Twelfth International Congress

Plutarch and his Contemporaries: Sharing the Roman Empire

12th International Congress of the International Plutarch Society
3-6 September 2020, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw, Poland
Postponed to 2-5 September 2021 and held remotely


Organizing Committee: Katarzyna Jazdzewska, Joanna Komorowska, Filip Doroszewski

Plutarch lived in the multicultural yet increasingly interconnected world of the Roman empire: a world in which diverse local, linguistic, religious, and political identities were combined with a common education and culture as well as shared everyday experiences. This sense of interconnectedness is apparent in Plutarch’s works in a number of ways, such as in the inclusion of speakers from various backgrounds in dialogues and the exploration of Roman history and culture alongside that of Greece. There is an abundance of parallels between Plutarch and other imperial-period writers with backgrounds that differed from his, reflecting their shared cultural participation. This conference seeks to discuss Plutarch’s works within the broader context of imperial-period literature and to explore overlaps and points of intersection between Plutarch and other ancient authors of the 1st and 2nd c. CE, including Greek and Roman as well as pagan and Christian writers (including, for instance, Dio Chrysostom, Arrian, and Lucian; Seneca, Quintilian, the two Plinies; Christian apologists and the early Church Fathers). We welcome contributions of a comparative nature investigating convergences and variations, parallels and modifications in themes, formats, and literary techniques in Plutarch and other authors of the early empire. We also invite submissions reflecting on the value and potential of such a perspective: does it allow us to identify the cultural and literary background Plutarch and other authors shared and distinguish it from their individualizing modifications, agendas, and preoccupations? To what extent does it allow us to define distinctive features of the Plutarchan corpus and thought? And, more generally, how does a comparative approach contribute to our understanding of the literary and intellectual culture of the early imperial period? Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: philosophical and religious concepts and ideas; use of literary motifs, topoi, and exempla; use of genres, literary formats, rhetorical and narrative strategies; stylistic and linguistic characteristics and tendencies; attitudes towards Rome and Roman domination; attitudes towards the Greek past and its cultural heritage.

Please send abstracts of 300 words in Word or PDF format to plutarch2020@gmail.com before the deadline of December 1, 2019. Membership in the International Plutarch Society is not required.

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