---The deadline for abstract submission to our annual conference has been
extended until *15 December *(please note that submission for the Master
Class on the preceding day is *closed*).---
We therefore still cordially invite post-doctoral researchers and
established scholars to submit a proposal for the sixth *CRASIS Annual
Meeting*, to be held on *3 March 2017, at the University of Groningen*, on
the subject of
*ANCIENT HEALTH:*
*Concepts, Materiality and the Experience of Life*
*Keynote: Prof. Ralph Rosen (UPenn)*
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Health—we think we know what it is, until we start thinking about it. Is
health the mere absence of disease? Does it always involve a subjective
feeling of well-being? Is it a purely private concern, or something to be
regulated by governments –and if so, how? Does health have a moral
component? And to what extent does it lie in our control? All of these
questions were equally alive and urgent in the ancient Mediterranean.
During the 2017 CRASIS Master Class and Annual Meeting we therefore aim to
explore what ‘health’ meant in the ancient world.
Conceptually, our sources reveal vastly different approaches to ‘health’,
depending on region, time-period, political background, social and
religious structures. Classical Greece, for example, saw the beginning of
systematized medicine, with claims to a rationality that was supposed to
set it apart from theological thinking. With this came materialist
conceptions of health, rooted in elements observable in the natural world,
and empirically-based arguments for cause and effect. But Greek (and later
Greco-Roman) medicine was only one of many systems that addressed health
and disease in antiquity, and it competed not only with much older, complex
systems of medicine in other parts of the Mediterranean and the Near East,
but also, internally, with non-literate traditions of ‘folkloric’ healing
and temple medicine.
How did ancient discourses of health, with their particular terminologies,
iconographies and contexts, relate to the institutional and religious
frameworks, the places of healing and the practices in existence? And how
can we square narratives of sickness and health and prescriptive regimes
that have come down to us in the written sources, with the realities of
ancient nutrition, disease, and life expectancy, accessible though modern
archaeological science (such as paleo-osteology and paleo-botany)?
We welcome papers exploring ‘ancient health’ from textual, historical,
philosophical, visual, and material perspectives. Possible topics include,
but are not limited to:
– conceptualizing health in philosophical and vernacular traditions;
– discourses, institutions, and metrics of public health in Mediterranean
antiquity;
– health, sickness, and healing in ancient imaginative literature
– the role of the divine in physical and mental health
– moral, mental, and physical health—connections and distinctions;
– practical health regimens prescribed, modelled, or alluded to;
– the materiality of health—sanctuaries, ancient spas, gymnasia, medical
implements, archaeo-botanical evidence for diet;
– the iconography of health and sickness;
– the physical body: human remains as indicators for health and diet.
------------------------------------------------
CRASIS is the interdisciplinary research institute for the study of
culture, religion and society in the ancient world at the University of
Groningen. This year’s event is already its sixth Annual Meeting. It is set
up as a meeting place for students and scholars to promote discussion and
exchange of ideas beyond disciplinary boundaries. For more information
about past events visit our website
<http://www.rug.nl/research/centre-for-religious-studies/crasis/activities/annual-meeting/crasis-annual-meeting-masterclass>.
*Keynote Speaker*
This year’s Keynote Speaker is Ralph Rosen
<https://www.classics.upenn.edu/people/ralph-m-rosen>, Vartan Gregorian
Professor of the Humanities and Professor of Classical Studies at the
University of Pennsylvania. His expertise spans a wide field of interests,
including ancient medicine and old comedy and satire. His most recent work
is the co-edited volume *Ancient Concepts of the Hippocratic*, published
with Brill.
*Submission of abstracts*
- We invite post-docs as well as advanced scholars to submit a
title and short abstract (250 words) for a lecture on the conference day
(March 3rd).
- Please accompany your application with a brief (~75 words)
academic background and deliver both parts in a single Word document to
facilitate processing.
- Proposals should be submitted no later than *15* *December 2016*
(extended deadline) with Sjoukje Kamphorst, via crasis.aws@xxxxxx.
Please note that at this point, CRASIS unfortunately is unable to offer
compensation for travel and accommodation costs of the presenters.
For more information, send an e-mail to crasis.aws@xxxxxx or visit
www.rug.nl/crasis.
On behalf of CRASIS,
Lidewijde de Jong
Sjoukje Kamphorst
Steve Mason
Onno van Nijf
Bettina Reitz-Joosse
--
Sjoukje Kamphorst
PhD candidate in Ancient History
on behalf of the CRASIS team
University of Groningen
CRASIS is the Groningen institute for Interdisciplinary Studies in Culture,
Religion and Society of the Ancient World. Follow CRASIS on Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/rug.crasis> or find out more about us on
www.rug.nl/crasis.
