International Conference: ‘What is Roman about Roman Philosophy?’
April 12-14, 2027
Birkbeck, University of London
Call for papers
We invite graduate and postgraduate students, as well as established researchers, to submit proposals of original papers to be published in the proceedings of the conference. Proposals should include full name and academic affiliation, an email address, an abstract (maximum 500 words), and an indication of the thematic axis under which the paper falls. Please send proposals and a short CV to c.edwards@bbk.ac.uk by 30 September 2026. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Proposals should engage with the conference’s objectives and thematic axes, outlined below:
Roman philosophy has long been studied as the Latin reception and adaptation of the Classical Greek heritage. Latin authors quoted Greek texts pervasively and shaped their intellectual culture in the image of their Greek predecessors, while Greek-speaking philosophers — whether pagan, Jewish or Christian — were more reluctant to admit knowledge of Latin or to quote Latin sources. Greek philosophy and Jewish thought have thus often been treated as ideal types with no connection to contemporary Rome and its politics.
This conference, part of the ERC project ROMANA – The Roman Turn among Jews, Greek Pagans and Christians (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), challenges the assumption of an unbridgeable divide and seeks instead to identify the specific features of Roman philosophy that, in turn, shaped Greek thought in the imperial age. We focus on the first centuries BCE and CE, when the Republic gave way to the Empire and new infrastructures of communication and power emerged. Rather than searching for echoes of Classical Greek philosophy in Latin authors such as Cicero, Lucretius and Seneca, we aim to explore their innovative reinterpretations of the Greek heritage as well as altogether new approaches arising from the Roman context, with its distinctive culture, political institutions and thriving jurisprudence. Stoicism was not simply preserved in its Classical form but fundamentally reshaped to suit the reality of Rome, while Cynicism saw a revival whose implications have not yet been fully appreciated. Greek-speaking philosophers who came to Rome — Philo, Plutarch, Epictetus — will be examined for signs of their engagement with a distinctly Roman philosophy.
Thematic axes
We welcome proposals that engage with one or more of the following topics and research questions:
1. Roman Philosophy and Roman Jurisprudence
While much work has traced how Greek philosophy shaped the Roman legal system, only recently have scholars begun to ask how Roman legal structures and categories, in turn, shaped moral and philosophical discourse. Seneca’s juridical imagery, Epictetus’ legal vocabulary of agency and freedom, and Philo’s four books on Jewish law all attest this entanglement. What role did specific legal concepts play in philosophical texts, and how did Greek-speaking authors — Epictetus, Philo, Paul, Plutarch, Josephus — engage with Roman jurisprudence?
2. Roman Philosophy and Roman Politics
As the Republic gave way to Empire, the reconfiguration of authority and personal agency profoundly shaped philosophical reflection. Cicero, Seneca, Paul and Philo articulated models of exemplarity and of what it meant to live well in a Roman world, while Musonius Rufus, Plutarch and Epictetus addressed autonomy, benefaction and the obligations of power. How did imperial power shape ethical ideals, and can Roman philosophy be read as a translation of political into ethical concepts?
3. Cynicism in Rome
Now recognised as a distinct intellectual current alongside Stoicism, Cynicism saw a revival in Rome. This axis reassesses how Cynic attitudes toward the individual, education, law, power and urban life challenged imperial norms and offered alternative models of ethical living — and how Cynicism may have catalysed broader redefinitions of philosophy, especially Stoicism, under the empire.
4. Thinking Roman in Greek
Tracking the presence of Roman concepts in texts written in Greek poses a particular challenge, one the texts themselves rarely address directly. As the conference’s concluding panel, this axis takes up that concern, central to all our discussions. Indirect traces emerge where Latin articulates concepts for which Greek offers no exact equivalent, as when Cicero remarks that the Greeks have no term encapsulating all the connotations of the Latin vultus (Leg. 1.27). Might the Roman concept of libertas have exerted a pull on the Greek parrhesia? How might Greek notions of arete have been inflected by Roman virtus? And what are the pitfalls of tracking influence across texts written in different languages?
Confirmed speakers
The following speakers have confirmed their participation:
Katharina Volk (Columbia University) — Keynote speaker
Francesca Romana Berno (Sapienza University of Rome)
Caroline Bishop (Texas Tech University)
Margaret Graver (Dartmouth College)
Charles Guérin (Sorbonne University)
Rebecca Langlands (University of Exeter)
Attila Németh (Research Centre for the Humanities, Budapest)
Jordi Pià-Comella (University of Neuchâtel)
Gretchen Reydams-Schils (University of Notre Dame)
John Sellars (Royal Holloway, University of London)
Barnaby Taylor (University of Oxford)
Organizing committee
Catharine Edwards (Birkbeck, University of London)
Maren R. Niehoff (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Sergio Marín (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Travel grants
A limited number of travel grants will be awarded on the basis of financial need. Applicants who wish to be considered should indicate this in their proposal.
Note: this is not a Classical Association event – please contact the organisers directly with any enquiries.