University of Crete to host international workshop on Cicero’s De Amicitia

An international scientific workshop titled ‘New Perspectives on Cicero’s De Amicitia’ will be held on October 2 and 3, 2026, at the University of Crete’s School of Philosophy.

Co-organized by Georgia Tsouni of the University of Crete and Sean McConnell of the University of Otago, the event will examine various aspects of Cicero’s seminal work on friendship. The workshop will feature international academics from institutions including Columbia University, the University of Bonn, the Ionian University, Dartmouth College, the University of Florida, Princeton University, and Durham University.

The discussions aim to explore the evolution of the concept of friendship from Homeric epics and Platonic philosophy through Aristotelian and Stoic thought, ultimately focusing on how Cicero integrated these perspectives into the Roman political and value framework of the late Republic.