Freie Universität Berlin

The project A03 „The Transfer of Medical Episteme in the ‘Encyclopaedic’ Compilations of Late Antiquity”, run by BabMed Principal Investigator Prof. Markham J. Geller in the framework of the Comparative Research Center SFB 980 “Episteme in Motion”, is featured at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) in San Antonio, Texas.

Lennart Lehmhaus, A03 post-doc research associate, will present preliminary outcomes of the project. In his talk “Medical knowledge, social interactions and authority of tradition in Talmudic texts” (20.11.2016), Lehmhaus surveys rabbinic discourses that facilitated exchanges and transfers of medical concepts.

In the group “Religious competition in Late Antiquity”, Lehmhaus will present a paper on “Competing for bodies of knowledge: Medical expertise between rabbis and others in Late Antiquity” (21.11.2016) that discusses rabbinic strategies of dealing with medical experts as well as with religious (Christian) experts who engaged in the field of medicine.

The Research Centre of Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean Cultures (CAEMC), with its seat at the University of Tartu, and the Institute of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, University of Innsbruck,  have the honour to invite researchers to submit proposals for the international research conference dedicated to Crises in Early Religions. The conference will take place on June 8-11, 2017 at the University of Tartu, and will be the 17th in the series of annual ICAEM (International Conferences for Ancient East Mediterranean Studies) held in Tartu.

For the conference description  and additional information and the programme see ICAEM webpage: https://caemc.ut.ee/icaem2017

Agnes Kloocke

The 27th issue of the Journal des Médecines Cunéiformes is currently being delivered to subscribers.

Contents:

Sona Choukassizian Eypper
Diseases of the Feet in Babylonian-Assyrian Medicine. A Study of Text K.67+ p. 1-58

Strahil V. Panayotov
Fragments of the Nineveh Medical Composition IGI join UGU p. 59-68

The editors of the Jounal des Médecines Cunéiformes, BabMed project advisors Annie Attia and Gilles Buisson, have made the earliest issues of JMC available online to be consulted via the internet.

The web site is: https://people.ds.cam.ac.uk/mjw65/jmc/de.html

Agnes Kloocke

On friday 10/21/2016, a bilateral workshop titled “Schreiber, Drucker und Handwerker als Akteure des Wissenswandels” will be held at the Freie Universität Berlin. The participants are part of the special research areas “SFB 933  Materiale Textkulturen” and “SFB 980  Episteme in Bewegung”. The workshop aims to shed light on the role of scribes, printers and artisans in knowledge change in premodern cultures. There will be four talks, three of them in German and one in English. For the complete schedule, please note the attached program for download.

Place: Conference room, SFB-Villa, Schwendenerstraße 8, 14195 Berlin

Time: 10/21/2016 13:00-17:00

Workshop program and weblinks:

SFB workshop program

https://www.materiale-textkulturen.de/

https://www.sfb-episteme.de/

This international, interdisciplinary conference which will be held on 23-24 June 2017 in the British School at Rome and the École française de Rome will explore the history of a medium that has occupied a pivotal role in Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman and Judeo-Christian religious tradition: incense. The conference will be of interest to scholars working in archaeology, anthropology, cultural history, literature, art history, and the history of religion, as well as local artists and members of the public. Papers should last approximately 20 minutes, and may be in English, Italian or French; they should be original and should not have been previously published or delivered at a major conference. Abstracts of approximately 200-300 words should be submitted by 31 October 2016 to Mark Bradley (mark.bradley@nottingham.ac.uk) or Adeline Grand-Clément (adelinegc@yahoo.fr). Successful contributions may be considered for publication in a conference volume. For further information please click here.

Conceptions and experiences of the body in ancient Egypt

A Lecture and Video-Conference by Rune Nyord, Cambridge University

Thursday, September 29, 2016 4 p.m.-6 p.m. (Paris time) at the Ivry sur Seine CNRS building, 27 rue Paul Bert, Porte de Choisy/Porte d’Ivry subway station, room C in the basement or by distance through video-conference

This talk discusses dominant ancient Egyptian conceptions of the body with particular focus on the religious domain. An underlying idea of great importance is the conception of the human body as a vessel whose contents is ordinarily hidden, but can be revealed under particular circumstances. This idea plays a role in the social and administrative sphere, where especially persons of authority show a great interest in techniques for revealing the contents of the bodies of those they rule. In religious practice, the model underlies widespread conceptions of the acquisition and use of ritual power, and in the funerary sphere, the transformation of the body and its contents becomes of key importance for the regeneration of life. The presentation also discusses the nature of bodily difference in ancient Egyptian thought, as well as attempting to tackle the difficult question of what we can mean with the notion of ‘body’ when dealing with a culture without the notion of a separate physical domain usually serving as the backdrop of the notion.

This presentation constitutes the first monthly session of the interdisciplinary seminar “The Individual and his Body in the Ancient Mediterranean Basin” organized by Alice Mouton.
https://www.orient-mediterranee.com/spip.php?article2958&lang=en

All the persons who are interested in attending the session (either in Ivry sur Seine or through video-conference) are welcome for free but should register by e-mail beforehand.

contact: mailto:alice.mouton@cnrs.fr

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First published via AGADE LIST 05 Sept 2016

The conference, which brings together scholars of medical history and from related fields, such as classics, literary studies, linguistics, digital humanities, philosophy and psychology, wants to offer a better understanding of this multi-faceted and widely attested phenomenon of questions and answers in ancient medical literature, from the Hippocratic writers to Late Antiquity and its reception in early Byzantine times. ‘Medical literature’ is understood in a broad sense, encompassing not only the highly specialized medical treatises of authors like Galen, but also, i.a., literary sources (esp. drama), collections of probèmata, and (anonymous) papyri, which all somehow relate to the world of ancient medicine.

Date: 30-31 August 2016

Venue: The Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe, Janseniusstraat 1, 3000 Leuven

For the conference’s full programme click here.

At <https://www.degruyter.com/viewbooktoc/product/203691> is a downloadable new book:
[Download EPUB format, on left; or by individual pdf chapters, on right]

Stol, Marten
Women in the Ancient Near East

Translated by Helen Richardson-Hewitt & Mervyn Richardson ISBN 978-1-61451-263-9 x, 696 pages
Hardcover ISBN 978-1-61451-323-0 € [D] 99.95 / US$ 140.00 / GBP 74.99*

Women in the Ancient Near East offers a lucid account of the daily life of women in Mesopotamia from the third millennium BCE until the beginning of the Hellenistic period.

The book systematically presents the lives of women emerging from the available cuneiform material and discusses modern scholarly opinion. Stol’s book is the first full-scale treatment of the history of women in the Ancient Near East.

[The book is an English translation of “Vrouwen van Babylon” (2012). The original title is a more accurate representation of the contents, in that it is mostly specific to Mesopotamian culture].

First published via Jack Sasson Agade List, post Aug 10, 2016

The First Circular for the 63rd Rencontre Assryiologique Internationale, Marburg, has been posted at: https://www.rai63.org/

The University of Marburg has the honor to invite to the 63rd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale to be held on July 24th through 28th, 2017. This will be the tenth time that the Rencontre meets in Germany.

The theme of this meeting is

Dealing with Antiquity – Past, Present, and Future.

Philipps-Universität Marburg, July 24 – July 28, 2017

For more than three thousand years, the Middle East was the spiritual and cultural center of the Old World and brought about groundbreaking discoveries that still shape our lives to this day.

Past
While the modern world is primarily interested in progress and innovation, the cultures of the Ancient Near East focused more on the past, the origin, tradition, the ideal model, continuity, and stability. They carefully preserved their material heritage, making frequent reference to the concepts of the traditional imaginary world and seeking the source of inspiration in both. Cultural memory is one key to accessing the Ancient Near East and opens up a broad spectrum of topics.

Present
Geographically, the home of the Mesopotamian civilizations lies in the modern states of the Middle East which proudly present their rich cultural heritage and strive to preserve it. However, large parts of this region are currently being shaken by instability and a series of dramatic crises. The resulting destruction triggers horrified reactions around the world. Given the high topicality of these developments, the focus is on taking stock of the damage and protective measures. Representatives from Iraq, Iran and Syria are invited to report on the situation and serve as contact persons for cooperation. International efforts to protect cultural goods, both an academic and political priority, are to be addressed appropriately as well.

Future
Ancient Near Eastern Studies is the academic field that compiles knowledge on Mesopotamia’s past and makes it available to other disciplines. For a long time, only a few experts conducted research into these cultures. Now the current events have raised awareness for this rich heritage among the broader public. A great task for the future is emerging.

The academic disciplines dealing with the cultures of the Ancient Near East are continuously broadening their topics and developing their methods further. The modern opportunities of digital humanities have opened up many new avenues and triggered a boost of innovative research topics, methods and findings.

This Rencontre will serve as a platform for the exchange of ideas, presenting projects and reflecting upon the tasks and perspectives which lie ahead.

Detailed information can be found in the first circular. Information on the venues, travel and accommodation is provided under the section About the Conference on our website: https://www.rai63.org/

The second circular is planned for October 2016. Should you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Email: info@rai63.org
or
Walter Sommerfeld: sommerfe@uni-marburg.de

We look forward to receiving you in Marburg!

Organizing Committee
Alexandra Grund-Wittenberg, Faculty of Protestant Theology, Dept. of Old Testament/Markus Hilgert, Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin/Elisabeth Korinth, CNMS, Dept. of Ancient Near Eastern Studies/Guido Kryszat, CNMS, Dept. of Ancient Near Eastern Studies/Christl M. Maier, Faculty of Protestant Theology, Dept. of Old Testament/Andreas Müller-Karpe, Faculty of History and Cultural Studies, Dept. of Archaeology/Elisabeth Osten-Sacken, CNMS, Dept. of Ancient Near Eastern Studies/Elisabeth Rieken, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Dept. of Linguistics/Stefan Schulte, CNMS, Dept. of Ancient Near Eastern Studies/Walter Sommerfeld, CNMS, Dept. of Ancient Near Eastern Studies

First posted on Agade, July 1, 2016