Donnerstag, 24. April 2014, 08:30 - 14:00 iCal

METAPHYSIS

Ritual, Myth and Symbolism in the Aegean Bronze Age, 15ème Rencontre égéenne internationale

siehe Beschreibung
siehe Beschreibung, siehe Besc Wien

Tagung, Konferenz, Kongress, Symposium


Weitere Termine

Dienstag, 22. April 2014, 08:00 - 20:00

Mittwoch, 23. April 2014, 08:30 - 20:00

Freitag, 25. April 2014, 08:30 - 19:00

METAPHYSIS. Ritual, Myth and Symbolism in the Aegean Bronze Age. 15th INTERNATIONAL AEGEAN CONFERENCE

22-25 April 2014

Organised by the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology, Department Aegean and Anatolia, Austrian Academy of Sciences and by the Institute of Classical Archaeology, University of Vienna

In Aegean prehistory, questions of ritual behaviour and underlying beliefs have become a widespread and multifaceted field of research based on a large variety of methodological approaches. Recent surveys and excavations in palaces, elite houses, sanctuaries and tombs as well as new finds have contributed to our understanding of ritual contexts. These and further archaeological sources require a deeper investigation of the roles played by ritual ideas and cosmology in Aegean prehistory. During the last years, an increasing interest in rituals as an ideological and political tool in the palatial as well as in non-palatial societies of the Aegean Bronze Age can also be observed. Origin and meaning of ceremonial insignia and symbols such as ‘horns of consecration’, double axe and ‘incurved altar’ as well as the ceremonial significance of paraphernalia yet remain to be investigated. In recent iconographical studies, e.g., distinct gestures have been interpreted as resulting from ‘altered states of consciousness’ or as reflecting mantic rituals. Furthermore, a comparative study of ritual symbols led to the thought-provoking model of a ‘solar goddess’ in the Aegean. What about the existence of mythology and heroes in the so-called ‘Heroic Age’? These and further phenomena, their development over the period of the Aegean Bronze Age as well as their Neolithic precursors and post-palatial successors will be put to the test. Attention will be focused on the entire Aegean area as well as related regions. Thus, this conference aims at the complex relationship between humans and ‘the other’ – the broad scholarly interface between a popular ritual belief and the cult of deities, i.e. religion in its proper sense.

The Rencontre with the stimulating title METAPHYSIS intends to bring together colleagues addressing these and related questions, to present their work and ideas in order to summarize the present state of knowledge of these ‘metaphysical’ topics, to throw new light on them. This conference will especially concentrate on the following themes:

- Ritual: ritual places and ritual landscapes, sacral and sepulchral rituals, social and political ceremonies, ritual acts and performances

- Myth: the supernatural realm, liminality, irrationality, magic, hybrid creatures, heroes/heroines, mythology, divinities

- Symbolism: symbols, emblems, narrativity, iconography and poetics, images of power, cosmology

The METAPHYSIS conference will take place at two different locations: the first two days (22-23 April) in the main building of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (in the city centre, 1st district) and the last two days (24-25 April) at the Institute of Classical Archaeology of the University of Vienna situated in the 19th district.

Zur Webseite der Veranstaltung


Veranstalter

Institut für Klassische Archäologie der Universität Wien und Institut für orientalische und europäische Archäologie (OREA), Abteilung Ägäis und Anatolien, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften


Kontakt

Fritz Blakolmer
Institut für Klassische Archäologie
4277-40620
Fritz.Blakolmer@univie.ac.at