Call for Papers, 7th European Congress of Modern Greek Studies 2023

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(Please scroll down for English)

Αξιότιμη/ε συνάδελφε,

Με χαρά σας ενημερώνουμε ότι το «7ο Ευρωπαϊκό Συνέδριο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών», που συνδιοργανώνουν η Ευρωπαϊκή Εταιρεία Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (ΕΕΝΣ), η Αυστριακή Εταιρεία Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (ÖGNS) και το Πανεπιστήμιο της Βιέννης (Τμήμα Βυζαντινών και Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών), θα πραγματοποιηθεί στη Βιέννη από τις 11 μέχρι τις 14 Σεπτεμβρίου 2023.

Παρακαλούμε να διακινήσετε τη συνημμένη εγκύκλιο (Call for Papers). Ως ημερομηνία λήξης για την υποβολή περιλήψεων ορίζεται η 31 Οκτωβρίου 2022.

Για περαιτέρω πληροφορίες παρακαλούμε να ανατρέξετε στην ιστοσελίδα του

Συνεδρίου:

https://7th-european-congress-of-modern-greek-studies.univie.ac.at/

(Ελληνικά και Αγγλικά).

Με εκτίμηση

Η Οργανωτική Επιτροπή (Βιέννη)

——————————————————————————–

Dear colleague,

It is our pleasure to inform you that the “7th European Congress of Modern Greek Studies”, co-organized by the European Society of Modern Greek Studies (EENS), the Austrian Society of Modern Greek Studies

(ÖGNS) and the University of Vienna (Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies), will take place in Vienna from 11 to 14 September 2023.

Attached, please find the Call for Papers, which we kindly ask you to circulate. The submission deadline for abstracts is 31 October 2022.

Please visit the conference website for further information:

https://7th-european-congress-of-modern-greek-studies.univie.ac.at/

(English and Greek)

Best regards,

The Organizing Committee (Vienna)

Call for Papers: Letters and Politics in Late Antiquity (Ghent, Belgium, May 31 – June 2, 2023

