A conference jointly sponsored by the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in “Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions” at the University of Helsinki (CSTT), the Finnish Institute in the Middle East (FIME), and the Department of History and Archaeology at the American University of Beirut (AUB).
Date: October 22–25, 201
6
Venue: American University of Beirut Campus, Beirut, Lebanon
SATURDAY OCTOBER 22 [Venue: American University of Beirut classroom]
8:30–8:40: CSTT/FIME Welcome
8:40–9:00: Helen Dixon, University of Helsinki: “On ‘Empire’ as a Framework for the Comparative Study of Iron Age Levantine Cultures”
9:00–9:40: Keynote Lecture – Leila Badre, American University of Beirut: [On the rediscovery of the Tyre temple]
9:40–10:10: Izaak de Hulster, University of Helsinki: “Iconography in the Aram/Israel/Phoenician Border Zone during the Neo-Assyrian Period (and before)”
10:10–10:40: Coffee (sponsored by FIME)
10:40–11:10: Sanae Ito, University of Helsinki: “Cuneiform-Writing Scribes and Aramean Scribes of the Assyrian Empire”
11:10–11:40: Saana Svärd, University of Helsinki: “Neo-Assyrian Women in Cult”
11:40–12:10: Joanna Töyräänvuori University of Helsinki: “Aquatic Monsters and Symbolic Geography of the Levant in their Mesopotamian Imperial Context”
12:10–12:50: Keynote Lecture – Helene Sader, American University of Beirut: “The Assyrian Empire and Phoenicia’s Religious Resistance”
12:50–2:15: Break for lunch (on your own)
2:15: Bus from AUB Campus to Beirut National Museum (open until 5:00pm)
5:20: Reception at the new offices of the Finnish Institute in the Middle East (sponsored by FIME)
7:30: Bus to dinner in the Gemmayzeh neighborhood (sponsored by the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in “Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions,” University of Helsinki)
SUNDAY OCTOBER 23
8:00: Bus from Napoleon Hotel for excursion to the Temple of Eshmun / Bustan esh-Sheikh
11:30–1pm: Lunch en route to Beirut (sponsored by FIME)
[Return to AUB venue]
2:00–2:30: Martti Nissinen University of Helsinki: “What Happened to Prophecy in the Neo-Babylonian Period?”
2:30–3:00: Maroun Khreich, Lebanese University: “‘I Shall Move It to Tyre’: Discussing The Letter ND 2686”
3:00–3:40: Keynote Lecture – Josephine Crawley Quinn, Oxford University: “Gods against States: Phoenician Religious Practice and the Art of Not Being Governed”
3:40–4:10: Coffee (sponsored by FIME)
4:10–4:40: Jason Silverman, University of Helsinki: “Imperial and Local Pantheons in the Achaemenid Period”
4:40–5:10: Jack Nurpetlian, American University of Beirut: “Mass media in Persian and Hellenistic Phoenicia: The Coin Evidence”
5:15–5:50: Keynote Lecture – Corinne Bonnet, University of Toulouse: “Does Hellenism Rhyme with Imperialism? Observations on the Religious Impact of Alexander’s Conquest of Phoenicia”
End of conference activities for the day (dinner on your own)
6:30–7:30: University of Helsinki CSTT Team 1 Meeting (Napoleon Hotel conference room)
MONDAY OCTOBER 24
9:00: Bus from Napoleon Hotel for full-day excursion to Tyre (sponsored by FIME)
Dinner on your own in Beirut
TUESDAY OCTOBER 25
Depart (airport transportation sponsored by FIME)