THE EARLY TEXT CULTURES NEWSLETTER

5th -18th December 2022

EARLY TEXT CULTURES: RESEARCH SEMINAR

The ETC Board would like to extend our thanks to all attendants and discussants who helped make this term's seminar series on "Pre-modern Commentaries" a success. We will shortly be disseminating details for our next research seminar series- please stay tuned!

For information about our past events please visit https://www.earlytextcultures.org/events/past-events.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Anchoring the Invention of Writing in Ancient Societies (Leiden)

Conference taking place from Thursday 15 - Saturday 17 December. The conference will take place in a hybrid format, both over Zoom and in-person at Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (RMO), Leiden, The Netherlands. 

Organisers: Ineke Sluiter & Willemijn Waal

If you are interested in attending (live or online via Zoom), please send an email to Dante Aramideh (d.s.aramideh@hum.leidenuniv.nl) before Thursday 8 December.

Program:

Thursday 15 December

14:00 - 14:15 Opening by Willemijn Waal

Paper session 1: Writing and Orality I

14:15 - 14:45 Peter Bisschop -

From Orality to Writing. The Palimpsest of the Purāṇas

14:45 - 15:15 Bernardo Ballesteros Petrella -

The resilience of orality in cuneiform and the alphabet: Greek and

Babylonian epic

15:15 - 15:35 Break

Paper session 2: Writing & Orality II

15:35 - 16:05 André Lardinois -

 Sappho's silent children: When and why were Sappho's songs first being read?

16:05 - 16:35 Nienke Vos -

(Il)literacy in early Christian monasticism: Ambiguous anchoring

16:35 - 19:30 Drinks and dinner

19:30 Keynote by Silvia Ferrara -

Writing, in the deep

Friday 16 December

Paper session 3: Reflections on the invention of writing, ancient and modern

9:15 - 9:45 Richard Sproat -

A Computational Model of the Invention of Writing. How a New

Technology Evolved without a Change of Medium or Institutional Context

9:45 - 10:15 Henric Jansen -

Who invented writing? Ancient Greek narratives on the invention of the alphabet

10:15 - 10:25 Fresco Sam-Sin -

Introduction to Pseudoscript 10:25 - 11:00 Break

Paper session 4: Co-existence of writing systems

11:00 - 11:30 Remco Breuker -

The Unexpected Attractions of a Clerical Script in Korean Antiquity:

Hyangga in the Samguk Yusa

11:30 - 12:00 Marco Fattori -

Old Persian in Aramic script. Scribal expertise and official authority

in the Late Achaemenid Period

12:00 - 13:30 Lunch

Paper session 5: Anchoring writing systems I

13:30 - 14:00 Elon Heymans -

The early alphabetic practice in the southern Levant and the  Greek

world: context and function

14:00 - 14:30 Willemijn Waal - T

ying the new to the old. Hittite sealing practices and the

introduction of the cuneiform script in Anatolia

Paper session 6: Anchoring writing systems II

14:30 - 15:00 Ben Haring -

Anchoring the alphabet in the early second millennium BCE

15:00 - 15:30 Guolong Lai -

Anchoring Pictograph. The "Positive" and "Negative" Anchoring of

Pictograph in the History of Chinese Writing

15:30-16:00 Break

16:00 - 17:00 Keynote by Rosalind Thomas -

Continuity and innovation, variety and experiment in early Greek

writing. Can we apply the concept of anchoring  innovation?

Saturday December 17

Paper session 7: A last example of anchoring and special areas of

application of writing

10:15 - 10:45 Jan Houben -

Veda and Avesta between Orality and Writing: anchoring the invention

of writing in slow motion

10:45 - 11:15 RJ Barnes -

Writing Reimagined in Greco-Roman Magic

11:15 - 11:45 Rebecca van Hove -

Religion and writing in the invention of archaic Greek legislation

11:45 - 12:15 Break

12:00 - 12:30 Closing remarks by Ineke Sluiter

For abstracts and more information, see https://anchoringinnovation.nl/events/anchoring-innovation-in-ancient-cultures-conference-day-1, https://anchoringinnovation.nl/events/anchoring-innovation-in-ancient-cultures-day-2 and https://anchoringinnovation.nl/events/anchoring-innovation-in-ancient-cultures-conference-day-3.

Classics Colloquium (Kamuzu)

Elephant Evolutions: Knowledge Production about Sudan 300 BC - AD 400

Mr L.W. Parker, Head of the Department of Classics at Kamuzu Academy, Mtunthama, Malawi, invites any interested parties who should happen to find themselves in the locality to attend the inaugural Classics Colloquium on Wednesday 7 December 2022 in the VIP at 12:30 (Central African Time). 

Mr T. O. Moller (Wolfson College, Oxford) will be presenting a paper based on his Doctoral research entitled "Elephant Evolutions: Knowledge Production about Sudan 300BC-AD400".

Abstract: The Meroitic Kingdom, centred in Sudan, thrived from 300BC-AD400. Despite several attempts, the vassals of Egypt failed to conquer it through this time and knowledge of this power remained remote and scant. Scholars are reliant upon these accounts, in tandem with extant archaeological remains, due to the fact that the Meroitic language remains largely untranslated. This paper compares the art historical and literary record for the elephant, an animal which, it contends, was used as a symbol of the exotic nature of the kingdom, in part through a misinterpretation of the art that travellers from the Greco-Roman world observed. It will seek to demonstrate how the representation of this animal evolved from the Ptolemaic through to late-Roman periods both in art and literature, exploring the nature of a bi-directional knowledge exchange and the possibility that communication may have broken down in between both the Greco-Roman and Meroitic worlds.

To register please email parkerw@ka.ac.mw.

Tea and light refreshments will be served after the paper. 

