The research
Multilateral cooperation with Slovak as well as with the foreigner departments or institutions conducting a research in classical philology or providing educational programmes in this field of studies is one of the key priorities of our department. So far, the department has been cooperating with the following institutions: Department of the Classical and Semitic Philology of the Comenius University in Bratislava, University of P.J. Šafárik in Prešov, University of Constantine the Philosopher in Nitra, University of Matias Bel in Banská Bystrica, Palackého University in Olomouc, South-Bohemian university in České Budějovice, the Institute for Classical studies of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, Országos Széchényi Könyvtár in Budapest, Institut für Klassische Philologie, Mittel- und Neulatein of the Vienna University, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Neo-Latin Studies.
However, the research programmes of the department are above all focused on the Neo-Latin studies, especially on the literary heritage of the first Trnava University (Universitas Tyrnaviensis 1635 - 1777). The foremost goal in the research is making accessible the works of the professors of the former University in modern, bilingual editions, i.e. in modern book publications. Such book edition of a Latin text meets modern standards in editing the Latin and accompanies it with Slovak translation. Other obligatory parts of an edition are modern commentary to the translation and a foreword scholarly paper on various aspects of the text. For this purpose, a special series has been started, the Scrinium Latino-Slovacum. Five bands have been published so far. Another important part of the research is building up a library of secondary scholarly literature as well as of genuine Tyrnavian imprints referred to as tyrnavica and their digitalization.
Another long-term running project is the research of the monumental work of Matias Bel, on which, besides the members of the department, many scholars from other institutions took part. The results of the research have been presented to the public in a special supplementum issue of the journal Sambucus (Sambucus Supplementum II: The Probes into the Matias Bel’s Notitia of the contemporary Hungarian Kingdom). In cooperation with Kysuce Museum in Čadca, two publications containing modern edition of Bel’s text along with parallel Slovak translation have been prepared and published, Comitatus Liptoviensis (ed. and transl. Jozef Kordoš) and Comitatus Thurociensis (ed. and transl. Erika Juríková). In the meantime, The Probes no. II are in preparation.