Conference: Power women in the old world - in search of traces between Orient/East and Occident/West

International Conference "(Self-)Presentation and Perception of Powerful Women  in der antiken Welt / (Self-)Presentation and Perception of Powerful Women in the Ancient World"

Dr. Kerstin Droß-Krüpe (Kassel) & Dr. Sebastian Fink (Helsinki)

• January 31 & February 1, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Senate Hall (Mönchebergstraße 3, 3rd floor)
• January 31, 6 p.m., Gießhaus (Mönchebergstraße 5): Public evening lecture by Dr. Silke Hackenesch (University of Cologne): 'A Taste of Power? Looking at the First Ladies of the United States" (in English)

All lectures are open to the public; conference languages are German and English

An academic conference dedicated to ancient role models/role models

 An international academic conference, initiated by Dr. Kerstin Droß-Krüpe (University of Kassel) and Dr. Sebastian Fink (University of Helsinki), aims to fill gaps in research on this topic and exchange new findings. From January 31 to February 1, it invites participants to question the images of powerful women in the ancient world. 25 renowned scholars of antiquity from all over the world will then present their research to the public in Kassel. A public evening lecture by the Americanist Dr. Silke Hackenesch (University of Cologne) will focus on the First Ladies of the USA - how do these women act, how do they shape their role, how are they perceived?

In the early Orient, as in Ancient Greece  in the Roman Empire, there were female figures who still fascinate us today. These women are often portrayed as domineering, sexually permissive or cruel. What role does it play that these images were almost entirely handed down and created by men? Bathsheba, Cleopatra, Messalina, Zenobia - all these great women seem to have aroused a great deal of interest and also fear. How did they see themselves, how did the traditional image develop? Are there perhaps even many different ideas about these women? And are there differences between the images of powerful women in Greco-Roman antiquity and in the cuneiform texts of the Ancient Near East? Current research is looking for clues in a wide variety of texts and pictorial representations from several millennia that can broaden our view of the female heroines of the ancient world. Attempts are being made to identify patterns and stereotypes in the description of these powerful women and to compare the external perception with the women's self-portrayal.

A distant time with its unforgotten women only at first glance: it can perhaps show how women in the ancient Mediterranean and the Near East portrayed and staged themselves when they had a space to unfold their power.

Further information: https://www.uni-kassel.de/fb05/fachgruppen/geschichte/alte-geschichte/tagungen/self-presentation-and-perception-of-powerful-women-in-the-ancient-world-januar-2019.html