Événements

Beyond Egyptomania : appropriations of Egypt in Rome.

An international symposium at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome.

February 17th, 2012

Organised by Marieke van den Doel (KNIR) & Miguel John Versluys (Leiden University)

‘Egypt’ is more present in the Urbs than probably anywhere else in Europe. Rome's fascination with ‘things Egyptian’ has a lengthy history, wherein the ancient Roman and Renaissance historical contexts have attracted the majority of scholarly attention.

However, only rarely have these two contexts been structurally compared and studied against the background of the many other (historical) appropriations of ‘things Egyptian’ in Rome itself or beyond. Moreover, scholars are increasingly realising that the term commonly used to indicate these complex processes of cultural borrowing and innovation -Egyptomania- is not well chosen. In this conference it is our aim to take a more serious approach to the Roman appropriation of Egypt and move ‘beyond Egyptomania’. Through a series of case studies we hope to explore how ‘Egypt’ and Egyptian visual language managed to be so relevant for so many historical contexts. The life (and history and after-life) of ‘Egypt’ is certainly one of the best and most fascinating examples of what Aby Warburg characterised as the vertical transmission of culture. If we want to properly understand this cultural biography of ‘Egypt’, Rome is the place to start the investigation.

SPEAKERS

Brian Curran
Kristine Bülow Clausen
Giuseppina Capriotti Vittozzi
Sander Müskens
Ingrid Rowland
Eugenio Lo Sardo
Miguel John Versluys
Thijs Weststeijn

For more information : www.knir.it or info@knir.it

A printable copy of the program can be downloaded HERE.