Ad Limina Orientis: Programme

Day 1: Monday, 31/10/2022

Venue: MESHS, Maison Européenne des Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société

08.00 – 08.30 Welcome and registration

08.30 – 09.00 Opening remarks

Introduction to Languages and Documents of Oriental Christianities

09.00 – 10.30 Language Major – Classical Armenian (Federico Alpi) / Language Minor – Middle (Christian) Arabic (Joseph Faragalla)

10.30 – 10.45 Break

10.45 – 12.15 Language Major – Classical Armenian (Federico Alpi) / Language Minor – Old Georgian (Alexey Muraviev)

12.15 – 13.15 Lunch Break

Keynote lecture

13.15 – 14.35 Sebastian Brock, “Varietas syriaca in long Late Antiquity”

14.35 – 14.50 Break

Thematic Lecture Sessions

Session 1: Interconnected Cultures of the Near East

14.50 – 16.10 Richard Payne, “Iranian Christians”

16.10 – 16.25 Break

16.25 – 17.45 Philip Wood, “Christians under the Umayyads and Abbasids”

17.45 – 18.00 Break

18.00 – 19.20 Vittorio Berti, “Syriac translations from Greek: building cultural (and spiritual) bridges and erecting theological walls”

Day 2: Tuesday, 01/11/2022

Venue: Hotel Ibis Lille Centre Gares

Introduction to Languages and Documents of Oriental Christianities

09.00 – 10.30 Language Major – Classical Armenian (Federico Alpi) / Language Minor – Middle (Christian) Arabic (Joseph Faragalla)

10.30 – 10.50 Break

10.50 – 12.20 Language Major – Classical Armenian (Federico Alpi) / Language Minor – Old Georgian (Alexey Muraviev)

12.20 – 14.00 Lunch Break

Thematic Lecture Sessions

Session 2: Caucasus in the Eurasian Cultural and Commercial Continuum

14.00 – 15.20 Giusto Traina, “Armenian connections (IV-VI CE)”

15.20 – 15.40 Break

15.40 – 17.00 Tamara Pataridze, “How the Rise of the Cristian Literature in Arabic (8th-10th centuries) Reconnected the Syriac and Georgian Literatures again”

17.00 – 17.20 Break

17.20 – 18.40 Ian Colvin, “Placing Late Antique Lazika in a Eurasian Cultural and Commercial Continuum—Black Sea, Caucasian, or Eurasian?”

Day 3: Wednesday, 02/11/2022

Venue: MESHS, Maison Européenne des Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société

Introduction to Languages and Documents of Oriental Christianities

09.00 – 10.30 Language Major – Classical Armenian (Federico Alpi) / Language Minor – Old Georgian (Alexey Muraviev)

10.30 – 10.50 Break

10.50 – 12.20 Language Minor – Middle (Christian) Arabic (Joseph Faragalla) / Language Minor – Old Georgian: Calligraphy workshop (Oleksii Chekal & Alexey Muraviev)

12.20 – 14.00 Lunch Break

Thematic Lecture Sessions

Session 3: Material History of the Eurasian Connections: Archaeology and Architecture

14.00 – 15.20 Pavel Lurje, “Wine for Christians, Moslems and Manichaeans: Sogdian dedicative inscriptions from Semirechie”

15.20 – 15.40 Break

15.40 – 17.00 Emma Loosley, “Neither East nor West? The Architecture and Archaeology of the Churches in the East”

17.00 – 17.20 Break

17.20 – 18.40 Johnathan Hardy, “Reconstructing the Past: 3D Modelling and Spatial Analysis of Sasanian and Christian Art and Architecture”

Day 4: Thursday, 03/11/2022

Venue: MESHS, Maison Européenne des Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société

Introduction to Languages and Documents of Oriental Christianities

09.00 – 10.30 Language Major – Classical Syriac (Eastern) (Alexey Muraviev) / Language Minor – Middle (Christian) Arabic: Calligraphy workshop (Oleksii Chekal & Joseph Faragalla)

