The mini-conference on Roman fake news, which will take place at the Netherlands Institute at Athens on Monday, January 26, 2026 (16.00-20.30).
The conference focuses on Roman fake news in early imperial times, from the first to the third centuries CE, covering both Greek and Latin halves of the empire. It brings together four scholars exploring the potential of the concept. Is there something specifically ‘Roman’ about Roman fake news? What type of activities should we bring together under its heading? How does Roman fake news function in society? How does it circulate?
It consists of a hybrid meeting, with lectures partly on site, partly online, and is part of the series of “Democracy”-events, a collaboration project of the NIA and the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish Institutes at Athens. It is held on the occasion of the NWIB-visiting professorship of Laurens E. Tacoma at the Netherlands Institute at Athens, as part of his research project ‘Roman Fake News? Documentary Fictions in the Roman Empire (1st – 5th century A.D.)’ , funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
Announcement
In contemporary society the emergence of fake news is seen as an existential threat, an unprecedented attack on societal values. Democracies, with their emphasis on participation, openness, and free speech, seem particularly vulnerable to attacks by people who refuse to play by the rules. The prominence of fake news is regarded as a tell-tale sign of democratic backsliding, testing the resilience of democratic institutions to the max.
The past couple of years have seen a number of publications on ancient ‘fake news’, and more are upcoming. They have shown the richness of ancient Greek and Roman manifestations of disinformation, spanning the whole of the ancient world, from Homeric times all the way to Late Antiquity.
The reason for the interest of ancient scholars is not difficult to see. The implicit or explicit aim is to provide a historical context, showing that fake news has a history and is not a unique modern phenomenon. Fake news, or more neutrally, disinformation, can be defined as intentionally manipulated or forged news items presented as real. Obviously there are differences between modern fake news and its ancient manifestations, both when it comes to defining what ‘news’ is, and with respect to ancient forms of ‘fakery’, but there are also striking resemblances.
The present mini-conference focuses on Roman fake news in early imperial times, from the first to the third centuries CE, covering both Greek and Latin halves of the empire. It brings together four scholars exploring the potential of the concept. Is there something specifically ‘Roman’ about Roman fake news? What type of activities should we bring together under its heading? How does Roman fake news function in society? How does it circulate?
The mini-conference consists of a hybrid meeting, with lectures partly on site, partly online. It is held on the occasion of the NWIB-visiting professorship of Laurens E. Tacoma at the Netherlands Institute at Athens, as part of his research project ‘Roman Fake News? Documentary Fictions in the Roman Empire (1st – 5th century A.D.)’ , funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
PROGRAMME
4:00-4:15 welcome and introduction
4:15-5:15 Giuseppe La Bua (La Sapienza, Rome), ‘Exemplary stories: fictionality and paradoxography in the epistles of Pliny the Younger’ (online)
5:15-6:15 Amphilochios Papathomas (University of Athens), ‘Damnatio memoriae as a form of fake news’ (on site)
6:15-6:30 Break
6:30-7:30 Donald Lateiner (Ohio Wesleyan University), ‘Fake Neros as a test-case for fake news’(online)
7:30-8:30 Laurens E. Tacoma (Leiden University), ‘The circulation of Roman documentary fictions’ (on site)
Chair: Theofanis Tsiampokalos (University of Patras)
REGISTRATION
Due to the limited number of seats, please register by email [email protected]
or telephone number: 210-9210760 (Monday to Friday 09.00-17.00).
The event will also be live streamed. For online attendance please register to the following link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/nBWT8r6wQsyo0Y0svpmr6Q