Subversive Motherhood and the Roman Revolution
Eugesta Workshop
12-14 November 2025, online
Organizers: Sara Borrello (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia) & Simona Martorana (The Australian National University)
Program
N.B.: Session times on the program are CET.
12 November
(6:45-9:00 am GMT = 7:45-10:00 am CET = 5:45-8:00 pm AEDT = 7:45-10:00 pm NZDT)
Zoom Details:
https://anu.zoom.us/j/89937962714?pwd=tM5JKtRQpKb8wunP29zRJo0CSR7wUv.1
Meeting ID: 899 3796 2714
Password: 489927
Chair: Simona Martorana
7:45-8:00 am Greetings and Introduction
8:00-8:20 am Silvia Lacorte, Cristina Rosillo López (Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla): “A Mother with Political Ideas: Cornelia and the Letters to Her Son”
8:20-8:40 am Lewis Webb (University of Gothenburg): “Subversive verba? Maternal Prayer and/in Crisis in Rome”
8:40-9:00 am Discussion
9:00-9:20 am Hannah Sorscher (University of Otago): “The Pregnant Prize: Fertility and Enslavement in Vergil’s Aeneid”
9:20-9:40 am Robert Cowan (The University of Sydney): “‘Bitches be Crazy’: Ecofeminism, Posthumanism, and Subversive Motherhood in Virgil, Grattius, and Columella”
9:40-10:00 am Discussion
13 November
(7:00-9:00 am GMT = 8:00-10:00 am CET = 6:00-8:00 pm AEDT = 8:00-10:00 pm NZDT)
Zoom Details:
https://anu.zoom.us/j/86134611696?pwd=SYSEZUJ4ZKOPvTvD2XIhlbCXZYkXAY.1
Meeting ID: 861 3461 1696
Password: 208423
Chair: Jacqueline Fabre-Serris
8:00-8:20 am Sara Borrello (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia): “Maternam obtinebat auctoritatem: Servilia’s Subversive Motherhood?”
8:20-8:40 am Giulia Vettori (Università degli Studi di Trento): “Unintended Outcomes of a Moral Reform Programme: Subversive Motherhood and the Augustan Marriage Legislation”
8:40-9:00 am Discussion
9:00-9:20 am Mairéad McAuley (University College London): “Myrrha’s Transcorporeal Maternity in Ovid, Met. 10”
9:20-9:40 am Henriette van der Blom (University of Birmingham): “The Agency of Maternal Testators in Valerius Maximus”
9:40-10:00 am Discussion
14 November
(7:00-9:15 am GMT = 8:00-10:15 am CET = 6:00-8:15 pm AEDT = 8:00-10:15 pm NZDT)
Zoom Details
https://anu.zoom.us/j/86099659683?pwd=RURWtXV9SrUm8LwTbilT95wy70Ao2g.1
Meeting ID: 860 9965 9683
Password: 900168
Chair: Sara Borrello
8:00-8:20 am Jacqueline Fabre-Serris (Université de Lille 3): “Is It Love of/for the Mother or Incest? Tacitus’ Account of the Relations Between Agrippina and Nero and Seneca’s Involvement: Backgrounds and Stakes”
8:20-8:40 am Simona Martorana (The Australian National University): “Parta ultio est: Embodied Motherhood and (Meta)Literary Identities in Seneca’s Medea”
8:40-9:00 am Discussion
9:00-9:20 am Julene Abad Del Vecchio (The University of Manchester): “Archetypal Grief in the Achilleid”
9:20-9:40 am Marguerite Johnson (The University of Queensland): “‘Run Away!’: Roman Responses to Boudicca’s Subversive Motherhood”
9:40-10:00 am Discussion
10:00-10:15 am Final Remarks