16/12/2025
According to the Romans, autumnus was linked to the verb augere (‘to grow’), a season of ripening before winter sets in. And even if the etymology is uncertain, it feels like the perfect metaphor for our own autumn: a time full of research highlights, recognition, and promising outlooks.
On 28 October, fittingly on Erasmus’s birthday, Xander Feys gave his final lecture, “Erasmus and His Greek Books, Followed by an Epistolary Surprise.” His work, together with Isabelle Maes’s new findings on Erasmus’s father, will hopefully appear in print soon – stay tuned!
Soon after, Mariia Timoshchuk opened the online series “Young Researchers on New Ancient Greek and Neo-Latin Studies” (KU Leuven, Democritus University of Thrace & University of Ioannina) with a talk on Latin–Greek code-switching in Erasmus and Brandolini. The series continues on 20 January, with Alessandro Bonvini speaking on Erasmus’s self-fashioning as a Classical bilingual scholar in the Adagia.
On 4–5 December, our P.I. Raf Van Rooy joined the conference “Relics of Byzantium” at Freie Universität Berlin, presenting his paper on classical bilingualism and Greek humanists’ use of Latin.
We’re also thrilled to share that the Accademia dei Lincei awarded the first ‘Premio Internazionale «Anna Meschini Pontani»’ to Raf, for his work on Greek Humanism in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Εὖγε! Ad multos annos! Van harte proficiat, Raf!
Wishing you all happy holidays and a bright start to the new year —
Χαίρετε! Faustum annum novum!
