On June 21, the signing ceremony and academic lecture for the establishment of the "Classics and Cross-Cultural Studies Center" (Centre d'études classiques et transculturelles, NJU-ENS), jointly founded by Nanjing University and ?cole normale supérieure (ENS), were held in Nanjing. Professor Dong Xiao, Dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Nanjing University, and Professor Daniel Petit from the Department of Classics at ENS signed the cooperation agreement. Gao Fang, Director of the Office of Humanities and Social Sciences at Nanjing University, and Professor Daniel Petit jointly unveiled the plaque for the Center.

The Center plans to publish high-quality translations of classical works to promote the inheritance of classics, establish an internationally recognized platform for academic conferences to lead cutting-edge explorations, enhnce mutual visits and joint research between faculty and students, foster in-depth dialogue, and strive to build the Center into a global hub and benchmark for classical studies and cross-cultural research.

Following the signing ceremony, Daniel Petit delivered a lecture titled "Homeric Epics and Linguistic Analysis," chaired and translated by Professor Xiao Yingying. The lecture aimed to outline the challenges and discoveries in contemporary classical studies related to Homeric linguistics by showcasing the diversity of dialects within the language of the Homeric Epics and the difficulties encountered during the transition from oral composition in the 9th century BCE to the subsequent written transmission of the texts.