Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”
The Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics. Dynamics of Tradition and Innovation” has been investigating since 2007 the complex relationship between religion and politics across eras and cultures. In the funding phase from 2019 to 2025, the 140 researchers from 20 disciplines in the humanities and social sciences analyze in transepochal studies ranging from antiquity to the present day the factors that make religion the motor of political and social change. The research network is the largest of its kind in Germany; and, of the Clusters of Excellence, one of the oldest and the only one to deal with the issue of religion. It will receive funding of 31 million euros from 2019 to 2025.
Contact
Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” Johannisstraße 1, 48143 Münster Tel. +49 251 83-23376 religionundpolitik@uni-muenster.de Instagram: @religionundpolitik X (vormals Twitter): @religionpolitik www.religion-und-politik.de/en
Organisation
Prof. Dr. Achim Lichtenberger Tel. +49 251 83-24545 lichtenb@uni-muenster.de Prof. Dr. Oren Tal Tel. +972 3 640-6056 orental@tauex.tau.ac.il Project EXC 2060 A3-3 of the Cluster of Excellence: "Tradition and innovation of Graeco-Phoenician myths and cults in Roman Provincial Coinage"
Regsitration
Until April 30th, 2024 to inst.arch@uni-muenster.de
Theme of conference
The conference aims for systematic understanding of the material culture of cities (re-)founded in the Hellenistic southern Levant. It will use the unique situation of the region - which had little exposure to Hellenization before Alexander and later saw a direct change from Ptolemaic to Seleucid rule - to make regional and cross-temporal comparisons of the two monarchies and examine the interplay of local and Greek influences during that time. Concentrating on the most visible agent of Hellenization, the foundation of cities, the following questions will be examined to disentangle the different vectors of influences and their interconnectedness:
- How did the material culture develop over time?
- How did the Ptolemaic and Seleucid impacts differ?
- How did new influences relate to local cultures?
- What were the specific ways of fusing local and Greek forms of material culture? Which local forms continued and are there common patterns between different groups of adaptations?
- How did local kingdoms react to the new models of Hellenistic city foundations?
Program
Monday, May 6, 2024
- 19:30 Conference Dinner
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
- 9:15 Opening Address and Introduction Achim Lichtenberger (Münster) & Oren Tal (Tel Aviv)
Section I: Setting the Stage
- 9:30 Geology and Geography in the Hellenistic Southern Levant: The Case of the Beth Shean Valley Amotz Agnon (Jerusalem)
- 10:15 Moderate but Sustainable? Measuring the Impact of Ptolemaic Foundations on the Settlement Structure of the Southern Levant Ole Johansen (Freiburg)
- 11:00 Coffee Break
Section II: Settlement Patterns and Religious Landscapes
- 11:30 Founding the City, Settling the Chora: Settlement Dynamics in the Territories of Hippos and Scythopolis as a Test Case Adam Pažout (Aarhus)
- 12:15 Harbours and Ships along the Southern Levantine Coast in the Hellenistic Period Emmanuel Nantet (Haifa)
- 13:00 Lunch
Section III: Urban Life and the Materiality of Belonging
- 14:30 City Planning in the Seleucid Foundations in the Levant Winfried Held (Marburg)
- 15:15 Seleucid Fortifications in the Southern Levant Brita Jansen (Amman)
- 16:00 Coffee Break
- 16:30 Bathing Culture in the Hellenistic Southern Levant Arleta Kowalewska (Haifa)
- 17:15 On the Ethno-linguistic Composition of the Indigenous Population of the Levant During the Hellenistic Period Ran Zadok (Tel Aviv)
- 18:00 Reception at the Archaeological Museum
- 19:30 Dinner
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Section IV: Necropoleis
- 9:15 Necropoleis and Burial Customs in Seleucid Foundations in the Southern Levant Philip Ebeling (Münster)
- 10:00 Jewish Necropoleis and Burial Customs in Seleucid and Hasmonean Palestine Zeev Weiss (Jerusalem)
- 10:45 Coffee Break
Section V: Religion and Politics
- 11:00 Royal Cult and Religious Life in the Seleucid Levant: Additional Considerations regarding the Heliodorus Stele Kyle Erickson (Swansea)
- 11:45 The ‘Middle Ground’ of the Southern Levant in the Seleucid Period: Between a Closed and an Open Economy Panagiotis P. Iossif (Athens/Nijmegen)
- 12:30 The Archaeology of Jewish Presence and Hasmonaean Politics in the Hellenistic Southern Levant: The Case of Tall Zirā’a Friederike Schöpf (Münster)
- 13:00 Lunch
Section VI: Economic Strategies and the Economy of Belonging
- 14:30 Sealing Practice in the Hellenistic Levant: Iconography as an Indicator of Cultural Exchange Torben Schreiber (Münster)
- 15:15 Archaeobotanical Remains in the Seleucid Foundations of the Southern Levant: Agricultural Strategies and Crop Diet Andrea Orendi (Tübingen)
- 16:00 Faunal Remains in the Seleucid Foundations of the Southern Levant: Animal Husbandry and Meat Diet from the Seleucid-Founded Town of Nysa-Scythopolis (Tell Iẓṭabba) from a Comparative Perspective Miriam Pines (Tel Aviv)
- 16:45 Coffee Break Concluding Remarks & Discussion
- 17:00 Concluding Remarks Miguel John Versluys (Leiden)
- 19:30 Dinner