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• 31 oct 2016

  Rome

  Call for papers - History

  Meanings of rituals

  Incense and religion in ancient societies

  Although several studies have drawn attention to the role of incense as an ingredient in ritual and a means of communication between men and gods, there remains no comprehensive examination of the practical functions and cultural semantics of incense in the ancient world, whether as a purifying agent, a performative sign of a transcendent world, an olfactory signal to summon the deity, a placatory libation, or food for the gods. Moreover, recent archaeological research has provided evidence (alongside literary, epigraphic and iconographic evidence) that the physical origins and chemical constituents of incense are complex and diverse, as are their properties : resins, vegetable gums, spices, and a welter of aromatic products that could be exhibited and burned before ancient eyes and noses. These were components of a multi-sensory religious experience in which music, colourful costumes, lavish banquets and tactile encounters defined the ritualsensibilities of the community.

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• 18 oct 2012

  Brno

  Study days - Middle Ages

  The Face of the Dead and the Early Christian World

  The theme chosen for this meeting is the study of funerary images in the transition between late antiquity and the Middle Ages. The central question will a reflection on the function of the funerary images in a broad sense, but also their impact on the early christian world. The choice of the chronological time also shows the second intention of the colloquium: this is an attempt to explain why the ancient funerary tradition of the image will eventually disappear, replaced by other figures of the representative functions. Through various media - from the mosaic and painting, through sculpture and ending with gilded glasses - there will be presented one of the nodal representation of the self: the human face on the border between life and death.

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• 28 mai 2010

  Paris

  Conference, symposium - Middle Ages

  Monks and Demons

  Autobiography and Individuality in the High Middle Ages

  Au Xe siècle, commence une grande époque d’historiographie et d’hagiographie, en Europe centrale et occidentale, avec souvent quelques touches autobiographiques. La grande œuvre est celle d’Otloh de Saint-Emmeram, de laquelle on a rapproché souvent les Monodies de Guibert de Nogent. Il paraît intéressant aujourd’hui de réunir des médiévistes pour faire le point sur ces auteurs et sur les clercs et moines qui, entre le milieu du Xe et le début du XIIIe siècle, esquissent une étude d’eux-mêmes en évoquant leur individualité ou leurs démons, soit dans un essai d’autobiographie à résonance augustinienne, soit lorsqu’une chronique ou une vie de saint leur en fournit l’occasion.

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