George Brocklehurst (SAS) - 2020-21 Students

All Tomorrow’s Parties: Greek Banqueting in the Academic Culture of the Renaissance

My project examines the early modern revival of an important ancient cultural institution, the Graeco-Roman symposium, or drinking party. At the same time as exposing an understudied genre of Neo-Latin prose writing, that of the ‘convivium’ (banquet dialogue), I hope it will offer a fresh perspective on a familiar theme of European intellectual history, the so-called ‘rebirth of antiquity.’ I will be looking to determine what attempts to recreate the symposium, particularly in academic contexts, reveal about the development of new intellectual identities and social practices in the Renaissance.