- Event
FAn Thematic Study Days (Paris, 3–4–5 November 2026)
On 3, 4 and 5 November, FAn is organising three themed days at the Paris Observatory. Registration is compulsory.
Place
Council Chamber, Paris Observatory, 77 Avenue Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris
The organisers of the GPR PSL ‘Fabriques de l’antique’ programme invite you to the three themed days to be held at the Paris Observatory (Council Chamber).
For safety reasons and given the limited number of places, registration is compulsory.
To register, please contact contact@fab-antique by Saturday 31 October, specifying which sessions you wish to attend (morning, afternoon or full day).
Download the programmes in PDF format
Programmes for the days
Tuesday 3 November – Theme 1
The Materiality of Traces of the Past, Techniques of Memory and the Regime of Historicity: Comparative Approaches
Organising Committee: Matthieu Husson (Observatoire de Paris-PSL), Francesca Prescendi Morresi (EPHE-PSL), Charlotte Schmid (EFEO-PSL).
9.15 am Welcome and introduction, Matthieu Husson, Francesca Prescendi Morresi, Charlotte Schmid
9.30 am The value of the past: relics, the power of objects and techniques of memory in Christian antiquity.
Roberto Alciati (Università degli Studi di Firenze)
10.15 am Seeing the invisible: the materiality of relics in Gandhāra.
Ashwini Lakshminarayanan (University of Oslo)
11.00 Coffee break
11.30 am Stone by stone: the heroa, an ancient mechanism of memory
Sophie Fabre-Hoffmeister (FAn/EPHE-PSL)
12.15 pm How should relics be authenticated? The cases of Livy and Saint Denis.
Daniele Miano (University of Oslo)
1.00 pm Lunch break
2.30 pm The materiality of memories of the East in the West: a comparative approach
Alain Schnapp (Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne)
15.15 pm Creating Memories in the Multicultural Landscape of Greco-Roman Egypt
Leah Mascia (Freie Universität Berlin)
4.00 pm Coffee break
4.30 pm Living ruins: remains, cross-temporal interactions and regimes of historicity among the Maya
Valentina Vapnarsky (CNRS/EPHE-PSL)
5.15 pm Closing discussion
Roberto Alciati (Università degli Studi di Firenze)
10.15 am Seeing the invisible: the materiality of relics in Gandhāra.
Ashwini Lakshminarayanan (University of Oslo)
11.00 Coffee break
11.30 am Stone by stone: the heroa, an ancient mechanism of memory
Sophie Fabre-Hoffmeister (FAn/EPHE-PSL)
12.15 pm How should relics be authenticated? The cases of Livy and Saint Denis.
Daniele Miano (University of Oslo)
1.00 pm Lunch break
2.30 pm The materiality of memories of the East in the West: a comparative approach
Alain Schnapp (Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne)
15.15 pm Creating Memories in the Multicultural Landscape of Greco-Roman Egypt
Leah Mascia (Freie Universität Berlin)
4.00 pm Coffee break
4.30 pm Living ruins: remains, cross-temporal interactions and regimes of historicity among the Maya
Valentina Vapnarsky (CNRS/EPHE-PSL)
5.15 pm Closing discussion
Wednesday 4 November – Theme 3
The invention of classical languages and cultures: the role of schools
Organising committee: Muriel Debié (EPHE-PSL), Daniel Petit (ENS-PSL/EPHE-PSL), Olivier Venture (EPHE-PSL)
9.30 am Classical language and culture in Ancient Egypt: the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom and the Late Period
Andréas Stauder (EPHE-PSL)
10.10 am From the Buddha at School to the Schools of the Buddha
Vincent Eltschinger (EPHE-PSL)
10.50 am Coffee break
11.20 am The coexistence of classical and vernacular language in Japanese academies of the late Edo period – The example of Hirata Atsutane’s circle
Jean-Noël Robert (Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres)
12 pm Lunch break
2.00 pm A reflection on the origins of Alexandrian grammar
Lionel Dumarty (CNRS, HTL)
14.40 The curriculum of Babylonian scribes in the first millennium BCE: between canonical tradition and academic freedom
Marie Young (EPHE-PSL)
3.30 pm Coffee break
4.00 pm A plea for the preservation of Classical Chinese as an official language:
the 1444 report by members of the ‘Pavilion of the Assembly of Sages’ to King Sejong, who opposed the introduction of a Korean alphabet
Yannick Bruneton (EPHE-PSL)
Thursday 5 November – Theme 2
A Comparison of the Presence and Resurgence of Ancient Mediterranean and Native American Deities
Organising Committee: François Quantin (EPHE-PSL), Valentina Vapnarsky (CRNS/EPHE-PSL)
9.15 am Welcome and introduction
Organising committee: François Quantin, Valentina Vapnarsky
9.30 am South does not speak East, and East does not speak South. Some observations on the study of neo-paganism and the compartmentalisation of knowledge production
Agnieszka Kedzierska Manzon (EPHE-PSL)
10.15 am The challenging restoration of the Pelasgian deities (Albania)
Gilles de Rapper (Institut d’ethnologie et d’anthropologie sociale, CNRS/Aix Marseille Université)
11.00 Coffee break
11.30 am Rethinking the past: ‘Mayan spirituality’, the recalibration of rituals and discourses within Q’eqchi’ communities
Romain Denimal Labeguerie (Université Paris Nanterre, LESC-Erea)
12.15 pm The Sardinian Nuraxia, or how a contemporary myth restores meaning to the disused monuments of Early Antiquity
Marie-Véronique Amella (docteure EPHE)
1.00 pm Lunch break
2.30 pm Greek gods, Roman gods: sites and ritual practices of contemporary polytheism in Greece and Italy
Néphélie Skarlatos (EPHE-PSL, GSRL/EFA)
3.15 pm From the archaeological site to the ‘Ceremonial Centre’: new rituals and Ch’orti’ Maya (re)appropriations of the Maya archaeological site at Copán (Honduras)
Dione Mérida (FAn/EPHE-PSL, LAS)
4.00 pm Coffee break
4.30 pm (Re)connecting with one’s Indigenous roots and forging alliances through cyclical rituals. Neo-Aztec Mexican migrants and Ramapo Lenape ‘Native Americans’ (Mexico/United States)
Aline Hémond (Université Paris Nanterre, LESC-Erea)
17.15 pm From Church to Pyramid: Neo-Indianism and the changing ethos of the dance
Susanna Rostas (Cambridge University, Department of Social Anthropology)
6.00 pm General discussion
Grégory Delaplace (EPHE-PSL), Gilles de Rapper, François Quantin et Valentina Vapnarsky