Kostiantyn Riabtsev
PhD candidate - 2nd cohort
Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
Research project
My research argues that the Timaeus has been one of the major authorities used from Pre-Reformation until Counter-Reformation to either support or condemn the radical views of Western Christianity. One of the crucial topics discussed in these contexts was the perfect intelligible world created by the demiurge as the model for the sensible world (Tim. 29c-31a). The doctrine of mundus archetypus, the world of ideas, describes the perfect world that enables the constitution of metaphysical and epistemological dialectic between the sensible and the intelligible.
Through my project, I intend to make accessible a previously overlooked cultural patrimony by editing hitherto unpublished texts. Based on these critical editions, I will address a major gap in scholarship by examining the reception of the Timaeus in the Latin West between the famous and well-studied School of Chartres and the Italian Renaissance. The main goal of my research is to provide the first-ever doctrinal study of the use of Plato’s Timaeus in two major moments of Western thought: in the beginning of the Reformation (from John Wyclif to Jan Hus) and during Counter-Reformation (from Marsilio Ficino to the 16th-century commentators of the dialogue). This project revisits a seminal hermeneutical concept in the history of philosophy: Plato Christianus.
Two major sections articulate my PhD thesis: (i) a study of the reading of the Timaeus in the 14th-15th centuries in Pre-Reformation, from John Wyclif to Jan Hus; (ii) a study with partial critical editions from commentaries on the Timaeus from the 15th-16th centuries, during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation.
Curriculum Vitae
Academic education
Doctoral Research Associate at the DFG Research Training Group 2792 "Autonomy of Heteronomous Texts in Antiquity and the Middle Ages", Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
MA in Classics, specialization «Classical Languages and Literatures (Translation Included)», educational programme «Classical Studies and West-European Language», Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine: diploma with honours, thesis «De secreto conflictu curarum mearum by Francesco Petrarch: internal dialogue as a reflection of the creation of a new worldview»
B.A. in Classics in specialization «Classical Languages and Literatures (Translation Included)», educational programme «Classical Philology and the English Language», Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine: diploma with honours, thesis «Lingua-stylistic means of expressing persuasiveness in the rhetorical discourse of Antiquity (based on the speeches of Demosthenes and Cicero)»
ΙΑΣΩΝ Online School of Modern Greek Language and Culture for Advanced Level (Γ1.1.1) organised by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (course with evaluation, successfully completed with the highest possible score: 10/10) (with scholarship)
OLP Oxford Online Summer School of Latin for Advanced Level (with scholarship)
OLP Oxford Online Summer School of Ancient Greek for Intermediate Level (highest accessible at the time within OLP programmes) (with scholarship)
Organisation of Academic Events
Frascati, Rome, Italy: contributions to the Accademia Vivarium Novum conferences, including simultaneous interpreting of speeches and presentations from and to Ancient Greek, Latin, Italian, English, and Modern Greek
Organiser of a lecture with practical session elements by Dr Irene Polinskaya (King’s College London) on “The role of epigraphic in discovering ancient monuments” in Ukrainian Archaeological Museum, Kyiv
Co-organiser of the “Ancient Polis” event – workshop on Ancient Greek language, history, literature and philosophy, Kyiv
Teaching: 2021-2026, Accademia Vivarium Novum (Frascati, Rome, Italy)
- Ancient Greek and Latin Tutoring Classes, both in person and online
- Ancient Greek and Latin Classes for visiting high-school and university group
- Introductory Ancient Greek History lecture course in English for the future 1st year student
- Ancient Greek History lecture course in Latin for the future 2nd year students
- Advanced Reading Seminars in Ancient Greek on Demosthenes’ «On the Crown», supported by biographical and stylistic introduction by means of anthology from Cicero, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Plutarch
- Advanced Reading Seminars in Ancient Greek on Homer’s «Odyssey»
- Advanced Reading Seminars in Ancient Greek on Polybius’ «Histories»
- Advanced Reading Seminars in Ancient Greek on Procopius’ «History of the Wars», «Buildings», «Secret History»
- Advanced Reading Seminars in Ancient Greek on Leo the Deacon’s «History»
- Advanced Reading Seminars in Ancient Greek on the Fall of Constantinople Testimonies by Byzantine historians
- Advanced Reading Seminars in Ancient Greek on Procopius’ «Gothic War»
- Advanced Reading Seminars in Ancient Greek on Euripides’ «Iphigenia in Aulis»
- Advanced Reading Seminars in Latin on Livy’s «Ab Urbe condita»
- In-detail Readings in Latin of Cicero’s 2nd Philippic
- In-detail Readings in Latin of Ovid’s «Metamorphoses»
- In-detail Readings in Latin of Horace’s «Odes»
