Pontifex maximus

The Finnish Institute in Rome organises, in collaboration with Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Helsinki, a conference that presents the progress and results of the excavations of Castrum Novum (new fort), the ancient Roman colony now located in the suburbs of Santa Marinella, Rome. The ‘Castrum’ is a place more unique than rare, where you can find a theatre and barracks still perfectly recognisable: in fact, it is being transformed from a simple site into an archaeological park.

In 2022 and 2023 The Finnish Institute in Rome has offered Finnish students the possibility, through a scholarship, to participate in the excavations, providing them with the opportunity to experience the culture of Ancient Rome together with the modern Rome of today.

On Wednesday, May 8 starting at 15:15, the Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities (HSSH) welcomes Dries Daems (HSSH Visiting Professor, and Assistant Professor in Spatial Digital Humanities at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) for a talk titled: ”Unravelling the Threads of Connectivity: Integrating computational modeling and network analysis to trace material networks in the Hellenistic and Roman Mediterranean”. The talk will take place in Topelia D-Block, Room 204. All welcome!

Trivium – Tampere Centre for Classical, Medieval and Early Modern Studies is hosting Dr Oana Cojocaru, visiting scholar from New Europe College, Institute for Advanced Study (Bucharest), and organizing a symposium on Wednesday 24th of April at 16.15–18, in seminar room PinniB3074, Tampere University.

Uutisen lähde: linkki. ”The final Helsinki Research on the Ancient World seminar (HelRAW) takes place with two speakers: Sanni Kiesiläinen (University of Helsinki) and Jamie Vesterinen (University of Helsinki), on the 6th of May at 17:15 in Topelia D112 (Unioninkatu 38, 1st floor). You are warmly welcome to join our speakers at Topelia or Zoom (link below)! Sanni Kiesiläinen: Vertebrate Fossils and Classical Mythology The idea that ancient Greek and Roman societies had discovered animal fossils and understood their organic origins has been widely accepted since paleobiologist Othenio Abel (1875–1946) theorized that Greek stories about cyclopes and giants were at least partially based on the skulls of prehistoric dwarf mammoths that inhabited the Mediterranean islands. In the last couple of decades, the idea of fossils as inspiration for ancient myths has been deepened and widely popularized by Adrienne Mayor, a research Scholar at Stanford University, in her book The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Mythology (2000). My presentation will mainly focus on classical interpretations of large vertebrate fossils from the ancient Mediterranean. I will explain against this background the topic of my PhD dissertation, in which I will be diving deeper into the theme by examining how the fossils of prehistoric whales have affected Greco-Roman dragon and serpent mythology. I believe I will be able to find a connection between the known sites of whale fossils and the places which the ancient Greek and Roman societies believed dragons and other mythical serpents inhabited. I will focus especially on the fossils of prehistoric odontocetes, or toothed whales, and how their habitats correspond to the habitats of the mythical serpents, and how their physiologies correspond to how the mythical serpents have been described in classical literature and art. About the speaker: I am a PhD researcher in the Programme of History and Cultural Heritage at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki. My background is on classical philology and especially Latin and Roman literature. My main research interests include scientific literature in classical antiquity, and especially the ways in which science and mythology have intersected in the ancient world. I began looking into classical interpretations of fossils while I worked on my master’s thesis, which focused mainly on invertebrate fossils and their uses in magic and medicine. Jamie Vesterinen: Τὸ δίκαιον δαιμόνιον: guilt and divine justice in ancient dream reports Ancient literature includes many references to dreams that are associated with moral transgression. These dreams either precede an act of transgression and may warn against it, or occur, sometimes repeatedly, after an offensive deed has been committed. In this paper, I will investigate how the cause and origin of such dreams are presented in Greek and Latin sources. I will focus especially on dreams that haunt moral transgressors and explore how the themes of a guilty conscience and retribution effected by gods or the dead are present in these narratives and sometimes intertwined. Associated concepts such as ἀσέβεια / εὐσέβεια, ὕβρις, and ἀδίκημα offer insight into the nature of the moral transgressions that evoked a dream response. About the Speaker: Jamie Vesterinen is a doctoral candidate in the Doctoral Programme of History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Helsinki. He holds a Master’s degree in Greek Language and Literature. His doctoral dissertation explores dream reports in Greek literature. When: Monday, May 6th, 17:15 (UTC +3 EEST) Where: Topelia, D112, Unioninkatu 38, 1st floor or in Zoom https://helsinki.zoom.us/j/61816077453?pwd=bnZVY05ieXlmNTIyUkNQcmJOOFZ3UT09  Meeting ID: 618 1607 7453 Passcode: 887970″

