Cupido regnandi:
Lust for Power in the Ancient Mediterranean World
Conference Date: March 28, 2026
Keynote speaker: Dr. Luca Grillo, Professor of Classics at the University of Notre Dame
At the opening of his Georgics, Vergil admonishes Octavian: Nec tibi regnandi veniat tam dira cupido (“May such a frightful lust for ruling not come to you!” 1.37). To be sure, the ancient Mediterranean world produced some of the earliest and most vivid accounts of the horrors and allurements of political strongmen. Often discontented citizens, failed institutions, and imbalanced relationships between elites and the masses lie at the heart of these moments of populist turmoil. Ambitious leaders have always sought power by testing or outright violating established laws and norms. In extreme cases, these dynamics have led to the collapse of political systems, civil unrest, and open warfare.
The 2026 Graduate Student Conference at BU’s Department of Classical Studies seeks to examine how literary sources theorized and remembered the polarizing personalities of tyrants, demagogues, and usurpers from the Greek archaic period to the twilight of antiquity.
