WEBVTT

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Well, welcome everyone.

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Bienvenidos, bienvenidas.

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Muchas gracias por estar aquí.

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Thank you all for being here with us.

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A very warm welcome.

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It is a great pleasure to welcome you to
this international conference,

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When Gods Meet, Cultural Difference
Management in Religious Communication

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within Hellenistic and Roman Coastal
Settlements.

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This meeting results from an international
and inter-institutional collaboration

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between this university, the UNED,
the remote university of Spain,

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and the Instituto de Historiografía Julio
Caro Baroja from the University Carlos III

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of Madrid, as well as through
a collaboration between the

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two colleagues and friends
who are welcoming you today.

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The conference forms part, on the one
hand, of my individual research project as

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a Ramona and Cajal researcher at this
university, which is entitled Port

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Godscapes, Religious
Dynamism through Cultural

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Contact in Hellenistic and
Roman Mediterranean Ports.

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But at the same time, it is also the
result of the convergence of our

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respective research interests in the
dynamics of religious change in colonial

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contexts and, more broadly, in settings
characterized by high levels of population

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mobility across the Hellenistic and Roman
Mediterranean.

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We would first like to thank all of you
who accepted.

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You are all invited
to take part in this

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conference and to share
your research with us.

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Our thanks also go to everyone who
submitted a paper proposal and,

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in particular, to the members of the
scientific committee who kindly agreed to

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be part of this project
and helped us shape the

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program that we will be
following over these two days.

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We want to express our deepest gratitude,
first to UNED's department of ancient

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history, First of all, I would like to
thank the history, the Vice Rectorate for

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research and the Instituto de
Historiografia Julio Carabarroja,

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which have provided us with the funding
necessary to organize this conference.

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And second, to UNED's administrative,
technical and reception staff for all

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their assistance in the practical
arrangements for this conference and the

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technical facilities that make it possible
to broadcast the event online.

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We would also like to thank the Fundación
Pastor of Classical Studies and its

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director, Anton Alvar, and his brother
here, President Jaime Alvar, for making

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the necessary arrangements to ensure that
what we expect will be the epilogue of

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this conference can take place next
December.

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And we are talking
about a series of three

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theoretical and practical
training seminars.

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And we are talking about
some religious epigraphy

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that we will present to
you later on these days.

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And finally, our warmest thanks to all of
you who have chosen to join us today,

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whether in person or online.

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This said, we will say
some words about the topic

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of this meeting before
officially starting it.

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Long-distance maritime trade cities and
medium-sized regional markets.

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Sorry, always technical issues.

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Long-distance maritime trade cities and
medium-sized regional port hubs were

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highly connected settlements in the
Hellenistic and Roman Mediterranean,

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whose social, cultural and religious
developments were depreciated by

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continuous interlocal and cross-cultural
interactions.

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These encounters broadened
the spectrum of religious

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options available within
their local environments.

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Intensifying the need for religious choice
and fostering individual and collective

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creativity in conceptualizing and ritually
communicating with particularly large and

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erratic multiplicities of supernatural
beings.

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As a result, ports could operate as
religious laboratories where native

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inhabitants, migrants and travelers manage
cultural differences and creatively

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combine elements from various religious
traditions in their daily practices.

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thereby adapting early
religious patterns to meet

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contingent cultural, social,
political, and economic needs.

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The religious dynamics of port cities are
therefore crucial to understanding both

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the workings of polytheism
and the mechanisms

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of religious chains in
ancient Mediterranean.

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However, and despite the growing scholarly
interest in ancient ports over recent

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years, there is still a need for an
in-depth, joined-up comparative

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investigation of religion in and across
harbour cities.

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This is particularly significant because
it is precisely the relationships between

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ports, the flows connecting them,
and their interactions with the

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hinterlands that allow us to understand
processes of religious transfer,

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appropriation, and change.

