Anarchy and polyarchy: the legacy of two classical Greek concepts at the crossroads between politics and religion (3rd century BC–5th century AD)
Anarchie et polyarchie : postérité de deux notions grecques classiques au croisement du politique et du religieux (IIIe s. av. J.C.-Ve s. ap. J.-C.)
Published on Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Abstract
This conference aims to study the history and evolution of two classical Greek concepts, anarchy and polyarchy, whose legacy, considered from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD, unfolds at the crossroads between politics and religion. It will explore the transmission of the classical Greek, and particularly Platonic, condemnation of anarchy and polyarchy, and its connection with the apologia for monarchy in political and philosophical thought during the Hellenistic and Roman periods and in Judeo-Christian thought.
Announcement
Argument
The condemnation of polyarchy (from Homer to Aristotle, ‘a multitude of rulers is not a good thing’) and anarchy (from Sophocles to Aristoxenus, ‘anarchy is the worst of evils’) was traditional in archaic and classical Greek thought. The power of the multitude and power vacuum were perceived as forms of dissolution of command, the exercise of which appearing, on the contrary, to be the condition for good order and prosperity in any community. At the same time, Greek sources expressed a strong attachment to freedom and a repeated condemnation of despotism as a form of coercive and illegitimate power. This twofold condemnation, which also reflected an ongoing quest for balance, questions the relationship between two seemingly contradictory requirements: on the one hand, desire for freedom (understood as independence and autonomy) and, on the other, necessity of leadership (both as a principle of order and meaning, implying subordination and heteronomy). The democratic, oligarchic and monarchical constitutions (politeiai), in all their variations, as experienced and conceived by the Greeks of the Archaic and Classical periods, appear as so many forms of institutionalization of the power relations underlying this dual injunction.
The conference aims to examine how the classical Greek condemnation of anarchy and polyarchy was passed on to subsequent political and religious thought, by studying the reuse or transposition of the Greek terms anarchia and polyarchia in new contexts:
(1) the Hellenistic and Roman philosophy,
(2) the Jewish literature in Greek,
(3) and the Church Fathers’ doctrines.
Firstly, during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, the condemnation of anarchia and polyarchia was taken up in philosophical schools such as Stoicism, Neo-Pythagoreanism, the Peripatetic school, Middle Platonism and Neoplatonism. These uses have prepared its transfer into Judeo-Christian thought. One of the principal actors of that process was Philo of Alexandria, whose philosophy lay at the crossroads between Hellenism and Judaism. It was then taken up by the Church Fathers during the 4th and 5th centuries.
Contributions may explore the following themes:
(A) the way classical texts were transmitted and reinterpreted in new contexts of use;
(B) how, in the continuation of Plato, these concepts have been integrated into the reflection on leadership at different levels (psychological, ethical, domestic, social, political and religious);
(C) their transposition into Latin political thought;
(D) their connection with the three constitutional forms inherited from the classical tradition (democracy, oligarchy, monarchy) and the notions of order, concord and harmony,
(E) their transposition into the religious sphere and the analogical systems that establish a correspondence between monarchy and monotheism, polyarchy and polytheism, anarchy and atheism.
In short, the conference will focus on how this transmission took place, how the classical texts were reinterpreted, and what were the literary, ethical, social, political and religious stakes in the new contexts of use. It will explore its connection with the progression and legitimization of monarchical ideology, on both human and divine levels, from the Hellenistic period onwards, and its repercussion on law and institutions.
Submission guidelines
Papers should last 30 minutes, with 15 minutes for discussion, and may be given either in English or in French. To submit a proposal, please send an abstract (300 words), accompanied by a short biographical note including the author’s current institution, by April 15, 2026, to: amarande.laffon@unilim.fr Accepted participation will be notified by mid-June.
For any questions or further information, do not hesitate to contact us at the email address given above.
Event attendance modalities
The conference will be held in a hybrid format (on site and online) in French and English.
Accommodation and food costs will be covered by the organization.
Organizers
- Amarande Laffon (Université de Limoges)
- Pierre Pontier (Sorbonne Université)
- Melina Tamiolaki (University of Crete)
Scientific committee
- Carol Atack, Cambridge University
- Christian Boudignon, Aix Marseille Université
- Emmanuelle Caire, Aix Marseille Université
- Marc-Antoine Gavray, Université de Liège
- Amarande Laffon, Université de Limoges
- Melissa Lane, Princeton University
- Pierre Pontier, Sorbonne Université
- Melina Tamiolaki, University of Crete
Bibliography
Assan Libé Nathalie, « Le mot κοίρανος dans l’épopée homérique », Revue de philologie, de littérature et d’histoire ancienne, 2019/2, 93, p. 139-162.
