This international workshop is addressed to postgraduate students from Greece and Egypt interested in the material culture of death in the eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and Roman times. Invited speakers working on burial contexts, funerary art and architecture shall present thematic and interdisciplinary ways of analysis in which funerary archaeology provides insights on individuals and social groups. Themes that will be discussed include issues of wealth display, social, ethnic and religious identities, the social roles of particular groups of people (e.g. children, women, the elderly, elite or non-elite individuals), and the impact that major historical events may have had on the way individuals or specific groups of individuals treated their dead.

The workshop is organized by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and the Archaeological Society of Alexandria (ASA), in collaboration with the Alexandrian Center of Hellenistic Studies (ACHS) of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, within the frame of the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed between ASA and NKUA in 2021.

Attendance of the workshop is free of charge. For public health and logistical reasons, however, it is necessary to register for the event by June 30, 2022. For this purpose, please contact the workshops’ coordinators Assist. Prof. Nikolas Dimakis ([email protected]) and Dr. Kyriakos Savvopoulos ([email protected]).

Keynote lecture by Dimitris Plantzos

Dimitris Plantzos is Professor of classical archaeology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He studied history and archaeology at Athens, and holds an MPhil and a DPhil in classical archaeology from Oxford, where he also spent three years as a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow. He is the author of various papers and books on Greek art and archaeology, archaeological theory and classical reception. His Greek-language textbook on Greek Art and Archaeology, first published in 2011 by Kapon Editions, was published in 2016 in English and is now available by American publishers Lockwood Press in Atlanta, Georgia. His most recent book is The Art of Painting in Ancient Greece, published by Kapon Editions and Lockwood Press in 2018, also available internationally.

Programme

Day 1 (Sunday, July 3)

Afternoon session (at Bibliotheca Alexandrina):

17.00: Registration and coffee

17.30: Welcoming

17.45: Introduction to the workshop by Nikolas Dimakis and Kyriakos Savvopoulos

18.00: Opening lecture by Dimitris Plantzos: Styling social identity in Alexandrian funerary painting

18.30: Discussion

Day 2 (Monday, July 4)

Morning field visit:

10.00-14.00: Alexandria’s Eastern Necropolis (Shatby and Mustapha Kamel)

14.00-16.00 Break

Afternoon session (at Bibliotheca Alexandrina):

16.00-16.30: Coffee

16.30-17.00: Mona Haggag (Alexandria University – ASA): Fusion of Egyptian-Greek art in the Alexandrian tombs and the creation of an Alexandrian (Ptolemaic) style

17.00-17.30: Kyriakos Savvopoulos (ASA): Funerary architecture in Hellenistic Alexandria

17.30-18.00: Eustathios Raptou (CDA): Funerary monuments in Ptolemaic Paphos

18.00-19.00: Discussion

Day 3 (Tuesday, July 5)

Morning field visit:

10.00-14.00: The archaeological collections of Bibliotheca Alexandrina and of the National Museum of Alexandria

14.00-16.00: Break

Afternoon session (at Bibliotheca Alexandrina):

16.00-16.30: Coffee

16.30-17.00: Aude Simony (CeAlex): Pottery from Hypogeum C, Shatby Necropolis, Alexandria

17.00-17.30: Aya Salem (MTA): Osteoarchaeology: an overview of evidence from recent excavations in Alexandria

17.30-18.00: Nikolas Dimakis (NKUA): Death and burial in Hellenistic Greece

18.00-19.00: Discussion

Day 4 (Wednesday, July 6)

Morning field visit:

10.00-14.00: Alexandria’s Western Necropolis (Anfushi and Kom el Shoqafa)

14.00-16.00: Break

Afternoon session (at the Archaeological Society of Alexandria):

16.00-16.30: Coffee

16.30-17.00: Sobhy Ashour (Helwan University): Tombs in Graeco-Roman Egypt, funerary practices, décor and identity

17.00-17.30: Hariclia Brecoulaki (NHRF): Mummy portraits from Roman Egypt: Painterly mimesis and the materiality of paint

17.30-18.00: Athanassios Koutoupas (Cyprus Institute): Christian burials in late antique Alexandria. An archaeology of moments

18.00-19.00: Discussion

Day 5 (Thursday, July 7)

Morning field visit:

10.00-14.00: The Greek-Orthodox cemetery and the Greek Community of Alexandria

Afternoon session (at the Greek Community of Alexandria):

16.00-17.00 Round table and concluding remarks

List of Speakers

Dr. Athanassios Koutoupas, The Cyprus Institute

Dr. Aude Simony, Centre d’Études Alexandrines

Dr. Aya Salem, Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities

Prof. Dimitris Plantzos, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens

Dr. Eustathios Raptou, Cyprus Department of Antiquities

Dr. Hariclia Brecoulaki, National Hellenic Research Foundation

Dr. Kyriakos Savvopoulos, Archaeological Society of Alexandria

Prof. Emer. Mona Haggag, Alexandria University, Archaeological Society of Alexandria

Prof. Nikolas Dimakis, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens

Prof. Sobhy Ashour, Helwan University