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
