Announcements: Lectures

Upcoming Mary Jaharis Center Online Lectures (Sept 28 and Oct 6)

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The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture is pleased to announce the first two lectures in our 2023–2024 lecture series.

Thursday, September 28, 2023 | 12:00 PM EDT | Zoom
Byzantium as an Indian Ocean Society
Rebecca Darley, University of Leeds

Much of the current move towards global history is focused on connections. Viewed from this perspective, there is no very good reason for seeing Byzantium in the first millennium CE as an Indian Ocean society. Its direct contact with the Indian Ocean was attenuated in comparison with earlier Roman contact and increasingly mediated by others, most notably from the seventh century onwards, citizens of the Umayyad then Abbasid Caliphates. There are other ways to think about both Byzantium and global history, though. This paper examines Byzantium not as a player in an Indian Ocean defined by mercantile networks, but as one of many societies around the Indian Ocean littoral, shaped by common forces. Between the fourth and the ninth centuries, understanding Byzantium as an Indian Ocean society, in direct comparison with complex states from the Horn of Africa to peninsular South Asia provides a new insight into the development of governmental structures, state religion and economic practices that all affected the lives of millions of people in profound and sometimes unpredictable ways.

Rebecca Darley is a scholar of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Indian Ocean in the first millennium. She is currently employed as Associate Professor of Global History, 500-1500 CE at the University of Leeds.

Advance registration required at https://maryjahariscenter.org/events/byzantium-as-an-indian-ocean-society

Friday, October 6, 2023 | 12:00 PM EDT | Zoom
A Song of Theology and Emotion: Romanos the Melodist’s Hymn on Pentecost
Andrew Mellas, St Andrew’s Theological College and University of Sydney

While Romanos the Melodist composed hymns rather than theological treatises, the theology of his poetry echoed the festal orations of the fourth-century Cappadocian, Gregory the Theologian. Articulating the mystery of the Trinity through the performance of his hymn for the feast of Pentecost, Romanos wove together sacred song and theology, retelling the scriptural stories that defined the Byzantines, and shaping an emotional and liturgical community in Constantinople. Poetry and music showed forth the hidden fears and desires of scriptural characters amidst the overarching narrative of Pentecost, inviting the faithful to become part of the biblical narrative unfolding before them and experience the mystery of the Trinity. This paper will explore how Romanos the Melodist reimagined the events narrated in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, amplifying the biblical story, echoing the theology of Gregory’s oration on Pentecost and providing an affective script for his audience.

Andrew Mellas is a Senior Lecturer at St Andrew’s Theological College and an Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney’s Medieval and Early Modern Centre.

Advance registration required at https://maryjahariscenter.org/events/a-song-of-theology-and-emotion

Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture with any questions.

Gendered materialities and the credit economy in late antique Egypt (NHRF lecture)

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The Byzantine Studies Lectures of the Institute of Historical Research (National Hellenic Research Foundation) continue on May 30 with a hybrid lecture on:

Gendered materialities and the credit economy in late antique Egypt

Arietta Papaconstantinou, University of Reading

18:00 EET, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 48, V. Constantinou Av. 11635, Athens.

To join via Zoom please follow the link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_haQaIHraRya3oePHz2Ng2Q

 

Please find online the series program for the spring semester of 2022-23.

Pious service groups (diakoniai) in Byzantium: Searching for the evidence

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The Byzantine Studies Lectures of the Institute of Historical Research (National HellenicResearch Foundation) continue on May 30 with a hybrid lecture on:

 Pious service groups (diakoniai) in Byzantium: Searching for the evidence

 Claudia Rapp, University of Vienna

18:00 EET, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 48, V. Constantinou Av. 11635, Athens.

To join via Zoom please follow the link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NpxZ4z71Saaz8UUFFS1p2Q

For more information, see the National Hellenic Research Foundation website.

