The Brown University seminar on Cultures and Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean (CRAM) serves as a gathering to promote high-level, interdisciplinary dialogue among faculty and graduate students who deal with religion and culture in the ancient Mediterranean basin and west Asia in the broadest terms. CRAM meets monthly during the academic year. Each meeting lasts about an hour, and typically is centered on a pre-circulated paper by one of our participants. We are especially interested in work in progress; CRAM is a great context for working on new ideas and thinking through new problems.
CRAM is administered by the Program in Early Cultures. For details or questions, please contact Amy Russell, Director of the Program in Early Cultures, or Anne Heyrman-Hart, Administrative Coordinator for the Program in Early Cultures.
Below is the CRAM schedule for the 2022-3 academic year. Please note that all meetings will take place on Tuesdays, 12:00-12:55 p.m. Papers will be distributed by e-mail approximately ten days prior to the date indicated for your preparation. Newcomers are always welcome!
CRAM Schedule AY 2022 - 2023
Fall 2022
Sept 13 - Cicek Beeby (JIAAW): paper to be circulated in a few days’ time, watch your inbox!
Oct 25 - Breton Langendorfer (History of Art and Architecture): "Highland, Lowland: Exploring the Third Millennium Landscape of Southeastern Iran through a Chlorite Vase in the Metropolitan Museum of Art."
Nov 15 - Tyler Franconi (JIAAW): “Environmental change and Roman military policy on European river frontiers”
Dec 16 - Peter van Dommelen (JIAAW, Anthropology): "Forging the ties that bind. Colonial connections and the power of place in west central Sardinia”
Feb 14 - Kurt Raaflaub (Classics and History, emeritus): "The emergence of participatory communities in early Greece”
Mar 14 - Ella Kirsh (Classics): topic TBA
Apr 18 - John Steele (Egyptology & Assyriology): topic TBA
May 9 - Tim Clark (Classical Studies, BU): "Eastern Kingship and Roman Dominance: The Successes and Failures of Ceremony under Pompey and Nero”
A list of past CRAM seminars is available here.