[The program can be accessed online here].
[The program can be accessed online here].
Reminder: Register now for the 49th annual Byzantine Studies Conference in Vancouver! Click here to register for the conference, read the conference program, and find links to the conference hotel. Rooms at the conference rate are filling up; reserve yours today.
All participants are required to be members of BSANA; find your membership category here.
We look forward to seeing you in Vancouver!
Black Sea Migrations in the Long Thirteenth Century: Bodies, Things, Ideas
September 22-23, 2023
211 Dickinson Hall | Princeton University
The Black Sea witnessed a great influx of new populations in the thirteenth century as peoples from across Eurasia came to settle on its coasts and hinterlands, transforming the character of the region. After the fall of Constantinople in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, western Europeans–spearheaded by the Venetians and French, and subsequently the Genoese–extended their commercial reach, gaining access for the first time to the basin and establishing colonies and outposts on its northern coast. In the same period, the overland route to Central and East Asia came under Mongol control. These developments were accompanied by the destabilisation of existing polities, as well as the displacement of Slavs, Turks and other peoples. Many of the casualties of the new socio-political structures that emerged were deprived of their freedom and forced to embark on new lives as enslaved persons in the Mamluk Sultanate or the city states of northern Italy.
This conference examines the role both of the major ports and cities of the region — such as Constantinople, Pera, Kiev, Caffa, Sudak, Tana, Sarai Batu and Trebizond – and of the agrarian and pastoral communities of the hinterlands in shaping the trans-regional movement of people, goods and ideas between Asia, Europe and Africa. To investigate this historical problem, we invite leading scholars to share their research on these complex political, commercial, and cultural interactions, bringing to light some of the rich source material that survives in unprecedented abundance from this period.
We will reconstruct the ways in which overland and maritime routes interacted with settlement patterns and political boundaries. We will also examine kinds of ties that were forged between communities of diverse origin. We will ask whether the increased level of mobility in this period gave rise to a distinctly new and unified culture in the region – especially in shaping forms of governance, systems of belief, and knowledge production across the Black Sea. Or, did factors such as the diversity of peoples and customs, stark economic competition, process of colonization, and rise of the slave market produce greater fragmentation and diversity locally?
For a schedule and more information, see the conference website: https://medievalblackseaproject.princeton.edu/conference-2023-4/
Hybrid Session (presenters can be either in-person or virtual)
Apollonius of Tyre: Medieval Translation and Rereading
Organizer: Nicole Eddy
Delivery Mode: Hybrid
Principal Sponsoring Organization: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library
The story of Apollonius of Tyre is as widely traveled as its hero, with versions extant in Latin and an array of European vernaculars. The story finds its way into the Carmina Burana and the Confessio Amantis, and was enjoyed by readers from Castile to Greece. Its sensationalizing adventures of pirates and shipwrecks, evil kings and generous ones, love lost and families reunited, riddles, incest, and miraculous resurrections—all captivated medieval audiences. This session seeks papers that explore the Apollonius story in any of its adaptations. Submissions may employ any methodogy, and we welcome fresh approaches to this key work.
In-Person Sessions
Coins and Seals in Byzantium
Organizer: Jonathan Shea
Delivery Mode: Traditional in-person
Principal Sponsoring Organization: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
Co-Sponsoring Organization(s): Princeton Univ. Numismatic Collection
Byzantine coins and seals survive in enormous numbers, and thus provide some of the most important sources of evidence for economic and administrative history, social and religious developments, onomastics and prosopography. This panel welcomes papers working on all aspects of coins and seals and although focusing on Byzantium is open to speakers working on materials from a comparative perspective.
The Red Sea in the Middle Ages
Organizer: Colin Whiting
Delivery Mode: Traditional in-person
Principal Sponsoring Organization: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
This session focuses on the global medieval world using exchanges between the Eastern Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean as its basis. Papers will consider encounters that took place in Late Antiquity, when the northern Red Sea was under Roman rule, and especially the complex interplay between Byzantium, Arabic cultures, Africa, and the western Indian Ocean in the following centuries. Whether the Red Sea served as a commercial highway or as a hub for interconnected regional networks, it remains greatly important and yet understudied in medieval scholarship.
On behalf of Alberto Rigolio (Durham University):
Call for papers: Conference “Syriac Studies in the UK: Past, Present, Future”
When: 21-23 March 2024
Where: Durham University
Abstract submission deadline: 31 October 2023
We are delighted to announce that the conference “Syriac Studies in the UK: Past, Present, Future” will take place at Durham University, on 21-23 March 2024. The conference focuses on the history of Syriac Studies in the UK and aims to celebrate and reflect on the work of scholars in this field across the past centuries.
