Configuring Communities: The Socio-Political Dimensions of Ancient Epistolography
Durham University
Department of Classics & Ancient History and Department of Theology & Religion
14-16 July 2011
Thursday 14 July 2011
14.00 - 14.15: Registration
Introduction: Theoretical Approaches (Chair: Ingo Gildenhard)
14.15 - 15.00 h: Thorsten Fögen (Durham University): "Ancient epistolary theory and the configuration of communities through letters"
15.00 - 15.30 h: Tea / coffee break
Letters and Literary Communities (Chair: Ingo Gildenhard)
15.30 - 16.15 h: Roy Gibson (University of Manchester): "Ancient letter collections as constituted communities"
16.15 - 17.00 h: Catharine Edwards (Birkbeck, University of London): "Present absence in Seneca's Letters"
17.00 - 18.00 h: Break
18.00 h: Dinner
Friday 15 July 2011
Configurations of Power and Epistolary Communication (1): Persia and Greece (Chair: Thorsten Fögen)
9.30 - 10.15 h: Sebastian Grätz (Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz): "The literary and ideological character of the letters in Ezra 4-7"
10.15 - 10.45 h: Tea / coffee break
10.45 - 11.30 h: Manuela Mari (Università di Cassino): "Power in dialogue. The letters and diagrammata of Macedonian authorities to local communities"
11.30 - 12.15 h: Paola Ceccarelli (Durham University): "Letters and decrees. Diplomatic protocols in the Hellenistic period"
12.15 - 14.30 h: Lunch buffet
Configurations of Power and Epistolary Communication (2): Rome and Judaea (Chair: Paola Ceccarelli)
14.30 - 15.15 h: Robin Osborne (University of Cambridge): "Letters, diplomacy, and the Roman conquest of Greece"
15.15 - 16.00 h: Ingo Gildenhard (Durham University): " A Republic in Letters: Cicero's correspondence with exiled familiares"
16.00 - 16.30 h: Tea / coffee break
16.30 - 17.15 h: Philip Alexander (University of Manchester): “‘From me, Jerusalem, the Holy City, to you Alexandria in Egypt, my Sister ....’ (b.Sanh. 107b): The Role of Letters in Power Relations between ‘Centre’ and ‘Periphery’ in Judaism in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods”.
17.15 - 18.00 h: Lutz Doering (Durham University): "Configuring addressee communities in ancient Jewish letters"
19.00 h: Conference Dinner
Saturday 16 July 2011
Letters and Communities in Early Christianity (Chair: Lutz Doering)
9.00 - 9.45 h: Peter Head (University of Cambridge): "Letter carriers and epistolary communication in early Christianity"
9.45 - 10.30 h: John Barclay (Durham University): "The letters of Paul and the construction of early Christian networks"
10.30 - 11.00 h: Tea / coffee break
11.00 - 11.45 h: Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena): "The configuration of the addressee community in the Letter of James"
11.45 - 12.30 h: Judith Lieu (University of Cambridge): "Letters and the construction of a Christian narrative"
12.30 - 13.00 h: Concluding discussion
13.00 h: Lunch buffet
All sessions take place at Abbey House, Department of Theology and Religion, on Palace Green.
The conference is open, but it is necessary to register; the registration form can be downloaded here.
A word-version of the programme can be downloaded here.
For those staying in Grey college: it is possible to check in from c. 1pm; the college is on the Science site, at c. 30 min walk from the railway station (c. 15 minutes walk from Palace Green).
For more information, please contact the organisers:
Thorsten Fögen