Welcoming Our New Post-Doctoral Researcher: Dr Thea Lawrence
December 8, 2025Dr Kyriakoula Tzortzopoulou’s Article on Collective Emotions in John Chrysostom Accepted in Mnemosyne
February 18, 2026On Tuesday, 3 February 2026, our postdoctoral researcher Dr Byron Waldron presented a paper at the annual conference of the Australasian Society of Classical Studies (ASCS). The conference took place in Auckland, New Zealand, with Dr Waldron participating online.
Dr Waldron’s paper, entitled “Group Minds in Roman Political Leadership: The Dyarchy and Tetrarchy as a Case Study,” explored how concepts of collective or group minds can be applied to Roman political leadership structures. Focusing on the Dyarchy and the Tetrarchy, the paper argued that the representation of a coherent group mind proved more effective and rhetorically persuasive in the Dyarchic model. The discussion was further enriched through a comparison with Livy’s depiction of the consular pair Fabius and Decius, analysed as a diadic group mind within the Roman Republican tradition.
The presentation generated lively and productive discussion during the question-and-answer session. Participants reflected on the broader applicability of group-mind concepts to political leadership in Roman history, considering how and when such representations were most prominent across different periods, including the Republic, the Julio-Claudian era, and the Constantinian period.
Dr Waldron’s participation highlights the project’s ongoing engagement with the international scholarly community and demonstrates the relevance of Group Minds in Ancient Narrative to wider debates on collective agency, leadership, and political cognition in antiquity. We warmly congratulate him on a successful presentation and on contributing to the project’s dissemination and impact.