Month: July 2009

CFP: ‘Mediterranean Identities: Formation and Transformation’, final CFP

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seen on the Classicists list …

Final Call for Papers: deadline 30th July 2009

International Conference

Mediterranean Identities: Formation and Transformation

University of Leicester, Friday 26 – Sunday 28th March 2010

Recent studies of the Mediterranean have been dominated by the construction, reinforcement, representation and renegotiation of identities. As a departure point, this conference will address theoretical approaches to the formation and transformation of these identities throughout time and space. In particular, the use of comparative methods in the history of communal identities in the Mediterranean will highlight not only the course of their development but also will explain the extraordinary longevity of influential identities such as Greek and Jewish.

Questions to be addressed will include, but are certainly not limited to: 1) How are identities formed? 2) How are they represented? 3) How do communities and societies organize and express themselves spatially? How does their identity relate to that of surrounding spaces and surrounding communities? How permeable are the boundaries? 4) How is power distilled from heterogeneity? 5) To what extent is the formation of identities governed by economic considerations? 6) How do wars, revolutions and migrations affect collective identities? 7) How do identities develop and evolve over time? 8) To what extent can we identify a ‘Mediterranean identity’? 9) Can we recognize patterns of identity that cut across different Mediterranean communities and cultures? 10) How far did the elite centres of Greece and Rome inform the ways peripheral communities and later societies deployed and understood their populations, geography and environment? 11) How should we approach the archaeology of identity?

This conference is part of a larger project that aims to assess the value of ‘identity’ as a tool of intellectual enquiry in the disciplines of archaeology, classics, history, literature and art history. It sets out to explore identities in the full range of spheres – social, political, cultural, religious and economic – and their value as a tool of historiographical enquiry into ancient and modern societies in the Mediterranean world. Furthermore, it seeks to depart from the ‘traditional’ social constructionist interpretations, which focus only on the impact of culture. The challenge that remains is to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the relationship between society, religion, culture, economics and ethnicity in the formation of identities in the Mediterranean.

Diverse methodologies are encouraged, although proposals should indicate strong theoretical content and considerations that will appeal to a wide range of disciplines. Papers should be of twenty minutes’ length. Abstracts of approximately 200 words should be submitted by 30 July, 2009. Successful contributions may be considered for publication in a peer-reviewed conference volume.

Speakers already confirmed:

Clifford Ando (Chicago)

Hartwin Brandt (Bamberg)

Bill Cavanagh (Nottingham)

John K. Davies (Liverpool)

Lin Foxhall (Leicester)

Hans Joachim Gehrke (German Archaeological School)

Jonathan M. Hall (Chicago)

Anthea Harris (Birmingham)

Kerstin Hoffman (Researcher, TOPOI)

Anthony Kaldellis (Ohio State University)

Constantina Katsari (Leicester)

Naoise Mac Sweeney (Cambridge)

David Mattingly (Leicester)

Robin Osborne (Cambridge)

Nicholas Purcell (Oxford)

Jim Roy (Nottingham)

Katerina Zacharia (Loyola Marymount University)

Organisers

Leicester: Dr Constantina Katsari ck82 ATle.ac.uk

Nottingham: Dr Mark Bradley Mark.Bradley AT nottingham.ac.uk

TOPOI Dr. Kerstin Hofmann kh AT dainst.de

Official Email: MICHA AT nottingham.ac.uk

Mithras in the News

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A couple of items of interest relating to the worship of Mithras. First, remains of a Mithraeum have been found in Iraq’s Duhok province. Here’s the incipit of a piece (ultimately from Bloomberg, it turns out) in St. Louis Today:

A temple built by followers of Mithraism, a mystery cult that flourished throughout the Roman Empire from the second to third centuries A.D., has been discovered in Iraq’s northern Duhok province.

The temple, which consists of three parts, lies in the Badri Mountains in eastern Duhok, and includes a place for prayer facing the sun, the province’s antiquities director, Hassan Ahmed Qassim, said in a statement to the website of President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party.

“This discovery is important in helping to understand and learn the region’s history, and the important stages it passed through,” Qassim was quoted by Aswat al-Iraq newspaper as telling a news conference at Duhok University.