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Call for papers
Letters and Politics in Late Antiquity
Ghent University, Belgium
May 31 to June 2, 2023
Deadline for proposals: 27 July 2022
Dear colleagues,
We are inviting papers discussing the role of letters in late antique Roman politics (4th to 6th century AD): how did various late antique actors and interest groups use letters to try and influence decision making processes on all levels?
Letters played a prominent role in the functioning of social and political life in the late Roman Empire (3rd – 6th century AD). News and information were often communicated by letter, and imperial and ecclesiastical decisions were in many cases negotiated and communicated via letters, which could even carry the force of law. As a result, letters are an invaluable source for research on late antique politics, yielding insight not just into decisions, but also into decision making processes. From this point of view, letters disclose the functioning of late Roman politics as a dynamic practice of negotiation and diplomacy. The thousands of letters that have been preserved from these centuries show late antique correspondents using the genre of the letter for recommending, arguing, defining, ordering, requesting, debating, and lobbying, in an attempt to influence decision making processes to their own advantage, as well as for authoritatively communicating decisions and laws.
The aim of this workshop is to shed new light on the important but underinvestigated role of letters in late antique Roman politics: what was the role of letters in late antique elite networks, the imperial bureaucracy and ecclesiastical controversies? What were the functions of different letter types, including letters of recommendation, petitions to the Emperor and the imperial legislative letters? How was authority created through (authentic or forged) letters in the context of legal procedures and theological controversy? What was the role of letter carriers, the cursus publicus, and letter collections in this political use of letters?
To examine these questions, we invite contributions that illuminate how various late antique actors and interest groups sought to exert influence on decision making processes on all levels through letter writing. Whilst we focus on the political and diplomatic uses of letters, we hope to bring together a collection of papers that reflects the diversity of late antique letters: personal letter collections, inscriptions, papyri, law codes, and canonical collections.
Possible research questions include, but are not limited to, the following:
Letters in imperial decision-making
– What role did correspondence play in the decision making processes of the imperial bureaucracy?
– To what extent were letters processed differently by the imperial administration than petitions?
– When, why and how did the Emperor write letters as a form of legislation?
– How did imperial legislative letters differ from other imperial as well as from elite correspondence?
– What role did letters play in the administrative practice of the imperial bureaucracy?
Lower level politics
– Who wrote letters trying to influence political decisions in the late Roman Empire and why did they do this?
– Who received letters and what kind of request did these letters entail?
– What reactions did such letters elicit?
Letters and authority
– How did letters obtain (legislative) authority?
– How did letters function as evidence (e.g. in court or during Church councils)?
– What role did letters play in ecclesiastical decision-making processes?
– How were late antique letters reused in later ecclesiastical or political disputes?
Elite networks
– What was the function of letters within late antique social networks?
– How did elite members use their correspondence networks for lobbying?
– What was the role of rhetoric and self-presentation in letters?
– Which political purposes were present in which letter types (e.g. letters of recommendation, intercession, petitions, legislative letters)?
Letters and letter collections as political instruments
– How did the practicalities of correspondence (e.g. letter carriers and the cursus publicus) influence late antique decision making processes?
– How did letters relate to oral communication and diplomacy?
– How did the Roman elite cope with the forgery of letters in their decision making processes?
– How were letters and letter collections in late Antiquity used for political purposes?
– What functions did letters have in the context of their collections?
If you are interested in contributing to our workshop and edited volume, please send an abstract (ca 300 words) and a brief academic bio (ca 100 words) to Marijke Kooijman (marijke.kooijman@ugent.be) or Matthijs Zoeter (matthijs.zoeter@ugent.be) before July 27.
Organizers:
Prof. dr. Lieve Van Hoof
Marijke Kooijman
Matthijs Zoeter
Confirmed speakers:
Prof. Dr Dr Dr Peter Riedlberger (keynote)
Prof. Dr Klaas Bentein
Prof. Dr Philippe Blaudeau
Dr Simon Corcoran
Dr Elsemieke Daalder
Prof. Dr Michael Grünbart
Marijke Kooijman, MA LLB
Prof. Dr Angela Pabst
Dr Fabian Schulz
Prof. Dr Lieve Van Hoof
Dr Rens Tacoma
Matthijs Zoeter, MA

CFP: Artificial Light in Medieval Churches between Byzantium and the West

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CALL FOR PAPERS

Artificial Light in Medieval Churches between Byzantium and the West

Online workshop | Tufts University & Accademia di architettura di Mendrisio | 9-10 February 2023

 

Organizers:

Alice Isabella Sullivan, PhD, Tufts University

Vladimir Ivanovici, PhD, University of Vienna | Accademia di architettura di Mendrisio

 

Throughout the Middle Ages, artificial illumination was used to draw attention to and enhance the symbolism of certain areas, objects, and persons inside Christian sacred spaces. The strategies usually found in Latin and Byzantine churches have been analyzed in recent decades. However, the cultures that developed at the crossroads of the Latin, Greek, and Slavic spheres, particularly in regions of the Balkan Peninsula and the Carpathian Mountains, have received less scholarly attention. The uses of artificial light in churches were likely shaped by aspects such as inherited practices, the imitation of other societies, as well as by local climatic, economic, and theological parameters.

Following a similar workshop that focused on natural light, which showed how uses of sunlight reveal patterns of knowledge transfer and cultural interaction between Byzantium, the West, and the Slavic world throughout the Middle Ages, this workshop invites papers on the economy of artificial light in medieval churches across Eastern Europe, from the Balkans to the Baltic Sea. Whether innovative or inspired by the more established traditions on the margins of the Mediterranean, local customs are to be examined in order to understand how artificial light was used in ecclesiastical spaces, and how it brought together the architecture, decoration, objects, and rituals.

Following the workshop, select papers will be revised and published in a volume that will complement the edited collection that resulted from the workshop on natural light, which is currently in print with Brill.

Proposals for 20-min. papers in English should include the following: an abstract (300 words max.) and a brief CV (2 pages max.). Proposals should be emailed to the organizers of the workshop at alice.sullivan[at]tufts.edu and vladimir.ivanovici[at]usi.ch by 1 September 2022. Please include in the email subject line “Artificial Light Proposal.”

