Past Conferences 2008

Select year for other conference pages: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 , 2003 , 2002 , 2001

See also the Events Reports section

    January 2008
24 Jan Birmingham

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies
ANGELIKE LYMPEROPOULOU (London)
‘And they lived happily every after.’ The Marriage of innovation and tradition in post-Byzantine iconography
Whitting Room (rm. 436), fourth floor, Arts Building, University of Birmingham, at 5.15pm.

26 Jan London

Colloquium: Aspects of Albania

Centre for Hellenic Studies, King's College
14.00 in Room 2C, Strand campus


Speakers: John Mitchell (University of East Anglia), James Pettifer (Conflict Studies Research Centre), Rupert Smith (Butrint Foundation), Enkeledia Tahiraj (School of Slavonic & East European Studies).

    Feb 2008
7 Feb London

Seventeenth Annual Runciman Lecture

Centre for Hellenic Studies, King's College
18.00 in the Great Hall, Strand Campus


Dr. Fani-Maria Tsigakou (Curator of the Department of Paintings, Paints & Drawings at the Benaki Museum, Athens): Philhellenic Images as Pictorial & Political Statements

Preceded by a Service of Orthodox Vespers in the Chapel of King's College London at 17.15.

7 Feb Birmingham

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies
PANTELIS MICHELAKIS (Bristol)
Greek tragedy and cinematic realism: Michael Cacoyannis and Pier Paolo Pasolini
Whitting Room (rm. 436), fourth floor, Arts Building, University of Birmingham, at 5.15pm.

8-10 Feb Sydney

Imperium and Culture

XVth Biennial Conference of The Australian Association of Byzantine Studies (AABS)

The Australian Association of Byzantine Studies (AABS) would like to formally announce a call for papers for its XVth Biennial Conference. This meeting’s theme will be “Imperium and Culture,” looking at the relationship between imperial patronage and involvement in various aspects of cultural expression. Contributors are invited to interpret this theme broadly, and we welcome submissions from all fields. Both scholars with academic affiliation and working independently, as well as postgraduate students, are encouraged to apply.

The XVth Biennial Conference will be held 8-10 February 2008 at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Please submit paper abstracts of up to 500 words in length by no later than 15 August 2007. Submissions and contact information should be made to:

Dr Geoffrey Nathan
School of History and Philosophy
The University of New South Wales
Sydney, NSW 2052
AUSTRALIA
61 (+2) 9385 8014
61 (+2) 9385 1251 (fax)
g.nathan@unsw.edu.au

21 Feb Oxford University of Oxford
GRINFIELD LECTURES ON THE SEPTUAGINT
2007-2008
JENNIFER DINES

(Lecturer in Old Testament Studies (retired),
Heythrop College, University of London)

The Book of the Twelve: Translation, interpretation
and current research (Second Series)
Devices and desires: clues to translational agenda.

at 5.00 pm in the Examination Schools
Open to the public

22 Feb Birmingham

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies
RENAUD ROCHETTE (Paris)
Sharing the imperial power: the role of the despots
in the Byzantine government

Whitting Room (rm. 436), fourth floor, Arts Building, University of Birmingham, at 5.15pm.


28 Feb Oxford University of Oxford
GRINFIELD LECTURES ON THE SEPTUAGINT
2007-2008
JENNIFER DINES

(Lecturer in Old Testament Studies (retired),
Heythrop College, University of London)

The Book of the Twelve: Translation, interpretation
and current research (Second Series)
Endings and beginnings: order matters.

at 5.00 pm in the Examination Schools
Open to the public

    March 2008
6 Mar Birmingham

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies
PETER FRANKOPAN (Oxford)
How should we read the Alexiad?
Whitting Room (rm. 436), fourth floor, Arts Building, University of Birmingham, at 5.15pm.


6 Mar Oxford University of Oxford
GRINFIELD LECTURES ON THE SEPTUAGINT
2007-2008
JENNIFER DINES

(Lecturer in Old Testament Studies (retired),
Heythrop College, University of London)

The Book of the Twelve: Translation, interpretation
and current research (Second Series)
Reading the Twelve: approaches to old and new.

at 5.00 pm in the Examination Schools
Open to the public

13 Mar Birmingham

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies
VASSILIKI KOLOCOTRONI (Glasgow)
‘Who’s he when he’s at home?’ James Joyce’s (Miss) Homer
Whitting Room (rm. 436), fourth floor, Arts Building, University of Birmingham, at 5.15pm.


15 Mar London

RECENT FIELDWORK IN URBAN ARCHAEOLOGY

LATE ANTIQUE ARCHAEOLOGY 2008

A one-day conference to be held on Saturday 15th March 2008 at the King's College, London, jointly held by the University of Kent (Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies) and King's College London (Centre for Hellenic Studies / Dept of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies).

