The reception of ancient Greece in pre-modern French literature and illustrations of manuscripts and printed books (1320-1550): how invented memories shaped the identity of European communities

Project Information

AGRELITA

Grant agreement ID: 101018777

DOI

10.3030/101018777

EC signature date 7 June 2021

Start date 1 October 2021

End date 30 September 2028

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 2 499 202,00

EU contribution

€ 2 499 202,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITE DE CAEN NORMANDIE
France

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - AGRELITA (The reception of ancient Greece in pre-modern French literature and illustrations of manuscripts and printed books (1320-1550): how invented memories shaped the identity of European communities)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Until now the reception history of ancient Greece in pre-modern Western Europe has focussed almost exclusively on the transmission of Greek texts. Yet well before the revival of Greek’s teaching, numerous vernacular works, often illustrated, contained elaborate representations of ancient Greece. AGRELITA will study a large corpus of French-language literary works (historical, fictional, poetic, didactic) produced from 1320 to the 1550s in France and Europe, before the first direct translations from Greek into French, as well as the images of their manuscripts and printed books.
The study of these works and their illustrations (text and image’s dialogue and powers of each) will analyze the representations of ancient Greece from the unexplored perspective of the elaboration of a new memory. It will reveal its structure, its meanings, and the various uses that authors made of it with respect to national, regional or European communities they depicted in their works. It will allow to better understand how, at a time which inherited negative preconceptions about the Greeks, Europe nevertheless began to claim ancient Greece as one of its legacies; and lead to a reassessment of the role played by Greece in Western European identities shaping processes. This promises considerable advances in our understanding of the new representations of these communities in this period. AGRELITA also aims to contribute to a general reflexion on the formation of heritages and identities. Its results will provide new insights on our perception on the issue of identity building, at different levels, local, national and European. They will be able to irrigate the research on modern times in history, sociology, memory and European studies.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

From 01/10/2021 to 30/09/2022, AGRELITA worked on WP1 “Naming and Representing Greek Space”, produced the book Représenter et nommer la Grèce et les Grecs (Brepols, 2023), and organized seminar sessions on this topic.
From 01/10/2022 to 30/09/2023, AGRELITA worked on WP2 “Indirect Reception of Knowledge about Greece”. We studied many new French translations, written from the 1320s to the 1550s, that transmit knowledge about ancient Greece and/or adapt Latin translations of Greek texts. AGRELITA also started WP5 “Heritage and Identity from the Middle Ages to Today”. A workshop and seminar sessions were held on “Creating a Memory of Ancient Pasts”. WP3 “Invention of Greek Origins” had also been initiated by a workshop. AGRELITA organized seminar sessions. PI also edited a journal issue, n. 38, of Bien dire et bien aprandre.
From 01/10/2023 to 30/09/2024, AGRELITA was translated to the University of Caen (from 01/01/2024). AGRELITA continued to work on WP5. It organized an international conference “Metamorphoses and Uses of the same Past and Formation of Identities in Europe (14th-1980s)”, and co-organized a workshop “Saving, Liberating, and Regenerating Greece from the Middle Ages to the 19th c.”. The PI finalized the collective book 2: Mémoires des passés antiques. She worked on the scientific edition of collective books 3 and 4 (WP2). AGRELITA also started the WP4 “New Uses of Greek Mythology” and organized an international conference “New Lives of Greek Divinities” and a workshop.
From 01/10/2024 to 30/06/2025, AGRELITA organized an international conference on “New Lives of Greek Divinities” (Ecole française d’Athènes), with an expansion of the corpus and the period covered (14th-21st c.), so as to combine WP4 and WP5. Seminar sessions were held on “Uses and Exploitations of Antiquity Memories”, then a workshop (June 2025) with a transcultural perspective. WP4 was continued with an international conference: “The Reception of Greek Myths about Nature and the Living World” (June 2025). AGRELITA also worked on the anthology of texts and images. Three collective books were edited (Brepols): Mémoires des passés antiques (June 2025), Nouvelles traductions et réceptions indirectes de la Grèce ancienne: Tome 1 (June 2025) and Tome 2 (forthcoming, September 2025). AGRELITA finalized two other volumes (submitted to publishers): Métamorphoses et usages d’un même passé, and Représentations d’origines grecques.
Since the start of the project, AGRELITA has hosted 8 international researchers. It has presented papers at 21 international conferences and at 7 workshops. AGRELITA’s members published 11 articles in peer-reviewed journals. The PI has also begun working on the monograph on the reinvention of Ancient Greece in French literature (1320-1550).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

In the book Représenter et nommer la Grèce et les Grecs, AGRELITA tackled a difficult and almost never explored question: what ancient Greece geographically and spatially represents for the authors and artists of the corpus. AGRELITA questioned the idea that the representation of a Greek “entity” reappeared for the first time in centuries with the rediscovery of Ptolemy. By studying a very diverse corpora, AGRELITA produced the first study of the reception of Ancient Greece from the point of view of geographical and spatial issues.
AGRELITA’s research has also focused on a large corpus of new translations into French, translations of very diverse Latin works which show indirect receptions of knowledges of Greece or Greek texts (1320-1550). This research represents a paradigm shift in the study of the reception of Ancient Greece, since until now criticism has focused primarily on the transmission of Greek works, their new editions and their direct translations from Greek into French. The development of these direct translations begins from the 1550s. Previously French-language authors and artists have no direct knowledge of Greek works. Their reception is indirect. The question of the reception of Ancient Greece was therefore explored from another perspective than the one adopted until now. A publication have been realized: Nouvelles traductions et réceptions indirectes de la Grèce ancienne (2 vol.).
AGRELITA also explored stories of Greek origin, using the concept of “invention of tradition” to better understand their logic and uses, and to question the invention of heritage. A book is currently being edited (Brepols).
From year 3 until the end of the project the team also works on WP5 and WP4. Regarding new uses of Greek mythology, AGRELITA is engaged in renewing research on three themes largely unexplored:
- The “new lives” of Greek divinities in 14th to 16th c. receptions.
- The reception of Greek myths about nature and the living world (14th-16th c.).
- Representations of violence against women and feminine agency and resistance in the reception of Greek myths (14th-20th c.), with a transcultural perspective.
On these transversal issues (WP5), AGRELITA has brought together researchers from different disciplines, who draw on diverse corpora, to reflect on the question of the “Metamorphoses and uses of the same past and formation of identities in Europe (14th-1980s)”. AGRELITA also explores the creation of cultural memories of Antiquities over a long period of time, up to the 19th c., and the uses of these memories. By multiplying approaches, we aim to contribute to a reflection on how memories are created, how heritages are invented, and how cultural and political identities are shaped.
We also aim to renew interpretation of the rich representations of Ancient Greece in texts and images (14th-16th c.), and to integrate this corpus as a foundational step in the reception of Ancient Greece in Europe.

Logo of the AGRELITA project.