(Post-)Byzantine Akathistos Cycles and the Natural World

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(Post-)Byzantine Akathistos Cycles and the Natural World: An Ecocritical (Re)Interpretation

Nazar Kozak, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Thursday, May 25, 2023, at 5:30-7:00 pm (Central European Summer Time, UTC+2),

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Englerstraße 7, Geb. 20.40 Architektur, Hörsaal 9 (HS9)

Zoom link:
Abstract:
The Akathistos cycles are a series of pictorial scenes illustrating the Akathistos hymn for the Virgin. Emerging around 1300 CE, they became one of the most important subjects in late and post-Byzantine art. In his book Nectar and Illusion, Henry Maguire was the first scholar to discuss the Akathistos cycles in the context of the Byzantine discourse on nature. However, he characterized their place in this discourse as negative. My lecture aims to expand on Maguire’s work by critically assessing the ecological significance of the Akathistos cycles. Contrary to Maguire’s view, the Akathistos cycles, I argue, celebrated the natural world as a domain of divine presence rather than alienating viewers from it. I support this claim by detailing the following reasons. The cycles visually depicted nature-derived metaphors from the hymn’s text. They enabled viewers to recall these metaphors even without direct representations. The cycles emerged as a supplication for divine protection during a major ecological crisis.

Peasants in the Byzantine World (2 May 2023)

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A one-day workshop entitled Peasants in the Byzantine World: The State of the Question will be held at the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens on 2 May 2023, the first in the series “Byzantine Workshops” co-organized by the Institute of Historical Research (NHRF), the École française d’Athènes and CNRS, HiSoMA UMR 5189.

The workshop’s program is below.

You may also join via Zoom by following the link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0R1AqdFsRxOnwIz_bsaybg#/registration

 

Peasants in the Byzantine World: The State of the Question

A one-day workshop co-organized by the Ecole française d’Athènes, the Institute of Historical Research, National Hellenic Research Foundation, and CNRS, HiSoMA UMR 5189.

PROGRAM

9:00–9:20 Coffee and welcome 

Welcome: Laurianne Martinez-Sève, directrice des études antiques et byzantines, EfA –– Anastasia Yangaki, Section of Byzantine Studies, IHR, NHRF –– Anna Lampadaridi, CNRS, HiSoMA UMR 5189.

–– 9:20–9:30 Introduction, morning session: Kostis Smyrlis & Charalambos Gasparis

9:30–10:10 Paolo Tedesco (University of Tübingen): What was life like for Late Antique peasants? A Reassessment (CE 300–600)

10:10–10:50 Constantin Zuckermann (EPHE): Le statut de la communauté paysanne du Code rural

10:50–11:20 Coffee break

11:20–12:00 Kostis Smyrlis (NHRF): The making of the Byzantine peasant, 11th–14th c.

12:00–12:40 Charalambos Gasparis (NHRF): The peasants in late medieval Venetian Crete: Are there still new questions to be answered?

12:40–14:30 Lunch break

–– 14:30–14:40 Introduction, afternoon session: Priscilla Ralli & Geoffrey Meyer-Fernandez

14:40–15:20 Αthanasios Vionis (University of Cyprus): The archaeology of the villages of the Byzantine world (4th–15th c.)

15:20–16:00 Priscilla Ralli (EfA): Local workshops and rural settlements in the Late Antique Peloponnese

16:00–16:30 Coffee break

16:30–17:10 Geoffrey Meyer-Fernandez (EfA): L’apport de l’histoire de l’art à la culture des paysans du royaume de Chypre : le cas du décor peint de la Panagia à Moutoullas (1280)

17:10–17:50 Lilyana Yordanova (EfA): Searching for the peasant in the art and material culture of the central Balkans (13th–15th c.)

Oxford Byzantine Graduate Seminar – Trinity 2023

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The Oxford Byzantine Graduate Seminar is designed to showcase the breadth of graduate research in modern Late Antique and Byzantine Studies and to foster academic collaboration across institutions and sub-disciplines.

