Section "Grèce et Rome"

The first session of the seminar Synoikismos, which will be held at UCL (27 October 2015) with the support of the Centre d'Étude des Mondes Antiques (CEMA), will address the issue of books and libraries in ancient times from a perspective both wide and multidisciplinary. From a chronological point of view, the presentations and discussions will focus as well on the archives in Near Eastern Civilizations (3rd-1st millennium BC: Ebla, Nineveh, etc.) as on the Byzantine libraries, not to mention the question of the book in classical Greece, in the great Hellenistic centers (Pergamum, Antioch, Alexandria ...) or in the Roman world. Emphasis will be placed on the diversity of disciplines that come into consideration in the study of this theme: we will welcome presentations dealing with writing supports, with the architecture of the buildings erected to house archives and libraries, with the evolution of writing, with the types of text or literature privileged in each historical period, with the messages conveyed in their historical context or still with the different policies implemented over the centuries to preserve, select or pass down these texts to the next generations. To supervise the discussion, we have the opportunity to welcome two keynote speakers: Professor Rosa Otranto – one of Luciano Canfora's most illustrious followers and holder of the chairs of classical philology and papyrology in the Dipartimento di Scienze dell'antichità e del tardoantico of the Università di Bari Aldo Moro – and the Associate Professor Thierry Piel – Etruscologist, teaching ancient history (roman) and history of art at the Université de Nantes.