Fourth International Conference on Byzantine and Medieval Studies – Byzantinist Society of Cyprus

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The Byzantinist Society of Cyprus (BSC/ΒΕΚ: Βυζαντινολογική Εταιρεία Κύπρου) invites papers to be presented at the Fourth International Conference on Byzantine and Medieval Studies, to be held in Nicosia, Cyprus, between the 17th and the 19th of March 2023.

Scholars, researchers, and students are encouraged to present their  ongoing research, work-in-progress or fieldwork report on any aspect of the history, archaeology, art, architecture, literature, philosophy and religion of Cyprus and the broader Mediterranean region during the Byzantine, Medieval and Ottoman periods.

The languages of the conference will be Greek, English, French and German.

Deadline for abstracts: December 19, 2022.

Workshop on ancient and medieval “urbanities” (10-11 June, Fondation Hardt)

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The international workshop
 
The city’s finest: exploring notions of “urbanity” between East and West, from antiquity to the Middle Ages,
 
will take place at the Fondation Hardt (Vandœvres, Geneva) on June 10 and 11, 2022. The event is organised by the University of Geneva (Département des Sciences de l’Antiquité, Unité de Grec) and is co-funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Société Académique de Genève.
Should you be interested in participating (both in person and remotely via Zoom) or should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me at the following address: valeria.lovato@unige.ch.

CROSS-CULTURAL CONTACT BETWEEN EGYPT AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE – call for papers

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CONFERENCE ‘CROSS-CULTURAL CONTACT BETWEEN EGYPT AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE’ (APRIL 2023)

CALL FOR PAPERS

Egypt was part of the Roman world for seven centuries, from the Roman conquest of Egypt in 31 BC to the annexation of Egypt by the Rashidun caliphate in AD 646. This dynamic period saw the exchange of languages, cultural and religious ideas and concepts across borders, including the spread the Egyptian Isis cult into the Roman West and the emergence of Christian monastic culture in Egypt’s deserts. We call for proposals for 20-minute papers from scholars across diverse disciplines such as Egyptology, Classical archaeology, art history and religious studies, examining the ways in which cross-cultural encounters between Egypt and the Roman Empire resulted in the exchange of religions and ideas, and impacted visual and material culture. We welcome papers dealing with any Roman or Byzantine province, including Egypt; papers focusing on the Western Roman provinces are particularly encouraged.

The conference will take place on 13 and 14 April 2023, at the British School at Rome and the Norwegian Institute in Rome. Please send abstracts to Maiken Mosleth King (Department of Classics & Ancient History, University of Bristol) at mm17686@bristol.ac.uk by 4 September 2022. We look forward to hearing from you.

Archaeology of İzmİr: an internatıonal symposium, İzmir, November 17-18, 2022

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The Department of Archaeology is glad to inform you that the first international symposium of this annual series will take place on November 17-18, 2022 at the DEU in İzmir with a focus on latest archaeological discoveries on the region of İzmir in western Turkey. Since the 15th century archaeologically and historically İzmir became a special focus in the fields of ancient Anatolian studies. We warmly invite contributions by scholars and graduate students from a variety of disciplines related to this region. The aim of this symposium is to report on the state of archaeological research concerning İzmir from the Paleolithic period until the end of the Ottoman period. Thematic and geographical focus of the first symposium will be latest archaeological research in İzmir and its close surrounding in Ionia, Aeolis, Lydia and Upper Cayster Valley in the administrative territories of the today’s Turkish province of İzmir.

