Since 2018, every spring the Department of Archaeology organizes Bilkent Archaeology Day. This year the theme of the sixth annual event, which will take place April 26, is “Immortalising the Essence: Portraiture for Private and Public Spaces.”
The representation of the human face, with its features and expressions, has always reflected the choice of the artists, or those who commission the piece, in the intention and function of the artwork and the beliefs of the time and the culture when it was fashioned.
Some such portraits were destined for the darkness of the tomb, like the plastered and painted skulls of the Neolithic or, in different times and places, the portrayals of the deceased on Fayum mummy portraits. Others were meant for the bright light of public and private spaces, infused, for example, with the sober grandeur and dignity of Assyrian and Hittite kings or Roman emperors. Yet all were intended to immortalize the essence of the person they portrayed and to capture the soul and character through portraiture, whether idealized or realistic, whether inspired by ritual or political factors. Such will be the focus of this sixth annual Bilkent Archaeology Day.
The event is divided into two main sessions dedicated to the same topic. This year, a student symposium is scheduled for the morning session with the participation of students from Mimar Sinan University and Ahi Evran University. In the afternoon, the department will host a conference where faculty members, as well as colleagues from other universities or institutions and alumni, will have the opportunity to present their research.
Prof. R.R.R. Smith will launch the afternoon symposium as a keynote speaker with the talk, “The Styled Self: Portrait Honours in Context at Aphrodisias in Caria.”
All the talks will be recorded on the Department of Archaeology’s YouTube channel.
The detailed program of the Bilkent Archaeology Day 2024 can be found at https://arkeo.bilkent.edu.tr/
