From their very origin onwards, Greek and Latin texts have attracted skilful forgers who, inspired by intellectual ambition or blunt greed, sought to imitate and, preferably, to emulate authorities from Antiquity. If one would easily think here of the famous forgery of the Donatio Constantini, the name of the humanist philologist Lorenzo Valla is recalled almost simultaneously. Forgers and scholars, so it seems, never stopped to refine their methods so as to gain fame and renown…

The intellectual play involved was almost always intrinsically embedded in broader political and/or religious motives. In this respect, it would certainly be an exciting exercise just to enumerate which texts and authorities have been falsified, and in which specific context. Still, however much diverse and interesting all these circumstances may have been, it is our intention to focus on authoritative texts in both Greek and Latin, as well as in the vernacular, stemming from the earliest period up to 1650 AD, that have been forged, falsified or twisted intentionally in Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages and/or in the Early Modern Period respectively, and to see whether the idea of « authority » evolved or shifted.

Proposals are invited for papers of 30 minutes on specific cases of forgeries and falsifications dealing with texts and authorities. Papers should discuss the following three recurrent aspects involved: (1) the very intention or motive of falsification, (2) the mechanism or technique applied, and (3) the (direct or indirect) effect of all this. Even if in the last few years some initiatives have been taken towards a new and more comprehensive approach to authority in Greek and Latin literature, these attempts, or so we hope, could be complemented by an even sharper idea of authority derived from the theme of forgery and falsification. Also reflections upon this approach and the methodology to be applied are welcome. For in opening an interdisciplinary discourse between different specializations, we look forward to a fertile exchange of ideas, research results and methodological approaches from the different domains. We are very pleased to announce that prof. Anthony Grafton (Princeton Unversity) will be our keynote speaker.

Please send an abstract of approximately 200 words, along with your name, academic affiliation and contact information, by Friday, 20 April 2012 to An.Faems@arts.kuleuven.be. For more information, please visit our website: http://ghum.kuleuven.be/lectio.