The application is for a printing grant for a study of the influence of antiquity on Swedish cultural and social life 1780-1850. The focus is on the "creative class" (writers, artists, scholars and political opinion makers). First, the influence of antiquity on the choice of motifs and styles in art is examined. This includes sculpture, painting, architecture and interior design. Then follows a study of the importance of antiquity for the literature of the time, especially poetry and drama. Many writers of the time not only translated ancient poetry as a contribution to the development of Swedish poetry. They also increasingly began to use ancient metrics for their own poetry. They also used ancient poets, ancient genres or individual works as stylistic models. Ancient mythology and ancient rhetoric have left deep traces in Swedish literature of the time. This gives a picture of the importance of antiquity for the universities of the time. Most dissertations of the time were written and defended in Latin and many dealt with ancient subjects. Here, too, there was frequent translation as part of a deeper interpretation of the texts. In the public debate, many references were made to antiquity, both by the royal power and by the opposition. The murder of Gustav III, for example, was inspired by the ancient view of the murder of tyrants. The study leads to a number of conclusions about the nature of the ancient influences, about which aspects of antiquity were referred to and to what extent attitudes to antiquity changed during the era.