ÂÌñÒùÆÞ

UNEARTHING THE PAST SINCE 1900
  • BECOME A MEMBER
  • SEARCH
  • ÂÌñÒùÆÞÂÌñÒùÆÞ
  • About
    • WELCOME FROM ÂÌñÒùÆÞ OFFICERS
    • FACTS & FIGURES—ÂÌñÒùÆÞ
    • MISSION, BYLAWS, & STRATEGIC PLAN
    • HISTORY OF ÂÌñÒùÆÞ
    • COMMITTEES
    • POLICIES
    • FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS
    • ÂÌñÒùÆÞ’s Honors and Awards
    • AFFILIATED RESEARCH CENTERS
    • CONTACT US—ÂÌñÒùÆÞ
  • INITIATIVES
    & PROJECTS
    • ÂÌñÒùÆÞ CULTURAL HERITAGE INITIATIVES
    • ÂÌñÒùÆÞ-AFFILIATED ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECTS
    • ÂÌñÒùÆÞ ARCHIVES
    • ONLINE RESOURCES
    • ÂÌñÒùÆÞ PUBLICATIONS
    • WOMEN OF ÂÌñÒùÆÞ MAP
  • ANNUAL
    MEETING
    • REGISTRATION
    • HOTEL RESERVATIONS
    • Annual Meeting Schedules
    • SPONSOR & EXHIBIT
    • ÂÌñÒùÆÞ Online Library
    • HONORS & AWARDS
    • ANNUAL MEETING SCHOLARSHIPS
    • PAST & FUTURE ANNUAL MEETINGS
  • MEMBERSHIP
    • INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIPS
    • INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
    • ONLINE RESOURCES
    • MEMBER DIRECTORY
    • FY24 HONOR ROLL OF DONORS
    • ÂÌñÒùÆÞ LEGACY CIRCLE
    • FRIENDS OF ÂÌñÒùÆÞ
    • Friends of ÂÌñÒùÆÞ Webinars
  • FELLOWSHIPS
    & GRANTS
    • SCHOLARSHIPS FOR FIELDWORK PARTICIPATION
    • GRANTS FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECTS
    • RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS FOR MEMBERS
    • MEMBERSHIP & ANNUAL MEETING SCHOLARSHIPS
    • ÂÌñÒùÆÞ-AFFILIATED RESEARCH CENTERS FELLOWSHIPS
    • OTHER FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS
  • PUBLICATIONS
    & RESOURCES
    • BULLETIN OF ÂÌñÒùÆÞ
    • JOURNAL OF CUNEIFORM STUDIES
    • NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY
    • MAARAV
    • NEWS@ÂÌñÒùÆÞ
    • ÂÌñÒùÆÞ Online Library
    • BOOK SERIES & MONOGRAPHS
    • EARLY CAREER MEMBER RESOURCES
  • NEWS &
    EVENTS
    • PAST ÂÌñÒùÆÞ NEWS, MONTH BY MONTH
    • NEWS@ÂÌñÒùÆÞ
    • LIFETIME HONOR ROLL OF DONORS
    • FY24 HONOR ROLL OF DONORS
  • WAYS TO
    DONATE
Megan Nutzman webinar banner

Ìý³§±á´¡¸é·¡

 

NEWS@ÂÌñÒùÆÞ E-NEWSLETTER

ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY E-NEWSLETTER

PAST ÂÌñÒùÆÞ NEWS, MONTH BY MONTH

ÂÌñÒùÆÞ LEGACY CIRCLE MEMBERS

LIFETIME HONOR ROLL OF DONORS

FY24 HONOR ROLL OF DONORS

ÂÌñÒùÆÞ ANNUAL MEETING

FRIENDS OF ÂÌñÒùÆÞ WEBINARS

Amulets and their Critics: Jews, Christians, and Samaritans in Late Antique Palestine

Friends of ÂÌñÒùÆÞ present the next webinar of the 2024-2025 season on March 19, 2025, at 7:00 pm EDT, presented by Dr. Megan Nutzman. This webinar will be free and open to the public. Registration through Zoom (with a valid email address) is required. This webinar will be recorded and all registrants will be sent a recording link in the days following the webinar.

Medical treatments in the ancient Mediterranean world were rudimentary and often unsuccessful, and so individuals routinely looked for divine aid to cure their afflictions. This lecture considers one of the most common forms of ritual healing employed in Roman and late antique Palestine: amulets. A variety of amulets will be considered in this talk. For example, some amulets contained longer texts written on thin metal sheets or pieces of papyrus, which were then rolled and placed in a case that could be attached to a person’s body. Other amulets took the form of rings, bracelets, pendants, and gemstones, which typically had shorter texts, often accompanied by vivid illustrations.

With circumstances of close cultural contacts—such as prevailed in Palestine—the setting was ripe for Jews, Samaritans, and Christians to borrow forms of ritual healing that were perceived to be efficacious and to alter them to fit their own religious framework. This is particularly true for amulets, which employed similar techniques including the quotation of biblical passages and the use of magical symbols and names. As a result of these overlapping amulet traditions, it can be difficult in some cases even to be certain about the religious community to which the person who created the amulet or the person who wore the amulet belonged. The cultural and religious interactions revealed by amulets demonstrate the porousness of the boundaries that separated these communities, and made them the subject of polemical discourse among elite authors trying to police collective borders.

Megan Nutzman is Associate Professor of History at Old Dominion University. She received her PhD in Classics from the University of Chicago and holds an M.T.S. and a Th.M. from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Her research focuses on the history and material culture of Greek and Roman cults, Jews, and Christians in the eastern Mediterranean, and especially on interactions among them. Her 2022 book, Contested Cures: Identity and Ritual Healing in Roman and Late Antique Palestine, received the Frank Moore Cross book award in 2023. It examines the various methods that people used to seek divine healing and the rhetoric of elite authors who used the acceptance or avoidance of certain healing rituals as markers of group identity. Some of her other publications have considered Jewish epitaphs from Rome, hot springs as sites of ritual healing, the relationship between amulets and tefillin, and the portrayal of Mary in the Protevangelium of James. She has received funding for her research from the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, from the Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan, from the American Council of Learned Societies, and from the National Endowment for the Humanities. At ODU, she teaches courses on ancient Greece and Rome and on early Christianity.

SPONSOR A WEBINAR!

Several levels of support from $50-$1,000 are available. Proceeds go towards membership scholarships and towards increasing ÂÌñÒùÆÞ’s virtual resources. Each sponsorship is tax-deductible and includes benefits!

WHY SPONSOR ONLY ONE?

Season Sponsorships are also available from the

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

BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE

  • New ÂÌñÒùÆÞ-Affiliated Projects 2025
  • FOA Webinar: Amy Gansell
  • Fieldwork Report: Rubar Yavuz
  • Fieldwork Report: Brady Hill

Latest Posts from @ÂÌñÒùÆÞResearch


Stay updated with the latest insights, photos, and news by following us on Instagram!

ÂÌñÒùÆÞ
The James F. Strange Center
209 Commerce Street
Alexandria, VA 22314

E-mail: info@asor.org

© 2023 ÂÌñÒùÆÞ
All rights reserved.
Images licensed under a

Contact Us
Membership

Friends of ÂÌñÒùÆÞ
ÂÌñÒùÆÞ Cultural Heritage Initiatives
Terms of Use

COVID-19 Update: Please consider making payments or gifts on our secure . Please e-mail info@asor.org if you have questions or need help.

Follow us on: