From Pella to Gandhara: Hybridisation and Identity in the Art and Architecture of the Hellenistic East
A graduate student conference held at the Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, University of Oxford on April 18, 2009. The Hellenistic age was a time of monumental shifts in terms of population, mobility, and political boundaries. Greek culture came into direct contact with the civilizations of the East, transforming both and creating a unique civilization with elements from both the Hellenic and eastern worlds. To what extent this is reflected in the material and visual record is an ongoing research question that we are keen to address in this conference.
Some of the questions we would like to address are as follows: How deeply were the peoples of the East influenced by Greek culture? How were Greek settlers in the realms of the former Persian empire influenced by local cultures and traditions? Did hybrid cultures emerge in some parts of the East as a result of the direct contact between the Greek world and the East? Was Hellenization a politically imposed program designed to increase the support base of the ruling dynasts or local satraps? Did it only benefit small elites or was it a broader cultural phenomenon with a wider impact? Alternatively, is Hellenization simply a modern term that emerged as a result of colonial and post-colonial discourses?
The organizers of the conference welcome papers from doctoral students on all aspects of the art, architecture, and archaeology of the Hellenistic age that deal with the above questions. The papers should be 20 minutes in length. There will be 10 minutes allocated for discussion. The organizers hope that the papers will be published as proceedings of the conference in the near future.
Please send an abstract of no more than 300 words with your name, department, institution and e-mail address to Anna Kouremenos, anna.kouremenos(at)lincoln.ox.ac.uk no later than January 20, 2009. Questions about the conference should be addressed to the organizers: Anna Kouremenos, Roberto Rossi, roberto.rossi(at)lincoln.ox.ac.uk, or Suji Chandrasekaran, sujatha.chandrasekaran(at)lincoln.ox.ac.uk. Accepted speakers will be notified by February 10, 2009. Limited funding may be available for overseas students.