Tagged: Antiquity

The Community as a ‘Sacred Body’ – An Interpretation of the Garden of Epicurus

Our former fellow Enrico Piergiacomi analyses a small fragment of Epicurus’ correspondence. Its an intriguing moment of the intersection between religion and urbanity. The philosopher’s reasoning was based on a theology that allowed to imagine the Epicurean school as a divine settlement, or ‘sacred body’, as well as on a conception of the civic and economic relationship that tries to recreate in the human city the same blessedness experienced by the. Economy and spirituality seem to coalesce a single, peaceful whole.

Exhibition review “Pompeii and Herculaneum – Living and dying under the volcano”, smac Chemnitz

The exhibition “Pompeii and Herculaneum – Living and dying under the volcano” at the smac State Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz, running from 11 November 2022to 12 March 2023, shows the everyday life of rich local inhabitants in the antique Roman cities Pompeii and Herculaneum. The exhibition shows what their lives were like before the tragic catastrophe, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. At Pompeii and Herculaneum, urban life was preserved under the ashes. As a result, we can still see how the inhabitants lived and which urban structures shaped their daily life.

UrbRel Workshop “Urbanity & the formation of religious groups”

How has an ‘urban way of life’ influenced the genesis of different religious and confessional groups? This June, UrbRel postdoc Martin Christ is convening a workshop setting out from this question. The working hypothesis of the workshop is that by considering the mutual formation of religion and urbanity, we can also gain new insights into the phenomenon of religious group formation(s) and find new ways to understand how, when and why, groups formed. The workshop will take place in June in Erfurt.

Corinna Riva and Harry Maierr

UrbRel podcasts: Corinna Riva & Harry Maier

In this week’s edition of our podcasts Corinna Riva (UCL), talks to Harry Maier about his research and the books and music he’d take to that island out at sea. Harry Maier is professor of New Testament and Early Christian Studies at the Vancouver School of Theology and last came to Erfurt in the summer of 2022 as a visiting fellow to the UrbRel gorup.

The Urban and Religious Fabrics of Public Ludic Games – Vol 2

Part two of the conversation between our fellows, Vanina Kopp and Richard Lim, on their research on public ludic games and their cultural and historical context. This time they are speaking about the urban environment of public spectacles, lay confraternities in France, Roman spectators and the fluidity of ludic acitivties and acts of devotion.

Citification and Its Contents – What I owe to Robert A. Orsi

The title of this post is an outspokenly playful plagiarism of the English translation of Freud’s Das Unbehagen in der Kultur (1930), i.e., “Civilization and Its Discontents”. Likewise, the story of my developing spatial-critical approach to the historical study of urban religion can be said to have started with a plagiarism. What is a plagiarism, though? And is it so bad?

UrbRel Workshop “Metamorphoses of Urbanities” 22./23.06.22

How do we live together in dense urban spaces? This is the big question – in today’s urbanised world as well as in historical urban networks. Evidently, people have given very different answers to that question on sunny places and in dark shelters. Ways of living urban lives change quickly across time or groups. This is what our workshop seeks to explore.

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