BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:talks.ox.ac.uk BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Scholars\, Artisans\, and Charlatans: New Perspectives on Mechanic al Devices from the Hellenistic to the Islamicate Worlds DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20250523T140000 DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20250523T180000 UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/38f382f5-b304-48e0-8712-3d0c296035a7/ DESCRIPTION:This Workshop is organised by Alessia Zubani with the collabor ation of Yuhan Vevaina.\n\n*Programme*\n\n14:00-14:15 Welcome address and introduction\n14:15-15:45 *Session 1:* *Automata at the Crossroads of Tech nology and Politics*\n_Chair: Francesca Leoni (Ashmolean Museum)_\n*Eleni Fragaki* (University of Ausburg) Automata in the Court and Society of Hell enistic Alexandria\n*Alessia Zubani* (University of Oxford) Automated Dial ogues: Mechanical Devices and the Byzantine-Sasanian Diplomacy\n*Gwenaëll e Fellinger* (Louvre Museum) Animal Mechanical Devices and Imperial Power in al-Andalus and beyond\n15:45-16:15 Coffee break\n16:15-17:45 *Session 2 :* *Automata in the Street: Mechanical Play between Science and Society*\n _Chair: Francesco Calzolaio (The Hong Kong University)_\n*Lucia Raggetti* (University of Bologna) "Street Automata": Technical Strategies and Knowle dge of Nature for Low-Cost Entertainment in the Mediaeval Arabic Tradition \n*Lamia Balafrej* (UCLA) On the Popular Science of Automata (Hiyal) On th e Popular Science of Automata (Hiyal)\n*Vivek Gupta* (UCL) Living\, Breath ing Cyborg and God\n17:45-18:00 Final Remarks *Umberto Bongianino* (Univer sity of Oxford)\n\n*Abstracts*\n\n*Eleni Fragaki – Automata in the Court and Society of Hellenistic Alexandria*\nAnimated figures and other simila r contrivances seem to have been very popular in the Alexandrian cultural environment in Ptolemaic and Roman times. Their role in the realm of roya l propaganda is evidenced by the colossal mobile statue of Dionysus’ nur se Nysa\, described by Callixenus as part of the spectacular procession wh ich took place in the reign of Ptolemy II. A magical _rhyton_ set in the t emple of Arsinoe II at Cape Zephyrion\, and the queen’s suspended effigy in another edifice dedicated to her cult also assume clearly ide ological connotations. The automatic theatre indirectly exalts the court ’s engineers\, as well as the sovereign’s divine aura and power. Other inventions of this kind are bathed in an idyllic\, bucolic atmosphere\, evolving in a welcoming\, reassuring world\, devoid of any danger and host ility. They feature birds singing\, ethereal dances of Bacchantes\, sheph erd-like figures of Pan and Satyrs peacefully accompanying animals in past oral scenes. The peculiar qualities of such astonishing devices enable us to specify both their social function and their political dimension as a m eans of enhancing the kings’ authority and public image: imitating and m anipulating physical phenomena or imbuing inanimate matter with life impli citly demonstrated the sovereign’s overall dominion overnature. The dyna st thus appeared as the master of the universe or even as a god on earth t aming the natural forces and reproducing their effects.\n\n*Alessia Zubani – Automated Dialogues: Mechanical Devices and the Byzantine-Sasanian D iplomacy*\nMechanical devices flourished in the Hellenistic world\, especi ally from the 3rd-century BCE\, and their legacy endured across the Byzant ine\, Sasanian\, and Islamic worlds. This presentation explores the inter section of technology\, material culture\, and diplomacy between the Byzan tine and Sasanian empires\, focusing on the circulation of automata and me chanical marvels. Primary sources vividly describe these ingenious device s moving between courts and creating striking visual effects. Examining th is corpus reveals how such artifacts played a diplomatic and ideological r ole\, serving as tools of soft power and mutual fascination. Ultimately\, these exchanges fostered a shared courtly culture\, in which automata bec ame emblems of technical mastery\, artistic sophistication\, and cross-cul tural dialogue.