Agenda

CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF LIVED RELIGION
Lecture Series Illicit Objects, Lived Religion: Materiality, Performance, and Power

Dániel Takács

The goddess Hathor in ancient Egypt: ‘How much does the ‘liminal’ have to do with the ‘other’?
Hathor’s functions in ancient Egyptian religion were manifold. She was invoked in the necropoli connecting the communities of the living and the dead but also present in mining regions on the fringes of Egypt bringing it together with its neighbours. We see her mediation in a religious event connected to her, the ‘Festival of Drunkenness’, involving the introduction of foreign people to Egypt, ritual drunkenness and other activities whose nature in ancient Egyptian society was otherwise a matter of debate. So, Hathor provided an opportunity to discuss matters related to the ‘other’; the dead, foreigners, alcohol consumption and the like. This ‘liminal’ function – as is known from the researches of Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner – was a tool to deal with the disturbing ‘otherness’ of certain groups and practices that verged on the notion of ‘illicitness’ which this lecture will explore.

Bio: Dániel Takács is an assistant professor at the Department of Egyptology, Faculty of Asian and African Cultures, University of Warsaw. He is a founding member of the 'Sign and Symbol Research Center' at the University of Warsaw researching graphic communication systems there. His other research interests include the phenomenon of liminality in ancient Egypt, especially in connection with the goddess Hathor, as well as the symbolic aspects of tomb decoration and architecture.

Thursday 26th February 2026, 3.00pm-4.00pm CET
Online - For online participation please register at link zoom

For information please contact the Center for the Study of Lived Religion cslr@unive.it