The next Ancient and Medieval Middle East (AMME) seminar will be organised as a hybrid event on TUESDAY 02 April (16:15-18:00 EEST/Helsinki time), and everyone are most welcome!
The session will consist of two papers followed by a shared questions an discussion round on the seminar specific theme ‘animals of the acient world’. The speakers are:
Dr. Peeter Espak (in person)
‘The Nature and Meaning of Animal in Sumerian Mythology: Comparative Remarks’
The presentation will discuss the principal characteristics and ways of representing the animals in Sumerian literature and mythology based on mythological narratives and also material from the ancient artefacts. The pyramidal structure of nature as imagined by the ancient Sumerians is already visible by analysing the imagery on the famous Uruk vase from the third millennium. There we can see the structuring of the universe as all life being based on fertilizing water which makes the plants grow which in turn feed the animals. On the top of the pyramid are the gods and one step lower the humans. By analysing mythological accounts, we can also detect such pyramidal understanding of nature although, for example, in the process of creation of animals, actually no big differences compared to that of humans exists. Also, some parallels with the Old Testament material will be analysed and it is concluded that some ideas already present in the most ancient available material obviously are also reflected in the mythology of the ancient Israel.
Prof. Alan Mikhail (online)
‘What the World Says: The Ottoman Empire, Interspecies Rape, and Climate in the Little Ice Age’
This presentation analyzes a seemingly fantastical account of a young woman who gave birth to an elephant in the Ottoman Empire in the 1640s. Focusing on the experience of one woman, her rape by an elephant from India, the sad fate of her child, and her community’s social and economic hardships shows how individuals both experienced and interpreted the environmental calamities of the Little Ice Age as a species crisis and offers an analogy for the political fortunes of the Ottoman Empire in a moment of weakness.
Please join us in person (or online), Tuesday 02 April at 16:15-18:00 EEST (UTC+3h).
Live venue: Faculty hall (Faculty of Theology, Fabianinkatu 24, room 524).
Virtual venue: Zoom (Meeting ID: 678 8979 2118 /
https://helsinki.zoom.us/j/67889792118).<$DetailsLisatietojaLinkki$>
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