Im Mai 2008 wurde auf Initiative des „Vereins zur Förderung der Aufarbeitung der Hellenischen Geschichte“ in München ein Symposium zum Thema »Architektonische Traditionen des östlichen Mittelmeeres in der Bronzezeit: Konvergenzen und Abweichungen« durchgeführt, der schon mehrere wissenschaftliche Treffen zu philologischen und archäologischen Themen veranstaltet hatte. Mitveranstalter war der Verein Ägäis München. An diesem Treffen nahmen Wissenschaftler aus mehreren Ländern teil, die sich auf verschiedene Regionen des östlichen Mittelmeeres, wie die Ägäis, Zypern, Kleinasien, Syrien/Palästina, konzentrierten. Lesen
9th International Spring School (9th - 13th March 2008) Death is certainly not only the biological end of one’s life, but moreover the very starting signal for a whole sequence of ritual practices connected to the preparatory aspects of the burial, the burial itself and various activities aiming at the remembrance or continuation of the deceased. Nonetheless, archaeological remains of burial practices are often our only path for understanding local communities and their social structures and this demonstrates how deeply connected to materiality death actually is. The 9th International Spring School will focus on the Ancient Mediterranean. Based on the literary, archaeological, and epigraphic evidence, our goal is the understanding of the religious and social issues involved in burial practices and rituals at the tomb. Lesen
Polytheistic religions are per se most dynamic religious systems, since in their understanding different divinities, diverse ritual practices, or mutually contradictory beliefs can co-exist without causing serious theological problems; the polytheistic conception of religion even allows, however under certain circumstances, new gods to be introduced and become an integral part of an already existing system. Aim of the 8th International Spring School at the Department for Religious Studies of the University of Erfurt was not so much the plain description of the phenomenon as such, but moreover the understanding of the religious, social, and political mechanisms that “allowed” a new deity to arrive and settle down in an alien context. Lesen