The conference is going to focus on religious leaders or holy men in East Mediterranean societies, starting with Minoan and Greek religions and ending with Early Christianity and Islam.

Ancient societies have seemingly different structures in their priestly organization; indeed Islam has no official priesthood at all, whereas Greek priests were administrators who served a term much like any other official. Nevertheless, what all these cultures have in common is the potential for diversity of religious authority: the wandering charismatic, the prophet, the miracle maker, the Church father and any other holy man assuming the role of the intermediary between god and man. All these figures deserve attention. Such "holy" men or women may have either supported state authority or have undermined it by attracting clients of their own. The devotees could be marginal groups, sometimes women ( C. Isler Kerenyi). The specialists moved freely, gaining fees (C. Grottanelli). Sometimes they were organized in guilds (R. Pretini). They could oppose authority and make trouble (D. Reisman), or they could be instruments of the king and support his claim to have access to divine authority (N. Marinatos). The Christian Church also addressed issues of authority and obedience through the learned fathers, such as Augustine (P. Griffiths).