INTER-CULT
Cultic honours and divinisation in the Hellenistic Eastern Mediterranean
New voices for interdisciplinary collaboration
Rationale of the Project
This project concerns the organisation of a one-day conference in Lausanne in autumn 2022, followed by an online seminar (until autumn 2023) and the publication of a co-edited volume.The topics tackled by the project are under the spotlight of current scholarship about the history of the Ancient Mediterranean world; moreover, they have a remarkable importance in the debate about contemporary societies as well. The interaction between politics and religion will be tackled with the dual focus of exploring regional characteristics on the one hand and, on the other hand,
their contacts and mutual influences. This interdisciplinary approach shall encourage established and young scholars to experiment with new forms of collaborative work as the studied trends can only be fully understood beyond a still common scientific separation between different ‘civilisations’. The Hellenistic period particularly fits this scenario as it is characterized by a growing degree of multi-cultural cohabitation and by the transversal consolidation of political and religious ideas and practices acknowledging the possibility that humans can be honoured as divine beings, or even be considered as fully divine. With our project we aim to promote this interdisciplinary collaboration by bringing established and junior researchers together and encourage them to merge
their expertise through an open and lively debate.
Project Conference to be held in Lausanne, 21 October 2022
The papers presented in Lausanne will bring together three research approaches of high relevance for the study of cultures and societies in the Ancient Mediterranean world:1) interactions between political and religious ideas/practices in the (self-)representation and legitimation of personal power;
2) developments in the rituals and representations concerning the relationship between humans and the divine sphere, in particular with regard to the possibility that human beings are honoured as, and/or believed to become gods/heroes (during their life or posthumously);
3) cultural contacts and transfers in the Hellenistic Eastern Mediterranean area: the Greek world, Egypt, and the Near East.
Programme – Lausanne, vendredi 21 Octobre 2022
9h00-9h15 Accueil et introduction par S. Caneva (UNIPD) et G. Lenzo (UNIL)Thème 1. Divinisation et contacts culturels dans l’Égypte ptolémaïque
9h15-10h00 Stefano Caneva (UNIPD) – Giuseppina Lenzo (UNIL)
Devenir dieu dans l’Égypte ptolémaïque : une analyse conjointe du vocabulaire grec et égyptien dans les titres des souverains lagides
10h00-10h45 René Preys (Professeur en égyptologie, Université de Namur)
La décoration des temples égyptiens comme instrument de légitimation : le cas de Ptolémée XII
10h45-11h15 Break
11h15-12h00 Mounir Habachy (Chercher postdoc en égyptologie, Université de Namur)
Les derniers Lagides en quête de légitimation : Sôter ou/et Philométor ?
12h00-13h30 Lunch
Thème 2. Le Proche Orient
13h30-14h15 Hervé Gonzalez (ingénieur-chercheur, Collège de France, Paris)
Un culte royal en Judée lagide ? Le temple de Jérusalem et les Ptolémées à la lumières des sources numismatiques
14h15-15h00 Lorenzo Paoletti (Universität zu Köln, Università di Bologna) ἥρωες and frauuaṣ̌i. Some remarks on divinization of men between Greece and Persia
15h00-15h30 Break
Thème 3. Entre humain et divin dans le monde grec
15h30-16h15 Luca Lorenzon (Doctorant, Padova – Liège)
Honorer ses défunts comme des dieux : la déification comme consolation aux époques hellénistique et impériale
16h15-17h00 Julien Dechevez (postgraduate, Liège)
Combien pour le roi ? Acteurs et modalités de mises en vente des prêtrises royales
17h00-17h30 Conclusion
Contacts: Stefano Caneva (stefano.caneva@unipd.it) and Giuseppina Lenzo (giuseppina.lenzo@unil.ch)
The event has been co-funded by Université de Lausanne and Università di Padova