Deepening the Disciplines
First International Conference of the Institute of Archaeomythology
Island of Madouri, Lefkas, Western Greece
July 13-18, 1998
In July 1998, the celebrated Greek poet Nanos Valaoritis kindly hosted the first international conference of the fledgling Institute on the private island of Madouri, in the Ionian Sea. Each morning the participating scholars would travel by boat across the turquoise water from the island of Lefkas, to the historic 19th century villa built on Madouri by the Greek National Poet Aristotle Valaoritis.
Presenters were invited to discuss a subject of their choice to be approached with an archaeomythological focus. Ample time was given for discussion after each paper to encourage the circulation of vital ideas. Discussions also took place about the future of the Institute and how it might be developed. In this mythic atmosphere, the seeds of the organization were planted.
Presentations:
Kristina Berggren ~ Germany
“The Dupljaja chariot”
Cristina Biaggi ~ USA
“Myth, monument and matristic societies: The Goddess in Neolithic island cultures”
Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum ~ USA
“African origins of the Dark Mother venerated in Asia and Europe”
Valgerður H. Bjarnadóttir ~ Iceland
“Three times burned, three times born: A story of Freyja, Dís of the Vanir”
Mary Brenneman ~ USA
“Remora, the ‘persuader’”
Walter Brenneman ~ USA
“The speckled and the bright: The marriage of fire and water at the holy wells of Ireland”
Dorothy Cameron (in absentia) ~ Australia
“The island of the honeyed one”
Janine Canan ~ USA
“A journey to the Goddess in poetry”
Joan Cichon ~ USA
“The temple builders of Malta: Traditional and archaeomythological perspectives”
Glenda Cloughley ~ Australia
“Jocasta’s lament: Voices of the resounding silence”
Michael Dames ~ England
“Icon and utterance: Some relations between sacred image and mythic word”
Rose Wognum Frances ~ USA
“Wise Hands: Art-making as a source of mythic understanding”
Starr Goode (in absentia) and Miriam Robbins Dexter, Ph.D. ~ USA
“Sexuality: The Irish Sheela Na-Gigs and the Goddess in ancient Ireland”
Heide Göttner-Abendroth ~ Germany
“The structure of matriarchal culture exemplified by the society of the Mosuo in China”
Mara Lynn Keller ~ USA
“Chthonian Crete of the Mother Earth Goddess: A new naming and new dating system for pre-Mycenaean Crete”
Susan Moulton ~ USA
“Venus envy: Censorship of the sacred feminine”
Alice Petrie ~ USA
“Why is Delphi at Delphi?”
Lydia Ruyle ~ M.A.
“Sacred images of the Divine Feminine”
Virginia Beane Rutter, M.A. ~ USA
“The Villa dei Misteri frescoes at Pompeii and modern women’s initiation”
Giulia Battiti Sorlini, M.A. ~ Italy
“Archaeomythology in the Neolithic: Great Potnia, the Neolithic Goddess of the ancient Mediterranean”
Nanos Valaoritis ~ Greece
“Homer and the alphabet”