Wilful Imprecision. Irregular Measures in Graeco-Roman Antiquity
Louvain-la-Neuve, September 8–10, 2026
A conference in the framework of the ARC project STASTA – States of Standardisation
Contacts:
Laila Dell’Anno (laila.dellanno@uclouvain.be)
Antoine Paris (a.paris@uclouvain.be)
UCLOUVAIN - INCAL - RSCS - CEMA - STASTA - FWB - FNRS
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Tuesday, September 8
14:15 Opening Remarks
Laila Dell’Anno
14:45–17:30 Panel 1 - Ethos and Pathos Beyond Measure
Chair: Martinus Beukenhorst
Antoine Paris (UCLouvain)
Were Humans in Antiquity Sensitive to the «Eternal Silence of these Infinite Spaces»? Some Reflections on Emotions towards the Immesurable in Ancient Texts
15:30– 16:00 Coffee Break
Alessio Ranno (University of Lisbon)
Homeric Myth in Bacchylides’ Choral Lyric (Dithyramb 1): Context, Intertextuality, and the Ideologies of Ὕβρις
Tim Roe (University of Cambridge)
Measures of Success in Pindar’s Victory Odes
Wednesday, September 9
9:00–12:30 Panel 2 - Performing (Im)precision
Chair: Cyril Rouanet
Serafina Cuomo (University of Cambridge)
A Double Tale of Standards
Andrew Riggsby (UT Austin)
How Standardized are Performances of Standardization?
10:30–11:00 Coffee Break
Michaël Girardin (Université du Littoral)
The Right Measure of Overtaxation in the Roman Empire
Fenfang Dong (CUNY)
Imprecision, Institutional Failure, and Power in Exchange: Weights and Coinage from Naukratis
12:30–14:00 Lunch Break
14:00–17:30 Panel 3 - Thinking (Im)precision
Chair: Louise Fauchier
Andreas Prasinos (University of Glasgow)
The Diagonal and the Mean: Mathematics, Measure, and the Limits of Order in Classical Antiquity
Thomas Kelly (University of Cambridge)
Guessing at the Grid: Permissive Imprecision in the Map Projections of Ptolemy’s Geographical Guide
15:30–16:00 Coffee Break
Matthieu Delmeulle (UCLouvain)
Voluntary Imprecision of Mass Units: the “Schrödinger’s Razor” Hypothesis
Richard Marshall (Newcastle University)
(Im)precision in Roman Calculation: What’s a Half Here or There?
Thursday, September 10
9:00–12:30 Panel 4 - Imprecise Writing
Chair: Laila Dell’Anno
Sina Dell’Anno (University of Vienna / Basel)
Measured Deviation: Paraphrase as Wilful Imprecision in Quintilian and Phaedrus
Moritz Kuhn (University of Cologne)
Wilful Imprecision or Literary Form? The Case of Possidius’ Life of Augustine
10:30–11:00 Coffee Break
Peter Kotuiga (University of South Florida)
Ἀμετροπής by What Measure? Homeric Thersites and Hexametrical Rhetoric
Final Discussion and Closing Remarks