Honour, Justice and Law. Approaches to the Anonymus Iamblichi

The so-called ‘Anonymus Iamblichi’ is an unnamed Greek author from the late fifth or early fourth century BCE whose work has been partly preserved in the form of seven extensive citations in Iamblichus’ Protreptikos. He stands out as one of the very few examples of a sophistic thinker whose ideas and arguments can be reconstructed on the basis of the substantial preservation of his own writings, as opposed to the indirect report of later authors. However, despite its philosophical interest and significance for understanding early Greek moral and political thought, the text of the Anonymus Iamblichi has not yet received the scholarly attention it deserves. The envisioned workshop will offer an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars the opportunity to engage in a comprehensive exploration of key aspects of this fascinating but overlooked text and its place in the intellectual, social and political landscape of classical Greece.

Programme:

Monday 24th June

13:00 – 13:30 : Coffee/tea + Welcome

13:30 – 14:30 : Session One

• Speaker: Kleanthis Mantzouranis (Edinburgh), ‘Good and bad philotimia in the Anon. Iambl.’
• Chair: Anthony Hooper (Durham)

14:30 – 15:30 : Session Two

• Speaker: Miriam Peixoto (Minas Gerais), ‘Democritus and the Anonymus Iamblichi: law and justice on the horizon of human experience’
• Chair: Andrea Capra (Durham)

15:30 – 16:00 : Coffee/Tea

16:00 – 17:00 : Session Three

• Speaker: Anders Dahl Sørensen (Durham), ‘Social emotions: Envy and anxiety in the Anonymus Iamblichi’
• Chair: Carlo Cacciatori (Durham)

Dinner

Tuesday 25th June

9:00 – 9:30 : Coffee/Tea

9:30 – 10:30 : Session Four

• Speaker: Jakob Fink (Gothenburg), ‘Anon. Iambl. and ancient protreptic literature’
• Chair: Phillip Horky (Durham)

10:30 – 11:30: Session Five

• Speaker: Merrick Anderson (Princeton), ‘The Moral Philosophy of the Anonymous Iamblichi and its Anonymous Influence: The Defense of Justice and Virtue in the 5th Century and Beyond’
• Chair: Anders Dahl Sørensen (Durham)

11:30 – 12:30 Lunch

12:30 – 13:30: Session Six

• Speaker: Carol Atack (Oxford), ‘Monarchy and law in the Anonymous Iamblichi’
• Chair: Myrthe Bartels (Durham)

13:30 – 14:00 : Concluding remarks