Two days dedicated to Latin, Greek and Chinese! A programme designed to bring these languages to life: conferences, films, shows and workshops open to all at the Open University of Versailles and the Town Hall.
Young and old alike are invited to enjoy shows, workshops, conferences and films on the theme of “Classics Have Their Say” for this 8th edition.
Programme:
- Friday 6 February:
Meetings and conferences:
Open University Auditorium
10:00–11:00 a.m.: The Power of Words
Who were the ancient orators? What methods did they use to convince their audiences? Under what circumstances was it legitimate to use this ‘power of words’?
11:15am-12:15pm: The Case of Cicero
When Cicero, the greatest Latin orator, was still a young lawyer, what moral dilemmas did he face? How did he use his oratory skills to serve justice and defend the Republic? Find out in this comic strip!
2pm-3pm: Tolkien and the memory of antiquity
J.R.R. Tolkien's work is usually associated with medieval fantasy and Anglo-Saxon legends. However, this overlooks the fact that Tolkien was a connoisseur and great lover of classical antiquity and its languages.
6.15pm-7.15pm: Antiquity in literature
How do the founding myths, heroic figures and stories of antiquity continue to inhabit our literary imagination? From epic poetry to tragedy, from philosophical allegory to contemporary rewritings, the voices of antiquity have travelled through time, transforming themselves and continuing to nourish our relationship with the world.
Town Hall – Council Chamber
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Cur vivis rationibus sunt linguae immortales docendae? Why and how should humanism be revitalised?
In this multifaceted, trilingual (French, Latin, Greek) yet accessible to the public address, the two speakers invite us to dust off and re-enchant the question of teaching Latin and Greek in the humanities, at university and even in primary school.
Performances:
Open University Auditorium
3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
The Knights by Aristophanes
A musical comedy loosely based on Aristophanes' play of the same name
Greek democracy is in danger! The man who has seized power is none other than a leather merchant who, through lies and broken promises, has reduced the people to the state of powerless old men. Two servants of Demos (the people) decide to intervene by convincing a simple sausage merchant to confront the leather merchant in an oratorical contest. International Academy of Performing Arts (AIDAS)
5:40 p.m. to 6:10 p.m.
Hymns to Greece
In 1865, Ernest Renan travelled to Athens. Although familiar with the East, he did not expect the upheaval he was about to experience. The prayer on the Acropolis bears witness to his enthusiasm for a lost civilisation of which we are, in part, the heirs.
Stands and workshops
Open University Hall
Learn a rare language with ILARA (Institute for Rare Languages)
ILARA is one of four institutes belonging to the École Pratique des Hautes Études – Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (EPHE-PSL). It offers innovative and varied courses in languages that are little known, rarely taught or spoken, sometimes in danger of extinction, or already extinct.
Schola Nova
Presentation of Schola Nova (Belgium) and the biannual THALIA festival organised by Schola Humanistica (Italy) throughout Europe.
Book sale by the Guillaume Budé bookshop
Town Hall – Saint-Exupéry Room
4:00-6:30 p.m.: Workshop of the aèdes
Writing and speaking. A workshop that reconnects with the original purpose of oral poetry: a performance and rhythmic speech that engages the audience in a moment of sharing and participatory communication. Led by poet Julien Barret
Cinema
UGC Roxane: 8:30 p.m.: The Return, Uberto Pasolini (2024)
Returning from the Trojan War after twenty years of absence, Ulysses washes up on the shores of Ithaca, his former kingdom. His wife Penelope, who has remained faithful, lives there as a prisoner in her own home, rejecting all suitors to the throne. Telemachus, their son, who has never known his father, becomes an obstacle for those who want to seize power.
Duration: 2 hours
Price: €6.50
- Saturday, 7 February:
Meetings and conferences:
Town Hall
10:15–11:15 a.m.
Council Chamber
In the entourage of Augustus, the first Roman emperor
Two historians specialising in the birth of the Roman Empire shed light on Augustus's immediate entourage, from his adoption by Caesar to the appointment of his successor. They show how each member (wives, advisers, aristocrats) sought to reconcile the interests of history with those of their families and themselves.