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Our aim with this conference is to
contribute to developing this line of

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research by bringing together and
comparing the results of a wide range of

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studies which draw
in on different sources,

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theoretical, methodological,
and approaches.

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Moreover, we aim to explore the phenomena
of religious life in and across different

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settlements that serve as crossroads of
maritime and overland routes.

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More specifically, we
aim to advance our

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understanding of two closely
interconnected phenomena.

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First, how individuals and groups within
major and medium-sized coastal contexts

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manage cultural differences in the
conceptualization of and ritual

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communication with the divine,
according to their ends and their endings.

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A brief overview of the needs,
and aspirations.

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And second, the short- and medium-term
outcomes of this actions of cultural

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difference management,
ranging from adaptive changes and

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contextual inventions to
socially embedded innovations.

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Current research on ancient cultural
interactions benefits from a wide range of

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postcolonial He invites us to consider the
individual as a relevant cultural and

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religious agent, capable of engaging
reflectively with established religious

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forms, reproducing them adaptively,
transforming them or deviating from them

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in response to situational needs and
aspirations.

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It is therefore a useful framework for
exploring specific circumstances and

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processes through which human agents
devise original theological and ritual

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responses to their needs and to the
challenges posed by trans-cultural social

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interactions and human-divine
communication.

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It should in any case be noted that a
degree of caution must be exercised when

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applying such an approach, as it tends to
lapse into an excessive

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hyper-individualisation
of reality, overlooking

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the communal values
of the individual.

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While also needing to
construe agency in a manner

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that is perhaps sometimes
far too broad and loose.

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Drawing on this theoretical background,
we may explore religious change through

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morality, mobility
and cultural contact by

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addressing a wide range
of interconnected themes.

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In the original conception
of this conference, we

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propose three main
thematic strands of analysis.

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The first concerns divine compassion.

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Divine любовigations.

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Divine animatics.

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And language choices in private and public
votive epigraphy.

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Epigraphy should be approached not merely
as a record of devotion, but as a

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cognitive and social space
in which processes of cultural,

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religious translation and
transformation take place.

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The ways in which the pages are associated
with one and all their invidication.

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The choices and combinations of divine
names and epithets.

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The use of different languages.

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Different languages and different forms of
cultural translation of thoughts can all

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provide insights into how individuals and
communities communicated across cultural

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boundaries, negotiated
differences, and responded

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to culturally diverse
religious environments.

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The second strand focuses on ritual
dynamics, and particularly on continuities

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and transformations
in ritual practices when

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different religious
traditions came into contact.

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This involves considering both local
religious traditions and practices

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introduced or maintained by mobile
populations and asking how these different

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ritual traditions coexisted,
interacted, and were

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negotiated or transformed
in particular coastal contexts.

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Finally, the third strand concerns
religious objectscapes drawing on the

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concepts developed by Pease and Vaslois,
and a broader approach to materialism.

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Here, the focus shifts to the role played
by material objects in mediating cultural

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differences and shaping both conceptions
of and interactions with the divine in

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multicultural and multiethnic
environments.

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The circulation, reuse, and situated
handling of religious objects could shape

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understandings of the divine and forms of
human-divine communication.

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Materiality could also contribute to the
formation of cultural middle grounds,

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making unfamiliar religious forms
recognizable and stabilizing new

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associations, while at
other times generating

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ambiguity, competing
interpretations, or friction.

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Many are the questions that may guide the
study of these issues.

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For instance, to what extent did people
engage with second cultural deities,

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rituals, and artifacts?

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What were the reasons?

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Behind the selection of the gods?

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Worship in a specific context?

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What relational logics connected these
deities?

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Were they related to persuasion, comparison,
identification, or ambivalent links?

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Which rituals were chosen by private and
public agents to worship foreign gods in

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the port cities, or in
the case of migrants,

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around gods in a
second cultural context?

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Did local ceremonies blend with new rites?

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Were ancestral rituals
revived or reinvented

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as a response to the
incorporation of identity?

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What changes and continuities
can be observed in the

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material culture of both local
traditions and foreign cults?

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How do these changes and continuities
affect the conception of the worshiped

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deities and the ritual communication with
them?

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The contributions of the conference
address how religious diversity,

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connectivity, and mobility were managed
across ancient maritime networks.

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Setting the framework for the gathering,
the Kaiser's keynote lecture investigates

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how cultic variety and religious
difference were communicated and managed

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in the multicultural
environment of Parthian

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and Roman Dura Europos
under the Middle Infants.

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Exploring the spatial and ritual dynamics
of public contact and urban development,

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the first group of papers
examines how coastal sanctuaries

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and port towns served as
arenas for cultural negotiation.

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For example, Lucia Díaz-Rodríguez will
investigate how coastal sanctuaries in

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South Italy enabled a ritual middle ground
between Greek settlers and indigenous

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Inuitian and Abiyan communities to
negotiate multi-ethnic identities.

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Turning to island networks, Giuseppe
Minuno will show how Sardinian port

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settlements adapted Punic Greek and Roman
religious elements treating persistent

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local traditions not as static survivals,
but as a living evolution in response to

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changing trade routes and Roman
administration.

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Addressing Ptolemaic naval expansion,
Alaya Palamides queries how foreign or

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recent members on Thera impacted local
religious life and whether imported cults

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coexisted with or permanently reconfigured
traditional temples.

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Concurrently, Elena Moindori-Halba and
Fernando Lozano Gómez examine hegemonic

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Italica as a ceremonial space,
analysing how maritime roots and eastern

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deities such as Isis link
Western imperial representation

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with broader Mediterranean
networks of exchange.

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The second thematic line investigates
civic identity, migrant integration and

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the rhetoric of ancestral memory in port
environments.

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Victoria Bidevska traces the evolving
roles of Athena on Thassos, illustrating

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how civic authorities, elite families and
grass people adapted her quote on Thassos,

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across centuries to navigate prairie and
colonial routes, Athenian hegemony,

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or local social search.

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María del Mar Rodríguez Alcácer addresses
the liminal Celtic space of Cape Tanarion

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as a strategic maritime gate, whilst
Miguel Ángel Navío López analyses the

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everyday religiosity, marginality
and social integration of

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migrant communities in the
ports of late Republican Rome.

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Examining the concept of
origin, Giuseppina Marano

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interrogates the theory of
ancestrality in Malaysian culture,

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and the Finally, the remaining
contributions utilize epigraphic and

00:14:50.681 --> 00:14:52.742
material evidence
to evaluate mobility,

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administrative regulations,
and royal authority.

00:14:56.369 --> 00:15:00.760
Charlotte Spence analyzes some magical
practices and religious anxieties through

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a course sourced from Antioch,
whilst Beatriz Panella Murcia and myself

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evaluate social networks and religious
collage in dedication to Alexis Magna.

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Extending this material focus into the
post-Roman era, Eugenia Vitello

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demonstrates how Christian symbols and
invocations as champions and traded

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ceramic vessels function
as a sure cultural language

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across a politically
fragmented Mediterranean.

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Regarding civic regulations and political
power, Julieta Stemhoier examines how

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Hellenistic sacrificial laws manage the
participation and access of Metics and

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foreign visitors in Aegean ports.

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And last, Esperanto-Macarena Ronenas Perea
investigates who dedicated royal and

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imperial statuary in lower Egyptian delta
ports.

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Evaluating how individual and collective
dedications shaped and initiated a

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semantic landscape of monarchical
authority.

00:15:54.679 --> 00:15:55.840
So, thank you so much.

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Thank you for coming here and thank you
for being even virtually here.

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And we do not want
to be more dedicated, so

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please, Stef Keiser,
now the floor is yours.

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So, please come here.

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Yes, we have the lecturer here.

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Thank you panel, for your attention.