Intended to bring together scholars of archaeology, ancient history, historical geography, epigraphy and other related disciplines in ancient Anatolian studies to discuss a range of issues concerning this region’s archaeology and history, this symposium should be an excellent opportunity to increase our knowledge about this region. The following theme groups are the main questions of the symposium which are prescriptive:

– Recent archaeological field projects (excavations and surveys) and museum studies as well as discoveries in and around İzmir,

– İzmir in ancient mythology,

– Prehistory and protohistorical researches in İzmir,

– İzmir during the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods,

– İzmir in ancient authors, eg. Homer, Herodotus, Strabo etc.,

– Ethno-cultural landscape of ancient İzmir and ethnoarchaeology,

– Epigraphical research in İzmir,

– Numismatic research in İzmir: circulations, dynamics and mechanisms,

– Relationships between İzmir and other cities of Ionia, the Achaemenid Empire as well as other neighbouring regions,

– Historical geography and settlement patterns in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine İzmir,

– Ancient roads, routes and population in İzmir,

– İzmir as a part of the Roman province Asia and the “seven churches of Apocalypse”,

– The province İzmir under the tetrarchy reform of Emperor Diocletian in A.D. 296,

– Population and settlement boom in the “Justinianic” era in the region of İzmir,

– Archaeometric researches in İzmir,

– Miscellanea.

On these themes and questions, all approaches and methods susceptible to bring some progress to our current knowledge are of course welcome: archaeology, ancient history, classics, historical geography, epigraphy, numismatic, history of art, cultural anthropology etc. English is the official language of the symposium and both abstracts as well as papers should be written and presented in English. The symposium will take place live at the Faculty of Letters of the DEU in Buca, İzmir as well as virtually on a conference platform (most probably on Zoom). The proceedings of the symposium will be published in December 2022. The symposium is free of charge. A post-symposium excursion is planned on November 19 to the archaeological sites in the metropolitan area of İzmir.

We would be delighted, if you could consider contributing to our symposium and contact us with the required information below before September 9, 2022. Our e-mail address is: arkeoloji.sempozyumu@deu.edu.tr or ergun.lafli@deu.edu.tr

Every abstract submitted to our symposium should at least be two pages, but not exceed four pages in total, and must include two or three figures related to its subject.

For all your queries concerning the symposium our phone number is: +90.539.577 07 33 (Professor Ergün Laflı).

CfP: Constructing and performing hope in the premodern world

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Call for papers for a workshop (April 13-14, 2023) and a volume:

Constructing and performing hope in the premodern world

Throughout history, people have gone on with their lives despite many kinds of trials and tribulations. In this, hope has been a main driving force to manage uncertainty, mitigate despair, and to give meaning to living. There are historically changing sets of practices anchored in social and cultural values, through which individuals deal with the ultimate question of existence and anxiety: how is one to live a meaningful life in the face of inevitable death?

To this end, people have constructed different strategies for hope and futurity in their everyday life. These can be categorized as strategies for securing one’s life – hope to recover from an illness or overcome poverty or old age; strategies for reproduction – which have at their core the hope of continuity through children; strategies for the preservation of memory and reputation, transmission of values and family traditions; and strategies for transcendental hope and continuity. As is easy to recognise, most of these strategies are, ultimately, social and communal. Therefore, hope is a central factor in everyday life through which both individuals and communities think about future and negotiate their personal and communal crisis.

Indeed, in historical research, hope refers not so much to a psychological state maintaining meaningfulness in life, but it points to a goal-oriented disposition and strategical agency. Hope, therefore, offers a fresh perspective on human experiences and action, as it has only too seldom been discussed in historical research.

With the described methodological background, we aim at organizing a workshop concentrating on the ways in which the future of individuals, their families and communities were negotiated in ancient, Byzantine and Western medieval Europe, with special focus on the practices and practicalities of everyday life. Analyzing how premodern societies found ways of managing anxieties about the future amidst cultural change is of essential relevance for understanding the functions and motivations of individuals and communities.

