Friends of ASOR present the next webinar in the 2023-2024 season on October 5 2023, at 3:00 pm EDT, presented by Professor Aaron Brody moderated by Dr. Caroline Sauvage. Ancient seafarers faced dangers and fears posed by the sea and hazards of sailing. Accordingly, specialized sacred beliefs and ritual practices developed among Levantine mariners, who are the focus of this study, which were a subset of terrestrial religion. Sailors honored deities whose maritime, celestial, or meteorological attributes could either benefit or devastate a voyage. While on land, these divine patrons were worshipped in harbor temples and promontory shrines, sometimes with maritime votives. While at sea, divine protection came from the ships themselves, which were considered to be imbued with the spirit of a deity; the vessels also contained sacred spaces that allowed for continued contact with their divine patrons.

Mariners performed religious ceremonies to enlist and ensure sacred safeguarding and success for their voyages. Maritime features were also part of the funerary practices and mortuary rituals of seafarers. These specialized sacred beliefs and ritual practices were generated by the liminality of the deep and the unique uncertainties and perils at sea, and aided in Levantine maritime exploration, commercial exchanges, and Phoenician settlement that eventually spread throughout the Mediterranean basin and beyond to the Atlantic coasts of Iberia and Morocco.

The webinar will conclude with a live Q&A session led by Dr. Caroline Sauvage of Loyola Marymount University. 

Aaron Brody is the Robert and Kathryn Riddell Professor of Bible and Archaeology and Director of the Badè Museum at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.  He has excavated primarily at harbor sites in Israel, including Tel Nami, Ashkelon, Dor, and Tel Akko; and participated in projects in the Negev and Akko Plain and with the Ohlone-Muwekma at sites in northern California.  He has held fellowships at the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem and the American Center of Research in Amman. Recent publications have focused on the topics of household religion, metallurgy, and interregional trade and economy at Tell en-Nasbeh, from holdings in the Badè and Rockefeller Museums. Professor Brody has longstanding research interests on Levantine seafarers, women’s religion and the sea, and underwater, deep-water, and harbor archaeology.  He is a co-editor of a new volume, No Place Like Home: Ancient Near Eastern Houses and Households, recently published by Archaeopress.  The research he is presenting today is from a chapter he authored in the Handbook of Material Religion in the Ancient Near East, edited by Nicola Laneri and Sharon Steadman, published earlier this year by Bloomsbury Academic press.  That chapter and today’s talk are entitled “Maritime Viewscapes and the Material Religion of Levantine Seafarers”.

This webinar will be recorded and all paid registrants will be sent a link to view the recording.

*Please log in to the Online Portal BEFORE registering for the webinar. Once you have logged in, you will be able to register under our Events page linked above.

ASOR Sustaining Members: $0 | ASOR Members: $6.50 | Public: $13
Season Pass: ASOR Sustaining Members: $0 | ASOR Members: $75 | Public: $155
Buy one here!

Please e-mail membership@asor.org with any questions or issues with registering.

All proceeds from this webinar are used to fund scholarships for members as well as increasing ASOR’s online resources, which are free to the public.

SPONSOR A WEBINAR!

Several levels of support from $50-$1,000 are available. Proceeds go towards membership scholarships and towards increasing ASOR’s virtual resources. Each sponsorship is tax-deductible and you can give your friends free registrations to a webinar! Sponsor a webinar here. 

Bronze Level ($50): up to 2 guest registrations
Silver Level ($100): up to 5 guest registrations
Gold Level ($500): up to 20 guest registrations
Platinum Level ($1,000): up to 50 guest registrations

WHY SPONSOR ONLY ONE?

Season Sponsorships are also available from the ASOR Online Store here! 

Bronze level: $750
Silver level: $1,500
Gold level: $2,500
Platinum level: $5,000
Diamond level: $10,000

Click here for more information on the benefits of becoming a season sponsor or sponsoring a single webinar.

After you sign up for a sponsorship online or over the phone, email the names and email addresses of your guests to Katherine Schmitt at membership@asor.org, who will send your guests a confirmation and the Zoom link before the webinar.

WANT TO SAVE $6.00 ON THE NEXT WEBINAR?

Join ASOR as a member! Click here for more details about discounts for events and other benefits of membership. Memberships start at $40 for the year as an Associate Member.

Not ready to join yet? Become a Friend of ASOR for FREE!

Click here for more details about our online resources.