Save the Date - 26 July 2024 (Fri)

Event Details:

• Title: Conversations with the Minoan “Snake Goddess”, a ‘Many Lives of a Snake Goddess’ project event.

• Date: 26 July 2024 (Friday)

• Venue: Knossos Research Centre, Villa Ariadne, Knossos.

Further details:

The talk accompanies a small exhibition in the Knossos Research Centre.

Professor Nicoletta Momigliano (University of Bristol) on behalf of the ‘The Many Lives of a Snake Goddess’ project team. (Please note this lecture will take place in Greek)

This talk offers an introduction to the project ‘The Many Lives of a Snake Goddess: Diachronic, Multicultural, and Multisensory Perspectives’ a project spearheaded by Christine Morris (Trinity College Dublin), Nicoletta Momigliano (University of Bristol) and Ellen Adams (King’s College London) that involves doctoral students from various institutions, colleagues from the Ashmolean Museum, and the British School at Athens as well as several artists and writers.

The project focuses on two of the most iconic finds from Minoan Crete: the figurines of the ‘Snake goddess’ and her ‘votary’ discovered by Arthur Evans during he excavations at Knossos in 1903.  Ever since, the figurines have beguiled not only archaeologists and other scholars concerned with past worlds, but also modern artists, writers, psychoanalysts, feminists, fashion designers, and followers of modern Paganism, among many others – all of whom have re-imagined these objects for their own purposes. Yet, despite their iconic status, relatively few people realise that the figurines are problematic in many respects. Issues concerning these objects range from what they really looked like in Minoan times to what they signified and how they have been perceived and reimagined beyond archaeology.  Our project investigates all these issues and examines the general public’s experience of these figurines and of modern works inspired by them.

The event is organized by the British School at Athens in collaboration with the Knossos Cultural Association.

The Many Lives of a Snake Goddess project invites you to our Dublin workshop - which will be held in person only.

We will explore the multiple lives or 'biographies' of the iconic Minoan Snake Goddess figurines discovered by Sir Arthur Evans during his excavations of the 'Palace of Minos' at Knossos in 1903. Taking a diachronic, multicultural and multisensory perspective, the day will include talks and posters telling the story of archaeological discovery, reconstruction and interpretation (and forgery!); engaging with the modern display of the figures and the multi-faceted modern reception of the Snake Goddesses in the visual arts and poetry. We will be sharing new work on communicating the figures through multi-sensory approaches (audio-description, sign language, & mindful looking) and rounding off the day with Ruth Padel reading her set of 15 short poems, commissioned as part of the project.

Confirmed participants include: Ellen Adams, Catherine Lawless, Nicoletta Momigliano, Christine Morris, Ruth Padel, Mnemosyne Rice. Full details of programme available soon. Any queries contact cmorris@tcd.ie

Award-winning poet Ruth Padel will read her new poems inspired by the 'Snake Goddess' figurines found at Knossos (Crete) over a century ago. This event is part of the collaborative, international project 'The Many Lives of a Snake Goddess' and is organised under the auspices of the Institute of Greece, Rome and the Classical Tradition and the Bristol Poetry Institute.

The poetry reading will be preceded by a short archaeological and historical introduction by the members of the MLSG project.

This event will take place in person and online:
To book to attend in person:
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/theinstituteofgreeceromeandtheclassicaltradition/1043219

If you are unable to join us in-person, you can register to watch online (you do not need to book a place via TicketTailor). Register in advance for this webinar:
https://bristol-ac-uk.zoom.us/.../WN_IdteNxTbTwGLsUQPO034hw

Venue: The Peel Lecture Theatre, Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, BS8 1SS
and please join us downstairs in the Hepple Room for a free wine reception after the event.

Ellen Adams will be presenting new work on the use of British Sign Language (BSL) in relation to the Many Lives of a Snake Goddess project alongside her other projects on the Parthenon and Holyrood Park. These practice based projects which consider how communicating through BSL, audio-description, and touch tours can give access and agency to deaf, blind and partially-sighted people, as we as offering new and different ways of engaging for everyone.
For more about Ellen's work see https://mansil.uk/ and for communicating the Snake Goddesses in BSL see https://mansil.uk/snake-goddesses-bsl

Venue: Greek Archaeological Group seminar, Thursday November 9th 2023 @ 1pm
Lecture Room,  Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford (36 Beaumont St, OX1 2PG). Lectures typically last 45–50 minutes, allowing for 10–15 minutes of discussion.

In conjunction with Labyrinth: Knossos, Myth and Reality, the current exhibition in the Ashmolean Museum, and as part of the project 'The Many Lives of a Snake Goddess', Ruth Padel will read poems on the Snake Goddess figurines, found at Knossos in 1903 by Sir Arthur Evans.

Ellen Adams (KCL); Nicoletta Momigliano (Bristol); Christine Morris (TCD); and Andrew Shapland (Oxford) will introduce Ruth Padel’s performance with a short archaeological and historical talk on the figurines and join her afterwards for Q&A with the audience. An in-person event, free, open to all, no booking required.

This event, hosted by the APGRD (Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama) will also be live-streamed for those who cannot make it in person: please check back on the day for the link to the live-stream.

Venue: Lecture Theatre, Ioannou Centre, 66 St Giles, Oxford