THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For a long time now, options for learning a foreign language in the city was limited to Russian, French and German. Now, here’s your chance to learn some Greek and Latin.
The Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR) is organising a short-term course in Greek and Latin on its premises at Nanthencode in the city. The six-week part-time course will expose the students to Greek and Latin languages and their scripts. The students will also have the opportunity to make sense of ancient writings and review their interpretations.
The variety of ancient sources - literary, epigraphic, papyrological, ostraca and numismatic - will be made use of to study the history of the period they represent.
The proposed part-time course in ancient Greek and Latin languages is an offshoot of the interdisciplinary archaeological research undertaken by KCHR at Pattanam as part of the Muziris Heritage Project. The course hopes to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Early Historic Period in which Malabar Coast opened up cultural and commercial interfaces with the Mediterranean as well as the Red Sea and Indian Ocean rims. The fact that the original written sources of the period are mostly in ancient Greek and Roman makes this course a window to the life and times of the Roman Empire and an opportunity to enrich and enlighten minds.
Eminent scholar in Roman History, Federico De Romanis, Professor at the University of Rome `Tor Vergata’, will be the course master. This course is an outcome of the MoU signed between the KCHR and the University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy, to facilitate exchange of technical and scientific information, expertise and personnel for research and educational purposes.
Admission is open to all irrespective of age and academic/professional qualifications. Familiarity with computer and internet surfing will be desirable. The course fee is Rs 5,000 and is to be paid at the time of admission. The course will last six weeks, five days per week, with classes in the morning and evening.
The classes for the first batch would commence on July 27 and conclude on September 4. The venue will be Vyloppilli Samskrithi Bhavan, Nalanda, Thiruvananthapuram. The syllabus and prospectus are available from the KCHR office or can be downloaded from www.keralahistory.ac.in.
The last date for the receipt of applications is July 10. For more details, contact KCHR, P.B. No: 839, Vyloppilli Samskrithi Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram - 695 003 or log on to the website: www.keralahistory.ac.in. You can also contact via phone number: 0471-2310409/ 0471-6574988 or by e-mail: kchrtvm@gmail.com
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