The AlchemEast project is devoted to the study of alchemical theory and practice as it appeared and developed in distinct, albeit contiguous (both chronologically and geographically) areas: Graeco-Roman Egypt, Byzantium, and the Near East, from Ancient Babylonian times to the early Islamic Period.
Paper delivered by Lucia Raggetti at the International Conference “Malleable Texts, Fluid Authorships: Galenic Medicine and Late Antiquity” organized by Philip van der Eijk and Caroline Petit.
July 7-8, 2022, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin
Two AlchemEast papers delivered by Lucia Maini and Marianna Marchini at INCOME2022. 10th International Conference on Mechanochemistry and Mechanical Alloying.
June 6-10, 2022, University of Cagliari
Lucia Maini, Exploring the First Mechanochemical Reaction
Marianna Marchini, Grinding in the Old Times: The Synthesis of Cinnabar through the Glass of Ancient Recipes
AlchemEast Panel, including 4 papers, organized by Gabriele Ferrario and Lucia Raggetti at the SISS National Conference Ad limina. Frontiere e contaminazioni transdisciplinari nella storia delle scienze
May 30 – June 1, 2022, University of Catania
Rosa Caiazzo, Parmenide ‘naturalista risanatore’: l’eco della tradizione medica di Velia dall’antichità al medioevo
Bojidar Dimitrov, Ottenere la ‘nobile tintura’: Platone come autorità alchemica in un trattato del Corpus Jabirianum
Lucia Raggetti, Allucinazioni e cortine di fumo: la magia naturale dello Pseudo-Platone nella tradizione araba
Stefano Mulas, Aristotele, Ippocrate e Galeno: il dibattito tra antica e nuova medicina in alcuni frontespizi a stampa
PhD seminar organized by Raffaella Campaner, Lucia Maini, Marianna Marchini and Matteo Martelli in the framework of the “Making Science Happen” series (University of Bologna and University Ca’ Foscari, Venice)
May 25, 2022, University of Bologna, Department of Chemistry ‘G. Ciamician’ (Navile district)
Lecture delivered by Matteo Martelli at the University of Barcelona
May 19, 2022 @ 4:00 PM (GMT)
Informal presentation and performace by Marianna Marchini and Lucia Raggetti in the framework of the “Pint of Science” Global Science Festival 2022 (9-11 May 2022).
May 11, 2022 @8:00 PM, Birreria popolare, Bologna
AlchemEast Reading sessions and workshop organized by Matteo Martelli. Two days devoted to the reading of primary sources followed by 1-day workshop. Invited speakers: Godefroid de Callataÿ, Matthew Melvin-Koushki, Sébastien Moureau and Petra Schmidl
May 2-4, 2022, University of Bologna (Hybrid).
Two papers delivered by the AlchemEast team members:
Lucia Raggetti, The Craft of Talismans: Erratic Blocks and Technical Notes
Gabriele Ferrario, Bāṭinism in the fragments of the Cairo Genizah – Ikhwānian and Jābirian traces
International Conference organized by Matteo Martelli (University of Bologna, ERC project AlchemEast) and Maria Michela Sassi (University of Pisa, PRIN 2017).
April 18-19, 2022, University of Pisa
This conference brings together the expertise of historians of science and technology on the one hand, and archaeologists and historians of ancient art on the other, in a wide-ranging exploration of the production methods and uses of colour substances in the Greek and Roman worlds and in the ancient Near East. This project, strongly multi-disciplinary and the first of its kind, relies on the investigation of a variety of sources, from ancient scientific and technical literature to archaeological data and results of chemical analysis.
Two papers delivered by the AlchemEast team members:
Eduardo Escobar, On the agency of change: Color and renewal in Assyro-Babylonian cultures
Matteo Martelli, Divine waters and dyeing ‘sauces’: Changing colours and transforming matter
Paper delivered by Gabriele Ferrario at the International Conference Power, Religion and Wisdom: Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy in al-Andalus and Beyond. Convened by Godefroid de Callataÿ (Université catholique de Louvain), as part of the ERC project PhilAnd. Sponsored by Sabine Schmidtke (School of Historical Studies, IAS)
March 29 – April 1, 2022, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
Webpage of the Conference
Lecture delivered by Eduardo Escobar as part of the Food For Thought Lecture Series
Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022 @ 12:00 PM (EST), Columbia SIPA (Online)
Write up on the talk, ‘Embracing Uncertainty: Babylonian Habits of Thinking in the Modern World’