Freedom as Metaphor – Metaphors of Freedom. Metaphorical Notions of the ‘Free’ and the ‘Slave’ in Ancient Thought
Call for Papers
Freedom as Metaphor – Metaphors of Freedom. Metaphorical Notions of the ‘Free’ and the ‘Slave’ in Ancient Thought
Panel at the 16th Celtic Conference in Classics, Coimbra, July 15-18, 2025
In the absence of philosophical notions of ‘freedom’ in early classical texts, studies on the subject usually focus on the political significance of the term. Thus, ‘freedom’ has been analysed primarily as the achievement of a (democratic) political order in which citizens, endowed with rights such as ‘freedom of speech’ (parrhesia), ‘equality’ (isonomia), and ‘equality of speech’ (isegoria), could take the reins of the polis in their own hands and not be subject to tyrannical rule. However, quite early on in classical Greece, expressions like ‘to be free’ and ‘to be a slave’ were used as metaphors in Greek literature. This creative use of the semantics was pivotal for the development of notions of freedom beyond the political sphere, but it is mostly sidelined in research on the subject. For example, ‘slavery’ occasionally acquires a metaphorical connotation in Greek tragedy. In Sophocles’ Antigone, for instance, Creon criticises Antigone’s inflexibility and ‘manly arrogance’ by reminding her that “there is no place for pride, when one is his neighbours’ slave (doûlos)” (473–485).
Moreover, metaphors of freedom and slavery were used by sophists in relation to the claim that law is the result of convention and not by nature (cf. Antiphon B 44 Col.4, Pl. Grg. 483a7–484b1, 491e5–492c8, Lg. 889e3–890a9): to serve the law means to enslave oneself, to rule is to be free. Moreover, we have ample evidence of a debate in the 4th century BC about what kinds of education and studies were suitable for a ‘freeman’, i.e. a citizen (see e.g. Isoc. 12.26–28, 15.266–269), which is the root of the expression studia liberalia (cf. Sen. Ep. 88.1.1). It may have been partly this debate which prompted Plato to define the philosopher as the only truly free person (Tht. 172c8–173c6, 175d7–176a2). But again, Plato developed the metaphor further to include the idea of ‘freedom from the body’ (and its contrary: slavery to bodily desires). This panel aims to close the existing gap in the scholarship on the notion of freedom in classical antiquity and beyond by exploring metaphoric uses of the semantics of ‘slave’ and ‘free’ across a broad range of ancient texts, including both literature and philosophy.
Please submit a 300-word abstract in English by February 20, 2025 to
www.uc.pt/cech/16-ccc/calls/call-for-papers/. Papers should be 20 minutes long, followed by discussion. The results will be communicated by the end of February, 2025. Please note that travel and accommodation expenses will not be reimbursed, and that the conference is an in-person event only.
Organizers
Diego De Brasi & Julia Pfefferkorn
Trier University, Germany