How did upper-class Christians understand the virtue of humility in Late Antiquity? How did their practice of humility affect their attitudes towards their social and economic inferiors? Was it more difficult for them to renounce prestige than to give up their wealth? This paper will address these questions by examining several case studies of…

This lecture considers relationships between identity, memory, and clothing in group portraits of wall painting programs of Late Antique Egyptian monasteries. In these portraits, dress figured monastic identity, forged links across monastic society and through the generations of monastic fathers, and fueled contemplation of the fathers’…

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…

By his incarnation, Christ had made it possible to touch God through objects sanctified by his contact. He could be experienced through different material objects such as the consecrated bread and wine, or relics such as the wood of the Cross. The faithful were called to "Taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8). We find numerous…

Cosponsored by: Department of Art and Archaeology, Department of Classics, Department of History, Department of Religion, and Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies with the support of the Stanley J. Seeger Hellenic Fund

Cosponsored by: Department of Art and Archaeology, Department of Classics, Department of History, Department of Religion, and Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies with the support of the Stanley J. Seeger Hellenic Fund

Cosponsored by: Department of Art and Archaeology, Department of Classics, Department of History, Department of Religion, and Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies with the support of the Stanley J. Seeger Hellenic Fund