CFP: Nostos: Homecoming in the Ancient World

CALL FOR PAPERS

Nostos: Homecoming in the Ancient World

Nostos means homecoming in ancient Greek and is a foundational concept throughout the ancient Greek and Roman world ranging from Homer’s Odyssey, the epic tale of Odysseus’ nostos after the Trojan War returning to his home as a hero who survived many trials to the Nostoi or cyclic poems which figure prominently in Vergil’s Aeneid. This volume aims to explore the philological, literary, and philosophical meaning of nostos through various perspectives by recourse to ancient Greek and Roman texts. We welcome papers on any aspect of nostos, including nostos in Greek and Roman epic poetry, the historical provenance of the nostoi as a literary genre, nostos in Greek tragedy, and the role of nostos as a feminine experience, such as the figure of Penelope, or the women in Sappho’s poetry, or the women in the tragedies of Euripides. We welcome submissions on the texts of, including but not limited to: Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, Sappho, Presocratic/Post-Hesiodic philosophers, Greek tragedy and comedy, Plato, Aristotle, Neoplatonism, and Hellenistic philosophy and poetry.

Submissions should be 6000-8000 words inclusive of footnotes and bibliography (Chicago style) and include a 300-word abstract of the paper.

Send submissions by January 15, 2026 to: [email protected]