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"The inescapable and regrettable fact about ancient historians, according to much of the scholarship, is that they made things up" (Haynes: 29). Since Hayden White's 1973 Metahistory, it has been widely recognized that literary historians emplot their texts, crafting stories about the past along generic lines. A growing body of scholarship has examined Tacitus' use of epic (e.g. Joseph, Jacobs), theatrical (e.g. Keitel, Pomeroy), and philosophical (e.g. Olshausen, Turpin) material in the Annals and the Histories.

Omnium consensu, capax imperii, nisi imperasset. This dictum from Tacitus’ obituary of Galba (Histories 1.49) has mostly attracted attention for its conditional statement (e.g. Heubner, Damon). In addition, the phrase capax imperii was taken up by Sir Ronald Syme and others to address the concept of “could-have-been” emperors (Syme 1955, 1958, and 1979, Benario). Omnium consensu, on the other hand, has received scant attention.

Apuleius’ interest in Platonic myth in the Metamorphoses is a well-established topos in

scholarship. This presentation will interpret Apuleius’ Metamorphoses as engaging with Plato’s

didactic and philosophical exercise of inserting muthoi into his dialogues and working within a

similar framework, albeit on a larger scale. Tilg (2014) has reconciled the work’s comic and

philosophical elements, applying the designation of a ‘philosophical novel,’ Ulrich (2020) and

Scholars have long noted the prevalence of elements of quotidian realism in Apuleius' novel (Bradley. 2000; Millar. 1981; Callebat. 1968): the perspective of the donkey, the lowliest beast of burden, opens up a window onto a world of slaves, gardeners, barbers and cooks whose lives are seldom seen in such detail. Yet the space that the novel gives to these figures of quotidian Roman experience is not limited to human subjects -- but extends to the everyday objects against which these lowlifes might be seen to measure their object-status.

The focus of this paper is to explore the meaning of the pantomime of the judgment of Paris at the end of Book X of The Metamorphoses (Met.10.29-34) and to connect this to a systematic reading of the narrative as a whole. I will argue that the location of and authorial commentary within this scene position it as a thematic climax of the first ten books, and, consequently, render this a vital section for understanding Apuleius’ authorial values.

This paper presents a postcolonial reading of the figure of the witch Pamphile in Book 3 of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses through an examination of the ways in which Pamphile both adheres to and breaks the Roman literary stereotype of the witch. Recent work on postcolonial theory in Apuleius exemplifies the fruitfulness of applying these theoretical frameworks to Apuelieus’ writings (Lee, Finkelpearl, Graverini, eds. 2014).

The story of Thelyphron in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses (2.21-30), told as an imbedded tale within the larger narrative, has been variously analyzed as, e.g., a combination of three separate earlier tales (Perry. 1929), a story unified by the elaborate wordplay of the narrative (Murgatroyd. 2004), a tale foreshadowing the transformation of the narrator, Lucius, into as ass at Metamorphoses 3.24 (Sandy. 1973; Murgatroyd. 2001), and one of twelve tales in the Metamorphoses featuring a “spoiled marriage” (Lateiner. 2000).

Over the last 8 years, I have been teaching college-level courses in Classics to incarcerated men in medium and maximum-security prisons. Our discussions, particularly regarding Homer and Greek tragedy, have invariably proven to be a springboard for addressing the burning social, ethical and human issues that pertain to these men’s lives before, during and after their release from prison.

Ending poverty is essential in ensuring social justice (United Nations, n.d., b). Although poverty eradication is the first of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, n.d. a), poverty figures have increased worldwide in the last few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and new armed conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine (United Nations, n.d., a; World Bank Group 2020: 21).

The Myth and Voice Initiative: Storytelling for Communities is a cross-departmental enrichment project ran collaboratively by students and staff at Royal Holloway University of London. Aimed at schools, youth environments, community groups and other interested voluntary settings, the project comprises of a series of informal participatory workshops based on select Greek myths. We foster collective re-imaginings of ancient mythical narratives to encourage self-development, inspire active citizenship and support community-building.