Rubina Raja (Aarhus University)

Organised in the framework of the Nordic research project Globalization, Urbanization and Urban Religion in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Roman and Early Islamic periods.

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Date		13-14 May 2019
Time		9:30-17:00
Venues		13 May: Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), AU Campus Moesgaard, Moesgård Allé 20, 8270 Højbjerg, bldg. 4230, room 232 14 May: Moesgaard Museum, Moesgaard Allé 15, 8270 Højbjerg, bldg. 4240, room 302 ENTER THROUGH BACK OF BUILDING

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Within the framework of the Nordic-funded research collaboration Globalization, Urbanization and Urban Religion in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Roman and Early Islamic Periods headed by Raimo Hakola, Simon Malmberg, Rubina Raja and Eivind Seland, a series of workshop are organised over a period of two years at the various participating institutions. In May 2019, the workshop is organised and hosted by Rubina Raja, Classical Studies and Centre for Urban Network Evolutions, Aarhus University. The workshop will focus on the theme Urban Religion and Urban Landscapes in the First Millennium. The aim will be, through a set of invited papers, to explore the relationship between religion and the urban across the Mediterranean in the first one thousand years CE.

Religion, religious practices, rituals and sacred spaces were intrinsic parts of the ancient city. Religion was an integrated part of everyday life in antiquity, and urban landscapes would have borne imprints of religion and its material expressions, be it in the public or the private spheres. This workshop will focus on urban religion in the ancient city in the first millennium CE in the broader Mediterranean region. It aims to examine how the continuities and changes may or may not be traced in the built environments and material cultures of these cities, which made up the core of the spaces for interaction between individuals and groups over the centuries in question, and further examine which role in specific the urban environment played in catalysing religion.

The first millennium CE in the Mediterranean region offers ample evidence for comparison as well as for continuity and changes. While a variety of what may be termed as artificially constructed periods have been examined within their own rights (i.e. Early Roman, Roman, Late Roman, Late Antique, Byzantine and Early Islamic), comparisons or enquiries of continuities and changes have seldom been undertaken across larger parts of this long millennium. The first millennium CE saw, arguably, the most profound religious development of the Eurasian world, which had an impact on history to an extent not comparable to any other period in this part of the world. The coming of Christianity and Islam had an extensive impact on not only the religious structures of these parts of the world, but also on the way in which political life became structured and how elites and societies interacted and developed. In turn, these changes had an impact on the urban spaces of the region, which went beyond the religious spaces themselves. Whereas monumental sanctuaries in the Roman period had dominated the cityscapes, churches from the 4th century CE took the role as monuments of euergetism, financed by the urban elites. Later in the 8th century, mosques were introduced and the early ones of the kind remain understudied as expressions of urban societal phenomena and the changes in societal structures which they might imply in comparison with earlier pagan religious spaces and Christian monuments.

Economic and social developments led to the so-called ’urban revolution’ and subsequent interpretations of urban situations within a cultural framework have always included religious ones, even on a global scale. Religion and religious practices offered a framework for the individual and for groups and the interrelations and dynamics were ever-changing and complex. Although religion is not tied to the urban or the urban specifically to the religious, the urban has been imprinted by spaces for religious practices created by individuals and groups. This also goes for periods in which religious practices and religions developed and changed. Religious practices and ideas would have influenced urban spaces and the other way around – the process was dynamic and not a one-way process.

In this workshop ,examples as well as theoretical considerations on religious developments in urban contexts will be considered. Through an interdisciplinary approach achieved by a mixture of participants coming from the disciplines of archaeology, ancient history, history of religion and theology, the aim is to consider a wide range of empirical material ranging from archaeological evidence over epigraphic material and literary and biblical sources as ways of enquiring into the questions about whether we can begin to pin down specific traits of religious expressions and development across time in urban situations. Papers focus on specific case studies, cities, societies and regions, and include views of longue durée developments or what has been termed cultural amnesia – the, to us, seemingly abrupt puncture of any connection to past traditions.

1. Arnhold, Marlis (Universität Bonn)
2. Blömer, Michael (Aarhus University)
3. Dickenson, Christopher (Aarhus University)
4. Lätzer-Laser, Asuman (Max-Weber-Kolleg, Universität Erfurt)
5. Lapinoja, Elina (University of Helsinki)
6. Leone, Anna (Durham University)
7. Lindstedt, Ilkka (University of Helsinki)
8. Lapinoja-Pitkänen, Elina (University of Helsinki)
9. Raja, Rubina (Aarhus University) - organiser
10. Rüpke, Jörg (Max-Weber-Kolleg, Universität Erfurt)
11. Seland, Eivind H. (University of Bergen)
12. Stenger, Jan (University of Glawgow)
13. Tholbecq, Laurent (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

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Travel

The project will cover travel (economy class) as well as three nights of accommodation for invited speakers. Please book early to get a reasonably priced flight.

Please make your own travel arrangements to/from Aarhus. After your visit, your travel expenses will be reimbursed. 

After your stay, please contact Professor Raimo Hakola (raimo.hakola@helsinki.fi) who will instruct you as to how to claim back travel expenses. Please keep all of your receipts, as these need to be submitted as documentation for expenses.

Accommodation

We have organised accommodation at:

Hotel Scandic City
Østergade 10
DK-8000 Aarhus C
Phone: +45 8931 8100
Website

As soon as you have booked your flight, please forward your itinerary to Christina Levisen, so that the hotel booking can be confirmed.

Transport to conference venue

From the city centre, you can take Bus 18 (see timetable). The closest stop to the hotel is at H. H. Seedorffs Stræde (see route on map), and the bus leaves three times an hour (direction: Moesgård). Enter the bus through the back or the middle door and purchase your ticket at the ticket machine. Get off at the bus stop "Moesgård Museum" (end station) - the ride takes approximately 25 min. From there, it is only a 300 m walk to UrbNet (see map).

Map of AU Campus Moesgaard

Dinner and diet

We will organise a speakers' dinners 13 and 14 May, and we will of course cater for you during the workshop. If you have any dietary restrictions (incl. allergies), please let Christina Levisen (levisen@cas.au.dk) know 3 May at the latest.