Strong Women of the Ancient Mediterranean World
Call for proposals for an Online Seminar Series
September-December 2026
Title: Strong Women of the Ancient Mediterranean World and their Reception
Organisers: Anastasia Bakogianni (Massey University, New Zealand) and Martina Treu (IULM University, Milan, Italy)
Online series sponsored by the EuGeStA Network in collaboration with the Australasian Women in Ancient World Studies (AWAWS) and The Imagines Project.
This online series of meetings brings together scholars and practitioners from both hemispheres to discuss the stories of ancient historical and fictional women who inspire them and their work. We invite speakers to problematise the concept of what a 'strong' woman means to them, and how our ideas about the position and roles of women, gender and female agency have evolved over time. In turn this affects how we receive, interact with and adapt these ancient female figures and their stories.
Each speaker will reflect on their chosen ancient woman/women or group, as a launchpad for a wider examination of the impact of ancient women in recent scholarship and/or in a variety of modern media (including but not limited to the stage, screen and the visual arts). Speakers can choose to focus on the ancient material but must engage with recent scholarly debates on questions of gender, and/or diversity. Practitioners are particularly welcome to present their creative receptions of these ancient female figures, partnering up with a scholar or by themselves with a scholar as a respondent to foster dialogue and the exchange of ideas.
We welcome proposals from interested scholars, postgraduates and practitioners (a title and a short abstract of 200-300 words) by 6th of January. Collaborations between researchers and between scholars and practitioners are most welcome.
Since our goal is to bring together people from both hemispheres, we aim to preserve a balance in terms of numbers between northern and southern speakers. We envisage a seminar series of between 10 and 12 speakers, with around 2 speakers, plus a chair/respondent per session. Dates and times to be decided after the selection of abstracts has been completed.
Southern Hemisphere contact: