Peace, war and conflict in the ancient world

The workshop plans to examine the following questions:

• What theories of the origin of conflict, or suggestions for conflict-avoidance, do we find in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds?
• What was the relation in ancient thought between war and other fields of activity? Was war useful for the ancients to think with for other practical and evaluative questions?
• Do we find concepts and considerations from other fields deployed in reasoning about war?
• Do we find attempts to de-centralise war in ancient literature, historiography, philosophy, or all three?

Speakers will be drawn from a range of disciplines, including Greek philosophy, literature, the history of democracy and historiography.

Programme

9.30-10.30:  Nicolas Wiater
"Metaphors of War in Polybius' Historical Narrative".

10.30: tea/coffee (S3)

11.00-12.00: Jon Hesk
"The Rhetoric of War and Peace. Folk Psychology and Behavioural Economics in Demosthenes".

12.00-12.40: Alice König
"The Militarism(s) of Livy's Peace Lessons".

12.40: lunch (S3)

1.30-2.30: Consuelo Martino
"Just War or Just Empire? War, Moral Legitimacy, and Imperialism in Roman Imperial Historiography".

3.00-4.00: Mehmet Erginel
"Plato on the Sources of Conflict".

4.10-4.50: Alex Long
"War-readiness and Plato's incomplete Atlantis story".

Registration

Please email [email protected] by 1 May 2026 if you plan to attend, noting any dietary requirements.