Modes of Reasoning in Ancient Historiography: Towards a Poetics of Causality – A conference in honour of Stephen Oakley
17-19 September 2026
Faculty of Classics, Cambridge
All are welcome; no registration is necessary but a note to Chris Whitton (clw36@cam.ac.uk) would be appreciated for catering purposes.
Provisional programme:
Thursday 17 September, 11am-6pm
Welcome – Emily Gowers
Towards a poetics of causality – Ingo Gildenhard and Chris Whitton
The trapped priors of Philip V – David Levene
Contested exemplarity as historical causation in Livy: the story of Marcus Manlius Capitolinus – Luca Beltramini
Cause and effect in Livy 9.22 – Christina Kraus
Interpreting discontinuity in Livy 30 – Andrew Feldherr Curtius’ causalities: modes of reasoning in the Historiae Alexandri Magni – Andreas Ammann 6pm Drinks reception in the Cast Gallery
Friday 18 September, 9.30am-6pm
‘Fac !’ (motto of a family in Balzac): authors and readers as causal agents in Polybius – Gregory Hutchinson Intellectual versus experiential modes of reasoning in Classical and Hellenistic Greek historiography – Lisa Hau Revision and exculpation in the Theramenes Papyrus (P. Mich. 5982) – Daniel Sutton
‘How do you solve’ – and how did you get – ‘a problem like Coriolanus?’ Dionysius, Livy, and Plutarch – Chris Pelling
Duelling detectives: cracking cases with Tacitus and Tiberius – Rhiannon Ash Death by intertextuality – Simon Malloch From ratio to ultio: Tacitus’ causae – Cynthia Damon
Seneca culpatus: causation via intratext and intertext in the Neronian Annals – George Pliotis
Saturday 19 September, 9.30am-12.45pm
The power of narrative sequence in ancient historiography – Sebastian Tyrrall Historicizing space in Greek and Roman historiography – Tim Rood ‘The fear of the enemy’: the development of an explanatory trope in historiography – Peter Martin
Note: this is not a Classical Association event – please contact the organisers directly with any enquiries.