Our Mythical Childhood...

The Reception of Classical Antiquity in Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture in Response to Regional and Global Challenges

Meet the OMC

We are pleased to share short movies from our conferences, workshops, and other activities.


Cum Heracle ad fontes properamus, 2022
A short movie presenting the Schools’ Endeavour “Cum Heracle ad fontes properamus” by “Strumienie” High School in Józefów linked with the publication in the “Our Mythical Childhood” series, edited by Dr Sonya Nevin “Teaching Ancient Greece: Lessons Plans, Animations, and Resources” (University of Warsaw Press, 2023), based on the animations created by Dr Sonya Nevin and Steve K. Simons from Greek vases in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw. The Schools’ Endeavour was carried out within the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant Project “Our Mythical Childhood” (681202) and within the activities of The Cluster: The Past for the Present – International Research and Educational Programme, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw, 2022. Video by Mirosław Kaźmierczak. 

Presentation of the Game “Olympus Ready-to-Wear”
Presentation of a game created by Alessia Borriello and Ludovica Lusvardi. Alessia is a student from the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies at the University of Bologna and in Winter term of 2019/20 accomplished her Erasmus Plus stay at the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” at the University of Warsaw and participated in the Our Mythical Childhood project. Ludovica is a graduate from Fashion Design at Politecnico of Milan and continues her training at the Theatrical Tailoring at Accademia della Scala. Prof. Martina Treu, Department of Humanities, Università IULM, contributed to the presentation by referring to her experience with the game during a workshop she organized for children in Milan in June 2021. The clip ends with a short comment made by Prof. Treu’s son – a participant in the workshop. For more see: http://omc.obta.al.uw.edu.pl/ready-to-wear

"We Are a Family” – Best Moments of the Virtual 2021 Humboldt Colloquium Poland
The Humboldt Colloquium with the motto #AvHBuildingBridges was focused on the role of Humboldtians from Central and Eastern Europe as bridge builders. The virtual conference was sponsored by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the University of Warsaw, and it hosted ca. 150 Humboldtians from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary along with young researchers from these countries who had the opportunity to establish new contacts and share information and exchange expertise. For more see: https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/explore/newsroom/news/we-are-a-family

Naturae cognoscere causas, 2020-2021
A movie presenting the Schools Endeavour “Naturae cognoscere causas” by Bartłomiej Nowodworski I High School in Kraków, Mikołaj Rej XI High School in Warsaw, and “Strumienie” High School in Józefów, carried out within the third stage of the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant Project “Our Mythical Childhood” (681202): “Our Mythical Nature. The Classics and Environmental Issues in Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture”, and within the activities of The Cluster The Past for the Present: International Research and Educational Programme, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw, 2021. Video by Mirosław Kaźmierczak.

Our Mythical History, May 2019
A movie from the conference “Our Mythical History: Children's and Young Adults' Culture in Response to the Heritage of Ancient Greece and Rome", within the Our Mythical Childhood project (ERC Consolidator Grant 681202), May 2019, Centre for Studies on the Classical Tradition (OBTA) and the Cluster: The Past for the Present, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw. Video by Mirosław Kaźmierczak. The animation "Every Soldier" by Sonya Nevin and Steve Simons (Panoply Vase Animation Project), presented during the workshops "Create Your Own Greek Vase", is available with its full credits at http://www.panoply.org.uk/everysoldier.html. For more see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVeEjWSCXD8&

De viris mulieribusque illustribus: ERC Our Mythical Childhood & Schools, May 2019
A movie from the school endeavour “De viris mulieribusque illustribus”: Bartłomiej Nowodworski I High School in Cracow, Mikołaj Rej XI High School in Warsaw, Nicolaus Copernicus University Academic High School in Toruń, and Strumienie High School in Józefów, in cooperation with the Our Mythical Childhood project (ERC Consolidator Grant 681202) and the Cluster: The Past for the Present, May 2019, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw. Panel at Polish Theatre in Warsaw, during the conference “Our Mythical History: Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture in Response to the Heritage of Ancient Greece and Rome”. Video by Mirosław Kaźmierczak. For more see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVECLB5LYKs

The Reception of the Alea iacta est Motif | Katarzyna Marciniak | Locus Ludi Sept 2018
Katarzyna Marciniak at the international conference “Play and Games in Antiquity. Definition–Transmission–Reception” organized in the Musée Suisse du Jeu in la Tour-de-Peilz by Prof. Véronique Dasen and her team within the project “Locus Ludi” (ERC Advanced Grant). For more see http://omc.obta.al.uw.edu.pl/news/78

Scraps of Memory: ERC Our Mythical Childhood & Schools (2018)
A movie from the school endeavour “Scraps of Memory”: 11th Mikołaj Rej High School and Strumienie High School, in cooperation with the Our Mythical Childhood project (ERC Consolidator Grant 681202) and the Cluster: The Past for the Present, in the European Year of Cultural Heritage. May 2018, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw. For more see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOD_yrWw78Q. Video by Michał Janczak (CooronREC).

A Reportage about the Research Cluster: The Past for the Present, 2018
The cluster The Past for the Present – International Research and Educational Programme has been established by the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” of the University of Warsaw, Fakultät für Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà and Dipartimento di Filologia Classica e Italianistica of the Università di Bologna. We aim at developing the studies into the ancient tradition as a marker of transformations underway across the world. A collaboration with schools and dissemination of research results are very important to us. We wish to acknowledge the projects Our Mythical Childhood (ERC Consolidator Grant) and Chasing Mythical Beasts (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Alumni Award) in the developement of our endeavours. Video by Krzysztof Korwin-Piotrowski.

