CfP: Divine Speech in the Ancient Mediterranean Basin – Lille (Francia)

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Divine Speech in the Ancient Mediterranean Basin

(Lille, June 13-14 2018)

The ways men seek divine words in Antiquity through their prayers and rituals have often been studied, whether they look for words of encouragement or need to acquire some knowledge about a decision to take or an event to come. However, the ways divine words are articulated and mediated have seldom been studied in a comparative approach. In other words, the literary form each divine speech takes (narratives, letters, annals), the medium through which it is conveyed (dreams, oracles, prophecies or any other divinatory form), as well as the material object upon which it is inscribed (tablets, leather rolls or papyri, monumental inscriptions) deserve further attention.
 
Literary and divinatory forms should be of special interest, as much as the documents and material objects that are used to convey them. For instance, divine speech has sometimes been found on material supports that were deemed to be destroyed or recycled. Furthermore, it seems that the status of divine speech changed over time in different areas of the Ancient Mediterranean Basin. Its orality became worth preserving. Consequently, the material support acquired a status on its own, as much as divine speech itself.

The aim of this symposium will be to bring together experts from various fields, namely History, History of Religion, Archaeology, Epigraphy, Palaeography, Linguistics, etc., in order to examine the diversity of divine speech as it is articulated and mediated. The contexts in which divine speech occurs will be examined, as well as its literary and material forms.

Researchers who are interested in taking part in this 2-day symposium are welcome to send an abstract to the three e-mail addresses mentioned below by September 15, 2017. All the papers should be in English. This symposium is organized by Stéphanie Anthonioz (Catholic University of Lille), Alice Mouton (CNRS Ivry sur Seine) and Daniel Petit (ENS and EPHE).
 
 DEADLINE: 15/09/2017 

 INFO: stephanie.anthonioz@orange.fr – alice.mouton@cnrs.fr – petit.daniel.dpt@gmail.com