Epos 2024

The epic in the Latin Occident (4th to 15th century)

Tenth International Medieval Latin Congress, Nuremberg, City Library (Katharinensaal) and Department of Economics and Social Sciences at FAU, Lange Gasse 20

Wednesday, September 25 to Saturday, September 28, 2024

Tradition and topicality of a theme

Stories of heroic deeds, crimes and personal and collective tragedies have become sadly topical since the resurgence of war in Europe. The International Congress in Nuremberg was focused on the genre that for many centuries turned such stories into literature, the Latin epic in Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. What was the content of epics? Not just the glorification of admirable figures from myth and history in euphonious verse, often following ancient authors such as Virgil, who continued to be widely read, commented on and translated. The epics often offered a critical examination of the heroes and their adversaries, which appeals to us because they question the martial aspect as a value and a means. The epic was also used for religious and educational purposes.

International speakers

The International Medieval Latin Congress was returning to Germany for the first time since 1988 after stops in Florence, Toronto, Vienna and Prague, among other places. Top researchers from Europe and overseas (Canada, USA) appeared in Nuremberg and presented the results of their work for discussion.

Scholarships were offered for younger researchers.

Programmkomitee

Prof. Dr. Michele C. Ferrrari (Erlangen),Chairman

Prof. Dr. Peter Orth (Cologne)

Akad. Dir. Dr. Stefan Weber (Erlangen)

Christian Schmidt, contact person and congress manager

Organizer

Chair of Latin Philology of the Middle Ages and Modern Times (Prof. Dr. Michele C Ferrari) at the FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg

Co-organizer: City of Nuremberg, Nuremberg City Library

Sponsorship

The conference was sponsored by the Manfred Roth Stiftung and the Universitätsbund.

The conference was also supported by the FAU Nuremberg-Erlangen, the Luise Prell Stiftung, the Evangelical Reformed Church of St. Martha, the Staatsbibliothek Bamberg and HWB Mittellatein.