The Present Meets the Pasts: Our Mythical Childhood Workshops, 2018
The workshops The Present Meets the Past within the project Our Mythical Childhood took place in May 14–20, 2018, in the European Year of Cultural Heritage at the Centre for Studies on the Classical Tradition (OBTA), Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw. The workshops included a number of dissemination and society-oriented activities, mainly focused on the collaboration with high schools. For more see: http://www.omc.obta.al.uw.edu.pl/present-past. Video by Mirosław Kaźmierczak.

Our Mythical Education Workshops, 2017
A short movie from the workshops Our Mythical Education in the High School “Strumienie” at the outskirts of Warsaw, with the participation of the Mikołaj Rej XI High School in Warsaw, May 15, 2017, during the conference & workshops Our Mythical Hope in Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture... The (In)efficacy of Ancient Myths in Overcoming the Hardships of Life, within the ERC Consolidator Grant Our Mythical Childhood... The Reception of Classical Antiquity in Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture in Response to Regional and Global Challenges at the Centre for Studies on the Classical Tradition (OBTA), Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw. For more see: http://www.omc.obta.al.uw.edu.pl/hope. Video by BG Multimedia.

Our Mythical Hope Conference, 2017
A clip from the conference Our Mythical Hope in Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture... The (In)efficacy of Ancient Myths in Overcoming the Hardships of Life within the ERC Consolidator Grant Our Mythical Childhood at the Centre for Studies on the Classical Tradition (OBTA), Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw, May 15–21, 2017. For more see: http://www.omc.obta.al.uw.edu.pl/hope. Video by Mirosław Kaźmierczak. We wish also to thank Krzysztof Korwin-Piotrowski for giving us the access to a fragment of his film material.

ERC Week – Our Mythical Childhood and Us, 2017
A “birthday” clip to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the European Research Council with the presentation of the task Animating the Ancient World within the Our Mythical Childhood project. Video by Sonya Nevin and Steve Simons.

Chasing Mythical Beasts, 2016
A movie from the international conference within the research project Chasing Mythical Beasts... The Reception of Creatures from Graeco-Roman Mythology in Children’s & Young Adults’ Culture as a Transformation Marker supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Alumni Award for Innovative Networking Initiatives given to Prof. Katarzyna Marciniak, May 12–15, 2016, at the Centre for Studies on the Classical Tradition (OBTA), Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw. Video by Mirosław Kaźmierczak. For more see: http://mythicalbeasts.obta.al.uw.edu.pl.

Panoply Vase Animation Project, Showreel 2016
A short presentations of the animations prepared by the Panoply Vase Animation Project. Video by Sonya Nevin and Steve Simons.

Artes Liberales Galaxy, 2015
A short presentation of the Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw. Video by Krzysztof Korwin-Piotrowski.

Katarzyna Marciniak – the Laureate of the ERC Grant, 2015
University of Warsaw’s short presentation of the research by Prof. Katarzyna Marciniak – the Principal Investigator of the project Our Mythical Childhood... The Reception of Classical Antiquity in Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture in Response to Regional and Global Challenges, ERC Consolidator Grant. Video by Mirosław Kaźmierczak.

We are pleased to share short movies from the “Iliad” Reading Day 2019.


Homer in Bologna (2019)
Homer’s "Iliad" Day at the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies, University of Bologna within an international event at the initiative of the Festival Européen Latin Grec de Lyon, March 21, 2019.

Homer in Hebrew (2019)
Students from reception class at Bar-Ilan’s Department of Classics perform various scenes from Homer’s “Iliad” in Hebrew. The reading segments are adapted from Avi Aroeti’s Hebrew translation (2012) of the “Iliad”.

Homer in Cameroon
Book VI 369–481: Hector speaks with Andromache, his wife and takes leave for another war. (Conversation reworked by the director for dramatic presentation.) A movie from the Iliad’s reading at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, University of Yaoundé 1, Cameroon. For more see: http://www.omc.obta.al.uw.edu.pl/homer.

Homer in Poland: Hector and Andromache (2019)
A movie from the Iliad’s reading at the Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, February 20, 2019. Video by Mirosław Kaźmierczak.

Homer in Poland: Constantine Cavafy, Trojans (2019)
A movie from the reading of Constantine Cavafy’s poem Trojans, performed by the students of XI Mikołaj Rej High School (tutor: Anna Wojciechowska) and Strumienie High School (tutor: Barbara Strycharczyk), and the students of the Modern Greek curriculum (tutor: Sotirios Karageorgos) at the Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, February 20, 2019. Video by Mirosław Kaźmierczak.

We are pleased to share the movies by the winners in the video school competition “Antiquity–Camera–Action!”


Video Competition Ecology 2020–2021
The movies awarded in the 3rd edition of the video competition for youth “Antiquity–Camera–Action!”. For more see: https://antykkameraakcja.wordpress.com

Video Competition History 2019
"Antiquity - Camera - Action!" 2nd edition Competition Results. For more see: https://antykkameraakcja.wordpress.com.

Video Competition Myth 2018
A list with the short movies of the laureates in the video competition Antiquity–Camera–Action, edition 2018 Myth. For more see: https://antykkameraakcja.wordpress.com.