Quod est Superius est sicut quod est Inferius:
The Cosmic Hypostasis and Earthly/Social Function of Women during Antiquity in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Basin
2nd Egyptological Conference Organized by the Hellenic Institute of Egyptology, the Universidade Aberta of Lisbon, the Centre of History of the Lisbon University, the Writing & Scripts Centre of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Hellenic Society for Aesthetics, under the Auspices of the Association of Greek Women Scientists
Athens (Hotel Titania): Mon. 10 to Fri. 14 February 2020
Practicalities
We are very pleased to invite you to the 2nd Athens Conference of the Hellenic Institute of Egyptology, co–organized by the Universidade Aberta and the Centre of History of the University of Lisbon, together with the Writing & Scripts Centre of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. After the great success of our 1st Athens Conference (1st-3rd February 2017) and due to the great quadrennial Conference of the IAE that will take place in Cairo during November 2019, we decided to place this Conference in February 2020. For the moment the most possible Conference venue will be Hotel Titania (where the 2nd and 3rd days of the 1st Conference in 2017 took place, while the 1st day took place in the Great Hall of the People’s University of Athens). We are currently trying to acquire the most favourable conditions for the Conference, sparing the delegates from as many expenses as possible, but at the same time obtaining the best venue, earnings and conditions for everybody! We shall come back to you with more information pertaining to these matters later–on, around late Spring and in our 2nd Circular, you shall be informed about everything with all the necessary details. The official languages of the Conference will be English and French. Meanwhile, our web–site for the Conference is being developed and soon you will be able to consult it:
Web–Site: https://hiegaker.wordpress.
E–Mails: hieg-aker.org@otenet.gr *** s.tsourinaki@yahoo.com
Please feel free to come back to us with your suggestions, information, abstracts, paper– and poster–proposals, as well as to send us your inquiries, should you have any. Kindly, do not forget to fill in the Registration Form and send it to us asap! Please send also your abstracts until 30th April 2019. You will be notified about the acceptance of your abstracts by the end of May 2019. The 2nd Call for Papers will probably follow together with the 2nd Circular, around June. Thank you very much and welcome to our 2nd Athens Conference!
Introduction & 1st Call for Papers
Ladies in Heaven, but Women on Earth? The hypostasis of Women in ancient Egypt and in the Mediterranean Basin, but also its possible relations to Jung’s Psychology: from the distant past, until now, the Archetype of Femininity, the Sacred Female, the Great Mother, Virgin and Crone, is one of the most precious and catalytic in the Jungian Collective Unconscious, being at the same time the true vis vitalis for the societal processes that motivate History and cultural evolution. This is the theme of our 2nd Conference, which shall also try to focus on patterns of continuity and transformation of various related institutions, habits and archetypes, covering almost the whole Antiquity from the Pre–Dynastic down to the Late, Ptolemaic and Coptic Period (corresponding for all the other cultures to the time–span from c. 3000 BC to the four initial Centuries AD), whose specific topics and thematology shall be the following:
1. Manifestation & Cosmic Immanence of the Sacred Female: The surrounding Cosmos and the Sky as the theatre for the «cosmic drama» of the manifestation and heavenly projection of the Sacred Female: Nūt/Nwt as a celestial goddess, Seshat/%SAt as a cosmic goddess of Astronomy, Measurements and Knowledge/Libraries; female sky–divinities in the ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Babylonian and Hellenic pantheons. The One–and–Unique–God of the Hebraic Bible and His heavenly manifestations. The firmamental periodicities and their meta–physical semantics in the case of personalization/allegorization of celestial epiphanies by female divinities. Isis/Sōthis as the par excellence astral deity and queen of the decans. The Moon/Luna as a par excellence female symbol in the Mediterranean Basin and its echo on the periodic menstrual cycle.
2. Divine Female Archetypes: Specific goddesses as examples of the archetype of the Great Mother and other Jungian archetypes related to Femininity: Isis, Nephthys, Mūt, Hathor, Bastet, Inanna and Ishtar, Gaia, Athēna, Aphroditē/Venus, Dēmētēr, Persephonē and Korē, Hēra/Juno, Hestia/Vesta, Artemis/Diana, Lilith, and various other female deities of the aforementioned cultures. Women and female deities in Orphism and in the Orphic Hymns. Parallels and opposites, points of contact and possible inter–relations.
