomenon-was the topic of the report of Peter Rhodes (Durham). Emily Greenwood (Cambridge) told about the rather mysterious history of the Greek name "Eleuthera" of a small island in the West Indies. Alastair Blanchard (Cambridge) spoke about the meaning and use of ancient Greek realities in modern Australia, and Mark. Golden (Winnipeg) - about the study of ancient Greek history in Canada.

On May 27, the seminar participants presented six reports. In addition, the seminar participants attended the annual meeting of the Cambridge Philological Society, where Teresa Morgan (Oxford) made a presentation "Exegi monumentum: stone poetry and Culture of the Greek East". Mariko Shikurai (Tokyo) spoke about the study of Attic inscriptions in Japan. Sergey Karpyuk's report (Moscow) was devoted to the perception of the Greek polis in Russian and Soviet historiography. The topic of Dimitris Kirtatas ' report (Chania) is the works of Greek historians of antiquity of the XIX century. in the European perspective. Gabriel Herman (Jerusalem) examined contemporary perspectives on the moral principles of Athenian democracy. Wilfried Nippel (Berlin) analyzed the concept of the ancient Greek state in German historiography of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Stefan Rebenich's report (Mannheim) was devoted to the idealization of Sparta in German historiography in the first half of the 20th century.

The last six reports were discussed by the workshop participants on May 28. Claude Masset (Paris) She reviewed Gustave Glotz's views on the fourth-century crisis in Athens, and Alain Schnap (Paris) - the correlation of antiquarian, historical, and archaeological research in the French tradition. Johnanna Cheserani (Cambridge) analyzed the local tradition about the history of the Sicilian Greeks. Charles Hedrick (Santa Cruz) introduced American views on ancient Greek Ephebia. Barry Strauss (Cornell) spoke about the spread of classicist ideals and the desire for classical education among African-Americans in the post-Civil War period in the United States. Josh Ober (Princeton) devoted his report to the influence of American reality on Chester Starr's views on the growth dynamics of the economy of archaic Greece. The discussion was summed up by Walter Scheidel (Cambridge).

The seminar highlighted the need for further and more in-depth research into the significance of the historiography of ancient Greece for national cultures. Each epoch had its own image of Greece, its own priorities in the study of various aspects of Greek civilization. And before the twenty-first century sets its own priorities, which are not yet known to us, it is useful to look back. A look into the past from the wonderful Cambridge "The Backs" turned out, in my opinion, to be useful and instructive.

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