Ancient Motherhood and their receptions: Ama-Mater, a multidisciplinary research project

Résumé En

For some thirty years, new research has allowed the subject of motherhoods in Antiquity to become autonomous beyond the scope of medical studies, which were the primary angle used until the 1990s. Ancient motherhoods are now studied from different perspectives and in their entirety. Ama means “mother” in Sumerian; associated with its equivalent mater in Latin, the title of our research project (Ama-Mater) aims to encompass the geographical and chronological extent of the study: spanning from the invention of writing in ancient Western Asia to the Late Roman Empire. This choice permits the confrontation of different methods of study for each period, shedding light on the similarities and differences regarding ancient motherhoods and their receptions.The project is funded by the MESHS Lille Nord de France through the “Vulnerabilities” program (https://www.meshs.fr/page/ama-mater). Indeed, in the last few decades, motherhood has been considered as a source of vulnerability by public policy as well as social studies with the increased awareness of post-partum depressions or social pressures surrounding maternity. Our project comprises international researchers with diverse specializations such as history, archaeology, art history, literature, and performing arts in order to examine the different ways in which ancient motherhoods have been portrayed and used from Antiquity to the present day through the lens of their real or supposed vulnerabilities.The purpose of the paper will be to present the project, the cross-disciplinary research methodology we have devised, as well as early results through the examples of the goddess Ninsumun, mother of Gilgameš and Agrippina the Younger, mother of Nero.