The seminar takes place weekly on Mondays at 12.30-14.00 (BST), via Zoom. The speaker will present for 40-45 minutes, followed by audience questions and discussion. To register to attend, please contact james.cogbill@worc.ox.ac.uk. All are very welcome.
___________________________________
This term’s papers will be:

Monday 24th April

Prolet Decheva (University College Dublin), Late Antique Personifications of Abstract Ideas and Elite Identity 

Monday 1st May

Paul Ulishney (University of Oxford), The Crisis of the Chalcedonian Episcopate in Egypt, c. 652-c. 710 

Monday 8th May

Valeria Annunziata (La Sapienza Università di Roma), Challenging Authorities: How and Why Byzantine Scholars Emended Classical and Authoritative Texts 

Monday 15th May

Benjamin Morris (Cardiff University), ‘Against All Men’: The Movement of Military Service in Byzantine and English Treaties, 900-1200 

Monday 22nd May

Emily Chesley (Princeton University), Collateral Damage: Eastern Women’s Experiences in the Roman-Persian Wars, 4th-6th c. 

Monday 29th May

No paper 

Monday 5th June

Peter Boudreau (McGill University), Keeping Time in Byzantium: Temporal Imagery and Thought in the Calendars of Later Byzantium 

Monday 12th June

Jack Dooley (Royal Holloway, University of London), Between the ‘self’ and the ‘other’: the case of the gasmouloi in Late Byzantium 

Monday 19th June

Rachel Catherine Patt (Princeton University), From Pliny’s Potter to Proclus’ Vision: Tracing the Role of Pothos in Byzantine Visual Culture 

The Öngüt Connection: Christianity among the Turks of Medieval Eurasia

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East of Byzantium is pleased to announce the final lecture in its 2022–2023 lecture series.

Tuesday, April 25, 2023 | 12:00 PM EDT | Zoom
The Öngüt Connection: Christianity among the Turks of Medieval Eurasia
Joel Walker | University of Washington, Seattle Early and influential allies of Chinggis Khan, the Öngüt Turks of Inner Mongolia played a pivotal role in the rise of the Mongol Empire (1206–1368). Their adoption of “Nestorian” Christianity represents the culmination of a broad stream of Turkic Christian tradition in medieval Eurasia. The careers of the ascetic Marqos of Koshang, who became the East-Syrian patriarch Yahballaha III (1281–1317), and the ruler Giwargis, the Mongol-appointed “Prince of Gaotang” (d. 1298 or 1299), help reveal the distinctive contours of the Öngüt Christian tradition.

Joel Walker is the Lawrence J. Roseman Associate Professor of History at the University of Washington, Seattle. Trained as a historian of Late Antiquity, his publications include: The Legend of Mar Qardagh: Narrative and Christian Heroism in Late Antique Iraq (2006); “From Nisibis to Xi’an: The Church of the East in Late Antique Eurasia” (2012); and “Luminous Markers: Pearls and Royal Authority in Late Antique Iran and Eurasia” (2018). Current projects include Witness to the Mongols: A Global History Sourcebook (co-authored with Stefan Kamola) and a history of cattle in the Ancient World.

Advance registration required. Register: https://eastofbyzantium.org/upcoming-events/

Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture, with any questions.

An East of Byzantium lecture. EAST OF BYZANTIUM is a partnership between the Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University and the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture that explores the cultures of the eastern frontier of the Byzantine empire in the late antique and medieval periods.

The historiographical topos in Byzantium (NHRF Lecture)

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The Byzantine Studies Lectures of the Institute of Historical Research (National Hellenic Research Foundation) continue on April 25 with a hybrid lecture on:

The historiographical topos in Byzantium: some thoughts on place, space, and meaning

Ingela Nilsson, Uppsala University

18:00 EET, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 48, V. Constantinou Av. 11635, Athens.

