After the Fall: Classical Antiquity in Polish Intellectual History, 1795–1825

After the Fall examines the Polish reception of Greco-Roman antiquity. Set against the backdrop of the loss of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth’s independence after 1795, which prompted a rethinking of Polish intellectual traditions related to antiquity, it explores how this process was influenced by a vision of antiquity emerging in Britain, France, and other European countries from the mid-eighteenth century. The book shows how this interpretation, linked to the development of philology, ancient history, and the history of philosophy, involved constructing the past anew to better serve the contemporary needs of the Polish intellectual elite.