Imagining the Virgin Mary in Late-Antique and Early Medieval Egyptian Christianity

One of the many areas of research that the members of the Institute have focused on over the past 40 years is Byzantine art, monasticism and culture. The Institute Lecture this coming Wednesday, October 18^th by Prof. Sabrina Higgins (Assistant Professor, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies, Simon Fraser University) will expand this horizon to include Egypt from the 3^rd to 11^th centuries CE. The intriguing title of her lecture is “Imagining the Virgin: The Intersection of Space, Monumentality and Marian Iconography in Late Antique and Early Medieval Egypt (Third to Eleventh Centuries)”.

Prof. Higgins’ lecture will contextualize the iconography of the Virgin Mary within the framework of Late-Antique and Early Medieval Egyptian Christianity. It will situate the creation of a visual culture associated with the Virgin within its historical parameters, particularly highlighting the relatively late appearance of Marian imagery on the chronological axis of Christian Art, and will examine the unique spatial considerations for the placement of these images. In doing so, the lecture will trace the diachronic appearance of particular Marian iconographies, while also interrogating whether particular images were localized to specific areas within ecclesiastical and monastic settings.

The lecture, the first in our Fall 2017 Lecture Program, will be held in the Institute’s Library at 7:30 pm. We look forward to seeing you there!

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director