Ancient Emotions is a collaborative project initiative between the Departments of Philology at the University of Crete and the University of Patras, Greece. The aim of the project is to investigate the history of emotions in antiquity, understood primarily as an integral part of the history of ideas. The project provides a home for interdisciplinary approaches to ancient emotions and explores the interfaces between emotions and significant aspects of ancient literature and culture.
The project holds biannual events in Crete and Patras. It was launched in December 2015, with a conference on the emotion of hope in Crete. In 2017 we organized a conference on Medical understandings of emotions in Patras and in 2019 another conference on Memory and emotions in antiquity. In November 2021 we invited distinguished classicists to discuss reflectively in a webinar the implications of the study of emotions for the field of classics.
Revised versions of the papers read at the Ancient Emotions conferences and events are published by De Gruyter, as Supplementary Volumes in the Trends in Classics series. The present site offers useful information on what we have done so far but it extends beyond that: it wishes to reach out and foster new collaborations with scholars around the world who work on any aspect of ancient emotions. The site will be updated on a regular basis with ‘News” on emotions and the classics, drawing attention to new publications, Calls for Papers, Conferences and workshops. Among its long-standing aims is also to provide a systematic and comprehensive bibliographical database on emotions in the ancient world.