/ Research

General Project

The Research Unit has defined a General Project with its objectives established by a team of integrated researchers. This project, named Estudos Clássicos e Humanísticos – Cultura e Património da Humanidade (Classical and Humanistic Studies – Culture and World Heritage), has as its object of study a corpus that is not limited to traditional literary genres, spanning both literary and non-literary texts, falling into two thematic pillars - Monumenta Graeca & Latina; Classical and Portuguese Cultural Heritage - within its essential and collective goal.

With the Scientific Coordinator and Vice-Coordinator of the CECH as the chief and co-chief investigators, the General Project is structured around specific content for each of its thematic pillars:

Monumenta Graeca & Latina

This covers an in-depth study of authors and works (written, archaeological and artistic) from the Greek and Latin cultural universes, produced in Classical Antiquity, the Middle Ages and throughout Renaissance Humanism. The epistemological methodologies used come from the disciplines of language, literature, culture, history, archeology, philosophy and art, namely theatre and music.

With a long tradition in these readings of the tangible and intangible classical and humanistic corpus, the investigators associated with this pillar will work in two areas:

critical edition, commentary and translation of Greek and Latin texts into Portuguese, some of which are still unpublished or in need of renovation (primary written sources that are unavailable in their original versions but are nonetheless necessary for other fields of knowledge, such as Literature, History, Philosophy, Theology and the Arts);
wide range of studies in poetry, prose, theatre, historiography, political practice and theory, law, religion, philosophy and ethics, rhetoric, linguistics, music and musicology, everyday life, intercultural dialogue, Neo-Latin studies, Jesuit studies, history (of science, ideas and education), biblical studies and urbanism.

Classical and Portuguese Cultural Heritage

This covers the reception of the classical matrix and its contribution, up to the Modern Age, to the formation of cultural identities in Europe (particularly in Portugal) and in countries in dialogue with Portuguese culture. Recognised as a common legacy from the past, Classical culture has, since Antiquity, constituted a universal heritage, or rather, an anchor-corpus (tangible and intangible) of humanity and represents an archetype which gives a sense of belonging in potentially global societies undergoing identity crisis. The proposed approach on this heritage is guided from a critical and auto/hetero-reflexive standpoint. By exploring the fertile tension between innovation and tradition and its creative renovation, the investigators are at the cutting edge of hermeneutic research into Classical heritage. Their main areas of activity include:

studies on the reception of the Classical cultural heritage in language, literature, culture, philosophy, arts and sciences in Europe and affiliated countries;
studies on Portuguese cultural heritage, from the perspective of continuity or breaking off from Classical heritage.

During the four-year period from 2020 to 2023, several Secondary Projects will also be developed (with limited teams of researchers), centered on more restricted lines of enquiry, though complementing the thematic pillars of the Centre’s General Project.