\n\n*Gwenaëlle Fellinger – Animal Mechanical Devices and Imperial Power in al-Andalus and beyond*\nThe Department of Islamic Art i n the Musée du Louvre houses two of the most famous zoomorphic bronze scu lptures\, the Lion of Monzon and the so-called “aquamanile peacock”. During decades\, those were considered as fountain spout and pouring vesse ls. While both have different histories\, they nevertheless share similari ties in term of manufacturing techniques\, decoration\, conception and\, p robably\, dating. Recent observations and scientific analyses now allow to consider them as potential parts of automatic devices\, in context of the Andalusi courts of the 10th-11th century. But the making and use of thes e artworks has also to be compared with a broader Mediterranean political conception of power drawing from Late Antiquity. \n\n*Lucia Raggetti – ‘Street Automata’: Technical Strategies and Knowledge of Nature for Lo w-Cost Entertainment in the Mediaeval Arabic Tradition*\nThe tradition of ancient automata entered the Arabo-Islamic tradition in the 9th century wi th the Banū Mūsā and was later developed by the Andalusian Ibn Ḫalaf al-Murādī (11th cent.) and the brilliant engineer al-Jazarī (12th cent .). While these complex and refined devices were likely intended for the c ourt and enjoyed by elites\, they also had a popular echo in figurines ani mated by various means —natural magnet\, pulleys\, animals\, or steam. Sources about entertainment and deception\, in fact\, share many interest s with the more erudite scientific tradition\, a pattern also observed in parallel cultural contexts of the same period. The experts who made their living on the streets worked with inexpensive and readily available materi als\, designing devices meant for a large and relatively quick fruition. T heir knowledge looked at nature from a different angle\, certainly not fro m a lower step\, a real ‘Street science’. This presentation will offer a typological survey of such automata\, aiming to reconstruct the specifi c kernels of natural knowledge used to skillfully manipulate nature and hu man perception\, as well as to explore the social context and occasions in which street automata were brought to life. \n\n*Lamia Balafrej – On th e Popular Science of Automata (Hiyal)*\nAutomata or self-moving machines f rom the medieval Islamicate world are usually known in Arabic as _ḥiyal handasiyya_ or engineering ruses. From the Arabic verb _ḥawwala_ “to move or transfer\,” the term _ḥiyal_ (sing. ḥīla) was generally ap plied to stratagems and means implemented to evade or transform a situatio n\, often in a skilled\, if cunning\, manner—including\, then\, in the r ealm of technology. As such\, _ḥiyal_ recalls the etymology of “trope ” from the Greek word _tropos_ “to turn.” Instead of emphasizing He llenistic origins\, however\, or considering the mechanical arts strictly within the high sciences of geometry and mathematics\, this talk will del ve into the popular culture of mechanical _ḥiyal_ in medieval Islam: how self-acting devices like trick vessels crisscrossed social groups\, lingu istic registers\, and textual genres\, beyond the modern\, class-based div ide that has kept the study of state-sponsored automata isolated from vernacular articulations of the mechanical arts. Trick vessels—jug s and pitchers with secret compartments\, tubes\, and valves—were a case in point\, manifesting in courtly settings\, philosophical experiments\, and street entertainment\, thus allowing us to begin to comprehend a popul ar culture of _ḥiyal_. \n\n*Vivek Gupta – Living\, Breathing Cyborg an d God*\nIntellectuals and bookmakers based in India transcreated several c lassics ofIslamicate science from Arabic to Persian manuscripts. In many cases\, these imaginative transcreations (i.e.