Guide

What’s Religious about Ancient Mediterranean Religions?

Date : 28.06.2009

Lieu : Pontificio Istituto Biblico - Rome

Catégorie :
Colloques, journées d’études

Inaugural Meeting of the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions

We are delighted to announce the formation of a new group devoted to the study of the religions of the ancient Mediterranean basin broadly conceived. The Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions (SAMR) aims to focus particular attention on the polytheistic religious traditions of Greece, Rome and the Near East, their interaction with each other, and with the monotheistic religious traditions of the region.

The Society plans to sponsor a panel session annually at the Annual Meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature (beginning in 2008) and the American Philological Association (beginning in 2010). We would be delighted to consider other venues as well and are actively looking for other means to promote research in, and the teaching of, ancient Mediterranean religions, including publications, seminars, and public lectures.

Please contact Barbette Spaeth, SAMR President (bsspae(at)wm.edu), or Eric Orlin, SAMR Secretary/Treasurer (eorlin(at)ups.edu), for further information about the Society. If you would like to join the Society, please fill out our membership form.

The Inaugural SAMR conference will be held on June 28, 2009 at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, in conjunction with the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Institute. The PBI is located on the Via della Pilotta, sharing a piazza with the Pontifical Gregorian University, where the International Meeting of the SBL will begin on June 30.

PROGRAM
(session order and respondents subject to change)

Welcome
• Barbette Spaeth, Department of Classical Studies, College of William and Mary, United States

Session One
Chair: Carin Green, Department of Classics, University of Iowa, United States

Steven Gregory, Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom: Pharaoh or Prelate: considerations regarding context-specific terminology describing an Egyptian king

Paul Evans, Program in Christian Studies, Ambrose University College, Calgary, Canada: What’s ‘Religious’ about the Temple? Comparing the Sanctity of the Jerusalem temple in the books of Kings and Chronicles

Respondents: Joan Cook, Georgetown University, United States and Giuseppina Capriotti Vittozzi, Istituto di Studi sulle Civiltà Italiche e del Mediterraneo Antico, Rome, Italy

Session Two
Chair: Greg Snyder, Department of Religion, Davidson College, United States

Laura Gawlinski, Department of Classical Studies, Loyola University of Chicago, United States: Finding the Sacred in Greek Sacred Law

Giovanni Casadio, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità, Università di Salerno, Italy: From Eusebia to Threskeia : Modes of Religion in Ancient Greece

Gabrielle Cornelli, Departamento de Filosofia, Universidade de Brasilia, and Andre Chevitarese, Universidade Federal do Rio di Janeiro, Brazil: Il Religioso Sincretico nella Cultura Ellenistica Mediterranea

Respondents: Sandra Blakely, Department of Classics, Emory University, United States and Ennio Sanzi, Università di Messina, Italy

Session Three
Chair: Kim Stratton, Department of Religion, Carleton University, Canada

Joseph Groves, Department of Classical Studies, University of Michigan, United States: Divine Specifics: Interpreting Livy’s Prodigy Lists

Jenn Cianca, Centre for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto, Canada: Sacra Privata: the Religiosity of the Roman Domestic Cult and its Impact on Early Christianity

Respondent: Charles Guittard, Société Ernest Renan, Université Paris 10, France

Session Four
Chair: Eric Orlin, Department of Classics, University of Puget Sound, United States

Lauren Peterson, Department of Art History, University of Delaware, United States: The Places of Isis in Roman Religion: An Archaeological Perspective

Carly Daniel-Hughes, Department of Religion, Concordia University, Canada: Donning the Veil: Religion and Politics in the Imperial Portraiture of Roman Women

Respondent: Marina Piranomonte, Soprintendenza Archaeologica di Roma, Italy

A reception will follow the conference.