Workshop of the Cluster of Excellence EurAsian Transformations
R. LANGELAAR, W. POHL & D. ZIEMANN Vienna, September 19–20, 2024
This workshop aims to open a comparative perspective on the origin myths of Eurasian peoples and polities, and particularly their metahuman foundations. Such often ancient myths have been transmitted, tweaked and reshaped across many regions of Eurasia, and regularly share structural or narrative features (such as the founding hero’s exposure as a child, or the central role of a wolf in the origin stories of both Rome and the ancient Turks). Of course, various origin stories also display important differences, and this workshop is intended exactly to explore the extent of possible parallels. In particular, it will zoom in on the ways in which different ethnic or political identities were grounded in ancient religious motifs or not, and how such motifs could subsequently be transformed in Buddhist, Christian, Islamic or other religious contexts. From a broader interdisciplinary perspective, this approach may also illuminate the role that religion, rather than states, could play in fostering premodern notions of collective identity.
The workshop is co-organized by the Cluster of Excellence Eurasian Transformations (DOI: 10.55776/COE8) and the FWF project “Buddhist Narratives & ‘Tibetan’ Ethnogenesis” at the IKGA at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (FWF P34212).
DRAFT PROGRAMME [titles still subject to revision]
THURSDAY, September 19
14:00 Walter POHL, Introduction: Comparing Origin Myths - Between Religious Foundations and Political Uses
14:45 Reinier LANGELAAR, The Buddhist Embrace of the Tibetans’ Beginnings
15:30 Joo-yup LEE, Turkic origin myths
16:15 COFFEE BREAK
16:45 Julia SCHNEIDER, Tungusic Foundation Myths: The Jurchen and Manchu Dynasties
17:30 Bernhard SCHEID, Japanese origin myths
18:15 Peter GOLDEN, Response (online)
19:00 WORKSHOP DINNER
FRIDAY, September 20
9:30 Peter WEBB, Arab origin narratives
10:15 Naoíse MAC SWEENEY, Ancient Greek civic foundation legends
11:00 Osamu KANO, Early Medieval European origin myths in Japanese perspective
11:45 COFFEE BREAK
12:15 Helmut REIMITZ, Frankish Origin Stories in Fredegar and the Liber Historiae Francorum: A Comparative View
13:00 LUNCH
14:15 Daniel ZIEMANN, Bulgarian origin legends
15:00 Pavlína RYCHTEROVÁ, From Farmers to Princes: Bohemian and Polish Origin Stories
15:45 COFFEE BREAK
16:15 Oleksiy TOLOCHKO, Ethnic Origins in the Rus’ Primary Chronicle
17:00 Final Discussion – Comparative Aspects