The other big news regarding Mithras was the recovery, by Italian police, of a very impressive relief depicting the divinity. The incipit of the AdnKronos coverage:

An 2000-year-old marble monument featuring the pagan god Mithras has been found outside Rome by Italian police who believe it was to have been illegally sold abroad. The large marble bas-relief which dates from the 2nd century AD was recovered by authorities in a house north of the capital, according to a report in the Italian daily, Il Messaggero.

Police said the monument was to be sold to China or Japan and transported via the United Arab Emirates.

The relief, made of white Carrara marble and weighing 1,500 kilogrammes, comes from Vejo – a former Etruscan city that flourished in the 5th century BC – and shows the god Mithras slaying a bull.

Agents from the Italian tax police or Guardia di Finanza said the piece was recovered from an old house in the Roman countryside.

According to a statement by Italian tax police, the operation “allowed us to also discover an archaeological site previously unknown to authorities.”

Police said the tomb robbers were four Italians who planned to ship the piece to the UAE and then sell it on the Chinese or Japanese black market.

Oddly enough, the only decent photo of the relief is in a Finnish newspaper:

from Suomen Kuvalehti
from Suomen Kuvalehti

Semper Aliquid Novi ex … Bulgaria

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Still in catchup mode, over the past few weeks there have been several items reported in the Bulgarian Press varying amount of detail/clarity. We’ll begin, though, with one that just popped into my mailbox last night — the discovery of a second Peperikon-like sanctuary (hmmmm). Here’s the coverage from Standart:

Bulgarian speleologists have discovered a second Thracian sanctuary that may outshine the one at Perperikon, Mr. Evgeni Koev, chairman of the Dervent Speleology Club, broke the news.
“We have discovered a cave with four-meter-tall human statues and tombs inside. The whole complex is very well preserved and has a diameter of several kilometers. The site is close to the Danube, but its exact location is kept secret to prevent raids by black Archaeologists.
“I am ready to go and inspect the site immediately, although the comparison with the ancient Thracian sanctuary near Kurdzhali town has become very popular recently,” Prof. Nikolai Ovcharov told the Standart.
“If what these speleologists say is true, Bulgaria may have another cultural monument of global significance,” the professor stated.

We’ll assume that ‘black Archaeologists’ is some sort of bad translation of ‘illicit diggers’. Elsewhere:

The discovery of a tomb beneath a previously-looted tumulus near Dolno Izvorovo.:

A previously-unknown Roman settlement dating to the second/third century on the Black Sea Coast near Varna:

An “intact” Thracian settlement from the fifth century B.C. (or thereabouts) near Nova Zagora:

A “unique” Thracian tomb from Gagovo:

Plans to dig near Sliven:

Greek Street

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 2 Comments

Came across this while waiting for my Sirena to heat up for espresso … Greek Street is a very interesting looking comic which, to judge by descriptions all over the internet, reimagines Greek myths/tragedies as modern ‘street stories’. Newsarama has an interview with its creator — Peter Milligan (the guy who brought us John Constantine) — which includes this incipit:

The premise to Greek Street seems pretty straight forward – classic Greek dramas retold in modern-day London. How would you describe the series and what fans can expect?

PM: The premise might be straight forward enough. The reality of the comic is anything but. Greek Street is a very strange beast. I think of it as The Long Good Friday meets Agamemnon. A way of using those fantastically rich stories from Greek Tragedy to take a look at our world, and to explore some of the things I think about this world. I hope readers aren’t put off, thinking that this is somehow going to be dry or demand that they are well versed in Greek literature. The book is very sexy. IT has beautiful girls, beautiful boys, guns, tension, and the supernatural. The aim, or trick, is to forge something new. Something that refers to and echoes Greek Tragedy but that is also modern, new.

NRAMA: What drew you to retelling these greek legends?

PM: I’ve always been interested in the Greek Tragedies. A few years back a re-read a translation of the The Oresteia and that stayed with me, and slowly this idea of using some of those old legends and plays to tell a new story about modern urban life began to form.

There’s a preview of the first issue (and others) at Facebook, where one will see that this comic probably is ‘for mature audiences only’. The covers are definitely interesting … will have to track this one down.

This Day in Ancient History

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kalendae quintilis

  • rites in honour of Juno
  • rites in honour of Felicitas
  • 69 A.D. — Vespasian hailed as emperor in Alexandria
  • 70 A.D. — Titus attacks the walls of Jerusalem
  • 1614 — death of Isaac Casaubon