From the Phoenicians to the Celts: Toward a global art and architectural history of the ancient Mediterranean

Day: Thursday 5 APril

Convenors

Kimberly Cassibry (Wellesley College, Massachusetts)
S Rebecca Martin (Boston University, Massachusetts)

Session Abstract

A transcultural history of art goes beyond the principle of additive extension and looks instead at the transformatory processes that constitute art practice through cultural encounters and relationships, whose traces can be followed back to the beginnings of history. Taking Monica Juneja’s formulation as a starting point, this session seeks case studies that promise to rewrite the histories of ancient Mediterranean objects and buildings that have languished in disciplinary interstices. Rather than debating what does or does not constitute a history of Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Celtic, or Etruscan art – and rather than simply pointing to interconnections (Mediterraneanisation) and mixtures (hybridity) in an effort to sidestep difficulties of classification – we seek new research that consciously transcends these unnecessarily limiting ethno-cultural categories and national archaeological traditions. With these transcultural and transnational case studies serving as a foundation, the session will aim to conceptualise core principles and methodologies that might be put into practice in writing new histories and with the particular goal of taking a first step toward establishing an open-access journal of Global Ancient Art History. Ultimately, the session will aim to define the parameters and contributions of a global art history of the ancient Mediterranean.

Speakers & Papers

Jessica Nitschke (Stellenbosch University, South Africa) Koinē: What is it good for?

Erin A Peters (University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Museum of Natural History, USA) Connected Context: Beyond cultural encounters, entanglement, and transmission at Augustan Karnak

Braden Lee Scott (McGill University, Canada) ‘The Stone is the Message’: Processing the Pantheon’s portico

Virginia M. Curry (University of Texas, Dallas, USA) Familia in Eternam: The intimate imagery of the egalitarian Etruscan couple

Mireia López-Bertran (Universitat de València, Spain) Animated Jugs: Phoenician, Punic, and Iberian zoomorphic bottles

Manolis Mikrakis (National Technical University of Athens, Greece) Achaeans, Phoenicians, and Genuine Locals: Ethnic approaches to the material culture of Early Iron Age Crete and Cyprus and their limitations

Fraser Hunter (National Museums Scotland) A Sideways Look at Celtic Arts