Elysium and Egypt at 663 B.C.

At the Cultural Centre of the Embassy of Egypt, 6, Panepistimiou str., 3rd floor, Athens.
Speaker: Nanno Marinatou, Professor of Illinois University, Chicago.

Abstract
In Archaic Greek cosmology of the 7th century, Elysium and the Isles of the Makares feature prominently. They are commonly considered the equivalents of Greek Paradise, and they are lands of abundance. Yet, they are not destined for the dead but for special men who have been chosen by the gods according to the epic tradition. A cosmic map of the archaic universe is here reconstructed showing the location of Elysium. Its features owe a lot to Egyptian motifs although Greek metaphysical ideas are, in fact, quite different from those of Egypt. It is argued that the diffusion of the motifs was carried out by professional, multilingual bards and that it occurred during the Orientalizing period, the 7th century BCE. This was a period of Assyrian domination of the East Mediterranean.

CV (pdf file)