We especially welcome papers which explore experience-related and performative aspects of hope and futurity: How did the practices of hope manifest in everyday life and what shapes did they take? What kind of agency and strategies would have given people a sense of hope? What kind of strategies to maintain hope and plan for the future were adopted in everyday life? How did changing discourses and social circumstances affect decision-making aimed at maintaining hope, and how did this manifest in the longue durée? Comparing the continuities and changes in the ways in which individuals pursued their future-oriented goals is at the very heart of our project. Themes we seek to discuss in the workshop include the following (but are not limited to these):

• practices to ascertain the continuity of the family in social capital, wealth and progeny (e.g., marriage, divorce, childlessness, adoption)

• permanence of the individual/communal memory and name (e.g., material donations, gifts and promises, benefactions and vows, as well as death and wills)

• religious hope and futurity through personal piety, religious rituals and lifestyle

• emotions and experiences related to hope and futurity

• legal, ideological and conceptual aspects (while keeping in mind the relationship with lived experience)

We aim at publishing an edited volume (with a leading publisher) based on the papers presented in the workshop in April 13-14, 2023, Tampere, Finland. Therefore, those whose papers are accepted to the workshop are asked to send their early drafts of what will become their contributions to the edited volume beforehand (in mid-March 2023), so that we can circulate them to all the workshop participants. This way we will be able to give discussion a good start, to concentrate on discussing the central ideas of the papers in the workshop, and to move swiftly to the final phases to write the volume with 9000 word chapters (inc. bibliography, notes).

Keynote speakers:
Stavroula Constantinou (University of Cyprus)
Jenni Kuuliala (Tampere University)
Ville Vuolanto (Tampere University)

There is a place for ca. twelve to fifteen participants for the workshop and the volume.

Deadline for the abstracts (with 300 to 500 words, with description of the theme, methodology,

main questions, and sources) is JUNE 20, 2022.

Please, let us hear about you!
Oana Cojocaru & Ville Vuolanto
oana.cojocaru@tuni.fi / ville.vuolanto@tuni.fi

Tampere Institute for Advanced Study
Department of History, Tampere University
Trivium – Tampere Centre for Classical, Medieval, and Early Modern Studies

**

For further references on the study of hope you may want to check some of the following:

Bobou, O. 2018. ‘Hope and the Sub-Adult’, in Kazantzidis & Spatharas 2018, 329–350.

Caston R.R. and Kaster R.A. (eds.) 2016. Hope, Joy, & Affection in the Classical World. Oxford University Press.

Chaniotis, A. 2018. ‘Elpis in the Greek Epigraphic Evidence, from Rational Expectation to Dependence from Authority’, in Kazantzidis & Spatharas 2018, 351–364.

Feldman, D.B. 2013. ‘The Meaning of Hope and Vice Versa: Goal Directed Thinking and the Construction of a Meaningful Life’, in J.A. Hicks and C. Routledge (eds.), The Experience of Meaning in Life: Classical Perspectives, Emerging Themes, and Controversies. Springer, 141–150.

Kazantzidis, G. and Spatharas, D. 2018. Hope in Ancient Literature, History, and Art. De Gruyter.

Nelis, D. 2016. ‘Emotion in Vergil’s Georgics: Farming and the Politics of Hope’, in Caston and Kaster 2016, 45–74.

Rosenwein, B. 2006. Emotional Communities in the Early Middle Ages. Cornell University Press.

Scheer, M. 2012. ‘Are Emotions a Kind of Practice (And Is That What Makes Them Have A History?)’, History and Theory 51, 193–220.

Tataranni, F. 2013. ‘Hope and Leadership in Ancient Rome’, Teoria. Rivista di filosofia 32:2, 65–75.

Vlassopoulos, C. 2018. ‘Hope and Slavery’, in Kazantzidis & Spatharas 2018, 235–258.

Vuolanto V. 2015. Children and Asceticism in Late Antiquity: Continuity, Family Dynamics and the Rise of Christianity. Ashgate.

Wisman, A. and Heflick, N.A. 2015. ‘Hopelessly Mortal: The Role of Mortality Salience, Immortality and Trait Self-esteem in Personal Hope’, Cognition and Emotion 30:5.

Late Byzantine Metrical Metaphraseis

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Late Byzantine Metrical Metaphraseis, June 23, 2022 9:00–17:30 (hybrid form)

To participate in the workshop online or in person, please contact Dr Ekaterini Mitsiou via email: ekaterini.mitsiou@oeaw.ac.at. Registration is mandatory.

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