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Wedding Hall
The return of speech
How does the voice convey meaning differently from text? Do the emotions produced by spoken words differ from those evoked by reading? Are today's slam poets and rappers the heirs of the ancient bards? Are we now witnessing a return to speech after an era of ‘all things written’?
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Boardroom
Depicting Antiquity in the 21st Century
The telling of myths has always been associated with visual representations: first in sculpture, painting and drawing, then in cinema and comic books. What questions arise for those who want to represent myths today? How can we reinvent this immense ancient graphic and pictorial heritage, and what can we make it say?
Open University
2pm-3pm
Theatre or the rebirth of myth
Myth is not a fixed story: as it is passed down, it transforms, taking on the contours of each era, but its essence remains intact. It remains an attempt to explain the world, to give form to the invisible, to express the inexpressible. When writing emerges, the nature of myth changes. What was once alive, moving, oral, becomes fixed. Writing preserves the trace, but stops the movement. Theatre, on the other hand, bridges the gap: it breathes life and flesh back into legends. It reinscribes myth into orality, into presence, into the moment.
Town Hall
2.30pm-3.30pm
Council Chamber
Controversial figures from Antiquity
Three extreme figures, three different perspectives. From the scandalous life of Alcibiades to the excesses of Heliogabalus, via Nero's bloody Rome, three men sometimes praised and sometimes hated, to whom a dark legend is attached. A historian, a novelist and a comic book writer compare their visions of these iconic figures, combining rigour, imagination and vertigo.
3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
Wedding Hall
Orality in the world's classical literature: Asia
How do the classical literatures of India, China and Japan maintain a lively dialogue with orality? From founding narratives to epics passed down from generation to generation, the voice remains at the heart of memory and transmission. How do oral forms shape the text, nourish thought and weave a link between past and present?
Open University
3:45–4:45 p.m.
The Wars of Julius Caesar
Actor Gabriel Dufay reads excerpts from The Civil War and The Gallic War, thrilling accounts of battles that saw the unfolding of a relentless imperialist agenda at the time of the collapse of the Roman Republic. Historian Frédéric Hurlet and essayist Pacôme Thiellement analyse the historical context and contemporary resonance of these texts.
Town Hall
4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Council Chamber
The origins of Korean culture: classical Chinese and its legacy
For a long time, Korea thought and wrote in classical Chinese. This language, known as hanmun in Korea, was not only the tool of administration and scholarship, but also a space for poetic, philosophical and spiritual creation. Two specialists discuss this intellectual history and its contemporary resonance. How a language and literature that originated in China were not only received, but transformed and reinvented in Korea, to become an original foundation for thought and creation.
Performances:
Town Hall - Wedding Hall
1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., then again from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Classical music: Italian Renaissance madrigals
Using the technique of counterpoint, Renaissance composers set to music many poems written by famous authors of their time or earlier, such as Petrarch, Ariosto and Tasso. In these polyphonic pieces, often sung a cappella, the musical motifs are constantly inspired by the text, which they aim to reinforce expressively. A selection of pieces performed by the ensemble La Bandetta (Juliette Drigny, Marie Thiry, Muriel Bouret, Roberto Poma, Nicolas Filicic, Vincent Maurice).
2:45 p.m. to 3:10 p.m.
Traditional Chinese music by the association Art et musique interculturelle et innovante (AMII)
5:45 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Notre Homère
By Emmanuel Lascoux and Jacques Bonnaffé
Like an incredible time-stopping machine, Notre Homère offers a reading of The Odyssey that draws all its strength from oral tradition. Jacques Bonaffé is a bearer of the oral storytelling tradition. Emmanuel Lascoux is a translator and specialist in Homer's work. Travelling through the places of Itinérance, they recount chapters of The Odyssey in an intimate setting, as if to long-time friends. Will you dare to follow them to discover a slice, two, or even the entirety of this immemorial tale?
