Annual Vassiliadis Lecture

Taking their starting point from Fergus Millar’s petition and response model, scholars of Late Antiquity have tended to focus on petitions in the strict sense of the word. Letters, however, were another important way of influencing official decisions. This paper studies the epistolary collection of Libanius of Antioch (ca. 314-393 A.D.) to examine how letters could be used to lobby emperors.

Guest Speaker: Lieve Van Hoof is Professor of Ancient History & Classics at Ghent University, Belgium.

Bio: Her publications include monographs on Plutarch and on late antique historiography, and an edited volume on Libanius.

Host or Publisher Institute of Arts & Humanities