To join via Zoom please follow the link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_19bjxJ6FSMGJ2uzIazFikQ

Lecture: The English monks on Greek and Latin and on the Church Union debates

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The Byzantine Studies Lectures of the Institute of Historical Research (National Hellenic Research Foundation) continue on March 28 with a hybrid lecture on:

The English monks on Greek and Latin and on the Church Union debates (First half of the thirteenth century)
by Eleonora Kountoura-Galake, National Hellenic Research Foundation.

18:00 EET, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 48, V. Constantinou Av. 11635, Athens.

To join via Zoom please follow the link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88500052364?pwd=ZURtOEE4RzZDRW5hVjJSSE1SMjF3UT09

The series program for the spring semester of 2022-23 can also be viewed online: http://www.eie.gr/nhrf/institutes/ihr/index-en_IHR_news.html

Piece by Piece: Mosaic Artifacts in Byzantium and the Ancient Americas

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Piece by Piece: Mosaic Artifacts in Byzantium and the Ancient Americas
WHERE: Dumbarton Oaks | Oak Room
WHEN: May 18  –  19, 2023
This workshop and museum colloquium will bring together art historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, curators, conservators, and scientists to consider the production, use, and meaning of mosaic artifacts in Byzantium and the ancient Americas.
Across premodern cultures, the mosaic artform enjoyed tremendous prestige. In the medieval Mediterranean, no other pictorial medium could rival mosaic’s opulence and visual splendor or claim to entail the same level of technical expertise. Durable and infinitely reparable, mosaics intimated a sense of both history and timelessness. Similarly, in the ancient Americas, the mosaic medium embodied status, wealth, and authority. A range of socially and ritually significant objects, from weapons and jewelry to figurines, were adorned with exquisitely crafted mosaic inlays, featuring such rich materials as turquoise, lapis lazuli, serpentine, and mother-of-pearl. Tellingly, both Byzantine micromosaic icons and ancient American portable mosaic objects would captivate the imaginations of discerning antiquarians and collectors in early modern Europe. To these later audiences, mosaic epitomized cultures that were, from the European vantage point, geographically and temporally “far away.”
The Dumbarton Oaks Museum has unique holdings of artworks in the mosaic medium, including two Byzantine micromosaic icons (BZ.1947.24 and BZ.1954.2), a Wari mosaic mirror (PC.B.432) and figurine (PC.B.437), and a Maya mosaic mask (PC.B.557). The collection therefore presents a rare resource for reexamining mosaic artifacts from a cross-cultural perspective and exploring new ways of thinking more expansively about the mosaic medium and its histories, both local and global. In addition to this cross-cultural frame, this workshop and colloquium will serve as an opportunity to devote specific attention to Byzantine micromosaic icons, exceptionally rare (only thirty-six are known to survive today), and yet understudied, outstanding works of medieval art. The occasion of this workshop and colloquium offers us a far-reaching opportunity to return to the proverbial square one and reassess everything we think we know about Byzantine micromosaic icons: when they were created, where, how, by whom, for whom, and why.
Event details
The two-day event will consist of three parts: a colloquium, with a series of papers, and two study sessions. The first study session, led by conservators, will present new technical research on the micromosaic icons of the Forty Martyrs of Sebasteia and St. John Chrysostom at Dumbarton Oaks, placing the Byzantine objects in dialogue with the Wari and Maya mosaic artifacts, also in the DO collection. The second session, which will be dedicated to Byzantine micromosaic icons specifically, will involve a structured group discussion about the current state of scholarship and imperatives for future research. The colloquium will be open to the public. The two study sessions will be open to colloquium participants and a small number of selected scholarly guests.
Organizers
  • Ivan Drpić, Associate Professor of History of Art, University of Pennsylvania
  • John Lansdowne, Post-Doctoral Fellow and Assistant to the Director for Academic Programs, I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies
  • Elizabeth Dospěl Williams, Curator, Byzantine Collection, Dumbarton Oaks

For more information, see the event’s web page:

https://www.doaks.org/events/other-events/piece-by-piece

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