Uutisen välitti Bysantin tutkimuksen seura: linkki. ”Lämpimästi tervetuloa Bysantin tutkimuksen seuran esitelmätilaisuuteen keskiviikkona 24.4. kello 17:15–19. Tieteidentalo (sali 504), Kirkkokatu 6, Helsinki. Dosentti Maijastina Kahlos esitelmöi aiheesta ”Myöhäisantiikin magiaa ja Bysantin velhoja”. Kahlos on Suomen tunnetuimpia antiikintutkijoita ja hän toimii tällä hetkellä vierailevana tutkijana Jerusalemissa (Israel Institute for Advanced Studies). Esitelmä perustuu hänen tuoreimpaan teokseensa Taikakirja: Magia antiikin Kreikassa ja Roomassa (Otava 2023). Tilaisuutta voi seurata myös etänä: osallistu Zoomilla https://aboakademi.zoom.us/j/61767806500 ID: 617 6780 6500″

Suomen Rooman-instituutin Wihurin stipendiaatti FM Iida Huitula kertoo tutkimuksestaan esitelmässään ’Jews and Gods in Antiquity: Lived Religion and Diversity of Identities’. Tapahtumaa voi seurata Zoomin välityksellä 17.4. klo 16:00 alkaen Suomen aikaa. Uutisen lähde: linkki. ”Abrahamic religions are often described first as monotheistic, in contrast to the polytheism and diversity that define traditional Greek and Roman religious systems. Did ancient Jews perceive the same dichotomy? This lecture by Iida Huitula dives into the world of lived religion and the diversity of identities possible in ancient Judaism. Inscriptions from across the ancient Mediterranean reveal the variety of religious practices available to ancient Jews but underrepresented in biblical texts. Circolo Gianicolense is a joint research seminar/lecture series for fellows affiliated with the foreign research institutes on the Janiculum Hill: Norwegian Institute in Rome, Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, and the American Academy in Rome. The event will be held in English. This event, to be presented in person at the Academy as well as on Zoom, is free and open to the public. To watch on Zoom, please register in advance. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Speaker Iida Huitula is a classicist with a MA in Latin from the University of Turku, Finland, and a MA in ancient Greek from the University of Helsinki. She is currently a doctoral researcher studying Judaism at the University of Helsinki in the Department of Theology. This year Huitula is conducting her research at the Finnish Institute in Rome.”

Uutisen välitti ja tapahtuman järjestää: Paidea – Turun klassillinen yhdistys. ”Kevään toista esitelmää varten vieraaksemme saapuu teologian tohtori, tietotubettaja Ville Mäkipelto. Hän käsittelee esitelmässään Raamatun varhaisimpia käsikirjoituksia ja kertoo, mitä niiden välillä havaittavat erot kertovat Raamattuun päätyneiden tekstien läpikäymistä muutoksista. Esitelmä kumpuaa akateemisesta tekstikriittisestä tutkimuksesta, jota Mäkipelto on popularisoinut yhdessä Paavo Huotarin kanssa teoksessaan ”Sensuroitu – Raamatun muutosten vaiettu historia” (Otava, 2023), joka oli tietokirjallisuuden Finlandia-ehdokkaana vuonna 2023. Mielenkiintoinen ja silmiä avaava aihe siis myös antiikintutkimuksen näkökulmasta! Esitelmä järjestetään 18.4. Turun yliopistolla, Arcanumin seminaarihuoneessa A112. Huom! Aloitamme tasan kello 18, ei akateemista varttia. Mukaan pääsee myös Zoomin välityksellä.Lämpimästi tervetuloa! https://utu.zoom.us/j/65707438593Passcode: 269894″