Dr Sofia Kravaritou

Academic Background

Following a BA in Ancient History and Archaeology (Ioannina, Greece), I pursued my interest on ancient Greek religion with a MA in Religious Sciences (EPHE-Sorbonne, Paris) and a double PhD with a joint interdisciplinary supervision in Anthropology and History of Ancient Greek Religion (EPHE-Sorbonne, Paris) and in Ancient Greek Language and Literature (IASA-University of Lausanne), via a European Doctoral Co-tutelle Program; my theses focused on Greek Calendars, through a study of both epigraphical and literary evidence. Following my return to Greece I worked as full-time archaeologist employed by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Magnesia and the Archaeological Institute for Thessalian Studies respectively (Hellenic Ministry of Culture) in Thessaly and later for the Ephorate of Antiquities of Hemathia in Macedonia, as a researcher for the the virtual museum ‘Alexander the Great: from Aigai to the oecumene’. I was also invited to work as Research Associate in the Copenhagen Associations Project, responsible for the Thessalian evidence, and was awarded a three-months fellowship in the ERC Research program on Emotions at Oxford. During 2015-2018, I was a Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Fellow at Oxford with a research project titled 'Thessaly under the Kings: Religion, Society and the Politics of Multiculturalism in Mainland Greece’. I currently work in the research project (supported by the John Fell Fund Main Award): ‘Demetrias in Thessaly: The archaeology of a cosmopolitan port city of the Hellenistic period’, run by the Faculty of Classics (Dr. Maria Stamatopoulou) and the Department of Antiquities of Magnesia (Dr. Anthi Batziou).

Research Interests

My current research focuses on the study of the epigraphic evidence from Demetrias pertaining to ritual activities from the establishment of the synoecism in the early third century BC by Demetrios Poliorketes down to the Imperial period. I am also working on a monograph focusing on the reorganization of sacred space, the cult practices and the religious beliefs in Thessaly from the mid-fourth to the second century BC through the study of archaeological, epigraphic, numismatic and literary sources, which stemmed from my former Marie Sklodowska Curie project at Oxford.

Research Keywords

Hellenistic Religion, Thessalian cults, politics and sacred space, social and cultural anthropology of Ancient Greece, multiculturalism, identity politics, acculturation processes

Teaching
Publications

Full Publications: Dr Sofia Kravaritou Publications 2020

Selected Publications:

‘Cults and Rites of passage in Ancient Thessaly’, in M. Kalaitzi, P. Paschidis, et al. (eds.), Βορειοελλαδικά. Tales of the lands of the ethne. Essays in honor of M. B. Hatzopoulos, Athens (National Hellenic Research Foundation/Institute of Historical Research) 2018, 377-395.

(with Maria Stamatopoulou) ‘From Alcestis to Archidike: Thessalian Attitudes to Death and the Afterlife’, in G. Ekroth, I. Nilsson (eds.), Round Trip to Hades in the Eastern Mediterranean Tradition, Leiden 2018, 124-162.

‘Sacred Space and the Politics of Multiculturalism in Demetrias (Thessaly)’, in M. Melfi and O. Bobou (eds.), Hellenistic Sanctuaries. Between Greece and Rome, Oxford (OUP) 2016, 128-151.

’Isiac Cults, Civic Priesthood and Social Elite in Hellenistic Demetrias (Thessaly): Notes on IG IX 2, 1107 (RICIS 112/0703) and beyond’, Tekmeria (2013-2014).

‘Thessalian perceptions of the ruler rult: archegetai and ktistai from Demetrias’, in P. Martzavou and N. Papazarkadas (eds.), Epigraphical Approaches to the Post-Classical Polis. Fourth Century BC to Second Century AD, Oxford (OUP) 2013, 255-275.

‘Synoecism and religious interface in Demetrias (Thessaly)’, Kernos 24 (2011), 111-135.