International Summer School “Iconography of the Ancient World” 08.-12. September 2025
Since the 1970s, iconography has become a focus of Biblical Studies, especially through the work of OthmarKeel and his circle of students. While in the early works of the “Fribourg School,” the pictorial evidence of the southern Levant, as well as of the cultures on the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris, which alternately dominated this region, were used as illustrations of biblical texts, their value as a historical source and data for critically reconstructing various facets of the ancient world was gradually recognized and established, thus creating an independent field of research within biblical scholarship.
The International Summer School is a great opportunity to combine theoretical insights of iconography with practical image analysis experience and meet students and lecturers from different academic contexts. The 2025 session will focus on analyzing Stamp Seals from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic Period and will look closely at Mesopotamian art in Late Babylonian times.
Target group: This course is targeted for Graduate Students and PhD Students in Hebrew Bible, New Testament or similar fields.
Course aim: Students will learn the basics of image analysis and be able to apply them to objects and artefacts. On the basis of continuous methodological reflection, they will be trained to evaluate their observations in relation to their respective research questions.
Participants will have the opportunity to present and discuss research projects.
Following topics will be covered through the course:
- Methodological approaches to image analysis
- Hellenistic influence on Ancient Near eastern cultures
- Practice of analysis of ancient artefacts
Course leader: Dr. Thomas Wagner (Wuppertal) and Prof. Dr. Silas Klein Cardoso (Vitória)
Workshops with: Prοf. Dr. Silvia Schroer (Bern),
Prof. Dr. Stephanie Langin-Hooper (Dallas) and
Dr. Josephine Fechner (Göttingen)
Practical information:
Credits info: 2 EC
Contact hours: 20
Fee info: 70.00€/person (costs for accommodation, catering, travel are excluded)
Financial Support: Individual financial support is depeinding on the participation in programs for student and teacher exchange of your university/academic instituion. Please contact the International Office of your university.
Please send in your application until August, 15th, 2025 to Silas Klein Cardoso (silas[at]fuv.edu.br) or to Thomas Wagner (twagner[at]uni-wuppertal.de). We will accept a maximum of 20 participants.
