GROUPMINDS at the “Cognition and Emotion in Ancient Historical Writing” Conference (Athens, November 2025)
December 8, 2025Welcoming Our New Post-Doctoral Researcher: Dr Thea Lawrence
December 8, 2025We are delighted to announce that a panel proposed by three members of our ERC project “Group Minds in Ancient Narrative” (GROUPMINDS) has been officially accepted for presentation at the International Medieval Congress (IMC) Leeds 2026, one of the world’s leading forums for medieval studies. The upcoming congress (6–9 July 2026), themed Crisis, will once again bring together thousands of scholars in Leeds for four days of cutting-edge interdisciplinary research.
Our panel—“Group Minds in Late Antiquity”—breaks new ground by exploring how cognitive processes are conceptualised not only within individuals but also across social, political, and religious collectives in Late Antiquity. Building upon recent work in distributed cognition and ancient conceptions of collective mental life, the panel offers the first focused investigation of group cognition in the visual, literary, and rhetorical cultures of the late ancient world.
Panel: Group Minds in Late Antiquity
International Medieval Congress (IMC) Leeds 2026
Late Antiquity witnessed the emergence of new kinds of communities—imperial colleges, ascetic circles, Christian congregations—each defined by powerful collective identities. This panel examines how these groups were imagined, constructed, and represented as thinking and feeling together, offering fresh insight into ancient models of unity, shared agency, and communal emotion.
The session includes three papers from our project researchers:
“Group Minds and Co-Rule: The Dyarchy and Tetrarchy as Case Studies”
Through a study of panegyric and related sources, this paper investigates whether the Roman imperial colleges of Diocletian and Maximian were conceptualised as a unified cognitive entity. It traces how texts and imagery framed the emperors’ collaborative rule as an aspirational “group mind,” revealing how collective agency and shared emotional language shaped imperial ideology.
“Rhetoric of Unity: The Formation of a Group Mind in Antioch”
Focusing on John Chrysostom’s homilies during the aftermath of the 387 CE riot, this paper explores how communal prayer, shared responsibility, and positive collective emotion were mobilised to forge a unified Christian community in Antioch—an early example of cognitive and emotional interdependence expressed through pastoral rhetoric.
“Ascetic Bonds: Jerome’s Female Correspondents and the Group Mind”
This paper examines Jerome’s letters to his Roman female followers, showing how epistolary exchange helped construct a spiritual collective grounded in shared ascetic identity. Through communal discipline, theological study, and the rejection of conventional Roman womanhood, these women are framed as participants in a distinctly feminine “group mind.”
This panel represents an exciting new direction for the study of ancient cognition and collective identity, and we are proud to see GROUPMINDS scholarship represented at one of the most prestigious venues in medieval research.
Stay tuned for updates, full programme details, and coverage from Leeds in July 2026!
For more information, visit the IMC 2026 page: International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds.