Emperors and the Divine (updated programme)

Venue: Seminar Room 136, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, Fabianinkatu 24, Helsinki
Thursday, January 30th
10.00     Opening
10.15     Session 1: Emperors and their divine honours
Chair: Eva Johanna Holmberg
William van Andringa: “Honours worthy of a god: on the ‘Imperial Cult’ in the reigns of Augustus and Constantine”
Javier Arce: “How to become a divus in the Roman Empire”
11.45     Coffee/Tea Break
12.15     Session 5: Imperial policies: emperors and their gods
Chair: Ville Vuolanto
Jussi Rantala: ”Septimius Severus, Fertility Gods and the Legitimation of Power”
Douglas Boin: “Imperial Cult in Fourth-Century Rome and the Memory of “Peter” (1 Peter 2.17)”
13.45     Lunch Break
14.45     Session 3: Imperial policies: the peace of gods (pax deorum) and its transgressors
Chair: Ulla Tervahauta
Tobias Georges: “Tertullian’s criticism against the emperor’s cult in the Apologeticum”
Outi Lehtipuu: “ “For what harm is there in saying, Lord Caesar, and sacrificing and saving your life?” Imperial Cult, Martyrdom, and Early Christian Identity Formation”
16.15     Coffee/Tea Break
16.45     Session 4: The emperor and the legalities
Chair: José Filipe Pereira da Silva
Caroline Humfress: ”Ordering divine knowledge in Late Roman Legal Discourse”
Maijastina Kahlos: “The emperor’s New Images – How to Honour the Emperor in the Christian Empire?”
18.15     Reception (Venue: Common Room, 3rd floor)
Friday, January 31st
10.15     Session 2: The emperor as the representative of the divine
Chair: Olli Salomies
Alan Cameron: “The Emperor as pontifex maximus”
Mar Marcos: “Constantius II as a heretic (or not) in contemporary and late historiography”
11.45     Coffee/Tea Break
12.15     Session 6: Imperial cult and the provinces
Chair: Darin Stephanov
Janneke de Jong: “Emperors meet gods: divine discourse in Greek papyri from Roman Egypt”
Mika Kajava: ”Emperors in the Greek East: Some Divine Associations”
13.45     Lunch Break
14.45     Session 7: The divine emperor in literature (panegyric, criticism)
Chair: Marja-Leena Hänninen
Chiara Tommasi Moreschini: ”Coping with ancient gods, celebrating Christian emperors: multiple strategies in late antique panegyrics”
Sari Kivistö: “Satirical apotheosis in Seneca and beyond”
16.15     Final discussion and closure of the symposium