Call for abstracts for a panel at the 2025 Celtic Conference in Classics, to be held July 15-18 at the University of Coimbra, titled ‘Putting Objects with Gods/Putting Gods with Objects: Divine Attributes and Materiality in Ancient Mediterranean Religion and Mythology’.
The deadline for submitting abstracts of up to 300 words, for papers either 20 or 40 minutes in length, to Ellie ([email protected]) and Laurialan ([email protected]), is February 20th, 2025.
Putting Objects with Gods/Putting Gods with Objects: Divine Attributes and Materiality in Ancient Mediterranean Religion and Mythology
This panel explores the multifaceted nature of divine attributes in ancient Mediterranean religions, examining their significance, functions, and representations across iconographic, textual, and archaeological sources. While scholars frequently refer to divine attributes — such as Athena’s helmet, Dionysus’s thyrsus, or Zeus’s lightning bolt — as essential elements of ‘godly’ iconography, the precise nature and implications of these objects warrant deeper investigation. Our discussion aims to examine critically the terminology, conceptual frameworks, and methodological approaches surrounding divine attributes within their specific cultural contexts, with a particular focus on recent theoretical approaches to materiality in religion.
Building upon the ‘material turn’ in religious studies, this panel interrogates the relationship between deities and their associated objects, positing that a more nuanced understanding of divine attributes can illuminate broader questions about the materiality of ancient religion, the nature of divine presence, and the complex interplay between gods and mortals. We aim to explore how these attributes not only symbolise divine powers but also reflect societal values and cultural identities in the ancient Mediterranean world.
Key questions to be addressed include:
-How do we define and categorise divine attributes within the polymorphic nature of ancient Mediterranean religion?
-What roles do these objects play in religious narratives, ritual practices, and artistic representations?
-How do divine attributes mediate between the mortal and divine realms, particularly in the context of orthopraxy in ancient religious tradition?
-In what ways do these material signifiers shape perceptions of divine power and identity? How do they reflect the anthropomorphic and transcendent aspects of divinity?
-How can we apply recent theoretical approaches, such as the material turn, to better understand the active role of objects in shaping religious experiences and beliefs in the Greco-Roman world?
Our investigation will address the role of divine attributes in ritual practices, public worship, and literary texts, examining how objects like the thyrsus were integral to ecstatic rituals honouring Dionysus or how Jupiter’s thunderbolt was invoked by Roman emperors to mark their own legitimacy. This exploration of ritual engagement will shed light on how these divine attributes served as conduits for interaction between the mortal and divine spheres, acting as what scholars have termed ‘mediators’ between worshippers and the gods. Further, we will consider the implications of divine attributes for understanding ancient conceptions of divinity itself. The anthropomorphic representations of gods through their attributes suggest a belief in an accessible and material divine realm, reflecting complex theological ideas about immanence and transcendence in ancient Mediterranean religions.
More information on the conference, including registration fees, can be found at the conference website: https://www.uc.pt/cech/16-ccc/