The Orient, Greece and Rome - The Europaeum

EVROPAEVMFIFTH CLASSICS COLLOQUIUMThe Orient, Greece and Rome17 th – 19 th November 2006Call for papers‘“God's is the Orient, God's is the Occident” says the Koran. Classical scholars have found itdifficult to maintain such a balanced perspective and have tended instead to transform ‘oriental’and ‘occidental’ into a polarity, implying antithesis and conflict.’ Walter Burkert, TheOrientalizing Revolution (1992)In The Orientalizing Revolution, Walter Burkert attempts to correct our distorted view of Ancient Greek cultureas a miraculous phenomenon owing practically nothing to its neighbours. Recently there have been manystudies on the influences or connections between Classical and Oriental cultures and progress in the edition andinterpretation of Hittite, Mesopotamian, Iranian, Egyptian and Ugaritic texts, which have opened up newintercultural perspectives. It is also clear that the Roman encounter with Greece and the Orient introduced newideas, customs and forms of worship which transformed Rome’s vision, as recorded by contemporary literature.The colloquium aims, mainly, to contribute to this approach by looking at two main perspectives: Orientalinfluences on Greece and Rome in religion, literature and philosopy; and personal Greek and Roman attitudes tothe Other or the presence of Oriental populations in Greece or Rome. However, other perspectives will also beconsidered.It is the fifth meeting in the Europaeum Classics Colloquium series, organised with the aim of advancingresearch in the area and providing a venue to foster further joint research among Europaeum universities,academics, students, and graduates. Previous colloquia include Tears in the Ancient World in 2005; Methodsand traditions of graduate research: approaches to Herodotus 1.1-94 and Tacitus Annals 1.1-15 in 2003,Posidippus and epigram in 2002; and Travel and tourism in the Ancient World in 2001.The colloquim is organised by the Departments of Greek Philology and Indoeuropean Studies, and LatinPhilology of the Complutense University of Madrid, and it is expected that there will be 20-25 participantsincluding teachers, researchers and PhD students from Europaeum universities, with the working language beingprimarily English. The Europaeum will support the accommodation costs of presenters and participants fromEuropaeum partner universities for the nights of 17th and 18 th November. For further information on theconference, contact Alberto Bernabé Pajares (albernab@filol.ucm.es), José Joaquín Caerols (jjcae@filol.ucm.es)or David Castro de Castro (dcastro@filol.ucm.es).Those scholars from the Europaeum 10 partner universities wishing to offer a paper (presentations to last nomore than 25 minutes) at the colloquium should submit an abstract (maximum of 250 words) via email (in MSWord or pdf form) by the beginning of October to albernab@filol.ucm.es, dcastro@filol.ucm.es andstephen.harrison@ccc.ox.ac.ukDeadline: 11th October 2006Notification of papers accepted will be given by 25th October. Decisions made by the Academic Directors wilbe final.This even is supported by the Faculty of Philology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the Europaeumwww.europaeum.org- 1 -

PRELIMINARY PROGRAMMEDAY 1. Friday 17 th November 2006Venue: Complutense University, Faculty of Philology15:00-15:30 Welcome Remarks15:30-17:00 Papers (tbc)17:00-17:30 Coffee break17:30-19:00 Papers19:15 Welcome Drinks and DinnerDAY 2. Saturday 18 th November 2006Venue: Complutense University, Faculty of Philology9:00-10:30 Papers (tbc)11:30-13:00 Visit to Biblioteca Marqués de Valdecilla (Manuscripts and Early Printedcollections)13:00-15:00 LunchVenue: National Archaeological Museum of Madrid15:00-17:00 Papers (tbc)17:00-17:30 Coffee break17:30-19:00 Relations between the "Greeks" and the "Persians" in 4 to 5 th C. BCProfessor Robert Rollinger (University of Innsbruck)Discussion19.30 DinnerDAY 3. Sunday 19 th November 2006Venue: National Archaeological Museum of Madrid10:00 Visit to the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid.ConclusionsThis even is supported by the Faculty of Philology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the Europaeumwww.europaeum.org- 2 -

Suggested background reading:GreeceBonnet, C.-Motte, A. (eds.) (1999), Les syncrétismes religieux dans le monde méditerranéenantique, Rome.Burkert, W. (1992), The Orientalizing Revolution. Near Eastern influence on greek culturein the Early Archaic Age,Cambridge Mass.-London.Burkert, W. (2004), Babylon, Memphis, Persepolis. Eastern Contexts of Greek Culture,Cambridge Mass.-London.Hartog, F. (1984), Le miroir d'Hérodote, Paris (= The mirror of Herodotus. Therepresentation of the other in the writing of History, Berkeley 1988).Penglase, C. (1994), Greek Myths and Mesopotamia. Parallels and Influence in the HomericHymns and Hesiod, London.Ribichini, S.-Rocchi, M.-Xella, P. (eds.) (2001), La questione delle influenze vicino-orientalisulla religione greca, Roma.Rollinger, R.-Ulf, Ch. (eds.) (2003), Das Archaische Griechenland: Interne Entwicklungen-Externe Impulse, Berlin.Sanzi, E. (2003), I culti orientali nell'impero romano, Cosenza.West, M.L. (1997), The East face of Helicon. West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry andMyth, Oxford.RomeAlvar, J. (2001), Los misterios. Religiones “orientales” en el Imperio Romano, Barcelona.Angeli Bertinelli, M.G. (1979), Roma e l'Oriente. Strategia, economia, società e cultura nellerelazioni politiche fra Roma, la Giudea e l’Iran, Roma.Cumont, Fr. (1929), Les religions orientales dans le paganisme romain, Paris.Freyberger Kl. S. et al. (eds.) (2003), Kulturkonflikte im Vorderen Orient an der Wende vomHellenismus zur römischen Kaiserzeit, Rahden.Le Glay, M. (1986), Villes, temples et sanctuaires de l’Orient romain, Paris.Magie, D. (1950), Roman Rule in Asia Minor to the End of the Third Century after Christ. I-II, Princeton.Nisbet, R.G.M. (1978), “Virgil’s fourth eclogue. Easterners and westerners”, BICS 25, pp.59-78.Pippidi, D.M. (1976), Assimilation et résistance à la culture gréco-romaine dans le mondeancien. Travaux du VI Congrès international de la Fédération internationale desAssociations d'études classiques, Madrid septembre 1974, Bucarest-París.Sapota, T. (1999), “The magic and religion in works of Lucius Apuleius of Madaura: theimpact of the Orient on the Roman literature of the second century A.D.”, Eos 86, pp. 339-346.Simon, M. (1980), “Orientalia bei Horaz” in R. Gordesiani - A. Urušadze (eds.), Caucasica-Mediterranea, Tbilisi, pp.194-198.Sullivan, R.D. (1990), Near Eastern Royalty and Rome, 100-30 B.C., Toronto.Turcan, R. (1989), Les cultes orientaux dans le monde romain, Paris.Vermaseren, M.J. (1981), Die orientalischen Religionen im Römerreich, Leiden.This even is supported by the Faculty of Philology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the Europaeumwww.europaeum.org- 3 -