Introduction
Wherever we look, creative ideas and innovations are anchored in antiquity. What makes antiquity so attractive? What does the legacy of antiquity tell us about antiquity itself, as well as our modern way of thinking?
In 1992, Prof. Dr. Bernd Seidensticker founded the “Archiv für Antikerezeption in der deutschsprachigen Literatur nach 1945“ at the Free University Berlin. The work of the Archiv resulted in two databases, which provide data on the reception of antiquity in German speaking literature after 1945 ("Primärliteraturdatenbank", pld) and on the scholarly work on it ("Forschungsliteraturdatenbank", fld). The two databases can be used by everyone who is researching for the reception of antiquity in a modern German text or studying the receptions of an ancient figure, idea, quotation, and so forth.
The project "Receptions of Antiquity" continues the work of the Archiv - now in a digital environment. The new platform allows volunteers to participate actively in the project, be it by helping to expand the existing database on German speaking literature (there are still some genres, which have not been included, such as comic, children books, opera, architecture, philosophy) or by working on a new, separate database. We may think here of working on a small database on a specific topic which includes material from other languages or periods, or of the work on a new database, which presents material from the reception of antiquity in Dutch or English literature after 1945.
Students can apply to volunteer. For more information, see „Participate“.