Doctoral workshop - Religious comparatism, Greece and Rome (back and forth)

Workshop presentation

Religious comparatism sometimes appears to be a field reserved for seasoned historians, whereas it can perfectly well provoke the reflections of young researchers. The aim is to help the latter grasp the benefits to be gained from carefully conducted comparative analyses. Through its material and archaeological aspects, this workshop will also have the virtue of making it clear that comparatism is not just a matter of texts. The objects and sites of Campania also bear witness to processes of permanent cross-fertilization and interference between the Greek, Roman, Oscan and Etruscan worlds.

The comparative approach itself is not new. It was born in the 19th century out of advances in linguistics and work on Indo-European, in particular, which led to tireless questioning: did the points of similarity between various languages reflect comparable social and religious organizations within the same linguistic space, however vast? Because the most ancient texts are often religious in nature or give pride of place to the gods (the Rig Veda, the Homeric epics), they have encouraged interest in the correspondences and affinities existing, from one society to another, in the register of mythologies and rites.

One of its earliest practitioners, the Indianist Max Müller (1823-1900) said that "to know one religion is to know none". The study of the religious is almost intrinsically comparative, at least in a two-variable equation: just as it's difficult to understand Christianity without constant returns to ancient Judaism, so Roman cults borrow and recast many elements present elsewhere (Greek and Etruscan worlds, Italic peoples).

This doctoral workshop will be limited to 8 participants, master and doctoral students, both Hellenists and Romanists, wishing to learn about the comparative approach. Surveys will be conducted at the Archaeological Museum of Naples, Pompeii, Paestum and Cumae. Young researchers will be invited to present their research in progress, in connection with certain archaeological remains or objects observed in the field.

Student accommodation will be provided at the Foresteria of the Centre Jean Bérard in Naples (Vico S. Maria ad Agnone, 1, Napoli). Meals will also be provided. Only transport costs will be borne by students, who can request support from their respective doctoral schools.