Workshops:
Town Hall – Assembly Hall
Bookbinding Workshop
Discover how books were traditionally made, their different components, and how antique books can be restored today.
Saturdays from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Open to all ages.
Led by Sara Egret and Éric Laforest.
‘Read Aloud!’ Workshop
Learn about ancient languages and enjoy reading, pronouncing and understanding words from yesterday and today through culture and etymology games.
Hosted by Dorian Flores and Julie Wojciechowski (La Vie des Classiques)
Video game competition and quiz on speech, places of speech and speakers in Greco-Roman antiquity
Association of Greek and Latin Teachers of the Académie de Versailles Member of the National Coordination of Regional Associations for the Teaching of Ancient Languages (APGLAV-CNARELA).
Presentation of workshops, interactive games, costumes, ancient objects and video areas.
By the Arrête ton char association
Reading stand and competition on Greek and Latin Antiquity
Presented by the Association of Ancient Language Teachers (APLES) and Antiquité Avenir
Schola Nova
Presentation of Schola Nova (Belgium) and the biannual THALIA festival organised by Schola Humanistica (Italy) throughout Europe.
Book sale by Guillaume Budé bookshop and meetings with authors
Town Hall – Saint-Exupéry Room
2pm-4pm
Workshop: ‘Writing about your roots, telling your story’
How do the words ‘roots’ and ‘home’ resonate within us? An invitation to create a Poem-Home, a poem-shelter. Writing in multiple languages is welcome. Everyone will create a personal accordion book (leporello) with their poem, which they can take home as a souvenir.
Led by poet Katerina Apostolopoulou
Cinema: UGC Roxane
8:30 p.m.: Medea, Pier Paolo Pasolini (1969)
Medea, the sorceress and daughter of the king of Colchis, sees Prince Jason arrive on her land to steal the Golden Fleece, the idol of her people. Falling madly in love with the young Greek, she betrays her family and her country by stealing the Golden Fleece for him and goes into exile with him. Years later, after giving him two children, the man for whom she gave up everything turns away from her for a younger woman.
Duration: 1 hour 50 minutes
Price: €6.50
Programme:
- Friday 6 February:
Meetings and conferences:
Open University Auditorium
10:00–11:00 a.m.: The Power of Words
Who were the ancient orators? What methods did they use to convince their audiences? Under what circumstances was it legitimate to use this ‘power of words’?
11:15am-12:15pm: The Case of Cicero
When Cicero, the greatest Latin orator, was still a young lawyer, what moral dilemmas did he face? How did he use his oratory skills to serve justice and defend the Republic? Find out in this comic strip!
2pm-3pm: Tolkien and the memory of antiquity
J.R.R. Tolkien's work is usually associated with medieval fantasy and Anglo-Saxon legends. However, this overlooks the fact that Tolkien was a connoisseur and great lover of classical antiquity and its languages.
6.15pm-7.15pm: Antiquity in literature
How do the founding myths, heroic figures and stories of antiquity continue to inhabit our literary imagination? From epic poetry to tragedy, from philosophical allegory to contemporary rewritings, the voices of antiquity have travelled through time, transforming themselves and continuing to nourish our relationship with the world.
Town Hall – Council Chamber
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Cur vivis rationibus sunt linguae immortales docendae? Why and how should humanism be revitalised?
In this multifaceted, trilingual (French, Latin, Greek) yet accessible to the public address, the two speakers invite us to dust off and re-enchant the question of teaching Latin and Greek in the humanities, at university and even in primary school.
Performances:
Open University Auditorium
3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
The Knights by Aristophanes
A musical comedy loosely based on Aristophanes' play of the same name
Greek democracy is in danger! The man who has seized power is none other than a leather merchant who, through lies and broken promises, has reduced the people to the state of powerless old men. Two servants of Demos (the people) decide to intervene by convincing a simple sausage merchant to confront the leather merchant in an oratorical contest. International Academy of Performing Arts (AIDAS)
5:40 p.m. to 6:10 p.m.