CALL FOR PAPERS

Oxford Postgraduate Conference in Assyriology (Oxford)

DANGER! Threat, Risk, and Uncertainty in the Ancient Near East and Beyond

The organisers of the 11th annual Oxford Postgraduate Conference in Assyriology warmly invite all UK, European and overseas students whose research relates to the Ancient Near East and later antiquity in the

Near and Middle East to join us in Oxford for a two-day conference at Wolfson College on Thursday 23- Friday 24 March on the theme: "DANGER! Threat, Risk and Uncertainty in the Ancient Near East"

The theme intends to encourage dialogue about the ways in which ancient peoples perceived and dealt with danger and threats to themselves, their community, and their environment. Papers might but need not relate to the following topics:

• Protection and exposure

• War and violence

• Risky business: Attitudes to threat and uncertainty in economics and law

• Strategies for avoiding, identifying, and responding to crisis

• Approaches to danger in the conservation and preservation of cultural heritage

• Linguistics of threat and safety

• Types of danger and threat: ‘hazard’ to health, ‘Risk’ to property, emotional ‘insecurity’

• Shelter and safety in literary and material culture

The abstract submission deadline is Sunday 15 January 2023. Please submit your proposed paper title and a brief abstract (250 words) to opca@orinst.ox.ac.uk. Papers are to be 15-20 minutes followed by a plenary panel discussion.

The main aim of the conference is to provide a forum for students at the postgraduate and postdoctoral levels to present their research to a group of peers and establish connections across disciplinary and geographical borders.

A limited number of bursaries for travel and accommodation will be available for participants attending from outside of the UK. More information will be provided about the number of bursaries and the application process for a bursary in due course.

For more information, and to keep up to date with OPCA, please see: https://opcaassyriology.wixsite.com/opca---oxford-assyri , Facebook https://www.facebook.com/opcassyriology/ and Twitter

https://twitter.com/opcassyriology.

Celtic Conference in Classics (Coimbra)

One Cult, Multiple Cultures: Multilingualism and Religion in Western Roman Inscriptions

The Call for Papers for the panel "One Cult, Multiple Cultures: Multilingualism and Religion in Western Roman Inscriptions" as part of the 14th Celtic Conference in Classics is now open, which will be held in Coimbra from Tuesday 11 - Friday 14 July 2023. 

Organisers: Dr. Lorena Pérez Yarza (University Carlos III-Madrid), Dr. Javier Herrera Rando (University of Zaragoza), Dr. María José Estarán Tolosa (University of Zaragoza)  

The aim of this panel is to analyse the contacts between Rome and other contemporaneous local traditions (Celtic, Lusitanian, Gaulish...) as well others which are the result of migratory movements towards the West (Syrian, Phoenician-Punic...) in the western provinces of the Roman Empire during the 1st to 3rd centuries AD. We invite researchers to participate in our panel to cover different aspects of the phenomenon, such as the study of divine names and the onomastic sequences that accompany or replace them, the phenomena of code-switching in religious (cont)texts, the local adaptation of standardised Latin epigraphic formulas (ofrenda, votum...) and the analysis of multilingual spaces as a whole, such as sanctuaries or temples. Given that inscriptions are not texts alien to their environment, the panel is similarly open to the participation of archaeologists and specialists in iconography with the aim of gaining a more complete understanding of the processes of cultural negotiation and adaptation behind multilingual religious texts.

The panel is open to 20-minute papers, followed by 5-minute discussions. The official language of the panel will be English, although we will be open to communications in the official languages of the conference (English, French and Portuguese) in addition to Spanish and Italian. Those interested should send an abstract under 400 words and a title to Lorena Pérez (loperezy@inst.uc3m.es) or Javier Herrera (jherrerarando@gmail.com) before Monday 20th February 2023. Accepted papers will be announced before Wednesday 15 March 2023. 

Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology (Liverpool)

ACE & CREATIVITY

The University of Liverpool Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology invites submissions from undergraduate, postgraduate, and early career researchers for ‘ACE & CREATIVITY’.  This exciting new project embraces the study of the ancient world and creativity, celebrating research, innovation, and public engagement. It encourages an interdisciplinary approach to artmaking and research-led practice, providing an opportunity to inspire and connect the work of emergent researchers. Published monthly on the Department website, ‘ACE & CREATIVITY’ seeks to create a space where different ideas and skills come together in new and impactful ways. It is an invitation to freely explore your artistry, enhance your writing skills and share your research and passion with a broader audience.  

Innovative and informative approaches to the ancient world and its reception are welcomed, with no geographical or chronological limits. Original contributions are welcomed in either (or both!) of the following styles:

• A piece of creative work. Creativity is personal and everyone has imaginative potential. Any form of innovative expression, from visual arts to creative writing, is welcome. Let your creative sparks fly! Any entry should be accompanied by a concise topic overview of up to 400 words.

• A blog post. A catchy title, a strong introduction, a well-formed argument, and an effective concluding paragraph are sought. Posts may focus on any aspect of the ancient world and should be grounded in evidence. Harvard in-text citations are preferred, but hyperlinks to useful background material are accepted. Contributions should not exceed 800 words in length, excluding a brief bibliography.

Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed by the editorial team. The approval or rejections of contributions, as well as editorial comments and recommendations, will be communicated to the authors via email. Any form of plagiarism will result in immediate disqualification for publication.

Proposed contributions should be sent by email to:

- Dr. Amanda Potter (amandapotter@caramanda.co.uk)

- Dr. Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti (g.taietti@liverpool.ac.uk)

- Giulia Tonon (g.tonon@liverpool.ac.uk)

More informal approaches regarding possible submissions and proposals are also welcomed.

We advertise events that match the interdisciplinary interests of our research collective. Please contact us if you are interested in including any events in our newsletter.