Material Religion in Private Contexts

The International Workshop “Material Religion in Private Contexts: Objects, Spaces, and Practices of Private Worship in Greece from the Classical to the Roman Era”, will take place on Monday 16 and Tuesday 17 March 2026 in a hybrid format, with in-person attendance at the Swedish Institute at Athens (Mitseon 9) and online via Zoom.

The workshop is co-organized by Hannah Smagh (Pennsylvania State University) and Beatriz Pañeda Murcia (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia).

To participate either via Zoom or in person, please register at:
https://www.sia.gr/en/events.php?eid=549#ParticipationForm

You will receive the Zoom link by email after registering.

Pro­gram

Mon­day, 16 March 2026

09:00–09:30
Re­cep­tion

09:30–10:00
In­tro­duc­tion
Han­nah Smagh & Beat­riz Pañeda Mur­cia

10:00–10:40
From Court­yard to Cor­ner: Rit­ual Spaces and the Ma­te­ri­al­ity of Greek Do­mes­tic Re­li­gion
Han­nah Smagh, The Penn­syl­va­nia State Uni­ver­sity

10:40–11:20
Ter­ra­cot­tas from the Ar­chaic-Clas­si­cal Set­tle­ment at Philia and the Use of Ter­ra­cot­tas in House­hold Shrines in An­cient Thes­saly
Ste­lios Ieremias, Di­rec­torate of Pre­his­toric and Clas­si­cal An­tiq­ui­ties, Hel­lenic Min­istry of Cul­ture

11:20–11:40
Cof­fee break

11:40–12:20
Ter­ra­cot­tas in the Neigh­bor­hood: In­ter­ac­tions at Clas­si­cal Corinthian Shrines
Theodora Kope­ston­sky, Uni­ver­sity of Ten­nessee Knoxville

12:20–13:00
Do­mes­tic Re­li­gion, Mi­gra­tion, and Home-Mak­ing in Hel­lenis­tic Corinth
Beat­riz Pañeda Mur­cia, Uni­ver­si­dad Na­cional de Ed­u­cación a Dis­tan­cia

13:00–14:45
Lunch

14:45–15:25
Glo­cal­iz­ing Do­mes­tic “Magic”: In­di­vid­ual, House­hold, and Em­pire in an Amulet from Ro­man Dion
Caitlín E. Bar­rett, Cor­nell Uni­ver­sity

15:25–16:05
“Mys­ter­i­za­tion” in Ro­man Cyrene and Crete: A Mode of Re­li­gious Com­pe­ti­tion in Pri­vate Con­texts
Pablo Ro­dríguez Valdés, Uni­ver­si­dad Car­los III de Madrid

16:05–16:45
Gen­eral dis­cus­sion

17:00 – 18:30
Glass of­fered for speak­ers and au­di­ence at the SIA

20:00
Din­ner for speak­ers

Tues­day, 17 March 2026

09:30–10:10
Greek Re­li­gious Texts and How to Use Them
Katie Rask, The Ohio State Uni­ver­sity

10:10–10:50
Be­yond Lead: The Ma­te­ri­al­ity of Lan­guage in Clas­si­cal Si­cil­ian Curse Tablets
Sofia Bianchi Mancini, Max We­ber Cen­tre for Ad­vanced Cul­tural and So­cial Stud­ies, Uni­ver­sity of Er­furt

10:50–11:10
Cof­fee break

11:10–11:50
Mould­ing Re­li­gion in Pri­vate Spaces. An At­tempt of Re­assess­ing the Func­tion of the Im­pressed Ter­ra­cotta Discs from Magna Grae­cia
Ginevra Benedetti, Uni­ver­sità degli Studi di Siena
Da­vide Caruso, Scuola Arche­o­log­ica Ital­iana Atene
Valentino Gas­parini, Uni­ver­si­dad Car­los III de Madrid

11:50–12:30
Gen­eral dis­cus­sion

12:30–13:00
Con­clu­sions
Jenny Wal­len­sten, Di­rec­tor of the Swedish In­sti­tute at Athens

13:00
Lunch

15:00
Visit to the Acrop­o­lis Mu­seum