The Centre for Classical Studies, in collaboration with Sapienza Università di Roma, is organising an international conference to celebrate the bimillenary birth of Pliny the Elder. Taking place in Lisbon (October 19-20, 2023) and Rome (November 9-10, 2023), the conference aims to examine Pliny’s Natural History in three areas that frequently intersect and at times blur together—medicine, magic, and religion—from antiquity to the modern age.

Both conferences will feature the participation of experts in Pliny’s work and the three areas of the congress, totaling approximately 40 participants from seven countries, with the hope that this will be a landmark event in Plinian studies and serve as inspiration for the future.

Organising Committee: Gabriel Silva (University of Lisbon), Giorgio Ferri (Sapienza University of Rome), Paolo Garofalo (University of Lisbon)

The Centre for Classical Studies, in collaboration with Sapienza Università di Roma, is organising an international conference to celebrate the bimillenary birth of Pliny the Elder. Taking place in Lisbon (October 19-20, 2023) and Rome (November 9-10, 2023), the conference aims to examine Pliny’s Natural History in three areas that frequently intersect and at times blur together—medicine, magic, and religion—from antiquity to the modern age.

Both conferences will feature the participation of experts in Pliny’s work and the three areas of the congress, totaling approximately 40 participants from seven countries, with the hope that this will be a landmark event in Plinian studies and serve as inspiration for the future.

Organising Committee: Gabriel Silva (University of Lisbon), Giorgio Ferri (Sapienza University of Rome), Paolo Garofalo (University of Lisbon)

From the Egyptian god Harpocrates – mentioned, among others, by Plutarch, Catullus, Ovid, Augustine, and Politian – to the Roman goddesses Angerona and Tacita, from the God-Logos of the Gospel of John to Jesus’ silence in reply to the accusations levelled against him in Mark 14,60, from the rare silences of the usually talkative gods and goddesses of the Homeric poems to the “Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe [who] chose to be silent” – because of its inexistence, death or temporary absence – on the first night when Elie Wiesel arrived at Auschwitz, the history of literature is rich in examples of the relation between gods and silence.
What this short list suggests is that the intertwining of the notion of “divinity” and the notion of “silence” is extremely rich and multifaceted, both notions being affected by subjective and cultural variability as well as by conceptual oscillations. It is precisely that richness and multifariousness that “The Silence of (the) God(s) International Conference” aims to explore through the prism of literary, comparative, and philosophical studies.

Promovendo a reflexão crítica em torno da recepção da Antiguidade Greco-Latina nas Literaturas Portuguesa, Brasileira e dos Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa, o Centro de Estudos Clássicos da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa organiza a sétima edição do colóquio A LITERATURA CLÁSSICA OU OS CLÁSSICOS NA LITERATURA: PRESENÇAS CLÁSSICAS NAS LITERATURAS DE LÍNGUA PORTUGUESA com o propósito de discutir e confrontar ideias acerca da reconfiguração temática, dos valores, do imaginário e das obras clássicas, bem como das personagens, cultura literária e poética, história e ficção gregas e latinas, atendendo a diversas cronologias e diferentes lugares onde se escreve português.

As comunicações têm a duração de 20 minutos.

Comissão Organizadora

Coordenação: Cristina Pimentel e Paula Morão

Joana Augusto Veiga

Ricardo Nobre

Rui Carlos Fonseca