[Usyd_Classics_Events] Reminder: USYD CAH Research Seminar2024 #2 Sabine Neumann March 28

[Ben Brown]

Dear Friends of Classics and Ancient History at USYD,

Please join us at the Boardroom of the V. Gordon Childe Centre (formerly CCANESA) or on Zoom (link below) for the second presentation in our Semester 1, 2024 Research Seminar Series.

March 28th (Thursday, 4pm AEST/UTC+11)

Sabine Neumann (University of Marburg)

Imaginary Gods: The Cults of the Greco-Egyptian Deities in Athens

Zoom: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/85192829117

Abstract:
In the 4th century BC, the first sanctuary for the goddess Isis was built in Athens by Egyptian immigrants. Cults for the Greco-Egyptian deities Isis, Sarapis, Harpocrates, and Anubis are attested in Athens and Attica until late antiquity and enjoyed great popularity among the Athenians. In previous research, these cults have mostly been studied in terms of their distribution and were more or less treated as "exotica". In my paper, however, I will show how the cults of the Greco-Egyptian gods were religiously appropriated and integrated into the local cultic landscape through the actions of individuals and groups. In doing so, I raise the question of the many possible meanings that the cults could have had in the local context of Athens at different times. As a new approach, I apply the theory of the Social Imaginary to describe how a ritual, a sanctuary, or an iconography of a god was imagined and shaped by the agency of individuals and groups.

Bio:
Sabine Neumann is a Classical Archaeologist with a research focus on ancient Greece. She is currently research group leader at the Marburger Center for Ancient Worlds at the University of Marburg, Germany.  Prior to this she was Associate Professor at the Saxo Institute University of Copenhagen in the international research project "Migrants and Membership Regimes in the Ancient Greek World". From 2014 until 2021, Dr. Neumann served as Assistant Professor at the University of Marburg.  Her current research investigates the introduction of so-called foreign religious cults as processes of cultural exchange and appropriation. Her second monograph focuses on the cults of the Greco-Egyptian gods in Athens.

All best, Ben
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