- Advanced Reading Seminars in Latin on Einhard’s «Vita Karoli Magni»
- Advanced Reading Seminars in Latin on Helmold’s «Chronica Slavorum»
- Advanced Reading Seminars in Latin on Petrarch’s «De secreto conflictu curarum mearum»
Nationale Taras-Schewtschenko-Universität (Kiew, Ukraine):
- Lectures on Rhetoric at Students Lectorium «РЕПЛІКА», organised by the Students Parliament of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Philology
- Classical and Medieval Latin Classes for the students of Ancient and Medieval History at the Faculty of History
Publications
Peer-Review-Artikel:
Lazer-Pankiv O. V., Riabtsev K. A., «Besonderheiten der Vermittlung von Überzeugungskraft in Demosthenes’ Philippiken» in Studia Linguistica, Band XV, herausgegeben von ЛОГОС, Kiew, 2019, S. 125-139
Redaktionelle Tätigkeiten als Projektassistentin am Lehrstuhl für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Klassische Philologie und Neohellenistik des Pädagogisch-Wissenschaftlichen Instituts für Philologie an der Taras-Schewtschenko-Nationaluniversität Kiew (2019-2021):
- Überarbeitung und Korrektur der Neuauflage des Lehrbuchs Antike Mythologie, antike Literatur und antike Rhetorik (2020-2021)
- Überarbeitung, Korrektur und Neugestaltung der neuen, erweiterten Auflage des Hochschullehrbuchs Lateinische Sprache, dessen Originalausgabe vom Ministerium für Bildung und Wissenschaft der Ukraine gewürdigt und wärmstens empfohlen wird (2020)
- Überarbeitung und Korrektur des neuen Wörterbuchs Ukrainisch – Altgriechisch – Neugriechisch – Englisch (2020)
- Erstellung der Erstübersetzung eines bisher unbekannten Briefes von Pylyp Orlyk, einem ukrainischen Kosaken-Militärbefehlshaber, an den schwedischen König (2019)
Presentations
Cluj, Romania: paper with the title «Wyclif’s doctrine of the divine ideas» at the International Summer School in the History of the Book «Medieval and Early Modern Books»
Frascati, Italy: paper with the title «Ydola pulcherrima in speculo deitatis: John Wyclif on Divine Ideas and Real Universals» at the 10th annual conference of the Forum for Advanced Studies Gaetano Massa «Renaissance, Ancient, Medieval and Modern Patterns», held at Accademia Vivarium Novum
welcoming speech and paper with the title «Plato’s Timaeus in the Reformation Context» at the international academic conference «Philology in the Age of Globalization: Visions and Prospects», dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Department of General Linguistics, Classical Philology and Neohellenistic Studies at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
Jena, Germany: paper with the title «Mapping the Timaeus between Pre-Reformation and Counter-Reformation: some tendencies and preliminary observations» at the Doctoral Colloquium of the DFG Research Training Group 2792 «Autonomy of Heteronomous Texts in Antiquity and the Middle Ages»
Valencia, Spain (online participation): paper with the title «The ancient legacy reception in the Selected Works of Lesya Ukrainka» at the international academic conference «Referents Grecollatins En Les Literatures I Les Cultures Bàltiques I Les Eslaves: Recepció I Intertextualitat», Jornades científiques internacionals GIRLC
Kyiv, Ukraine (online participation): paper with the title «Lingua-stylistic means of expressing persuasiveness in Cicero’s Philippics» at the international academic online conference «Linguistics of the 21st century: current state and development prospects», dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Professor Stanislav Volodymyrovych Semchinsky (1931-1999)
Kyiv, Ukraine: paper with the title «The moral and ethical context of rhetoric according to Aristotle and Cicero: comparative aspect» at the VI Pan-Ukrainian scientific readings with the participation of young scientists «Philology of the XXI century: new research and perspectives»
Kyiv, Ukraine: paper with the title «Peculiarities of expressing persuasiveness in Demosthenes’ Philippics» at the international academic conference «Linguistics in the XXI Century», dedicated to the bright memory of Professor Fionilla Oleksiivna Nikitina (1929-2019)
Kyiv, Ukraine: paper with the title «Peculiarities of expressing persuasiveness in Demosthenes’ Philippics» at the III Pan-Ukrainian scientific readings with the participation of young scientists «Philology of the beginning of the XXI century: traditions and innovation»
Grants and awards
Full-Scholarship at the International Academy Vivarium Novum (Frascati, RM, Italy) for the Study of Ancient Greek and Latin Languages, Ancient Greek and Roman Literature, Ancient Philosophy, History and Culture (with all the subjects being fully taught either in Latin or in Ancient Greek); for the Study of Special Courses held by acknowledged visiting professors within the Academy’s Superior Studies Programme, e.g. Plato’s Timaeus by Prof. Franco Ferrari, Spinoza’s Ethica by Prof. Filippo Mignini, Renaissance Cosmology by Prof. Miguel Angel Granada etc.
1st place at the University Contest for Classics
Mitacs Globalink Research Internship for the project «Associations in the Western Roman Provinces (I BCE – IV CE)» led by Professor Richard Ascough (Queen's University, Kingston) [declined]
2-time National Ukrainian Olympiad Winner for School Students in Modern Greek