3. The Earthly/Social Status of Women in Ancient Egypt: The social status and situation of Women in ancient Egypt: queens, princesses, noble ladies, adorers, commoner–Women, mothers and motherhood (mater lactans), Women in menial labour and agriculture, handmaids, musicians and dancers, medical doctors, professionals and human beings, logging for love and motherhood or for power and authority (e.g.: queens, rxwt-nsw, & c.). The portrayal of Women in ancient Egyptian literature, in the funerary texts (emphasis on PT, CT, BD, Im-_wAt), in the reliefs and paintings of temples and tombs. Women as priestesses (e.g.: of Hathor/Hmwt-nTr nt @wt-@r, temple–chantresses/Smaywt, dancing–priestesses/iHbwt, & c.). Women in front of the Law and facing the Final Judgement (BD and other related texts, papyri, ostraca, & c.). Women upon Earth as Ladies of the House (Nbwt-Pr) versus Ladies of Heaven (Nbwt-Pt) and Mothers of Gods (Mwwt-NTrw).
4. The Earthly/Social Status of Women in the Mediterranean Basin: The same as in 3, supra, for the ancient Mesopotamian, Babylonian, Hebrew, Hellenic (Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean) and Roman cultures, taking of course care of the subtle or other differences between them (or as comparative studies). Inter–relations and overlapping of cosmic, religious and societal patterns between the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Babylonian, Hebrew and Hellenic cultures concerning Women, for the whole time–span examined in the Conference. The late Prof. Dr Marija Gimbutas, her work and the archetype of the Great Mother Goddess.
5. Key–Role Individual Women: Specific renowned cases of individual Women (from all the above cultures), whose involvement in authority, business, war (e.g.: Amazons), or in the public domain could broaden our conception and understanding of the corresponding historical period and the cultural milieu in which they lived. The cases of Hetepheres, Nitōkris, Sobekneferū, Icaehmes–Nefertiry, Hat–shepsūt, Nefertiti, Nefertiry and Kleopatra VII Philopatōr in Egypt; the case of Enhenduana in Mesopotamia; the unique and wisest Hypatia of Alexandria. Women’s participation in the societal norms, in the cultic observances, in royal or ruling power, & c. The identity and iconography (paintings in tombs, monuments, papyri and in sculpture) of important Women and possible traces for early pharaonic Feminism.
6. Epigraphic, Literary and Linguistic Sources: Inscriptions, texts and every epigraphic source or project related to all the above, especially to the Woman’s status and activities in every cosmic, metaphysical and societal sphere. Hieroglyphs of the B–Group and of the D–Group related (respectively) to Women and to female bodily parts (EG).
7. The Earthly/Social and Heavenly Status of Women in Coptic Egypt: In the context of a special Session on Coptic Women, we propose the following: (a) the history and identity of Women in the early Christian Egyptian Church, their role in the Holy Liturgy of the Coptic Church (e.g.: deaconesses), and examples of Coptic Women as nuns (parallelisms and oppositions to male monks) and their lives in Convents and Monasteries; (b) Coptic Women in the daily life, their rights and duties, dynamic Coptic female personalities who run the World, iconography of Coptic Women, advocacy for the Coptic Women and possible traces for early Coptic Feminism; (c) Virgin Mary/Panaghia and Female Saints as embodiments of the heavenly glory of Women post mortem.
8. Aesthetics, Beauty and Women: The concept of beauty/nfrw/κάλλος as related to the idea/ ideal of Women and female archetypes. The female body as an epitome of beauty, erotic undertones (e.g.: in the Love Poems of ancient Egypt or in satirical papyri) and the female uterus as an archetype of re–birth, re–generation, and the like. How could one detect the patterns of female beauty between allegories, symbols and religious or cosmic metaphors that were also the sprouting roots of the ancient pre– or proto–scientific thought? How one could study the references to the idea of beauty in the ancient Egyptian culture, as well as in the other neighbouring nations of the Eastern Mediterranean Basin already mentioned?
9. Gender Studies: Women under the prism of Gender Studies’ consideration. We want to stress the diversity of Women in the Ancient World and how gender almost always intersects with other factors such as age, social standing, geographical location, ethnicity, sexuality, & c. We propose the study of the social status of Women in relation to that of men in the ancient Egyptian and all the previous ancient cultures. Gender bias and sexism in Antiquity and in modern Egyptology, Archaeology, History, Theology and Social Anthropology. Women who loved men versus Women who loved Women. Women’s homosexuality and other similar or related subjects (e.g.: intersexualism, transsexualism, & c.). Sapphō of Eresos (Mytilēnē) as a case study of a renowned and genius female scholar of Antiquity, her School and Aeolia as a place where Women were indeed important citizens of the City –State (unlike ancient Athens, where Democracy was only meant for male Athenians, not even for the metoikoi). The status of Women in ancient Sparta and Macedonia. Textual and other evidence about the former or similar topics.