A series of papers will focus on specific aspects of the history of Syriac Studies in the UK, including the biographies and intellectual contributions of scholars in/from the UK, the history and development of the field, the discovery, circulation and study of Syriac manuscripts, and the formation of Syriac library collections in the UK. Confirmed speakers include Siam Bhayro (Exeter), Sebastian Brock (Oxford), Chip Coakley (Cambridge/Jericho Press), Lindsey Davidson (Bristol), Susan Harvey (Brown), Kristian Heal (BYU), John Healey (Manchester), Erica Hunter (Cambridge), Christa Müller-Kessler (Jena), George Kiraz (IAS Princeton/Gorgias Press), Salam Rassi (Edinburgh), Alison Salvesen (Oxford), David Taylor (Oxford), Francis Watson (Durham), and John Watt (Cardiff).
In addition, we invite abstract proposals for 15-minute papers, illustrating the ongoing or future research by contemporary scholars in the field of Syriac Studies. We invite proposals from doctoral students, early and mid career researchers, and established academics for papers on any topic related to Syriac Studies, such as ongoing or future research projects, forthcoming or recent publications, or ideas for public outreach – and we also especially welcome papers on the history of the field.
We aim to create a space to learn about and discuss past, present, and future research directions in our field. There will be abundant opportunities for discussion in a supportive environment, and we hope that this will be a useful venue for dialogue and exchange. We kindly encourage you to circulate this call among students and those who might not be on this mailing list.
Proposals for 15-minute papers (max. 350 words + short bibliography) should be sent to conferencesyriacintheUK@
In order to support the participation of doctoral and early-career researchers, a limited number of college rooms in Durham will be available free of charge for doctoral and early-career speakers who may not be eligible for full support from their home institution. If this applies to you, please indicate it when you send your abstract, and add your academic CV in attachment. In addition, meals for all speakers will be covered.
The conference is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Durham Centre for Early Christianity, the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Durham University, and the British Academy.
Please address any query to Andy Hilkens (andy.hilkens@ames.ox.ac.uk) or Mara Nicosia (mara.nicosia@durham.ac.uk).
We hope to see you all in Durham!
Organizing and Scientific Committee
Andy Hilkens (British Academy Newton International Fellow, University of Oxford)
Mara Nicosia (British Academy Newton International Fellow, Durham University)
Alberto Rigolio (Associate Professor, Durham University)
Francis Watson (Chair in Early Christian Literature, Durham University)
Ted Kaizer (Professor in Roman Culture and History, Durham University)
Karl Heiner Dahm (Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Durham University)
We invite proposals for the session CIHA202400192 Matter, Materiality and Pilgrimage in Pre-Modern Times: Production, Staging and Reception” at CIHA (Lyon, France, 23-28 June 2024).
Save the Date for the next Index of Medieval Art conference “Whose East?” taking place in Princeton, November 11, 2023.
Please advertise this Save the Date and circulate it to colleagues and research students who might be interested.
See the Index of Medieval Art event page for more details.
Religion and Material Culture in Late Antiquity, April 25-27, 2023
The Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions (SAMR) is hosting a zoom flash conference discussing evidence for and methodological issues in the study of materiality and late antique religion.
Schedule:
Tuesday, April 25, 6:00 pm Eastern Time
The Space of a Stylite: Columns and their Topographical Contexts,
Dina Boero (The College of New Jersey)
Wednesday, April 26, 6:00 pm Eastern Time
Desire in the Archive: A 1934 Excavation in Antioch’s Southeastern Nekropolis,
Sarah Porter (Gonzaga University)
Thursday, April 27, 6:00 pm Eastern Time
Animating Attachments: An Affective Archaeology of Late Antique Monastic Refectories,
Camille Angelo (Yale University)
For more information and to sign up: https://www.samreligions.
Following the online meeting of the Organizing Committee of the 25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies -Vienna 2026 with the members of the AIEB Bureau on 16 March 2023, we would like to inform you about the preliminary profile and structure of the Congress program and to appeal to all National Committees to send us their proposals for Round Tables by 31 December 2023. The call for Free Communications will be sent in spring 2025. You may find below the main theme of the Congress, the themes of six Plenary Sessions, as well as the timetable and procedures for Round Tables, to be confirmed and approved at the Inter Congress meeting in Athens on 12 April 2024.
INFORMATION ON THE PROFILE AND STRUCTURE OF THE 25th CONGRESS OF BYZANTINE STUDIES- Vienna 2026
Date:
The 25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies will be held on 24 to 29 August 2026 in Vienna, Austria.
Main Theme:
“Byzantium beyond Byzantium”, “Byzance au-delà de Byzance”, “Το Βυζάντιο πέρα από το Βυζάντιο”
General Rule:
Scholars can participate in no more than two sessions throughout the Congress. (i.e., as speaker in two sessions, or as speaker in one session plus as convener, or as convener in two sessions).
Plenary Sessions:
There will be six Plenary Sessions. The list of Plenary Session themes and speakers will be approved at the Inter-Congress meeting in Athens on 12 April 2024. National Committees will be informed about the details shortly before the meeting. The themes for Plenary Sessions are:
Round Tables:
General rules
Vienna, March 2023
The Organizing Committee
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