Symposium Cumanum, June 23-26, 2026
Vergil and Animal Studies
Co-Directors: Kris Fletcher (Louisiana State University) and Sanjaya Thakur (Colorado College).
Animal studies is a vibrant and growing interdisciplinary area, and Classicists have contributed their fair share, with such varied and valuable works as the edited volumes Pecus: Man and Animal in Antiquity (B. Santillo Frizell, 2004), The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life (G. Campbell, 2014), and Speaking Animals in Ancient Literature (H. Schmalzgruber, 2020).
Although such books and other works have addressed some aspects of the non-human animals in Vergil’s poetry, primarily in the similes of the Aeneid and in the Georgics more generally, the subject invites new attention in light of ongoing theoretical developments.
Animal studies encompasses varied approaches to considering what we learn about humanity by examining animals as companions, allies, tools, religious offerings, family members, and food. It also invites consideration of the ethics of how people treat non-human animals, and the differences between such animals in the wild and in captivity. Ultimately, animal studies encourages us to take animals seriously, to examine the connections and relationships between humans and non-human animals, and even to consider what—if anything—separates humans from non-human animals.
This symposium invites abstracts for papers treating some aspect of the treatment of non-human animals in Vergil’s world or in the reception of Vergil.
Possible topics include (but are not limited to):
- The role of animal sacrifice in Vergil’s poetry, and the depiction of humans as animal sacrifice in the Aeneid.
- The role of animal/human hybrids such as Harpies, the Minotaur, and Anubis in the Aeneid.
- Vergil’s treatment of animals as a product or reflection of his philosophical background.
- Animals in visual depictions of scenes from Vergil.
- Vergil’s description of the ancient Mediterranean in light of recent zooarchaeological developments.
- How Vergil’s poetry reflects and shapes the changing meanings of animals in Rome relative to Greece and the Near East.
- The nature of the bird metamorphoses in the pseudo-Vergilian Ciris.
Confirmed speakers include Sergio Casali (Roma Tor Vergata), Nandini Pandey (Johns Hopkins), Joseph D. Reed (Brown), Richard Thomas (Harvard).
Papers will be 20 minutes long with time for discussion. The schedule will also include visits to select sites nearby. Meals and housing will be at the Villa Vergiliana. There will be a fee to cover registration, room, and board. Abstracts (of no more than 500 words) are due by January 5, 2026 and should be sent to both of the organizers.
