This event will be held in English.
Organized by the Institute for Ideas and Imagination. Co-sponsored by Columbia Global Center Paris.
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Institute Fellow Paraskevi Martzavou unearths the allure of Egyptian cults among Italian traders in ancient Thessaloniki, connecting religion and commerce in the Mediterranean.
The Italian traders of Thessaloniki demonstrated, with individual and collective dedications, their preference for the Egyptian cults in the sanctuary of the Egyptian cults of the city in the Late Hellenistic and Roman periods. Focusing on this phenomenon and problematizing it allows us to ask some interesting questions about religious mobility and the trading networks in the North Aegean of that period and, then, to follow the development of specific ritual traditions within the Egyptian cults. By integrating these questions and themes into a broader interdisciplinary problématique about the religious change in various sociological and political contexts, we aspire to reconsider the entire religious, economic, social, and political history of the Mediterranean in Hellenistic and Roman times.
Paraskevi Martzavou was born and raised in Thessaloniki where she attended Aristole Univeristy. She also studied in Hungary (Janus Pannonius University, Pécs, Jozsef Attila University, Szeged, and Debrecen University) and worked as an archaeologist for the Greek Archaeological Service. For her graduate studies, she went to Paris for a DEA and doctorate in epigraphy, Greek Institutions, and ancient history (École Pratique des Hautes Études, IVème Section). She was an Oxford post-doc (The construction of Emotions in Greek Antiquity) and since 2015 has lectured in the Classics Department at Columbia University where she teaches Greek literature, history, and culture from Homer to the present.
Organizer
Each year the Institute for Ideas and Imagination brings together a cohort of 14-15 Fellows, half of them Columbia faculty and post-docs, the other half artists and writers from around the world, to spend a year together in work and conversation. The Institute fosters intellectual and creative diversity unconstrained by medium and discipline through the interaction of the arts and academia.
Columbia Global brings together major global initiatives from across the university to advance knowledge and foster global engagement. Those initiatives include the Columbia Global Centers, Columbia World Projects, the Committee on Global Thought, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination. Our mission is to address complex global challenges through groundbreaking scholarly pursuits, leadership development, cutting-edge research, and projects that aim for social impact. Our long-term goal is to reimagine the university’s role in society as not only a nexus for learning and intellectual exploration but also as a catalyst for creativity and impact locally, regionally, and globally
Sponsor
The Columbia Global Center Paris addresses pressing global issues that are at the forefront of international education and research: agency and gender; climate and the environment; critical dialogues for just societies; encounters in the arts; and health and medical science.
Venue
Nestled in the Montparnasse district, Reid Hall hosts several Columbia University initiatives: Columbia Global Center Paris, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Columbia Undergraduate Programs, M.A. in History and Literature, and the GSAPP Shape of Two Cities Program. This unique combination of resources is enhanced by our global network whose mission is to expand the University's engagement the world over through educational programs, research initiatives, regional partnerships, and public events.
The views and opinions expressed by speakers and guests do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of Columbia Global Center Paris or its affiliates.
