Happy 2026: welcoming the new year with the AIA/SCS 2026 annual meeting in San Francisco

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Happy New Year from a freezing Boston, where I am very much looking forward to the warmer days at the AIA/SCS annual meeting in San Francisco!

If you can make it in person or online, we will have our own (hybrid) SAMR session on Friday, January 9, at 8am PST (in Imperial A):

SCS-30 HYBRID: Religion and Religious Thought in the Late Republic and Early Roman Empire - A panel honoring the work of Frederik Brenk (organized by the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions)
Organizer: Zsuzsa Varhelyi, Boston University

1. Dane Scott, Boston University
   Inscribed For Impact: A "Magical" Reinterpretation of Inscribed Roman Sling Bullets
2. Sebastian Tyrrall, University of Cambridge
   Livy's Fortuna Populi Romani: 'A Very Present Help in Trouble'
3. Rebecca Anne Frank, Colby College
   Unravelling Delphic αἰνίγματα in Plutarch’s Parallel Lives
4. Christopher Atkins, Yale University
   Ritual Practices and Cosmic Operations of Divine Justice in Plutarch
5. Michiel C. van Veldhuizen, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
   The Good Guesser is the Best Prophet: Plutarch's Defense of Divination

Additionally, our SAMR colleagues and others will have a lot of relevant papers, for example:

-on Jan 8, Thu, 8am: SCS-7: Religious Sites and Rites

-on Jan 8, Thu, 2pm: AIA 3H: Religious Places And Practices In The Roman World

-on Jan 9, Fri, 8am (unfortunately coinciding with the SAMR session): SCS-38: The Economy of the Sacred in the Greek-speaking Mediterranean

-on Jan 9, Fri, 2pm: AIA 6D (hybrid): Assessing The Sacred Significance Of Figurative Terracottas  and coinciding with it AIA 6F: Twenty Years In Selinunte (Sicily): The Institute Of Fine Arts–NYU And University Of Milan Project In The Main Urban Sanctuary

-on Jan 10, Sat, 8am: SCS 62 = AIA 7J: Lived Religious Experiences In The Ancient Greek World

-on Jan 10, Sat, 11:30am: SCS-74 (hybrid): Sacrifice

Additionally, as promised (although with a bit of change in schedule), I will be hanging out at the lobby bar in the Hilton SF Union Square Hotel on Thursday, Jan. 9th, 8:30pm.

I will be in touch soon regarding our annual business meeting, as well as a number of publication opportunities. If you have any suggestions or ideas to put on the agenda, please let me know.

And as always: don't be a stranger. Suggest ideas and if you are attending the meeting, say hello!

Warmly,

Zsuzsa

Zsuzsanna Várhelyi

Distinguished Professor, National Endowment for the Humanities
President, Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions

Associate Professor of Classical Studies

Boston University