10.30 – 10.50 Break

10.50 – 12.20 Language Major – Classical Syriac (Eastern) (Alexey Muraviev) / Language Major – Sogdian (Antje Wendtland)

12.20 – 14.00 Lunch Break

Thematic Lecture Sessions

Session  4: Intellectual Cultures Along the Silk Roads

14.00 – 15.20 Andrea Piras, “Textual Imageries of Manichaeism and Christianity in Turfan area”

15.20 – 15.40 Break

15.40 – 17.00 Yuliya Minets, “Languages and Linguistic Awareness in Syriac Late Antiquity”

17.00 – 17.20 Break

17.20 – 18.40 Emilie Villey, “Quelques observations à propos de l’influence culturelle chinoise et indienne sur les savants de langue syriaque des 6e-8e s”

Day 5: Friday, 04/11/2022

Venue: MESHS, Maison Européenne des Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société

Introduction to Languages and Documents of Oriental Christianities

09.00 – 10.30 Language Major – Classical Syriac (Eastern) (Alexey Muraviev) / Language Major – Sogdian (Antje Wendtland)

10.30 – 10.50 Break

10.50 – 12.20 Language Major – Classical Syriac (Eastern) (Alexey Muraviev) / Language Major – Sogdian (Antje Wendtland)

12.20 – 14.00 Lunch Break

Thematic Lecture Sessions

Session  5: The Written Word. Manuscripts & Inscriptions from the Caucasus to Central Asia

14.00 – 15.20 Oleksii Chekal, “The Aesthetics of Letterforms of the Christian Near East: Bridging the Worlds and Scripts with Calligraphy and Typography”

15.20 – 15.40 Break

15.40 – 17.00 Bernard Outtier, “Usages inconnus de l’encre rouge dans des manuscrits géorgiens des X-XI-èmes siècles”

17.00 – 17.20 Break

17.20 – 18.40 Simon Brelaud, “An epigraphic perspective on Syriac communities: from the Middle to the Far East”

Day 6: Saturday, 05/11/2022

Venue: Maison de la Recherche du campus Pont-de-Bois (bâtiment F)

! Not to be confused with the MESHS, Maison Européenne des Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société

Introduction to Languages and Documents of Oriental Christianities

09.00 – 10.30 Language Major – Classical Syriac (Eastern) (Alexey Muraviev) / Language Major – Sogdian (Antje Wendtland)

10.30 – 10.50 Break

10.50 – 12.20 Language Major – Classical Syriac (Eastern): Calligraphy workshop (Oleksii Chekal & Alexey Muraviev) / Language Major – Sogdian (Antje Wendtland)

12.20 – 14.00 Lunch Break

Thematic Lecture Sessions

Session  6: Christian Communities through the Changing Worlds (Rome, Persia, Central Asia)

14.00 – 15.20 Alexey Lyavdansky, “Protecting Mother and her Child: Incantations against the Child-stealing Demon in the Syriac Tradition of Charms”

15.20 – 15.40 Break

15.40 – 17.00 Alexey Muraviev, “Researching Syro-Persian Christian  community in the medieval Central Asia: marriage custom according to unique manuscript witness”

17.00 – 17.20 Break

17.20 – 18.40 Simon Brelaud, “Le christianisme parmi les Arabes au tournant de l’islam”

Day 7: Sunday, 06/11/2022

Venue: Musée du Louvre-Lens

Visit of the Louvre-Lens museum

08.30 – 10.00 Bus ride to Lens

10.00 – 13.00 Visit of the exhibition “Champollion : la voie des hiéroglyphes” + free time in the museum

13.00 – 14.00 Lunch Break

Round Table

14.00 – 16.00 “Conflicting and Merging: The Construction of Christian Identities in the Persianate Worlds of Late Antiquity”

16.15 – 17.30 Closing reception

18.30 Bus ride to Lille