8th Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Hellenic Heritage of Sicily and Southern Italy “Sōma kai Psychē —Mind and body”

Eighth Interdisciplinary Symposium

on the Hellenic Heritage of Sicily and Southern Italy

“Sōma kai Psychē —Mind and body”

Exedra Mediterranean Center

Exedra Mediterranean Center, Syracuse, Sicily, May 31-June 3, 2023

With a pre-conference Seminar on Hippocrates, May 30 and a post-conference tour to Agrigento and the Temple of Asclepius, June 4-5

The nature of and relationship between mind and body in ancient Greek culture is a topic that unites history, literature, philosophy, drama, and material culture. It touches on issues of gender, embodiment, medicine, gymnastics, religion, eschatology, personal identity, and more. Artists sought to reveal the soul of their subjects by depicting bodies in certain ways. Philosophers understood concepts like aretē in mental and physical terms, e.g., as the health of the soul. Ancient medicine, based on the concept of isonomy, developed a holistic understanding in which health was seen as a balance of organic and psychological functions. Drama used the bodies of actors to communicate social and political ideals. The goal of this conference is to bring together scholars from various disciplines and perspectives to explore the relationship of mind and body in ancient Greece, especially in the Hellenic culture of ancient Sicily and Southern Italy.

Our conference takes place at the Exedra Mediterranean Center in Syracuse, Sicily—the cultural center of Western Greece known by Epicharmus, Empedocles, Plato, Aeschylus, Sappho, Theocritus, Archimedes, Cicero and many others.  It includes guided tours of local archaeological and cultural sites, communal meals, and the possibility to witness live performances in the ancient Greek theater by the National Institute for Ancient Drama.  An optional pre-conference seminar on Hippocrates, and a post-conference tour of Greek Sicily is also planned.

Space in the conference is limited; abstracts will be selected by blind review. The official languages of the conference are English and Italian– though the vast majority of participants have historically been Anglophone. Proposals for individual paper presentations and panel discussions related to any aspect of topic are welcome, especially those that mention Sicily and Southern Italy. Abstracts for papers should be 150-300 words in length and prepared for blind review in .docx or .rtf format (not .pdf).  Proposals for panel discussions should include contact information for all participants.  Presentation times range from 20 minutes for individual papers to 90 minutes for panel discussions.  Abstracts received by November 15, 2022 will be considered for early acceptance.  Final deadline for abstracts is February 15, 2023. Selected proceedings will be published in our series, The Heritage of Western Greece, which is indexed in JSTOR.

Please send abstracts and direct questions to Heather L. Reid at [email protected]

Details on the pre-conference symposium, as well as the Post-conference tour will be posted in due course on fontearetusa.org. We look forward to welcoming you and offering our hospitality in beautiful Syracuse, the heart ofWestern Greece.