Violent Commensality:
Animal Sacrifice and its Discourses in the Ancient World
Friday, May 11th 2007 Department of Classics University of Reading
Animal-sacrifice was the central activity of ancient Greek religion, as well as the other religions of the ancient Mediterranean. It is attested through texts of various sorts (epigraphy and literature) and through material culture, especially zoo-archaeology. Some of the most provocative discussions by scholars of ancient religion over the last few decades have been about sacrifice, e.g. Walter Burkert's thesis of ritual violence, or the Paris Schools stress on the social ("commensal") function of sacrifice.
This conference will provide a unique opportunity for these issues to be discussed afresh by an international team, including both established experts and junior scholars, who will look at a wide range of evidence, including both texts and material culture. The aims of the conference are to examine both the reality of animal sacrifice, as revealed by archaeology and epigraphy, and also discursive representations of sacrifice in literature; to explore the relationship between literary representations and reality; and to test the evidence against the prevailing theories of sacrifice.
The provisional list of speakers and titles is as follows:
Mathieu Carbon: "The Equal and Unequal Division of Sacrificial Animals"
Gunnel Ekroth: "Bare Bones" Barbara Kowalzig: "Fish Sacrifice" Fred Naiden:
"Sacrifice and Self-Interest" Robert Parker: "Eating Unsacrificed Meat"
Richard Seaford: "Sacrifice in Athenian Tragedy" Oliver Thomas: "When is a Sacrifice not a Sacrifice? The Case of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes"
Respondents: Emily Kearns and Scott Scullion
A full programme and further details will be posted soon on the webpage:
http://www.reading.ac.uk/classics/sacrifice
This conference will be open to the public.
There will be a registration fee of £10 to cover refreshments and lunch.
All enquiries should be addressed to either Sarah Hitch at s.s.hitch AT reading.ac.uk or Ian Rutherford at i.c.rutherford AT reading.ac.uk
... seen on the Classicists list
Animal Sacrifice and its Discourses in the Ancient World
Friday, May 11th 2007 Department of Classics University of Reading
Animal-sacrifice was the central activity of ancient Greek religion, as well as the other religions of the ancient Mediterranean. It is attested through texts of various sorts (epigraphy and literature) and through material culture, especially zoo-archaeology. Some of the most provocative discussions by scholars of ancient religion over the last few decades have been about sacrifice, e.g. Walter Burkert's thesis of ritual violence, or the Paris Schools stress on the social ("commensal") function of sacrifice.
This conference will provide a unique opportunity for these issues to be discussed afresh by an international team, including both established experts and junior scholars, who will look at a wide range of evidence, including both texts and material culture. The aims of the conference are to examine both the reality of animal sacrifice, as revealed by archaeology and epigraphy, and also discursive representations of sacrifice in literature; to explore the relationship between literary representations and reality; and to test the evidence against the prevailing theories of sacrifice.
The provisional list of speakers and titles is as follows:
Mathieu Carbon: "The Equal and Unequal Division of Sacrificial Animals"
Gunnel Ekroth: "Bare Bones" Barbara Kowalzig: "Fish Sacrifice" Fred Naiden:
"Sacrifice and Self-Interest" Robert Parker: "Eating Unsacrificed Meat"
Richard Seaford: "Sacrifice in Athenian Tragedy" Oliver Thomas: "When is a Sacrifice not a Sacrifice? The Case of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes"
Respondents: Emily Kearns and Scott Scullion
A full programme and further details will be posted soon on the webpage:
http://www.reading.ac.uk/classics/sacrifice
This conference will be open to the public.
There will be a registration fee of £10 to cover refreshments and lunch.
All enquiries should be addressed to either Sarah Hitch at s.s.hitch AT reading.ac.uk or Ian Rutherford at i.c.rutherford AT reading.ac.uk
... seen on the Classicists list