Representing the Wise
A Gendered Approach: Proceedings of the 1st Melammu Workshop. Lille, 4-5 April 2016
edited by Stephanie Anthonioz and Sebastian Fink
Hardback (Published)
(October 2019)
ISBN: 9783963270680
6.65 x 9.41 inches
Price: $81.00
In stock
The first of the Melammu Workshops askes how female and male representatives of the wise, female and male sages, were conceptualized in antiquity and whether there was a clear difference between female and male wisdom. The workshop followed a kind of historical chronology starting from Mesopotamian and Egyptian sources, continuing West through the Levant and ending with Greek and Roman documentation. It permitted a vast exploration of sages, both divine and human, as they were portrayed in antiquity. The papers brought to light several tensions among which the question of gender was not the least. Indeed, the nature of wisdom itself, human and divine, empirical, theoretical but also at times abstract and difficult to outline, pointed to the difficulty of a definition. Hence the plurality of representations might be interpreted as a sign of this difficulty and variety. Moreover, the gender question was found to be strongly related to the societies and their organization as evidenced elsewhere in current research. Any generalization or typology of the sages at this point could not be drawn but a clear historical evolution toward masculine representation of wisdom was evidenced. Certainly, this has to do with social change, economic structures and the loci of power and authority. However, in many regards, women appear as counterparts or homologues of men in their quest for wisdom. In that sense, the workshop proved very fruitful in displaying a large gallery of portraits and in bringing to light differences according to social settings and sources but also main trends of evolution through historical times.
The first of the Melammu Workshops askes how female and male representatives of the wise, female and male sages, were conceptualized in antiquity and whether there was a clear difference between female and male wisdom. The workshop followed a kind of historical chronology starting from Mesopotamian and Egyptian sources, continuing West through the Levant and ending with Greek and Roman documentation. It permitted a vast exploration of sages, both divine and human, as they were portrayed in antiquity. The papers brought to light several tensions among which the question of gender was not the least. Indeed, the nature of wisdom itself, human and divine, empirical, theoretical but also at times abstract and difficult to outline, pointed to the difficulty of a definition. Hence the plurality of representations might be interpreted as a sign of this difficulty and variety. Moreover, the gender question was found to be strongly related to the societies and their organization as evidenced elsewhere in current research. Any generalization or typology of the sages at this point could not be drawn but a clear historical evolution toward masculine representation of wisdom was evidenced. Certainly, this has to do with social change, economic structures and the loci of power and authority. However, in many regards, women appear as counterparts or homologues of men in their quest for wisdom. In that sense, the workshop proved very fruitful in displaying a large gallery of portraits and in bringing to light differences according to social settings and sources but also main trends of evolution through historical times.
Stephanie Anthonioz / Sebastian Fink: Representing the Wise: A Gendered Approach. Introduction Gebhard Selz: Female Sages in the Sumerian tradition of Mesopotamia Peeter Espak: Male Sages in Sumerian Literature Saana Svard: Female Sages in Akkadian Literature Raija Mattila: Male Sages in Akkadian Literature Pascal Vernus: The Sages / Wisemen in Ancient Egypt Ehud Ben Zvi: Memories of Female (and Male) Sages in late Persian / Early Hellenistic Yehud Considerations Informed by Social Memory and Current Cross- and Trans-disciplinary Trends in the Study of Wisdom Stephanie Anthonioz: Lady Wisdom in Prov 1-9
31: Context, Definition and Function of her Personification Ennio Biondi: Lady Wisdom in Greek Culture: Athena as a Deity of Polymorphic Intelligence Claudia Horst: Paideia Makes the Man: A Gendered Approach to the Figure of the Wise Man in Imperial Rome Kordula Schnegg: Female Sages in Roman Literature - Selected Examples Index
- Edited by Stephanie Anthonioz
- Edited by Sebastian Fink
Other Titles in this Series
Shaping Boundaries
Ethnicity and Geography in the Eastern Mediterranean Area (First Millennium BC). Proceedings of the 15th Melammu Workshop, Verona, 19-21 January 2022
Volume 8
The Ancient Near East and the Foundations of Europe
Proceedings of the Melammu Workshop held in Jena 19th September 2017
Volume 3
Literary Change in Mesopotamia and Beyond and Routes and Travellers between East and West
Proceedings of the 2nd and 3rd Melammu Workshop
Volume 2
Autocratic Rule in Antiquity
Proceedings of the 14th Melammu Workshop, Krakow, 46 October 2021
Volume 12
Making Peace in the Ancient World
Proceedings of the 7th Melammu Workshop, Padova, 5-7 November 2018
Volume 5
Ceremonies, Feasts and Festivities in Ancient Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean World
Performance and Participation: Proceedings of the 11th Melammu Workshop, Barcelona, 29-31 January 2020
Volume 7
Similar Books
Archaeological Discoveries at the Temple of Ramesses II in Abydos
Vol. 2: Old Kingdom Wall, Papyri, Ostraca, and Leather Remains
Drunk the Potion, No Whit Charmed
The Doctrine of Pure and Perfect Souls from Iamblichus to Damascius
Ḫattušaš utnē išḫameški
Hittite and Other Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Piotr Taracha on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday
Late Antique villae in the Balkans (3rd–7th c. AD): Current Research Questions and Perspectives
HAEMUS Companion to the Late Antique Balkans 1
Volume 4
Nurturing the Elite
Representations of Drinking, Eating, and Religious Vessels in Palmyrene Funerary Iconography
Volume 13
Punning in Odd or Elegant Constructions in Jeremiah
The Convergence of Linguistics, Rhetoric, and Textuality in the Hebrew Text of Jeremiah
Shame in the Worlds of the Hebrew Bible and Akkadian Texts
A Linguistic Study and Its Implications
Volume 33
Telling Contexts
Archaeological and Textual Studies in Honor of Elizabeth Bloch-Smith and Mark S. Smith
The Body
Lived, Cultured, Adorned: Essays on Dress and the Body in the Bible and Ancient Near East in Honor of Nili S. Fox
After Life in Roman Paganism. L’Égypte des astrologues. Les Mages hellénisés
Introductions historiographiques
Volume 7
Die Entwicklung erdbebensicherer Bautechniken in der Frühen und Mittleren Eisenzeit in Ostanatolien
Volume 11
Kultur – Kontakt – Kultur
Beiträge anlässlich der 66. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in Frankfurt/Main und Mainz, 25.–29. Juli 2022
Volume 35
Sprachwissenschaftliche und kulturhistorische Reflexionen
Festschrift zu Ehren von Jörg Klinger
Volume 31
A Numismatic History of Barikot
Catalogue and Analysis of the Coin Finds from the Excavations at Bir-koṭ-ghwaṇḍai (Barikot), Swat, Pakistan (1984-2022) Pakistan (1984-2022). With a contribution by Luca M. Olivieri
Volume 69
Alexander the Great and the Campaign of Gaugamela
New Research on Topography and Chronology. IAMNI 1 (Italian Archaeological Mission to Northern Iraq)
Volume 53
Ancient Egypt in 50 Discoveries
Highlights from the first century of the Egypt Exploration Society
Volume 8
