Textiles in Ritual and Cultic Practices in the Ancient Near East from the Third to the First Millennium BC
International Workshop
The workshop aims at presenting current research on textual, iconographical, and archaeological evidence for the use of textiles in ritual and cult in the Ancient Near East. The main purpose is to address questions related to the use of raw materials, garments of ritual performers and cult images, textile tools in ritual and cultic practices as well as textile metaphors and analogical formulas in rituals.
The timeframe will be from the third to the first millennium BC. It will encompass the entire Ancient Near East, including Egypt and Iran. This workshop, the first to address the subject in such a broad perspective, is meant to be in line with the international conference held in November 21-22, 2013 at the National Museum of Denmark and the University of Copenhagen, entitled Textiles and Cult in the Mediterranean Area in the First Millennium BC.
The event is funded by Carlsberg Foundation.
Organized by Salvatore Gaspa (the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research, Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen) and Matteo Vigo (Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen).
Programme
All interested are welcome to join the workshop at the university (lunch and dinner are for workshop speakers only).
Tuesday, October 6
Morning Session (Chairwoman: Cécile Michel)
- 09:30 Welcome and Introduction by Salvatore Gaspa and Matteo Vigo
- 09:50 Cécile Michel (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique – UMR 7041 Archéologies et Sciences de l’Antiquité, Équipe Histoire et Archéologie de l’Orient Cunéiforme, Nanterre) and Marie-Louise Nosch (The Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen)
Presentation of the French-Danish-British International Research Network (Groupe de Recherche International) “Ancient Textiles from the Orient to the Mediterranean, 2015-2018” (GDRI ATOM). - 10:10 Philippe Abrahami (Université Lumière Lyon 2, UMR 5133 Laboratoire Archéorient, Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée)
Ritual and Cultic Uses of Textiles and Wool in Emar - 10:40 Lorenzo Verderame (Università degli studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, Istituto Italiano di Studi Orientali)
Clothing, Body, and Identity in 1st Millennium Rituals - 11:10 Discussion
- 11:20 Coffee break
- 11:30 Valérie Matoïan (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique – UMR 5133 Laboratoire Archéorient, Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, Lyon) and Juan Pablo Vita (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterráneo y Oriente Próximo, Madrid)
Textiles in Ritual and Cultic Practices in Ugarit (Second Millennium BC, Late Bronze Age) - 12:00 Zsolt Simon (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Institut für Assyriologie und Hethitologie)
The Changing Garment of Hittite Ritual Performers - 12:30 Discussion
- 12:45 Lunch at the canteen of the University of Copenhagen (for workshop speakers only)
- 13:45 Coffee break
Afternoon Session (Chairman: Juan Carlos Moreno García)
- 14:00 Benedetta Bellucci (Guest Researcher, The Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen)
Textiles and Cult in the Art of Hittite Anatolia - 14:30 Salvatore Gaspa (The Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen)
Textiles in First-Millennium BC Ritual Practices: The Ritual Construction of Performers, Victims, Objects and Spaces in the Assyrian and Babylonian Cult - 15:00 Discussion
- 16:30 - 18:00 Visit to Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (for workshop speakers only)
- 19:30 Dinner for the invited speakers at Restaurant Maven (for workshop speakers only)
Wednesday, October 7
All interested are welcome to join the workshop at the university (lunch and dinner are for workshop speakers only).
Morning Session (Chairman: Philippe Abrahami)
- 09:30 Juan Carlos Moreno García (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 8167 – Orient et Méditerranée, Laboratoire Mondes Pharaoniques, Paris)
Textile Display in Middle Kingdom Egypt: Symbolism, Social Status and Long-distance Trade - 10:00 Massimo Maiocchi (Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago)
The Ritual Use of Textiles in Third Millennium Ebla - 10:30 Discussion
- 10:45 Coffee break
- 11:00 Marta Rivaroli (Università degli studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, Dipartimento di Storia, Culture e Religioni)
Changing Status by Wearing a Dress in the Myth of Gilgamesh - 11:30 Anne-Caroline Rendu Loisel (Université de Toulouse 2 Jean-Jaurès, EA 4601 PLH Erasme & Université de Strasbourg, Faculté des Sciences Historiques)
Colours and Textiles in Ritual Procedures of Ancient Mesopotamia (1st Millennium BC) - 12:00 Discussion
- 12:30 Lunch at the main canteen of the University of Copenhagen (for workshop speakers only)
- 14.00 Coffee break
Afternoon Session (Chairman: Massimo Maiocchi)
- 14:30 Miguel Ángel Andrés-Toledo (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Avestan Regulations on the Sacred Girdle - 15:00 Matteo Vigo (Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen)
The Symbolic Use of Textiles and Textile Tools in Hittite Texts - 15:30 Final Discussion of the Second Day. Summing up and conclusion of the workshop.
The workshop is framed within the French-Danish-British Research Programme Ancient Textiles from the Orient to the Mediterranean, 2015-2018 (ATOM) and the Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship Programme 2013-2015 (Seventh Framework Programme of European Union).