\, a translation in both for m and content) became a standard Persian text. And\, these Persian version s circulated far beyond the subcontinent\, forever changing the work’s i mprint. Although some technical vocabulary and apparatus carried over fro m Arabic to Persian\, a book’s scale\, intertextual resonances\, and cul tural referents often transformed. Such is the case of al-Jazari’s Arab ic compendium of automata\, the _Compendium of Theory and Practice in the Mechanical Arts_ (Diyar Bakr\, 1206)\, which a South Asian scholar known as Da’ud Shadiyabadi rendered into Persian in 1508. \nIn the _Compendium _ al-Jazari describes a miraculous elephant clock with a robotic rider (ma hout) bearing the “head of an Indian.” Most medieval al-Jazari manuscr ipts diagram this Indian as dark-faced and fearsome. Yet\, when remade in a Persian manuscript\, the Indian is no longer darkened and sheds several of its menacing qualities. This paper examines the mutable racialization of al-Jazari’s mahout and demonstrates how its topographical wonder shif ts as the work is transcreated in South Asia. By tracking the transmissio n of al-Jazari’s manuscripts from Egypt to India and the processes of te xtual and diagrammatic translation\, we can better contextualize the choic es various scholars and artists made.\nSpeakers:\n Various Speakers LOCATION:Wolfson College (Levett Room)\, Linton Road OX2 6UD TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/38f382f5-b304-48e0-8712-3d0c296035a7/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:Scholars\, Artisans\, and Charlatans: New Perspectives on Mechanical Devices from the Hellenistic to the Islamicate Worlds TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Book Launch: A celebration to mark the publication of The Defini tive Zoroastrian Critique of Islam Chapters 11-12 of the Škand Gumānīg- Wizār by Mardānfarrox son of Ohrmazddād Translated Texts for Historian s Volume 83 - DAME AVERIL CAMERON (Former Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History & Former Warden\, Keble College\, Oxford)\, Prof Nicolai Sinai (Pembroke College)\, Yuhan Vevaina\, Professor Christian Sahner (Un iversity of Oxford) DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20231121T170000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20231121T180000Z UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/a9190f8e-4077-40e9-b5cd-1e61d0b6929f/ DESCRIPTION:A celebration to mark the publication of\n \nThe Definitive Zo roastrian Critique of Islam\nChapters 11-12 of the Škand Gumānīg-Wizār \nby Mardānfarrox son of Ohrmazddād\nTranslated Texts for Historians Vo lume 83\n\nBy Christian C. Sahner (AMES/ New College)\n\nA panel discussio n featuring:\nAveril Cameron (Classics/ Keble)\nNicolai Sinai (AMES/ Pembr oke)\nYuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina (AMES/ Wolfson)\n\nSt Peter’s College | Dorfman Centre\nTuesday\, November 21st\, 2023 (Week 7)\n5 pm | Discuss ion followed by drinks and nibbles\nWith generous support from the Bahari Fund for Sasanian Studies\n\n\nSpeakers:\nDAME AVERIL CAMERON (Former Prof essor of Late Antique and Byzantine History & Former Warden\, Keble Colleg e\, Oxford)\, Prof Nicolai Sinai (Pembroke College)\, Yuhan Vevaina\, Prof essor Christian Sahner (University of Oxford) LOCATION:St Peter's College (Dorfman Cenre)\, New Inn Hall Street OX1 2DL TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/a9190f8e-4077-40e9-b5cd-1e61d0b6929f/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:Book Launch: A celebration to mark the publication of T he Definitive Zoroastrian Critique of Islam Chapters 11-12 of the Škand G umānīg-Wizār by Mardānfarrox son of Ohrmazddād Translated Texts for Historians Volume 83 - DAME AVERIL CAMERON (Former Professor of Late Ant ique and Byzantine History & Former Warden\, Keble College\, Oxford)\, Pro f Nicolai Sinai (Pembroke College)\, Yuhan Vevaina\, Professor Christian S ahner (University of Oxford) TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Killing of Mani\, Crippled by the ‘Lie’: Zoroastrian Herme neutics as Sasanian Historiography - Yuhan Vevaina DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20180117T170000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20180117T180000Z UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/798099e1-709c-477f-9103-c4964bf85265/ DESCRIPTION:\nSpeakers:\nYuhan Vevaina LOCATION:66 St Giles'\, 66 St Giles' OX1 3LU TZID:Europe/London URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/798099e1-709c-477f-9103-c4964bf85265/ BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:display DESCRIPTION:Talk:The Killing of Mani\, Crippled by the ‘Lie’: Zoroastr ian Hermeneutics as Sasanian Historiography - Yuhan Vevaina TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR