Monday 22-10-2018 - 10:57

James Hua, the Classics Society Academic Affairs Officer, summarises the most recent of the Classics Society fortnightly talks: Dr Horky on “Cosmic Conspiration in Ancient Philosophy, Medicine, and Religion”.

Attended by 45 participants and with 870 viewers reached on the live-stream, the first of the Classics Society’s academic talks (which are open to all!) started off this year exploring and being inspired by the ancient world, through the very concept of inspiration. Dr Phillip Horky of the Classics Department gave a fascinating talk on the nature and origins of “Cosmic Conspiration”, the reciprocal “breathing” (con-spiro) between animate beings and the universe (living and “breathing” to the ancients).

The topic was intentionally kept broad and interesting for many disciplines in order to promote the society’s goals of proving that Classics has something to offer for everyone. Furthermore, since the talk was aimed at students of all backgrounds and disciplines, it nicely demonstrated that Classics is rightly called the first inter-disciplinary science. Everyone today can play a role in it!

Guided by the goal of understanding “how the divine and mortal can be in concert”, Dr Horky explored the metaphorical applications and concept of “cosmic breathing” in ancient philosophy, medicine, and religion over a broad expanse of time and genres. He innovatively argued that the notion of cosmic conspiration did not originate in the fifth century BCE with Pseudo-Ecphantos of Syracuse and (the!) Hippocrates of Chios, as is usually thought, but rather with the Stoics and especially Chrysippus of Soli in the 3rd century BCE, some 200 years later.

His talk was an opportunity to get people excited for his much-anticipated forthcoming edited volume “Cosmos in the Ancient World”. That is why he started by discussing the image on the cover of his book: a street-art depiction of how Plato imagines the universe in the Timaeus (Image 1). Dr Horky explained that the talk was a sequel to his article “Cosmic spiritualism among the Pythagoreans, Stoics, Jews and early Christians”, within his forthcoming book. Likewise, he emphasised throughout the talk that the topic of cosmic conspiration is an excellent model to synthesise a vast range of data, and therefore can help all of us “basically comprehend everything”!

He discussed a vast range of primary sources from Galen the Physician and Hippocrates (from the famous Hippocratic Oath, same as above) to Diogenes Laertius representing the Stoics and the Christian thinker Clement of Alexandria. By doing so, Dr Horky’s presentation highlighted the great diversity in the Classics, and the many opportunities there are for new research areas, new minds, and new interpretations to make a difference. Throughout, he directly showed us how a scholar at the forefront of his field goes about his research, selects his methodology, and practices critical evaluation. Apart from being stunned by the magical lecturing style of Dr Horky, it was a unique chance to interact first-hand with a top researcher’s work and to improve our own research skills.

But the most interesting element was how he combined research methods practiced in different disciplines into a coherent and thorough whole. It was especially insightful to see how they yield different views about cosmic conspiration: in some authors, this breathing is directional (i.e. from heaven to earth), other times purely reciprocal. A whole host of metaphors from nutriments (food science!), mutual bonds (chemistry!), and flowing currents (physics!) was led into the field by ancient authors to make their points. 

As the kind reader can see, Classics is relevant to every subject, and each student can bring in something new and take something new with them. This was evidenced by the questions asked of Dr Horky at the end of his talk.

In conclusion, as Dr Horky smartly pinpointed whilst classily swigging a mouthful of fine scotch, the idea of cosmic conspiration was not discovered by either Pythagoras or Hippocrates of Chios, as many ancient philosophers believe, since there was a trend in ancient times to associate important discoveries with important names. This was done in order to give them legitimacy before university citation rules were a thing. Instead, cosmic conspiration was the “brain-child” of the Stoics and most probably Chrysippus of Soli, as Dr Horky argues.

It is precisely with talks like these that the Classics Society is fulfilling its primary goal: giving students opportunities to expand their interests and skills, and more generally spreading Classics to everyone.

All in all, we are delighted to report that the event was a great success, with 45 people attending the talk and another massive 870 people reached on the live-stream, so thank you to everyone who came! To conclude, we would like to extend both a very big thank you to Dr Horky and an open-armed invitation to everyone in this university to come along and experience our future talks with us.

Image 1: Cover of Dr Horky’s new edited volume “Cosmos in the Ancient World.” Credits to: Phillip Horky.
 

If you're interested in learning more about the Classical world, you can check out these two upcoming events from the Classics Society below, or read a full account of Dr Horky's talk here. You can also keep up-to-date with the society by following their Facebook group or becoming a member. 

Tuesday 23 October: Dr Andrea Capra on “Socrates’ Mask and Plato’s Dialogues” in the Ritson Room (Classics Department). Open to all and especially interesting for all philosophers, poets and historians! 

Friday 2 November: Dr Carrie Vout from Cambridge University on “The ‘ugly’ art of Greece and Rome” in ER153. This the Classics Society's biggest event of term and will be followed by a dinner with Dr Vout.