The workshop “Speak Latin So That the Whole World Can Understand You” which was realized as part of the exhibition “Femina Balcanica: Mater, Matrona, Augusta, Dea. Women on the Balkans in Antiquity”, was organized in the Gallery of the National Museum Kraljevo, on Friday, April 12th, 2024, starting at 7 p.m. The topic of the workshop was women in Roman poetry, which represents her through different images and roles. For poets, she has always been a primordial inspiration, the one that was the common source of their love and suffering.
The workshop was attended by students of the fourth year of the Gymnasium from Kraljevo – Jovana Petković, Damir Hasanović, Sofija Savić and Nastasja Ćurčić with French and Latin teacher Sanja Bižić. The gymnasium from Vrnjačka Banja was presented by second-year students – Jelena Marković, Elena Stojanović, Iva Savić, Sanja Brković, Taša Šekularac, Sara Novičić and Sara Maksimović, with French and Latin teacher Slađana Opačić.
The workshop was moderated by art historian Jelena Marković, who at the beginning greeted the audience and introduced the workshop participants. She first gave the floor to the students of the Gymnasium from Vrnjačka Banja, who spoke about the poet Catullus, his love for Clodia, a married woman, whom she calls Lesbia in poetry in honor of the poetess Sappho. After that, students from the Gymnasium in Kraljevo recited two poems by Catullus in Latin and in Serbian, while the students from Vrnjačka Banja interpreted these specific poems. Professor Slađana Opačić, who spoke about the position of women in ancient Rome, as well as Sanja Bižić, who gave an overview of Latin literature and love poetry of ancient Rome, took part in the workshop.