13th International Plutarch Society Congress
Plutarch and the Natural World
Abstract
The relationship of mankind to the natural world has always been, and remains, a topic of vital intellectual interest. In the ancient world, the urge to explain puzzling natural phenomena provided a spur to the development of philosophy, historiography and medicine; and Plutarch provides ample evidence that nature remained good to think with under the Roman Empire.
We are interested in papers on all aspects of Plutarch’s thought on the natural world, including but not limited to: explaining natural phenomena; medical matters and the human body; humans and animals; imagery from nature; the natural environment including the earth, the sea, and the heavens; the elements; the gods and the natural world; meteorological and geographical phenomena and their significance; natural development; and natural processes from birth to death.
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From:
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We 11-06-2025
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Until:
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Fr 13-06-2025
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Where:
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Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies - Oude Boteringestraat 38, 9712 SB, Groningen
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Programme: Plutarch and the Natural World
You can download the programme below.
11 June 2025
Afternoon Session
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Time
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Activity
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13:00-14:00
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Inscription and coffee
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14:00-14:10
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Welcome Roig Lanzillotta
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14:10-14:20
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Welcome President IPS Judith Mossman
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14:20-14:30
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Words Delfim Leão BPS
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14:30-15:30
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Plenary Lecture
Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta:
Plutarch and the Gnostic Debate: Cosmos, Nature and Human Being
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15:30-16:00 |
Coffee break
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Time
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A. Nature and Philosophy
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B. Humans and Animals
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C. Natural Imagery
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16:00-16:40
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1. Zdnek Lenner
Connatural Desire and Cosmic Love in Plutarch
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1. Eran Almagor
Man and Nature: A Reading of the Artaxerxes
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1. Therry Oppeneer |
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16:40-17:20
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2. Carlo delle Donne
Plutarch’s Nature, between Demiurgy and Flowing Matter
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2. Sophia Xenophontos
Animal Agency and Plutarch’s Elephants
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2. Julia Doroszewska
Natural Imagery in the Metaphors of Cognition in the Plutarchan Corpus
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17:20-18:00
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3. Pierfran. Musacchio
Nature and Philosophy in Plutarch’s Life of Marius
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3. Anna Paterson
A Taming of a Doe: Animal Presences in Plutarch’s Parallel Lives
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3. Eleni Plati
Reflecting on the Seascape: Metaphors of the Sea in Plutarch’s Thought
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18:00-18:40
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4. Danielle Morrone
Polemical Science in the Vitae: Unpacking Plutarch’s Digressions Involving Air Mechanics and Alterations
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4. Laurens van der Wiel
Plutarch’s Tapeworm
Medical Imagery in De cupiditate divitiarum
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4. Adamantia Katsoula
The Vocabulary of Natural Philosophy in Moralia
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12 June 2025
Morning Session
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Time
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A. Nature and Ethics
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B. Humans and Animals
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C. Natural Imagery
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9:00-9:40
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5. Geert Roskam
The Role of Nature in Plutarch’s Ethical Thinking
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5. Giovanna Pace
Dog imagery in Plutarch
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5. Andrea Catanzaro
Politics Explained in Images: Natural Metaphors in Plutarch's Political Moralia
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9:40-10:20
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6. Katarzyna Jazdzewska
Farming the Soul with Plutarch
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6. Malina Butorovic
The Animal Lives of Human Beings. Plutarch on Character Heredity
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6. Delfim Leão
Harmonizing Humanity and Nature: Plutarch’s Use of Natural Imagery and Metaphors in Advice to Bride and Groom
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10:20-11:00
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7. Alexei Zadorozhny
Up Your Nose: The Phenomenology and Ethics of Smell in Plutarch
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7. Angelina Gerus
A Beehive or a Trojan Horse? Plutarch's Ethical Views and Critiques in Animal Metaphors of the Moralia
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7. Peter Hunt
Natural Politics in Plutarch’s Phocion
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11:00-11:30
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Coffee break
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11:30-12:10
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8. Oresti Karatzoglou
Not Simply a Metaphor? Plutarch’s Domestication Imagery and the Self- Domestication Theory
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8. Win Nijs
No More War Pigs Have the Power. Plutarch on Fighting Animals and Frenzied Warriors
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8. Elsa Simonetti
Plutarch on Earthquakes
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12:10-12:50
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9. Joaquim Pinheiro
Examples of παρὰ φύσιν actions in Plutarch’s Moralia
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9. Anna Ginestí Rossel
The Friendship of Animals
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9. Michele Lucchesi
Springs of water in Plutarch’s Parallel Lives
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13:00-14:30
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Lunch
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14:30-15:30
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Business meeting
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Afternoon Session
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15:30-16:00
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Walk to the Boat City Tour
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16:00-18:00
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Excursion: Boat City Tour
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19:00-21:00
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Festive Dinner To be announced
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13 June 2025
Morning Session
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Time
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B. Humans and Animals
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C. Natural World and Battle
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9:00-9:40
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10. Maria Vamvouri
Heat, wetness and moralism in Plutarch
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10. Jonathan Young
Animals as Religious Beings in Plutarch’s De sollertia animalium
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10. Filip Doroszewski
Lord of the wilderness. The natural world on the side of Spartacus’ uprising in Plutarch’s Crassus
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9:40-10:20
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11. Mark Beck
Plutarch on Incense, Health, and Disease in Ancient Egyptian Practice: On Isis and Osiris 383A-384
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11. Lien van Geel
Coiling across the Lives: Snakes and Maternal Presence in Plutarch
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11. Susan Jacobs
Natural Phenomena and Battle Outcomes in the Lives:
Eclipses and Storms as Indicators of Fortune and Challenges for Generals
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10:20-11:00
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12. Michiel Meeusen
Plutarch’s Drinking Problem: Quaestiones Convivales 7.1 in Context
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12. Tomás Castro
Animals and Humans in Relation to the Gods:
Plutarch on the Possibilities of Reciprocity
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12. Michael Paschalis
Battlefields in Plutarch’s Lives
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11:00-11:30
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Coffee break
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11:30-12:10
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13. Stephan Hill
Cato the Hydra-Slayer:
Operating on the Body Politic in Plutarch’s Life of Cato the Elder
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13. Jan Migenda
Plutarch on Animals
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13. Sandra Plaza Salguero
Metamorphosis and the Natural World in Plutarch’s and Ps.-Plutarch’s Treatises
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12:10-12:50
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14. Lisette Verhoeven
A Perfect Harmony: Where Nature and Marriage Meet
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14. Zoe Stamatopoulou
Interpreting the Portent of the Centaur in Plutarch’s Symposium of the Seven Sages
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14. Serena Citro
Nature as a Mirror of Government: Natural Images in Plutarch's Regum et Imperatorum Apophthegmata
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13:00-14:30 |
Lunch |
Afternoon Session
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14:30-15:30
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Plenary Lecture
Judith Mossman:
‘If I could talk to the animals . . .’: Plutarch, Animal Speech and Human Nature
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You can download the programme via the button below:
| Last modified: | 14 April 2025 5.21 p.m. |