What's Religious about Ancient Mediterranean Religions?
Inaugural Meeting of the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions
June 28, 2009
Pontifical Biblical Institute
Rome, Italy

At the inaugural meeting of the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions, we plan to begin our discussions by considering the ways in which the conceptual category "religion" is applicable to the study of ancient cultures. Sacrifice, prayer, pilgrimage, private and public devotion, beliefs about gods and goddesses --all of these practices and ideas seem to fall safely enough within the category of "religion." A question worth thinking about, however, is whether the boundaries of this modern category -and indeed the category itself- match up with any patterns of practice or belief held by the people we hope to understand. In other words, what did it mean to be "religious" in the ancient world? Perhaps behaviors that we might now call "religious" are better understood as falling within the realm of political acts, or as practices that delineate certain tribal or familial identities. Matching up ancient and modern ideas about this cluster of ideas and practices promises to reveal significant mismatches in our conceptual lexica where religion ancient and modern is concerned. We hope that it will also give rise to useful reflections about this inter-disciplinary project that we have initiated: what different methodological presuppositions do students of ancient Mediterranean cultures bring to the study of religious phenomena and what do we stand to learn from each other? Proposals addressing this topic and formed with reference to Mediterranean societies up through the Late Antique period are welcome.

Abstracts of 500 words should be sent to Barbette Spaeth (bsspae@wm.edu) by September 1, 2008, with the conference slate to be decided by September 30. Please provide abstracts within the email itself, or as attachments in MS Word format (.doc or .docx). Participants should aim for papers of approximately 30 minutes in length. While the conference will be conducted chiefly in English, the committee will also consider papers (and abstracts) presented in Italian.

(Obsérvese que, como norteamericanos que son los organizadores, todo lo quieren en inglés, y sólo hacen una pequeña concesión con la lengua del país anfitrión...)

Anuncio de la creación de esta sociedad:
http://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/SAMRflyer.pdf
Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions

We are delighted to announce the formation of a new group devoted to the study of the religions of the ancient Mediterranean basin broadly conceived. The Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions aims to focus particular attention on the polytheistic religious traditions of Greece, Rome and the Near East, their interaction with each other, and with the monotheistic religious traditions of the region.
The Society plans to sponsor a panel session annually at the Annual Meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature (beginning in 2008) and the AIA/APA (beginning in 2010). We would be delighted to consider other venues as well and are actively looking for other means to promote research in, and the teaching of, ancient Mediterranean religions, including publications, seminars, and public lectures.
Membership at a nominal annual subscription ($10 for faculty, $5 for students) is open to all those with an interest in the study of ancient Mediterranean religion. Contact Barbette Spaeth (bsspae@wm.edu) or Eric Orlin (eorlin@ups.edu) to join or for further information.