This presentation offers a brief overview of Manichaeism, introducing newly edited Coptic texts that help to provide a clearer perspective on its position within the religions of Late Antiquity.  It will then apply this perspective to the Manichaean account of Adam and Eve and its antecedent traditions, including novel interpretations of…

Sasanian Iran (c. 220–651 CE) was the last great imperial polity of the Ancient Near East. After coming to power in a violent revolution, the Sasanian family firmly established its supremacy over a vast, multiethnic empire, Eranshahr. For four centuries, Sasanian monarchs transmitted their royal power to successors from the family,…

The Greek word parrhesía, usually translated with “frankness”, has a long history in Antiquity. Its first known mention is in one of Euripides’ works; he defines parrhesía as a crucial prerogative of the Athenian citizens who are allowed to contribute to debates in the popular assembly.

During Late Antiquity, the term is…

The (Legacy) of the relics of saints were instrumental in the formation of the Christian communities at the frontiers of the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires. In this talk, I will argue that the flow of the relics was mostly from the Sasanian Iran to regions outside the empire. Predominantly to the recently Christianized areas in the borderlands…

This talk explores methodological issues pertaining to the history of emotions and Islamic (Arabic) Tradition-based literature, including the literature of 'Religious Merits' and other pietistic or devotional genres.   

Nancy Khalek is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University and specializes in…

Program:

Friday

1:30: Welcome and Workshop Introduction

2:00-3:15: Material Culture and Identity

Merle Eisenberg (Princeton University): Copy and Paste? Imitative and Pseudo-Roman Coinage in the Visigothic Kingdom

Cecily Hilsdale

The lecture will analyze the ways in which the remarks on language use and the stories about language-related miracles helped to create the image of a holy man in late antique hagiography. The appearance of Greek, Latin, and Syriac hagiographical narratives that depict miraculous linguistic skills of holy men or introduce demons speaking in…

In writing about Sophronios of Jerusalem two ninth-century authors comment specifically on the patriarch’s literary style and correct beliefs. Both of those elements will be highlighted in this lecture. It will explore some of the unusual features of his rhetoric, which place him in the Asiatic, rather than the Attic, camp. It will also draw…

Scholarship over the past several decades has properly recognized that slanderous statements against magic were not typically meant to describe accurately the practices depicted (e.g., the use of amulets or curses). Instead, individuals (e.g., ecclesiastical leaders) seem to have used such accusations and condemnations of magic to consolidate…

When early followers wrote narratives about Jesus, they were not just telling his history, they were engaged in reimagining the world.  Four of these gospels came to be in the Bible but other stories were written in the early centuries as well. One of these is the Gospel of Mary, attributed to Mary Magdalene.  In elaborating on her…

Studying Language and Objects in Renaissance Europe

Keynote:
“Between Antiquarianism and Philology: The Emergence of Art History in the 18th Century”
Elisabeth Décultot University of Halle-Wittenberg

Featuring:

Keynote Speaker: Deeana Klepper, Boston University

Festivals for the consecration of churches were major events in late antiquity that gathered individuals together in large numbers from wide geographic regions and various stations in life. At these festivals, the church building itself and votive gifts would be offered up to God and saints, while on the ground commerce would take place in…