Asymmetric Communication in Ancient Societies

Date: 16-Oct-2025 - 17-Oct-2025
Location: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
Contact: Tobias Paul
Contact Email: [email protected]

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics; Historical Linguistics; Pragmatics; Sociolinguistics; Text/Corpus Linguistics
Subject Language(s): Akkadian (akk)
Ancient Greek (to 1453) (grc)
Egyptian (Ancient) (egy)
Latin (lat)
Sumerian (sux)
Language Family(ies): Afroasiatic; Hurro-Urartean; Indo-European; Nilo-Saharan; Turkic

This conference, hosted by CRC 1412 “Register” (https://sfb1412.hu-berlin.de/projects/b03), explores the role of asymmetric communication in ancient societies, focusing on how power imbalances, status differences, and socio-cultural hierarchies shaped modes of interaction.
Attendance is in person only. Please register by October 10, 2025, via [email protected].

https://www.archaeologie.hu-berlin.de/de/aknoa/veranstaltungen/konferenzen/asymmetric-communication-in-ancient-societies

Program

Thursday, October 16, 2025

09:00 Registration, reception, workshop materials

Panel 1: Between Proximity and Distance I – Strategies of Appraisal
10:00–10:30 Welcome and theoretical introduction
Svenja Damm, Silvia Kutscher, Tobias Paul, Dina Serova (HU Berlin)
10:30–11:00 Ensuring Communicative Success in Asymmetric Communication: Rituals and Prayers
Theresa Roth (HU Berlin)
11:00–11:30 Veiled and Unveiled Polemics: A Study of Rhetorical Aggression in Ancient Egypt
Svenja Damm (HU Berlin)

11:30–12:00 Coffee break

Panel 2: Religious Discourse I – Analyzing Christian Psalms and Gospel
12:00–12:30 Counterquestions in the Gospels
Hans-Martin Gärtner, Cecília Sarolta Molnár (Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics)
12:30–13:00 Corpus Linguistic Representation of Asymmetric Communication for Register Research
Mortimer Drach, Anna Helene Feulner, Jürg Fleischer, Gohar Schnelle, Lars Erik Zeige (HU Berlin)

13:00–14:30 Lunch break

Panel 3: Negotiations of Power and Hierarchy
14:30–15:00 Communication Between the Elite and Non-elite in Pharaonic Egypt
Sami Uljas (Uppsala University)
15:00–15:30 Idiomatic Expressions in Legal, Administrative and Social Demotic Texts
Mahmoud el-Bokl (Helwan University)

15:30–16:00 Coffee break

Panel 4: Communication in Death and to the Death
16:00–16:30 A “Sister” Speaks to her “Brother”: Letters to the Dead
Leire Olabarria (University of Birmingham)
16:30–17:00 Fractal Recursivity: Military Men and Asymmetric Communication
Niv Allon (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
17:00–17:30 The “Atmosphere” of Private Tomb Façades
Romane Betbeze (HU Berlin)

Friday, October 17, 2025

Panel 5: Religious Discourse II – In Dialogue with the Divine
09:30–10:00 Statues in Prayer: Modeling Dialogues Between Humans and Gods
Anne Grischeck (Freie Universität Berlin)
10:00–10:30 Asymmetrical Communication with the Divine and the Living
Baudouin Luzianovich (Sorbonne Université, Paris)

10:30–11:00 Coffee break

Panel 6: Between Proximity and Distance II – Using Complex Devices
11:00–11:30 Enantiosemy as Register-Coded Asymmetry
Gael Papola (École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris)
11:30–12:00 Enigmatic Elements in Egyptian Iconography in the Reign of Hatshepsut
Filip Taterka (Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw)

12:00–13:30 Lunch break

Panel 7: Beyond Writing – Visual and Non-verbal Communication
13:30–14:00 Dimensions of Meaning: Ritual Linen in Asymmetric Communication
Katarzyna Kapiec (Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw)
14:00–14:30 Reaching Hands: Parallel Egyptian and Minoan Ritual Gestures
Christos Kekes (University of Crete)
14:30–15:00 Unveiling Power Dynamics in Gandharan Buddhist Art
Numan Anwar (Directorate General of Archaeology and Museums, Pakistan)

15:00–15:30 Coffee break

15:30–17:00 Wrap-up and final discussion
Svenja Damm, Silvia Kutscher, Tobias Paul, Dina Serova (HU Berlin)

18:00 Farewell drinks

Organizers: Silvia Kutscher – Dina Serova – Svenja K. Damm – Tobias B. Paul – Amnah El-Shiaty