Miguel John Versluys

Dr. Miguel John Versluys

1. Anschrift

Dr. Miguel John Versluys
Associate Professor in Classical & Mediterranean Archaeology
Leiden University
Faculty of Archaeology
PO Box 9515
NL - 2300 RA Leiden
Mail

2. Literaturauswahl

Monographien:

L. Bricault, M.J. Versluys (eds.), Egyptian gods in the Hellenistic and Roman Mediterranean: image and reality between local and global (Mythos. Rivista di Storia delle Religioni, supplement 3) (2012)
L. Bricault, M.J. Versluys (eds.), Isis on the Nile. Egyptian gods in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt (Brill: Leiden – Boston 2010)
L. Bricault, M.J. Versluys & P.G.P. Meyboom (eds.), Nile into Tiber. Egypt in the Roman world (Brill: Leiden - Boston 2007)
M.J. Versluys, Aegyptiaca Romana. Nilotic scenes and the Roman views of Egypt (Leiden - Boston 2002)

Aufsätze:

M.J. Versluys, Orientalising Roman gods, in: C. Bonnet & L. Bricault (eds.), Panthée. Religious transformations in the Roman Empire (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World) (forthcoming 2013)
M.J. Versluys, Egypt as part of the Roman koine: mnemohistory and the Iseum Campense in Rome, in: J. Quack, C. Witschel (eds.), Religious flows in the Roman Empire (Orientalische Religionen in der Antike) (forthcoming 2013)
M.J. Versluys, Making meaning with Egypt. Hadrian, Antinous and Rome’ s cultural renaissance, in: Egyptian gods in the Hellenistic and Roman Mediterranean: image and reality between local and global (Mythos. Rivista di Storia delle Religioni, supplement 3) (2012) 25-39
M.J. Versluys, Understanding Egypt in Egypt and beyond, in: L. Bricault, M.J. Versluys (eds.), Isis on the Nile. Egyptian gods in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt (2010) 7-36
M.J. Versluys, J.J. Segui Marco, A newly discovered relief from Saguntum, Madrider Mitteilungen 41 (2008) 342-354M.J. Versluys, An unknown Nilotic mosaic from Roman North Africa, Bibliotheca Isiaca 1 (2008) 69-70
M.J. Versluys, Aegyptiaca Romana. The widening debate, in: L. Bricault, M.J. Versluys & P.G.P. Meyboom (eds.), Nile into Tiber. Egypt in the Roman world (2007) 1-14
P.G.P. Meyboom, M.J. Versluys, The meaning of dwarfs in Nilotic scenes, in: L. Bricault, M.J. Versluys & P.G.P. Meyboom (eds.), Nile into Tiber. Egypt in the Roman world (2007) 170-208
M.J. Versluys, Isis Capitolina and the Egyptian cults in late Republican Rome, in: L. Bricault (ed.), Isis en Occident (2004) 421-448
M.J. Versluys, ‘... auf ein Paar Stücken von Musaico im Hause Massimi ...’. Bemerkungen zu drei römischen Mosaikfragmenten in Madrid, Madrider Mitteilungen 41 (2000) 236-252
M.J. Versluys, P.G.P. Meyboom, Les scènes dites nilotiques et les cultes isiaques. Une interprétation contextuelle, in: L. Bricault (ed.), De Memphis à Rome (2000) 111-127
M.J. Versluys, The sanctuary of Isis on the Campus Martius in Rome, BABesch 72 (1997) 159-169

3. Projekte

Nilotic scenes in the Roman world (Leiden University 1997-2001). This (PhD) project resulted in my 2002 monograph on the distribution, use and meaning of the so-called Nilotic landscapes in the Roman world and, more in general, the meaning of Aegyptiaca Romana.

The international conferences of Isis studies (2005-). Initiated by Laurent Bricault (Toulouse) in 1999, this series of three yearly international conferences brings together specialists in the domain of the études isiaques. The 5th conference took place in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 2011 and will be published very soon.

Beyond Egyptomania (2012-). In order to take the mnemohistory of Egypt seriously, the term (and notion) of “Egyptomania” should be replaced. A conference organized at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR) in 2012 started doing that and tried to compare various appropriations of Egypt in Rome over time, from Antiquity to the 19th century. Follow ups are planned.

Cultural innovation in a globalizing society: Egypt in the Roman world (NWO VIDI project 2010-2015) Where Greek influences on Roman cultural innovation have always been dominant and well-studied, the picture is not balanced and complete without an integrated understanding of the important influence by Egypt. An integrated synthesis based on analyses of different forms of appropriation of Egypt in different contexts and in different sources will deepen our knowledge on the Roman motives for the selection and use of ‘foreign’ elements. The Romans were well aware of the cultural dimensions of innovation and in the end their tradition looked like a blend of heterogeneous elements. This research aims at deepening our understanding of Roman cultural innovation by focusing on the role of Egypt. The challenge is to provide the next step in the understanding of Egypt in the Roman world by means of an integrated synthesis. The research will use a multi-disciplinary research strategy that puts the process of Roman cultural innovation central. For the first time in this field, archaeological, archaeometric, historical and written sources, methods and analyses will be combined. The project will focus on the relation between archaeological data and literary-historical sources and will investigate why and how Egyptian elements were selected and used, and how they functioned in the Roman system of cultural innovation. Especially relevant is the ‘material culture perspective’ to the debate on cultural innovation this research will be able to provide. Material culture sources often provide a rather different perspective than other sources do. If we want to study cultural innovation as a process we are in need of critical analyses of several types of source material and that is exactly what this research will provide.

4. Arbeitsschwerpunkte

The role and meaning of Egyptian material culture in the Hellenistic and Roman world
The role and meaning of (the diaspora of) the "Egyptian" gods in the Hellenistic and Roman worldThe mnemohistory of Egypt in Antiquity and its relation to later periods
The agency of the stylistic and material properties of “Egyptian” material culture