Reflections from Sofia on the Euroclassica Annual Conference 2025
- Steven Hunt
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 5 hours ago
The 2025 Euroclassica Annual Conference took place at the University of “St Kliment Ohridsk”, Sofia, Bulgaria under the expert coordination of Dr. Dimitar Dragnev. The opening ceremony on 19 August featured welcome addresses from the Bishop of Sofia, the Minister for Education, the Principal of the University, and Associate Professor Tsvetan Vasilev, Head of the Department of Classics.
The academic programme began with lectures by Professor Arlene Holmes-Henderson (Durham University, UK) on initiatives to reintroduce and expand Classics Education in the UK, and by Professor Guido Milanese (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Brescia-Milano) who explored alternative methods for assessing proficiency in ancient languages beyond traditional translation exercises.
Next Dr. Luigi Miraglia (Accademia Vivarium Novum, Frascati, Italy) spoke in Latin on the revival of Comenius-inspired Latin pedagogy in the modern era. As usual, his tour de force spoken Latin was an inspiration to all delegates. I then took up a discussion on Euroclassica’s potential for helping to bring about collaboration among educators. I was especially interested in delegates’ views on the use of AI, which ranged, as one might expect, from denial to reluctant acceptance. Personally, I feel AI has a great deal to offer – provided that it is dealt with effectively and integrated properly into curricula. I have written about the potential impacts – good and not so good – in the Bulletin of the Council of University Classics Departments.
In the afternoon, participants toured the Roman remains of ancient Serdica, embedded within the modern cityscape of Sofia. Highlights included the restored city gate and a stretch of Roman streets and shops integrated into a Metro station, where tombstones and altars line the descent to the platforms.
The station is quite remarkable, with entrances to the platforms guarded by the original Roman gates to the city, and a full stretch of Roman street underground, combined with a coffee shop and ticket machines. I could not resist including the AI generated image specially for this article, which I produced using Co-Pilot.
I did not know that the Roman Emperor Constantine felt that Sofia / Serdica was a kind of home-from-home, saying: Roma mea, Sardica est—“My Rome is Serdica”. As we know, Constantinople, further to the East got the title eventually. But, as well as the Roman remains of the ‘Roman’ metro, the 4th century church of S. Sofia still stands centrally in the city.
The following day, 20 August, began with Euroclassica’s General Assembly. After an address by President Professor Christian Laes (University of Manchester, UK), the meeting covered financial updates, outreach proposals to Albania and Moldova, and plans for a new website to enhance networking and event dissemination. Discussion also focused on the journal Cursor, including an article by me on PGCE didactics, and a vote confirmed continued use of Twitter/X for communication.
In the afternoon, there were presentations by some quite brilliant students from Dimitar’s school and from Sofia University, alongside Bulgarian teachers themselves, who shared insights into the current state of Classics in Bulgaria (for further details, see Dimitar’s chapter on Bulgaria in Teaching Classics Worldwide). The country has very few schools which offer Latin or Ancient Greek, sadly, and the challenge is to train enough teachers to provide the tuition that would kickstart Classics Education in other schools – but, then, those schools would have to have enough ancient Greek or Latin for them to teach. A ‘classic’ chicken-and-egg situation, if ever there was one! At a plenary meeting later, I suggested the UK Classics for All model of training up non-specialist teachers in schools to cultivate little oases of Classics Education where none previously existed. While not exactly shot down over this, the problem lies in the fact that teachers in Bulgaria have to be trained in a specific discipline on the school curriculum, and they are not allowed – or do not want to – stray beyond their area. It seems that this has led to an impasse, much like that which has occurred in Portugal.
We then went on a guided tour of the National Archaeological Museum, showcasing Thracian and Roman artefacts of exceptional craftsmanship.
In the evening, a concert featuring Latin works by Buxtehude and Bach performed by Collegium Lapis Lazuli (University of Sofia students), and original compositions inspired by Virgil’s Aeneid and Carmina Burana, performed by pupils of the 9th French Language High School ‘Alphonse de Lamartine’ and members of the Tyrtarion ensemble. As always, the music was of a uniformly high standard and Tyrtarion’s music-making (for guitar, recorder and chorus) showed the audience quite how emotive and engaging communal singing of Latin can be.
On Thursday, delegates visited Plovdiv—ancient Philippopolis—for a guided tour of its Roman heritage, including the Eastern Gateway, the theatre, and the Great Basilica with its extensive 4th-century mosaics. I was almost completely unaware of Sofia’s Roman heritage. I was even less secure in my knowledge of Plovdiv. What a city! The sites are perhaps not as obvious as those in the more frequented cities, but they are pretty spectacular in their own way. There’s a Roman theatre, mostly complete – which had recently been set up for a concert by Nick Cave, no less! I wonder what the Romans would have thought of that? It was quite slippery on the stones underfoot: cavete caveam Cavis!
Look at the amazing mosaic of wildfowl in the Bishop’s Palace – where every duck is different!
Walking up high through the old Turkish quarter, we were treated to a reading from Lucian’s Fugitivi, in ancient Greek, by Dr. Dimitar Dragnev taking on the roles of Heracles and Hermes while we overlooked the very Thracian plain being described:
Heracles: You see those two magnificent mountains (the big one is Haemus, and the other Rhodope), and the fertile plain that spreads between them, running to the very foot of either? These three grand, rugged crests that stand out so proudly over there form as it were a triple citadel to the city that lies beneath; you can see it now, look!
Hermes: Superb! A queen among cities; her splendours reach us even here. And what is the great river that flows so close beneath the walls?
Heracles: The Hebrus, and the city was built by Philip. Well, we have left the clouds behind us now; let us try our fortune on terra firma (Lucian, Fugitivi, 25, trans.).
As ever, the true value of Euroclassica lies in the conversations—formal and informal—that unfold across sessions, dinners and coach journeys. Next year’s conference will take place in Tbilisi, Georgia. I am looking forward to learning about the Classical heritage there and also the ways in which educators continue to support learning about the ancient world in schools and universities. This is most comfortably achieved on coach journeys and the dining, of course!
For further details, see this news report with Professor Laes, and the Ministry of Education’s press release (both easily translatable).