SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY AND ARTS MAGNA GRAECIA
In Partnership with
THE NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF LOCRI EPIZEPHYRII
THE PYTHAGOREAN WAY 2026
International Conference on the Pythagorean Heritage
Conference dates: 23–25 April 2026
Programme
Museum and Archaeological Park of Locri
Via SS Ionica 106, Via Marasà, 89044 Locri RC, Italy
10:00–10:30 | Registration & Welcome Coffee
Arrival, Registration, Networking with Coffee
10:30–11:00 | Opening Ceremony
10:30–10:50 Dr. Elena Rita Trunfio, Director of the National Archaeological Museum of Locri
10:50–11:00 Welcome Remarks from the Conference Organisers
11:00–12:00 Keynote Speaker: Prof. Dr. Catherine Rowett | University of East Anglia, UK
Pythagorean opposites and the metaphysics of creation in Plato’s Timaeus
12:00–12:30 Q&A and Discussion
Chair: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jonas Čiurlionis
12:30–14:00 | Lunch Break
14:00–15:30 | Session 1 | Structural Principles in Pythagorean Thought: Binary Opposition and the Governance of Knowledge
Chair: Prof. (HP) Dr. Ana Milosevic
14:00–14:30 Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jonas Ciurlionis | Vilnius University, Lithuania
Male – Female opposites in Pythagorean philosophy
14:30–15:00 Prof. (HP) Dr. Krzysztof Przybyszewski | Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland
Secrecy, Knowledge, and Power: Pythagoreanism, Algorithms, and the Harmony of Accountability
15:00–15:30 Q&A and Discussion
15:30–16:00 | Coffee Break
16:00–17:30 | Session 2 | Cosmic Harmony and Metaphysical Proportion in the Pythagorean Tradition
Chair: Dr. Bozena Ciurlioniene
16:00–16:30 Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nerijus Stasiulis | Vilnius Gediminas Technical University
The Harmonic and The Comic: Pythagorean Proportion in Plato’s Thought
16:30–17:00 Ad Honorem Research Associate Dr. Sebastian Moro-Tornese | Palinode Project, Spain/Royal Holloway University of London, UK
Living Silence and the Resonant Ether: Syngeneia, Celestial Music, and Nothingness from the Pythagoreans to Nishida Kitarō
17:00–17:30 Q&A and Discussion
19:00 | Welcoming Dinner
Day 2: Friday, 24 April
Museum and Archaeological Park of Locri
10:00–10:30 | Networking with Coffee
10:30–12:30 | Session 3 | The Pythagorean Tradition: Contemporary and Cross-Cultural Perspectives
Chair: Prof. (HP) Dr. Krzysztof Przybyszewski
10:30–11:00 Prof. Dr. Agnes Miaotong YUAN | Communication University of China, China
Dialogue Across Civilizations: A Comparative Study of Pythagorean Music Philosophy and Traditional Chinese Musical Temperament Based on Number and Harmony
11:00–11:30 Dr. Bozena Ciurlioniene | Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania
Cryptographic Number: Mathematical Imagination in M. K. Ciurlionis Music and Art
11:30–12:00 Prof. (HP) Dr. Marcin Strzelecki | Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków, Poland
Numbers, Participation, and the Sound of the Future: A Pythagorean Lineage in Contemporary Music
12:00–12:30 Q&A and Discussion
12:30–13:00 | Coffee Break
13:00–14:00 Keynote Speaker: Prof. Dr. Dominic J. O’Meara | Université de Fribourg, Switzerland
Pythagoras in Byzantium
14:00–14:30 Q&A and Discussion
Chair: Dr. Sebastian Moro-Tornese
14:30–15:00 | Closing Remarks
15:00–16:30 | Lunch Break
16:30 | Guided Cultural Visit to Locri Epizephyrii
Guided visit to Locri Epizephyrii, an ancient Greek city of profound historical and philosophical significance in Magna Graecia. The visit will explore the city’s cultural and intellectual milieu, with particular attention to its connections to Pythagoras and the broader Pythagorean tradition in Southern Italy including sacred precincts, temple foundations, urban remains, and other significant sites that illuminate the religious, political, and philosophical life of the ancient polis.
Day 3: Saturday, 25 April
10:00 | Cultural Programme at the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria
Departure for a guided cultural and academic visit to Reggio Calabria, an ancient Greek city of profound historical and philosophical significance, closely associated with the intellectual legacy of Magna Graecia. The programme includes a tour of the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, internationally renowned for housing the Riace Bronzes and one of the most important collections of artifacts from Magna Graecia. Particular attention will be given to materials illuminating the cultural, religious, and philosophical milieu in which Pythagorean thought emerged and flourished.
17:00–18:00 | Return to Locri
Keynote speakers:
Catherine Rowett is Professor emerita of Ancient Philosophy at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. In the field of Presocratic philosophy her books include Rethinking Early Greek Philosophy (1987), and Presocratic Philosophy, a very short introduction (2004), and major influential articles include ‘Empedocles Recycled’ (1987), ‘Was verse the default form for Presocratic philosophy?' (1998), 'Was there an Eleatic Revolution in philosophy?' (2006), 'On calling the gods by the right name' (2013), 'Philosophy's numerical turn: why the Pythagoreans' interest in numbers is truly awesome.' (2013), and 'The Pythagorean Society and Politics' (2014). She is currently working mostly on Plato and at the interface of ancient philosophy with critique of contemporary politics and political values.
Dominic J. O'Meara is Professor emeritus of philosophy, Université de Fribourg (Switzerland). He studied at Cambridge University and in Paris with Pierre Hadot. He has written about the history of Pythagoreanism and Platonism in Antiquity and in Byzantium. His books include: Cosmology and Politics and Plato's Later Writings (Cambridge 2017); Pythagoras Revived: Mathematics and Philosophy in Late Antiquity (Oxford 1989); Plotinus. An Introduction to the Enneads (Oxford 1995); Platonopolis. Platonic Political Philosophy in Late Antiquity (Oxford 2003); The Ladder of the Sciences in Late Antique Platonism (Cambridge 2026).