This conference will explore innovative fieldwork in late antique urban archaeology, focusing not only on recent careful excavations, but also on attempts to re-evaluate old excavated sites, to recover the context of epigraphy, and to bring modern survey methods to the study of the late antique city.

10.30 Welcome by Luke Lavan ( Kent ) and Tassos Papacostas (KCL)

*Urban Surface Survey*
10.40-11.10 Kris Lockyear (UCL) Noviodunum, Romania 11.10-11.40 John Bintliff ( Leiden ) Thespiae and the Boeotia Survey

*Epigraphic and Archaeological Survey*
11.50-12.20 Charlotte Roueché (KCL) Epigraphic survey at Aphrodisias and Ephesus
12.20-12.50 Luke Lavan (Kent) Surface archaeology, spolia and epigraphic context at Sagalassos

*Re-evaluating Old Sites*
14.00-14.30 Axel Gering ( Humboldt University , Berlin ) Ostia
14.30-15.00 Vincent Deroche (College de France, Paris) Delphi
15.00-15.30 Didier Viviers (ULBruxelles) Apamea

15.40-16.10 Tea and Coffee

*Artefact-rich Deposits*
16.10-16.40 Mark Houliston ( Kent ) Canterbury : the Late Roman levels at Whitefriars
16.40-17.10 Julian Richard and Marc Waelkens (KULeuven) Sagalassos: the Macellum

*Recent Developments in Istanbul *
17.20-17.50 Ken Dark (Reading) Recent excavations in Istanbul , and the Hagia Sophia Project.

Entry is *FREE* of charge, but to reserve a place please email Luke Lavan (info@lateantiquearchaeology.com).

The meeting will be held in room K2.31 (King's College London, Strand Campus, London WC2R 2LS: Main Building , first floor). Location details:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/campuses/strand-det.html .

    April 2008
4-6 April Edinburgh

THE 41st Spring Symposium
of Byzantine Studies

The Archaeologies of Byzantium

School of History, Classics and Archaeology,
University of Edinburgh
4-6th April 2008

This will be the first Spring Symposium directly focused on Byzantine Archaeology and aims to consider differing approaches to the archaeologies of the Byzantine world as well as highlighting the most important discoveries of recent years. We will cover the archaeology of the Byzantine world from the death of Justinian to fall of the City in 1453. We hope to consider how an understanding of the material culture of Byzantine has been moulded by the differing cultural and national perspectives of those who have inherited former Byzantine lands, especially Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria.

Major themes will include:
• Spanning the divide, Archaeology and History
• Nautical archaeology;
• The Archaeology of Buildings;
• The Archaeology of Images;
• National Narratives;
• Material world ceramics, coins etc
• The Borders of Byzantium: Italian and Islamic perspectives
• Technology
• Peoples and Lands, settlement and landscape
• Geoscience: pollen etc.
• Osteoarchaeology

Visit our dedicated Symposium pages for further details including programme and registration forms.

    May 2008
1 May London

Benet Salway (UCL)
The study of geography in (and of) late antiquity (Andrew Merrills (Leicester), respondent)

Summer Term, ICS Ancient History seminar series, London
Broadening Horizons: Exploring the Late Antique World

Room 336, North Block, Senate House, Malet Street, London. For more information, contact Dr Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe or Dr Fiona Haarer

1 May Cambridge

Dr Philothei Kolitsi (University of Thessaloniki)
The portrait of the female artist in modern Greek prose fiction

University of Cambridge: Modern Greek lecture series
Faculty of Classics, Room 1.02, 5 p.m.

2 May New York

Objects in Motion: The Circulation of Religion and Sacred Objects in the Late Antique and Early Medieval World

Symposium at the Bard Graduate Center, New York, NY

Confirmed speakers: Matthew Canepa, Anthony Cutler, Georgia Frank, Henry Maguire, Hallie Meredith, Patricia Cox Miller, Ann Marie Yasin.

8 May London

Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe (KCL) & Fiona Haarer (KCL)
title tbc

Summer Term, ICS Ancient History seminar series, London
Broadening Horizons: Exploring the Late Antique World

Room 336, North Block, Senate House, Malet Street, London. For more information, contact Dr Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe or Dr Fiona Haarer

8 May Cambridge

Dr Dimitra Kolliakou (Newcastle University)
Through Greek eyes: foreign place in some recent Greek fiction (provisional title)

University of Cambridge: Modern Greek lecture series
Faculty of Classics, Room 1.02, 5 p.m.