Hymns to Greece
In 1865, Ernest Renan travelled to Athens. Although familiar with the East, he did not expect the upheaval he was about to experience. The prayer on the Acropolis bears witness to his enthusiasm for a lost civilisation of which we are, in part, the heirs.
Stands and workshops
Open University Hall
Learn a rare language with ILARA (Institute for Rare Languages)
ILARA is one of four institutes belonging to the École Pratique des Hautes Études – Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (EPHE-PSL). It offers innovative and varied courses in languages that are little known, rarely taught or spoken, sometimes in danger of extinction, or already extinct.
Schola Nova
Presentation of Schola Nova (Belgium) and the biannual THALIA festival organised by Schola Humanistica (Italy) throughout Europe.
Book sale by the Guillaume Budé bookshop
Town Hall – Saint-Exupéry Room
4:00-6:30 p.m.: Workshop of the aèdes
Writing and speaking. A workshop that reconnects with the original purpose of oral poetry: a performance and rhythmic speech that engages the audience in a moment of sharing and participatory communication. Led by poet Julien Barret
Cinema
UGC Roxane: 8:30 p.m.: The Return, Uberto Pasolini (2024)
Returning from the Trojan War after twenty years of absence, Ulysses washes up on the shores of Ithaca, his former kingdom. His wife Penelope, who has remained faithful, lives there as a prisoner in her own home, rejecting all suitors to the throne. Telemachus, their son, who has never known his father, becomes an obstacle for those who want to seize power.
Duration: 2 hours
Price: €6.50
- Saturday, 7 February:
Meetings and conferences:
Town Hall
10:15–11:15 a.m.
Council Chamber
In the entourage of Augustus, the first Roman emperor
Two historians specialising in the birth of the Roman Empire shed light on Augustus's immediate entourage, from his adoption by Caesar to the appointment of his successor. They show how each member (wives, advisers, aristocrats) sought to reconcile the interests of history with those of their families and themselves.
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Wedding Hall
The return of speech
How does the voice convey meaning differently from text? Do the emotions produced by spoken words differ from those evoked by reading? Are today's slam poets and rappers the heirs of the ancient bards? Are we now witnessing a return to speech after an era of ‘all things written’?
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Boardroom
Depicting Antiquity in the 21st Century
The telling of myths has always been associated with visual representations: first in sculpture, painting and drawing, then in cinema and comic books. What questions arise for those who want to represent myths today? How can we reinvent this immense ancient graphic and pictorial heritage, and what can we make it say?
Open University
2pm-3pm
Theatre or the rebirth of myth
Myth is not a fixed story: as it is passed down, it transforms, taking on the contours of each era, but its essence remains intact. It remains an attempt to explain the world, to give form to the invisible, to express the inexpressible. When writing emerges, the nature of myth changes. What was once alive, moving, oral, becomes fixed. Writing preserves the trace, but stops the movement. Theatre, on the other hand, bridges the gap: it breathes life and flesh back into legends. It reinscribes myth into orality, into presence, into the moment.
Town Hall
2.30pm-3.30pm
Council Chamber
Controversial figures from Antiquity
Three extreme figures, three different perspectives. From the scandalous life of Alcibiades to the excesses of Heliogabalus, via Nero's bloody Rome, three men sometimes praised and sometimes hated, to whom a dark legend is attached. A historian, a novelist and a comic book writer compare their visions of these iconic figures, combining rigour, imagination and vertigo.
3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
Wedding Hall
Orality in the world's classical literature: Asia
How do the classical literatures of India, China and Japan maintain a lively dialogue with orality? From founding narratives to epics passed down from generation to generation, the voice remains at the heart of memory and transmission. How do oral forms shape the text, nourish thought and weave a link between past and present?
Open University
3:45–4:45 p.m.
