Beautification and defilement in the ancient Greek world and beyond.

Beautification and defilement in the ancient Greek world and beyond is an interdisciplinary conference which will include a variety of approaches, such as, literature, material culture, history, philosophy, classical world, anthropology, religion, gender studies. The focus of the conference will be to consider the multifarious depictions and complexities of beautification and defilement, though not limited, as follows:
- Sacred and profane
- Psychoanalysis
- Visualising the divine
- Archetypes and exemplars
- Ritual theory
- Gender studies
- Narratology and linguistics
- Reception Studies
- Comparative religion

Confirmed speakers include: Myrto Aloumpi (University of Crete), Robert Catalin- Barbu (University of Aberdeen), Mary Burgess (Open University), Lesley Dean-Jones (University of Texas, Austin), Michael Degener (Boston University – keynote speaker) Mark Elliot (University of the Highland and Islands), Fiona Hobden (Open University), Freya Juul Jensen (University of Aberdeen), Marsha McCoy (Southern Methodist University, Dallas), Sam Newington (University of Aberdeen), Ivana Petrovic (University of Virginia), Heather Reid (Exedra Center), Ian Rutherford (University of Reading), Tim Whitmarsh (University of Cambridge – keynote speaker)

This call for papers warmly invites abstracts of around 250 words (for papers of 20-40 minutes), along with any initial queries, to be forwarded to Sam Newington (s.newingtonabdn.ac.uk) by July 20th 2024.

We plan to publish the conference proceedings and will offer further details at the conference. Conference fees, accommodation options and optional excursions to archaeological sites, for speakers and participants, are available on the registration form located here (https://www.abdn.ac.uk/sdhp/divinity-religious-studies/religion.php). Further details of the programme and abstracts will be located here (https://www.abdn.ac.uk/sdhp/divinity-religious-studies/religion.php) in due course.