In: International journal of the classical tradition; IJCT ; the official journal of the International Society for the Classical Tradition, 1 (1994), Nr. 1. pp. 89-106. ISSN 1073-0508

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Abstract

To recall the shaping of “antiquity” as a leading symbolic concept of European culture seems to be justified by the actual debate about the fault lines between modernity and postmodernity and emerging cultural fundamentalisms. In 17th century France the “Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes” fostered not only the consciousness of historical distance between now and then but brought forth the image of an enhanced antiquity, a “new Rome”. The resulting hegemony of the “esprit classique” in central Europe provoked the opposition of intellectuals in 18th century Germany searching for national cultural identity. In the dramatic course of this search for self-constitution Greek antiquity was elaborated as a symbolic token (“reine Griechheit”) for a cultural pattern that was deemed to overthrow and even transcend universally the impact of French culture. The construction of antiquity as a cognitive image (Denkbild) with aesthetic features can be considered as a response to the question if the antagonistic structure of modern life could be overcome by a utopian idea restricted, however, to a relativistic, i.e. national concept of classical studies.