2011 Special Session with the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions (SAMR)

Funerary Relief of Husband and Wife (left) and Priestess of Isis (right) (Palazzo Massimo, Rome) (photo taken by Ardy Bass)

This year, the Women and Religion Section is happy to present a special session hosted by the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions (SAMR). If you would like more information about SAMR or would like to join, please visit their website.
 
Recent work on women in ancient Mediterranean religions — such as Joan Connolly’s Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece (Princeton University Press, 2007) and Celia Schultz’s Women's Religious Activity in the Roman Republic (University of North Carolina Press, 2006) — has shown that women had a far greater role in these religions than had previously been assumed. Women of the ancient Mediterranean had not only an important role in private religious rituals, such as rites of passage, but also had a significant part to play in public rituals; serving, for example, in leadership roles as priestesses and prophetesses, as well as participating in a number of important public religious festivals. This session seeks to explore the wide variety of women’s religious roles in ancient Mediterranean religions, including Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and ancient Near Eastern religion, as well as early Judaism and Christianity. Papers that seek to compare women’s religious roles in different cultures are particularly sought for the session.