Antiquitas, Ancilla Universalis: The Many Faces of Classicism in the Serbian Culture of Enlightenment
Antiquitas, Ancilla Universalis: The Many Faces of Classicism in the Serbian Culture of Enlightenment

Summary/Abstract: Throughout the 18th century writings about classical antiquity and its influence was a constant feature of Serbian culture in the Habsburg Monarchy. By the coincidence of the civilisational lag, when Enlightenment ideas reached the Serbs, they were about to embrace early modern classicalhumanist education; hence the history of classicism among the Serbs during this period followed the history of Enlightenment. Its first stage, genuinely manifested in the work of Dionisije Novaković, had a focus on dissemination of the values of Christian humanism, gradually approaching the concepts of early Enlightenment. The next stage was the advanced classicism which regarded classical legacy as assistance in developing a community based on the Enlightenment programme of freethinking, a critical attitude and tolerance and, therefore, made use of this legacy in a more comprehensive manner and with greater authenticity than before, as was the case with Dositej Obradović. A shift began with Mojsije Rašković who used classical heritage to introduce secular perspective of the cultural standards. There was a conservative reaction to the liberal leaning upon classics from Jovan Rajić; though intellectually selective, this classicism was not restrained in showing literary skill and taste. However, when Serbian classicism eventually reached its literary apogee, in the first half of the 19th century, its companionship with Enlightenment came to an end.

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