World-leading archaeologist to speak about Bronze Age Minoan civilisation
The Minoan civilisation on the island of Crete during the Bronze Age is the theme for the Felix Neubergh Lecture in Archaeology at the University of Gothenburg. On May 30, Professor Nanno Marinatos will hold the lecture "The Solar Goddess of Minoan Crete".
Bull-Leaping Fresco found at Knossos.
The Minoan civilisation on the island of Crete during the Bronze Age is the theme for the Felix Neubergh Lecture in Archaeology at the University of Gothenburg. On May 30, Professor Nanno Marinatos will hold the lecture “The Solar Goddess of Minoan Crete”.
The archaeological findings made from that time, for example from excavations at Knossos, have led to many interpretations. There are for example theories that the Minoans lived in matriarchy, and that they primarily worshipped goddesses in their religion.
Nanno Marinatos is a world expert on the field of Minoan art and religion. She is Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Head of the Department of Classics and Mediterranean Studies, University of Illinois in Chicago, USA. She has published nine monographs, for example “Minoan Kingship and the Solar Goddess”, where she shows that the Minoan civilisation had a dynamic cultural exchange with its neighbours.
Nanno Marinatos’ interests of late concern are the history of ideas and interpretations of scholars who are influenced by their own Zeitgeist.
The Félix Neubergh Lecture
Félix Neubergh was born in Gothenburg in 1896, but moved in his twenties to London where he pursued a successful career as a banker. For many years he generously endowed diverse institutions in his native city, for example the reoccurring Félix Neubergh Lecture in banking and finance or archaeology. The lectures have been held every year since 1977. In 1987 Félix Neubergh was appointed honorary doctor at the University of Gothenburg. He died shortly before his 100th birthday.