6-9 May Warsaw

Christian Art on the Borderlines of ASIA, AFRICA and EUROPE

Polskie Stowarzyszenie Sztuki Orientu, The Polish Society of Oriental Art, Warsaw (www.sztukaorientu.pl)

Capuchin Fathers Monastery at Zakroczym
http://www.cdh.ofmcap.pl/news.php

General themes of the 5th Conference:
-Oriental Christian art and its ties with the Christian art of the west in architecture, statuary, painting, book art and handicrafts
-Artistic links between monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)
-Art of Oriental Orthodox Churches – Syrian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Melkite, Maronite, Nestorian, Armenian, Georgian and others

Prof. Dr. Jerzy Malinowski – President of the Association
Prof. Dr. Waldemar Deluga – Main Organizer (wdeluga@wp.pl)
Magdalena Tarnowska – Conference Secretary (mtarnowska@jhi.pl)

9 May London

PROFESSOR LESLIE BRUBAKER
(University of Birmingham)
“Representation, c. 800: Arab, Byzantine, Carolingian”

Royal Historical Society's series on Friday 9 May 2008 at 5.00 p.m. at the Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, UCL

6-9 May Zakroczym, Poland

CHRISTIAN ART ON THE BORDERLANDS OF ASIA, AFRICA AND EUROPE

Capuchin Fathers Monastery at Zakroczym

http://www.cdh.ofmcap.pl/news.php
ul. O. H. Kozminskiego 36

General themes of the 5th Conference:
-  Oriental Christian art and its ties with the Christian art of the west in architecture, statuary, painting, book art and handicrafts;
-  Artistic links between monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)
-  Art of Oriental Orthodox Churches – Syrian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Melkite, Maronite, Nestorian, Armenian, Georgian and others

Suggested Conference topics:
· Architecture and art of Christian centers in the East
· Iconography
· Religious doctrine vs. art
· Importance of Councils of the Church for transformations in Christian art
· Role of art in Church missionary activity
· European artworks in the East
· Peregrinations to holy places and their descriptions

Historical and geographical scope of the Conference:
Palestine and the Near East, Ethiopia , Egypt , Byzantium/Turkey, Armenia , Georgia , Crimea, Balkans and Persia

Participants: Art historians, archaeologists, ethnologists, Church historians, artwork restorers

Languages at the Conference: English, Polish

Costs:
-  Registration fee 80 PLN
-   Accommodations (full board):  60 PLN per day (double room) or 100 PLN (single room)

Deadlines:
· Sign up and send summary of paper in English (c. 250 words) by 30 January 2008
· Conference program announced by 28 February 2008
· Registration fee of 80 PLN to be paid into the account of the Polish Society of Oriental Art by 31 March 2008
· Conference papers submitted for publication (in English, 10 typescript pages, i.e.,18,000 signs with spaces, with footnotes, 5-6 illustrations) by 31 May 2008

Call for papers
Notice of papers to be sent to the Conference Organizers
by e-mail or regular post at the Society address (ul. Warecka 4/6 – 10, 00-400 Warszawa)

Prof. Dr. Jerzy Malinowski  – President of the Association
Prof. Dr. Waldemar Deluga  – Main Organizer
Magdalena Tarnowska  – Conference Secretary

12-15 May Iasi, Romania 15th International Conference on Eastern Chant

The conference will be organized by the Centre for Byzantine Studies at Iasi in cooperation with the Rumanian Ministry of Culture as part of the events celebrating the 600th anniversary of the first documentary attestation of Iasi as a medieval settlement.

The general theme of this year’s conference will be Transmission and Reconstruction of Christian Ecclesiastical Musical Culture – East and West’, thus offering a new opportunity for putting into practice results attained in many countries during the past decade by enthusiastic individual scholars and/or dedicated research teams. New interesting materials in form of digital copies of MSS will be put at the disposal of the participants to illustrate new perspectives in obtaining deeper knowledge of notations, and their influence on transmission, from the parallel analysis of ‘lucky pairs’ of MSS. One of the hopes of this conference is the establishment of small transnational teams that would be willing to work on subjects related to verifying current interpretations of notational systems, such as of the middle-Byzantine, znamenny, Kievan staff.

For further details:
Prof. Gabriela Ocneanu, Scientific director, Centrul de Studii Bizantine Iasi, Strada Noua 5, RO-700377 Iasi
E-mail: go@csbi.ro
http://www.csbi.ro

15 May London

Neil McLynn (Oxford)
The Horizons of Hippo Regius: Exploring Augustine's Fussala

Summer Term, ICS Ancient History seminar series, London
Broadening Horizons: Exploring the Late Antique World

Room 336, North Block, Senate House, Malet Street, London. For more information, contact Dr Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe or Dr Fiona Haarer

15-16 May Dublin

Sailing to Byzantium

II Postgraduate Forum in Byzantine Studies

CENTRE FOR MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE STUDIES, TRINITY COLEGE DUBLIN

Following the success of last year’s Postgraduate Forum in Byzantine Studies: Sailing to Byzantium, the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Trinity College Dublin, is this year organising a second international conference for postgraduate students who are conducting research on various facets of Byzantine civilisation. The II Postgraduate Forum in Byzantine Studies: Sailing to Byzantium will be held on 15-16 May 2008. As in the case of last year’s most successful postgraduate conference, this symposium aims to be a challenging and fruitful journey to Byzantium through the eyes of young scholars who have chosen Byzantine history and culture as their research focus.

The II Postgraduate Forum in Byzantine Studies: Sailing to Byzantium will open with the plenary lecture
Ceremonies and the City: Constantinople and the Court in the Fourteenth Century by Dr Ruth Macrides of the University of Birmingham on Thursday May 15th 2008 at 7.30 pm ( Jonathan Swift Theatre, Arts Block)

Following the pattern of last year’s event, this interdisciplinary symposium seeks to bring together postgraduate researchers from various areas of Byzantine Studies: history, archaeology, art, and literature. Participants will avail of an excellent opportunity to present their research, exchange new ideas, and meet in a challenging interdisciplinary context people with whom they share the same research interests. To this end, proposals for papers on any discipline of Byzantine Studies are invited.

Abstracts (max 250 words), and CVs should be submitted by 15th of April 2008 to Savvas Neocleous (neocles@tcd.ie). Papers must be no more than 30 minutes long. Undergraduates are also cordially invited to attend. Personal details (full name, status, institution, phone, email) should be submitted by the same date. There will be a registration fee of 10 EURO (either payable on the day or by mailed cheque made payable to ‘TCD Account no. 1, Trinity College Dublin’).

For further information regarding participation or attendance at the II Postgraduate Forum in Byzantine Studies: Sailing to Byzantium, please contact Savvas Neocleous (neocles@tcd.ie).

22 May London

Peregrine Horden (RHUL)
The late antique origins of the lunatic asylum?
(Rebecca Flemming (Cambridge), respondent)

Summer Term, ICS Ancient History seminar series, London
Broadening Horizons: Exploring the Late Antique World

Room 336, North Block, Senate House, Malet Street, London. For more information, contact Dr Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe or Dr Fiona Haarer

29 May London

Gavin Kelly (Edinburgh) & Lucy Grig (Edinburgh)
Rome and Constantinople in Poetry and Pictures

Summer Term, ICS Ancient History seminar series, London
Broadening Horizons: Exploring the Late Antique World

Room 336, North Block, Senate House, Malet Street, London. For more information, contact Dr Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe or Dr Fiona Haarer

    June 2008
3-5 June
Sheffield

ARCHAEOLOGIES OF THE EVERYDAY
'questioning the transparency of the daily'

A conference organised by the Centre for Historical Archaeology, and hosted by the Humanities Research Institute, The University of Sheffield

This interdisciplinary conference will bring together scholars, from a range of disciplines (archaeology, anthropology, sociology, history, art history), who are challenging accepted notions of the everyday as mundane and routine. The conference will be organised around five themes -

"     The Historicity of the Senses
"     The Body in Everyday Life
"     Everyday Life versus Ritual Life?
"     Living Outside the Everyday
"     When Different Everydays Collide

Confirmed speakers include
Chris Gosden ( Oxford ), Karen Harvey ( Sheffield ), Mary Harlow ( Birmingham ), Carole Rawcliffe (UEA), Ben Highmore ( Sussex ), Kate Giles ( York ), John Bennet (Sheffield), Helena Hamerow ( Oxford ), Liz James ( Sussex), Miriam Müller ( Birmingham ), Robert Blair St George (Pennsylvania),  Jeff Oliver ( Sheffield )

For further details of conference themes, a call for papers, registration details etc, go to http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/conferences/archaeologies-of-the-everyday/

[Posted on BEDLAM: Byzantine Email Distribution List and Mailings.]

5 June London

Byzantine Mosaics Conference

British Museum

There will be a one-day conference at the British Museum on the subject of Byzantine mosaics. Further publicity to come but if you are interested, please contact Dr Bente Bjornholt, Leverhulme Network Facilitator at B.K.Bjornholt@sussex.ac.uk or Essex House, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN 1 9QN

12 June London

Monica White (Stanford)
title tbc (Judith Herrin (KCL), respondent).

Summer Term, ICS Ancient History seminar series, London
Broadening Horizons: Exploring the Late Antique World

Room 336, North Block, Senate House, Malet Street, London. For more information, contact Dr Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe or Dr Fiona Haarer

2-27 June Dumbarton Oaks

Byzantine Greek Summer School

Dumbarton Oaks will again offer an intensive four-week course in medieval Greek and paleography in the early summer of 2008. A limited number of places will be available for students from North America and Europe.

Course Offerings
The principal course will be a daily 1 ½ hour session devoted to the translation of sample Byzantine texts. Each week texts will be selected from a different genre, e.g., historiography, hagiography, poetry, and epistolography. Two afternoons a week hour-long sessions on paleography will be held. One additional hour weekly will provide instruction in the basic bibliography of Byzantine philology (dictionaries, grammars, etc.) and electronic tools, such as the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae. In addition each student will receive a minimum of one hour per week of individual tutorial. Thus 11 ½ hours per week will be devoted to formal classroom instruction. It is anticipated that students will require the remaining hours of the week to prepare their assignments. If they should have extra time, they may conduct personal research in the Dumbarton Oaks library.

Faculty
Stratis Papaioannou, Brown University/Dumbarton Oaks; Alice-Mary Talbot, Dumbarton Oaks

Accommodation and Costs
No tuition fees will be charged. Successful candidates from outside the Washington area will be provided with housing in the guesthouse at no cost and lunch on weekdays. Local area students will not be offered accommodation, but will receive free lunch on weekdays. Students are expected to cover their own transportation expenses.

Requirements for Admission
Applicants must be graduate students in a field of Byzantine studies (or advanced undergraduates with a strong background in Greek) at a North American or European university. Two years of college level ancient Greek (or the equivalent) are a prerequisite; a diagnostic test will be administered to finalist applicants before the final selection of successful candidates is made.

Application Procedure
Applicants should send a letter by January 15, 2008, to Dr. Talbot, describing their academic background, career goals, previous study of Greek, and reasons for wishing to attend the summer school. The application should also include a curriculum vitae and a transcript of the graduate school or undergraduate record. Two letters of recommendation should be sent separately, one from the student's advisor, and one from an instructor in Greek, assessing the candidate's present level of competence in ancient or medieval Greek. Principles of selection will include three considerations: previous meritorious achievement, need for intensive study of Byzantine Greek, and future direction of research. Awards will be announced in late February 2008, and must be accepted by March 15.

Dumbarton Oaks
Program in Byzantine Studies
1703 32nd Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Tel.: 202-339-6940 FAX: 202-339-6419,
E-mail: Byzantine@doaks.org

[Posted on BEDLAM: Byzantine Email Distribution List and Mailings.]

21-9 June Georgia

Georgian Arts in the Context of European and Asian Cultures

International Symposium

http://www.symposiumgeorgia.org

24 June London

Colloquium on Hellenic Concepts of Political Friendship and Enmity: a Contribution towards the Understanding of Conflict in the Modern World

We live in a period in which terrorism, political and religious wars, and ethnic genocide are parts of daily reality. The belief that the end of Cold War would eliminate these horrors has vanished. The world now anticipates ever broadening conflicts. With this in mind the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of London and The Hellenic Institute of Royal Holloway, University of London are organising a one-day colloquium to explore the diachronic causes of enmity and notions of political friendship within societies and between civilisations, in the context of the Hellenic cultural heritage.

Speakers include:
Pat Easterling, Greek tragedy and the ethics of revenge
Kostas Kalimtzis, Nurturing the thymos
Stavroula Kiritsi, The politics of character in Menander
Peter Hadreas, The Hellenic understanding of anaischyntia and its social implications
John Anton, Political leadership in Hellenic thought: lessons learned (or unlearned?)

The Colloquium is organised by Kostas Kalimtzis, Julian Chrysostomides, Olga Krzyszkowska and Charalambos Dendrinos and will be held at Senate House, North Block, Room 336, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU on 24 June 2008 between 10.00-18.30. The colloquium is sponsored by the Institute of Classical Studies and The Hellenic Institute. For the provisional programme and updated information on the Colloquium please visit:
http://www.rhul.ac.uk/Hellenic-Institute/News-and-Events/ICS-RHUL-Political-Friendship-Colloquium.html
or contact Dr Dendrinos at The Hellenic Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX.

24 June Oxford

Elena Ene D-Vasilescu Development of Christian Iconography

Centre for Mission Studies, Oxford

    July 2008
7-9 July Oxford

Twenty Sixth International Conference on The Decapolis

The aim of this conference is to study once again the theme of the Decapolis with its new discoveries and researches. The conference will start on Tuesday July 1 at 9am, finishing on Thursday July 3 at 5pm. Each speaker’s paper is limited to 30 minutes, with an additional 10 minutes for discussion.
If you wish to participate in the conference, please contact our Oxford address:

ARAM, the Oriental Institute, Oxford University, Pusey Lane, Oxford OX1 2LE, England. Tel. ++1865-514041. Fax ++1865-516824. E.Mail: aram@aramsociety.org

All papers given at the conference will be considered for publication in a future edition of the ARAM Periodical, subject to editorial review. If you wish to get more information about the ARAM Society, please open: www.aramsociety.org

7-10 July Leeds

International Medieval Congress, Leeds

The Natural World 7-10 July 2008.

Interest in (and concern for) the natural environment is not simply a modern phenomenon. Human identities are defined by their relationship with their natural environment, and human lives depend on natural resources. In medieval Europe , the discourse about the natural world was dominated by the Christian religion. However, its foundation was much broader, encompassing a rich and highly varied inheritance from antiquity, including classical natural philosophy, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian religious thought, as well as pagan and vernacular traditions which formed the basis for the development of new European attitudes towards nature. In medieval theology, philosophy, art and literature landscapes such as deserts and wildernesses conveyed meanings, and so did the animals, real or imaginary, that populated them.

While unicorns and dragons may have wandered through imaginary landscapes, the inhabitants of medieval Europe were busily taming the wildernesses surrounding them to permit their exploitation by human settlements and agriculture. Bush and forest were cleared to make way for crops and plants grown for food and trade. Animals were subject to breeding projects, some species were hunted to near extinction, while others were introduced or imported for entertainment and pleasure. But the interaction between humankind and the environment was reciprocal: short-term effects of weather and longer-term climatic change, for example, could have profound consequences for medieval economies, societies, and cultures. In order to enhance our understanding of all of these developments and the consequences for the environment the input of many different disciplines is essential, and not just from within the humanities; therefore, we will especially welcome papers that cross traditional boundaries of discipline and topic.

Aspects of this thematic strand may include:

Perception of nature and perception of creation The 'Book of Nature'

Nature and taxonomy

Natural history and the encyclopaedic tradition Natural symbolism Liminality of the natural world Representations of the natural world The wilderness in literature, theology and art The natural world as a threat to human existence Climate change and its effects The impact of natural catastrophes on mentalities Animal populations Uses of plants and animals in science, medicine and commerce The exploitation of nature Land clearance, draining of wetlands, protection of coastlines Ecology and 'green' thinking The IMC seeks to provide an interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of all aspects of Medieval Studies. At the IMC 2008, sessions and papers on the special thematic strand 'The Natural World' are particularly encouraged. However, as in previous years, papers and sessions on all aspects of the study of the European Middle Ages are most welcome.

We prefer proposals to be completed online www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc - a quick, easy, and secure method. Paper proposals must be submitted by 31 August 2007; session proposals must be submitted by 30 September 2007. The IMC welcomes session and paper proposals submitted in all major European languages.

For a Proposal Form and further details please contact:

Axel E. W. Müller
International Medieval Congress
Institute for Medieval Studies
Parkinson 1.03
University of Leeds
LEEDS , LS2 9JT
UK
Tel: +44 (0)113 343 3614
Fax: +44 (0)113 343 3616
Email: IMC@leeds.ac.uk

www.leeds.ac.uk/ims

21-25 July Belfast

The Fifth International Medieval Chronicle Conference

Queen's University Belfast

With a mixture of papers covering the Medieval West, the Byzantine East and central and eastern Europe the conference seeks to develop a synthesis of how different linguistic traditions express difference between "chronicle" and "history".

For further information, please contact the organiser: Dion C. Smythe, Institute of Byzantine Studies, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN; e-mail: dionsmythe@hotmail.com

27 July - 2 Aug Oxford

Lincoln College International Summer School in Greek Palaeography

The Second Lincoln College International Summer School in Greek Palaeography will take place at the University of Oxford and the Bodleian Library from Sunday, 27 July to Saturday, 2 August 2008.

The Summer School addresses advanced undergraduate as well as postgraduate students working in subject areas such as classics (Greek language and literature), medieval and early modern Greek philology, patristics, theology, art history and archaeology, and late antique, medieval, and Byzantine literary and cultural history.

For more information and an application form, please visit http://www-gpss.linc.ox.ac.uk . Applications and references must be received not later than 31 March 2008.

For enquiries please contact the Programme Coordinator, Dr Maria Konstantinidou, or the Programme Director, Dr Christos Simelidis.

    September 2008
8-10 Sept Krakow

TOWARDS REWRITING?
New Approaches to Byzantine Art and Archaeology


Krakow Symposium on Byzantine Art and Archaeology - September 8-10, 2008

The Institute of Art History, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, and the Faculty of Church History of the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Krakow extend to invitation to all interested scholars (art historians, archaeologists, historians, philologists and theologians) to participate in the forthcoming Symposium, either by contributing a paper or by attending it as a discussant in the proceedings.

The purpose of the Symposium is to discuss new discoveries, interpretations and methodologies giving novel insights and new perspectives on the art of the Byzantine Empire. We invite focusing on objects of art, both unpublished and well-knownm but requiring a new approach to the issues of their dating, function or meaning, as well as contributions discussing the context of creation, migration and perception of object of art, iconographic formulas, and aesthetic ideas.

Official Website: http://byzantinesymposium.com/
Call for Papers: http://byzantinesymposium.com/Call02a.pdf
Contact: Dr. Slawomir Skrzyniarz
Institute of Art History, Jagiellonian University
skrzynia.fm@poczta.fm

Dr. Piotr L. Grotowski
Faculty of Church History, Pontifical Academy of Theology in Krakow
oxygenium@poczta.fm

22-4 Sept Athens

The presence of Byzantium in modern and contemporary South-Eastern Europe

International conference
French School of Archaeology at Athens/Ecole française d'Athènes

Call for papers at : http://www.efa.gr/byzance2008/appel_en.htm

Proposal for papers (600 words) should be written in English or French and be submitted by January 31 st 2008.
23-25 Sept Vienna

Gründerinnen & Stifterinnen, Female Founders in Byzantium & Beyond

An International Colloquium, Institut für Kunstgeschichte, University of Vienna

This international colloquium celebrates the achievements of women founders, patrons and donors in Byzantium and in neighbouring regions. It arises out of the award to the University of Vienna of a chair in Gender Studies by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research in recognition of the University’s record in support of women scholars. During the university year 2007-2008, lecture series on Women, Men and Eunuchs; Sex and The City; The Muses; pro-seminars on Women and Power; Women and Sanctity; and The Byzantine Body; and a graduate seminar on Female Founders have prepared the way for a three-day event with the international scholars most closely associated with the world-famous treasures commissioned by the female founders of Byzantium and housed in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek and in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Students and scholars of Byzantium and its neighbours are invited to submit proposals for 15-minute papers, before 30 April 2008, on themes related to the following topics:

• Individual founders, patrons, donors
• The economic power and legal position of women
• Women and spirituality
• The processes of patronage
• Women’s space
• Monasteries, churches, private chapels, tombs and their decoration
• Texts, textiles, ivories, manuscripts, icons, jewellery, seals
• ‘Kleine Stiftungen’: light, bread, labour, etc.

Theoretical papers on economic, historical, art-historical, archaeological, and literary aspects of gender and patronage in Mediterranean societies will be most welcome. Please send proposals to matthew.savage@univie.ac.at or galina.fingarova@univie.ac.at

We look forward to welcoming you to Vienna

Michael Grünbart, Margaret Mullett, Lioba Theis,
Institut für Byzantinistik und Neogräzistik und Institut für Kunstgeschichte der Universität Wien

    October 2008
22-5 Oct Vienna

imitatio – aemulatio – variatio
International Symposion on Byzantine Language and Literature

Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institut für Byzanzforschung; University of Vienna, Institut für Byzantinistik und Neogräzistik; Österreichische Byzantinische Gesellschaft
Vienna, 22.-25. Oktober 2008

For a preliminary schedule and for further information please go to http://www.oeaw.ac.at/byzanz/
Organisation: Andreas Rhoby, Elisabeth Schiffer
Contact: symposion08@oeaw.ac.at

22 Oct Reading

Information and knowledge in
pre-modern empires

Centre for Institutional Performance
University of Reading

A one-day research seminar exploring the relationship between information processing and knowledge in pre-medieval empires, from the earliest imperial systems of ancient Mesopotamia to the would-be ‘world empires’ of Late Antiquity, with papers and discussion by leading scholars.

Programme:
10.00-10.30 Introduction
10.30-11.00 Gregory Johnson (City University of New York) ‘Information and Structure in Human Organizations’
11.00-11.15 Discussion
11.15-11.45 Coffee
11.45-12.15 Roger Matthews (UCL) ‘Writing, literacy, and knowledge-control in the earliest empires of the Middle East, 3000-300 BC’
12.15-12.30 Discussion
12.30-1.00 Tony Wilkinson (Durham) ‘Landscapes of Empire in the Ancient Near East’
1.00-1.15 Discussion
1.15-2.15 Lunch
2.15-2.45 Ken Dark (Reading) ‘World religions, ‘world empires’ and the emergence of global thought c.AD 300-c.AD800’
2.45-3.00 Discussion
3.00-3.30 Geoffrey King (SOAS) subject: the Sasanian empire (title TBA)
3.30-4.00 Discussion and concluding remarks

Palmer Building Room 102, Whiteknights campus
10.00am - 4.00pm

If you are interested in attending, please register with Ken Dark. Registration is free, and all are welcome.
Directions to the university may be found on the website at http://www.reading.ac.uk

23 Oct Birmingham

Eminegul Karababa (Exeter)
Tracing the early modern origins of Ottoman consumer culture in the light of probate inventories

University of Birmingham: Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies
Whitting Room (436), 4th floor, Arts Building, 5.15pm.

30 Oct Birmingham

Anthony Hirst (Belfast and London)
Truth, lies and poetry: Kalvos, Solomos and the War
of Independence

University of Birmingham: Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies
Whitting Room (436), 4th floor, Arts Building, 5.15pm.

    November 2008
8 Nov London

Byzantium Comes to Britain
Celestial Harmonies

A day workshop on the musical component of Byzantine church liturgy and its context:

Christian Hannick The development of the kontakion
Leslie Brubaker Icons and sacred space
Mary Cunningham Inspiration or education? The place of homilies in the Byzantine liturgy
Béatrice Caseau Incense in church
Marlia Mango Silver plate used in the Byzantine liturgy

And, to end, an introduction to the new musical setting of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy in English, including live performance of major excerpts and discussion of the received traditions of Byzantine singing and their adaptation to English.

Weston Room, Maughan Library, King's College, Chancery Lane 11.00-18.00.
£12 (£5 con.) to include refreshments and a sandwich lunch

LCACE event: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/

13-15 Nov Maynooth

The Patristic Symposium, Maynooth

Founded 1986
Hon. President: Professor Emeritus Thomas Canon Finan
Hon. Chairman: Professor Emeritus D. Vincent Twomey, SVD
Hon. Secretary: Dr Janet Rutherford
Hon. Treasurer: Sr Consilio Rock

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Seventh Maynooth Patristic Conference will take place at the Pontifical University of Ireland at Maynooth from Thursday 13 to Saturday 15 November 2008, with an excursion to be planned for those able to stay on to Sunday.

The theme is The Holy Spirit in the Fathers of the Church

Submissions for papers should be sent to:
Dr Janet Rutherford, Hon Secretary, The Patristic Symposium, St Michael’s Rectorym Castlepollard, Co Westmeath, Ireland
bearpair@mac.com

Due to time pressure, please send submissions by the end of April. It will not be possible to consider submissions after the end of May.

13 Nov Birmingham

Georgia Farinou Malamatari (Thessalonike)
Aspects of modern and postmodern Greek fictional
biography in the 20th century

University of Birmingham: Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies
Whitting Room (436), 4th floor, Arts Building, 5.15pm.

19 Nov Nottingham

Dr John Casey (London)
Saying a good word for the Late Roman army

University of Nottingham: The Centre for Late Antique and Byzantine Studies
Archaeology, Room A58, 4.30pm.

Nov London

University of London Workshop on Greek Texts and Manuscripts

The University of London Workshop in Greek Texts and Manuscripts will be held at the Warburg Institute, Ground floor, Large Seminar Room, Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AB in November 2008 (date to be announced). This workshop is designed for MA and research students who pursue research in Classical and Byzantine texts preserved in Greek manuscripts. It concentrates on research methods and techniques used in tracing published texts, manuscripts and scribes. For further information please contact Dr Charalambos Dendrinos (ch.dendrinos@rhul.ac.uk) at The Hellenic Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX.

27 Nov Birmingham

Alexander Panayotov (St Andrews)
To live and die as a resident stranger: paradigms of Jewish life in the early Byzantine period

University of Birmingham: Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies
Whitting Room (436), 4th floor, Arts Building, 5.15pm

    December 2008
2 Dec Nottingham

Dr Neil McLynn (University of Oxford)
Augustine’s Black Sheep: the case of Antoninus of Fussala

University of Nottingham: The Centre for Late Antique and Byzantine Studies Classics, Room C6, 5pm.

11 Dec Birmingham

Vince Gaffney, Phil Murgatroyd, Rob Minsom, Georgios Theodoropoulos (Birmingham)
The road to Manzikert: a project to model the logistics of the Byzantine army (VISTA, Metallurgy and Materials Building)

University of Birmingham: Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies
Whitting Room (436), 4th floor, Arts Building, 5.15pm

12-13 Dec Belgium

GIVING A SMALL TASTE
Poetry and its context in 11th-century Byzantium

KANTL, Ghent, Belgium
Website: http://www.byzantinepoetry.ugent.be

Organisation: Kristoffel Demoen, Floris Bernard
Contact: floris.bernard@ugent.be

 

 

 

 
 
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