Beer D. G., « Tyranny, Anarkhia, and the Problems of the Boule in the Oresteia », Florilegium, 3, 1981, p. 47-71.
Borges Patricia Andrea, « Anarkhía na Grécia Clássica, investigação semântica em tragédias escolhidas », Revista de Estudos Clássicos, 12, nº 1, 2024.
Boudignon Christian, « Le discours sur les religions chez Grégoire de Nazianze et Maxime le Confesseur, ou l’art de discréditer le "monothéisme" juif », Revue de l’histoire des religions, 4, 2017, p. 777-795.
Cuny Diane, « Du discours du trône au plaidoyer contre l’anarchie : les réflexions politiques de Créon dans Antigone », dans Franchet d'Espèrey, Sylvie, Fromentin, Valérie, Gotteland, Sophie, Roddaz, Jean-Michel (éd.), Fondements et crises du pouvoir, Bordeaux, 1999, p. 173-188.
Gallego Julián, La anarquía de la democracia, Asamblea ateniense y subjetivación del pueblo, Buenos Aires, Miño y Dávila, 2018.
Gavray Marc-Antoine, « "Il n’est pas bon que plusieurs gouvernent." Théologie aristotélicienne et philosophie première dans l’École d’Ammonius », dans Baghdassarian, Fabienne, Papachristou, Ioannis, Toulouse Stéphane (éd.), Relectures néoplatoniciennes de la théologie d’Aristote, International Aristotle Studies, Baden-Baden, Academia Verlag within Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2020, p. 123-149.
Gordon U., « Research Note: Ἀναρχία – What Did the Greeks Actually Say? », Anarchist Studies, 14, 2006, p. 84-91.
Laffon Amarande, « The meaning of ἀκοσμία in Aristotle, Politics, II, 1272b1-16 », Sintesis. Revista de filosofia, I, 1, 2018, p. 3-22.
Laffon Amarande, « De l’hégémonie à l’impérialisme : réflexions sur l’ἀναρχία dans les relations entre cités chez Thucydide (V, 99) et Diodore de Sicile (XII, 77.3, XV, 45.1) », Cahiers du Centre Gustave Glotz, 31, 2020, p. 7-31.
Laffon Amarande, « The double warning against anarchy and despotism in Aeschylus’ Eumenides », Roda da fortuna, 7/2, 2018, p. 7-21.
Laffon, Amarande, 2016, L’ἀναρχία (anarchia) dans la Grèce antique, vol. II, L’ἀναρχία : de l’absence d’ἄρχων à l’anarchie, Thèse de doctorat, Paris IV-Sorbonne.
Lane Melissa, « Antianarchia: Interpreting Political Thought in Plato », Plato Journal, 16, 2017, p. 59-74.
Lane Melissa, « Chapter 11. Against Anarchy: The Horizon of Platonic Rule », Of Rule and Office: Plato’s Ideas of the Political, Princeton University Press, 2025, p. 381-409.
Lush B.V., « Popular Authority in Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis », AJP, 136, 2015, p. 207-242.
Piérart Marcel, « Ni anarchie ni despotisme. Les élections du Conseil dans la cité des Lois », dans Borlenghi, Aldo, et al. (éd.), Voter en Grèce, à Rome et en Gaule, MOM Éditions, 2019, p. 57-72.
Radding Jonah F., « Euripides and the Origins of Democratic "Anarchia" », 57-83, Erga-Logoi, 7, 2019, p. 57-82.
Subjects
Places
- Université de Limoges, FLSH, 39E Rue Camille Guérin
Limoges, France (87)
Event attendance modalities
Hybrid event (on site and online)
Date(s)
- Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Keywords
- histoire des idées politiques, anarchie, polyarchie, monarchie, oligarchie, Antiquité
Contact(s)
- Amarande Laffon
courriel : amarande [dot] laffon [at] unilim [dot] fr
Information source
- Amarande Laffon
courriel : amarande [dot] laffon [at] unilim [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Anarchy and polyarchy: the legacy of two classical Greek concepts at the crossroads between politics and religion (3rd century BC–5th century AD) », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, https://doi.org/10.58079/15vyi
