International Conference

June 6-8, 2024

Call for papers

In 1994, Ileana Chirassi Colombo organized an international conference on “Sibyls and Oracular Languages” at the University of Macerata, gathering ancient historians, medievalists, and modernists. The conference opened fruitful avenues of research at the intersection of history, history of religions, and anthropology. One of the intriguing issues was the peculiar localization of a Sibyl in the Umbrian-Marche Apennines, which gave its name to Mount Sibyl and the Sibillini Mountains. In the following years, research on this theme multiplied, and the Apennine Sibyl became the focal point of vibrant studies, but also generated a great deal of pseudo-scientific literature.

To provide an updated overview and with the aim of exploring original research paths, thirty years later the University of Macerata intends to organize a conference on sibylline, prophetic, and oracular themes. The investigation will encompass literary and iconographic sources to explore, from a Euro-Mediterranean perspective, the multifaceted world of oracular language as well as the use of prophecy from ancient to contemporary times, according to an interdisciplinary and comparative approach. The conference will also examine medieval, modern, and contemporary rewritings of sibylline or oracular themes, both in texts and images.

Some examples of research topics:

–       Sibyls in the Greek and Roman world

–       Oracular centres in the ancient world

–       Hebrew prophecy

–       Medieval Latin sibylline literature

–       The canon of Varro/Lactantius

–       The canon of Filippo Barbieri

–       Medieval sibylline legends

–       The use of prophecy in ancient, medieval, and modern times

–       The reception of Sibyls and oracles in contemporary literature and art

–       The use of sibylline prophecies in public inscriptions

–       Gender in the oracular and prophetic world

–       Sibylline iconography

–       Prophetic iconography

–       Sibyls and sibyl literature in 19^th and 20^th-century historiography

Organizers: Giuseppe Capriotti, Jessica Piccinini (University of Macerata)

Scientific Committee: Maurizio Bettini, Patrizia Castelli, Monica Centanni, Claudia Cieri Via, Maurizio Giangiulio, Silvia Romani, Salvatore Settis.

An abstract of 200 words in a word file for a 20-minute presentation in Italian or English along with a short bio (50 words max) should be submitted by October 31, 2023, to the organizers:

giuseppe.capriotti@unimc.it, jessica.piccinini@unimc.it.