The Wars of Julius Caesar
Actor Gabriel Dufay reads excerpts from The Civil War and The Gallic War, thrilling accounts of battles that saw the unfolding of a relentless imperialist agenda at the time of the collapse of the Roman Republic. Historian Frédéric Hurlet and essayist Pacôme Thiellement analyse the historical context and contemporary resonance of these texts.
Town Hall
4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Council Chamber
The origins of Korean culture: classical Chinese and its legacy
For a long time, Korea thought and wrote in classical Chinese. This language, known as hanmun in Korea, was not only the tool of administration and scholarship, but also a space for poetic, philosophical and spiritual creation. Two specialists discuss this intellectual history and its contemporary resonance. How a language and literature that originated in China were not only received, but transformed and reinvented in Korea, to become an original foundation for thought and creation.
Performances:
Town Hall - Wedding Hall
1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., then again from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Classical music: Italian Renaissance madrigals
Using the technique of counterpoint, Renaissance composers set to music many poems written by famous authors of their time or earlier, such as Petrarch, Ariosto and Tasso. In these polyphonic pieces, often sung a cappella, the musical motifs are constantly inspired by the text, which they aim to reinforce expressively. A selection of pieces performed by the ensemble La Bandetta (Juliette Drigny, Marie Thiry, Muriel Bouret, Roberto Poma, Nicolas Filicic, Vincent Maurice).
2:45 p.m. to 3:10 p.m.
Traditional Chinese music by the association Art et musique interculturelle et innovante (AMII)
5:45 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Notre Homère
By Emmanuel Lascoux and Jacques Bonnaffé
Like an incredible time-stopping machine, Notre Homère offers a reading of The Odyssey that draws all its strength from oral tradition. Jacques Bonaffé is a bearer of the oral storytelling tradition. Emmanuel Lascoux is a translator and specialist in Homer's work. Travelling through the places of Itinérance, they recount chapters of The Odyssey in an intimate setting, as if to long-time friends. Will you dare to follow them to discover a slice, two, or even the entirety of this immemorial tale?
Workshops:
Town Hall – Assembly Hall
Bookbinding Workshop
Discover how books were traditionally made, their different components, and how antique books can be restored today.
Saturdays from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Open to all ages.
Led by Sara Egret and Éric Laforest.
‘Read Aloud!’ Workshop
Learn about ancient languages and enjoy reading, pronouncing and understanding words from yesterday and today through culture and etymology games.
Hosted by Dorian Flores and Julie Wojciechowski (La Vie des Classiques)
Video game competition and quiz on speech, places of speech and speakers in Greco-Roman antiquity
Association of Greek and Latin Teachers of the Académie de Versailles Member of the National Coordination of Regional Associations for the Teaching of Ancient Languages (APGLAV-CNARELA).
Presentation of workshops, interactive games, costumes, ancient objects and video areas.
By the Arrête ton char association
Reading stand and competition on Greek and Latin Antiquity
Presented by the Association of Ancient Language Teachers (APLES) and Antiquité Avenir
Schola Nova
Presentation of Schola Nova (Belgium) and the biannual THALIA festival organised by Schola Humanistica (Italy) throughout Europe.
Book sale by Guillaume Budé bookshop and meetings with authors
Town Hall – Saint-Exupéry Room
2pm-4pm
Workshop: ‘Writing about your roots, telling your story’
How do the words ‘roots’ and ‘home’ resonate within us? An invitation to create a Poem-Home, a poem-shelter. Writing in multiple languages is welcome. Everyone will create a personal accordion book (leporello) with their poem, which they can take home as a souvenir.
Led by poet Katerina Apostolopoulou
Cinema: UGC Roxane
8:30 p.m.: Medea, Pier Paolo Pasolini (1969)
Medea, the sorceress and daughter of the king of Colchis, sees Prince Jason arrive on her land to steal the Golden Fleece, the idol of her people. Falling madly in love with the young Greek, she betrays her family and her country by stealing the Golden Fleece for him and goes into exile with him. Years later, after giving him two children, the man for whom she gave up everything turns away from her for a younger woman.
Duration: 1 hour 50 minutes
Price: €6.50
