Hermeneutics in the Ancient World
An international conference at the Institut für Judaistik and the
Orientalische Institut of Vienna University.
Vienna, 31.10. – 01.11.2009
Sponsord by the Vice rector of Vienna University Prof.Dr. A.
Mettinger, the dean of Faculty of Philological-Cultural Sciences
Prof.Dr. F. Römer, the dean of Faculty of Historical-Cultural Sciences
Prof. Dr. V.M. V. schwarz, and the Orientalische Gesellschaft Wien.
This workshop deals with the hermeneutic principles used in the
Ancient World from a comparative point of view. With case studies and
overviews of various genres and traditions of the Ancient World,
ranging from Egypt to Mesopotamia, Anatolia and Ancient Greece we
eventually hope to gain deeper insights in the coherence and the
diversity of these literary traditions. 1
Note: both institutes are within one minute walking distance.
Saturday, 31.10.2009
At the Institut für Judaistik Wien
18:30- 18:35 Opening of the conference and welcome by A. Lange and GJ Selz
(after sunset)
18:35-20:05 Public Lectures at the Institut für Judaistik:
Jack M. Sasson (Paris, Nashville TN): Between Hermeneutics: A
Biblical Text in Changing Interpretations
George J. Brooke (Manchester): The Hermeneutics of the Dead Sea
Scrolls: The Qumran Pesharim in Context
20.15 Small reception at the Institut für Judaistik
Sunday, 01.11.2009
Morning sessions: at the Oriental Institute
Session I:
The Ancient Near East I
Chair: P. Damerow (asked)
9:30-10:00 G.J. Selz (Wien): Remarks on Mesopotamian Hermeneutics of
the 3rd Millennium
10:00-10:30 Stefano di Martino (Trieste): Divinatory Hermeneutics in
the Hittite World
10:20-11:00 Stefan Maul (Heidelberg): Telling the Future: Thoughts on
the Status of Divination in the Ancient Near East
11:00-11:30 Coffee Break
Session II:
The Ancient Near East II
Chair: Michael Jursa
11:30-12:00 Mark Geller (London): The Hermeneutics of
Babylonian Medical Commentaries
12:00-12:30 Hermann Hunger (Wien): Hermeneutics in Celestial Omen
Texts from Mesopotamia
12:30-14:00 Lunch Break
Afternoon session at Institut für Judaistik
Session III:
Egypt and the Classical World
Chair: George Brooke (asked)
14:00-14:30 Sidney Aufrère (Montpelier): The Hermeneutics of
Late Ancient Egyptian Literature: Thot as Hermeneutes
14.30-15.00 Bernhard Palme (Wien): The Serapeum Papyri – Dream
Divination and Hermeneutics in Ptolemaic Egypt
15:00-15:30 Zlatko Plese (Chapel Hill (NC) and Zagreb):
Rhetoric and Exegesis in Alexandrian Scholarship
15:30-16:00 Evelyne Krummen (Graz): Poetic and Philosophical
Hermeneutics from Archaic to Hellenistic Times
16:00 -16.20 Coffee Break
Session IV:
The Classical World and Ancient Judaism
Chair: Klaus Davidovic
16:20-16:50 A. Lange (Wien): Artapanus and the Hermeneutics of Jewish
Acculturation
16.50-17.20 Bernhard Dolna (Wien): Philo’s Interpretation of the
Figure of Moses
17:20-17:50 Gerhard Langer(Salzburg): Hermeneutics in Rabbinic Midrash
17:50-18:20 Hermann Lichtenberger (Tübingen): Canonical and
Extracanonical Literature in Early Christianity
Public Lecture at the Oriental Institute :
19:30- 20:15 Wilfred G. Lambert (Birmingham)
The Development of Babylonian Hermeneutics and its Aftermath
Reception at the Oriental Institute:
20:30 Reception (sponsored by the Vice-Rector of the
University of Vienna)