For several decades, the study of the interaction between orality and literacy has proven to be a highly productive field in classical studies. In particular, the influential works of Thomas and Harris continue to spark lively debates in various branches of classical antiquity. Key questions that persist in these discussions revolve around: Who in ancient times possessed the ability to read and write? To what extent, and for what purposes, were these skills employed by the less privileged segments of society?
Concurrently, our understanding of the multifaceted aspects of ancient religion continues to grow year by year. While earlier research primarily focused on state-sponsored religious practices and the role of various deities in the lives of powerful rulers, recent scholarship increasingly emphasizes the realm of private religious expressions among ordinary individuals.
How did ordinary people go about their everyday religious rituals? Which deities did they worship, and what distinguished their religious practices? At the crossroads of these two areas lies a particularly intriguing and still relatively unexplored territory: the connection between orality, literacy, and the religious life of ordinary people.
How did the acquisition of one of humanity‘s most fundamental cultural skills impact the realm of private religious belief and practice? And how can we make sense of such developments?
This workshop aims to assess the respective impact of orality and literacy on private religious practices across different periods and areas of the ancient Mediterranean world. Additionally, we strive to better define the role of religion in the maintenance of oral traditions versus the propagation of writing habits in a variety of cultural contexts.

Workshop Programme

Wed, 11 Dec 2024

13:30-13:45 Welcome and Opening Remarks

13:45-14:30 Jens Fischer (University of Potsdam): When Apollo’s Voice Turned Into Religious Writings

14:30-15:15 Attila Egyed (Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest): The Voice of Orpheus Recorded in Writing. The Gold Tablets and the practice of inscribing a katabasis

15:15-15:45 Coffee Break

15:45-16:30 Rafał Matuszewski (Leiden University): The Spoken and Written Word in Greek Incubation Sanctuaries

16:30-17:15 Krzysztof Bielawski (Jagiellonian University, Kraków): Sacrifice in the Shadow of Words

17:15-18:00 Break

18:00-19:00 Jörg Rüpke (Max Weber Centre, Erfurt): Changing religion by letters: Urban beginnings

19:30 Conference Dinner


Thu, 12 Dec 2024

09:00-09:45 Rebecca Van Hove (University of Groningen): What does writing do to a votive object?

09:45-10:30 Kim Beerden (Leiden University): “And now, put this in writing”. Textuality in the so-called confession inscriptions from Asia Minor

10:30-11:00 Coffee Break

11:00-11:45 Irene Polinskaya (King’s College London): Reflections on ancient Greek Curses: variations of dromena, legomena, and graphomena in time and place.

11:45-12:30 Richard Gordon (Max Weber Centre, Erfurt): et a[d qu]em modum sal in [aqua liques]cet. Tracing orality in vernacular curse tablets in Latin

12:30-12:45 Coffee Break

12:45-13:30 Edward M. Harris (Durham University, University of Edinburgh): How to Read an Inscription about Greek Sacred Norms: The Role of Signs

14:00   Lunch

Visit of Sanssouci Park, the „Neue Palais“, and the Potsdam Christmas Market

20:00   Dinner


Fri, 13 Dec 2024

09:00-09:45 Sara Chiarini (University of Hamburg): The logos to be spoken out and the logos to be written down in ancient recipes of private rituals. A statistical survey

09:45-10:30 Jan Heilmann (Dresden University of Technology): Reading in Early Christianity. An overview with a problematisation of the category of orality

10:30-10:45 Coffee Break

10:45-11:30 Gabriella Gelardini (Nord University Bodø): When You Hear of Wars and Rumors of Wars (Mark 13:7)

11:30-12:15 Angela Standhartinger (Philipps-University Marburg): The Materiality of Storytelling. Echoes of the Jewish and Christian Joseph in Late Antique and Early Modern Manuscripts

12:15-12:30 Coffee Break

12:30-13:15 Enno Friedrich (University of Rostock): Literary Offers of Christian World Relations for Ordinary Aristocrats in the Carmina of Venantius Fortunatus (ca. 530-600 AD)

13:15-13:30 Closing remarks