TEACHING CLASSICAL LANGUAGES AND CLASSICAL WORLD IN THE BALKANS (GREECE, MACEDONIA, SERBIA, ROMANIA)

This paper shows the outcomes of a study carried out at the Department of Classical Philology at the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology in Sofia University, dealing with latest trends in classical education in the Balkan area. It aims to outline some crucial characteristics of teaching and learning ancient languages, history and culture in secondary and higher education in the countries of the Balkan Peninsula. Emphasis is put on the different ways by which different educational systems face the challenges in harmonizing their own national features with both the new development and research tendencies in classics and the new generations' requirements. In all the countries surveyed, a central issue comes to the fore: education in classics turns out to be a strong medium for actualizing both the common European identity of diverse nationhoods and the countries' own national distinctiveness.