Forthcoming Events
Lectures and brief conference details all appear on this page.

Please note: as a member of the society you will receive regular newsletters with all details of forthcoming events in UK institutions....

E.Georganteli, A. Miynat, M. Saxby, M. Vrij (Birmingham)
Money and the projection of power in Byzantium and the medieval Islamic world

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, Birmingham: General Seminar programme 2011-12

The Centre’s General Seminar normally meets in the Whitting Room (436), 4th floor, Arts Building on Thursdays at 5.15pm, unless otherwise stated and is open to all interested in the related concerns of the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies.

SPYROS ECONOMIDES (London)
The relevance of Europe to Greece’s foreign policy

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, Birmingham: General Seminar programme 2011-12

The Centre’s General Seminar normally meets in the Whitting Room (436), 4th floor, Arts Building on Thursdays at 5.15pm, unless otherwise stated and is open to all interested in the related concerns of the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies.

GUILLAUME SAINT-GUILLAIN (Amiens)
An island monastery in a changing world: St John of Patmos and the Aegean (13th-15th centuries)

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, Birmingham: General Seminar programme 2011-12

The Centre’s General Seminar normally meets in the Whitting Room (436), 4th floor, Arts Building on Thursdays at 5.15pm, unless otherwise stated and is open to all interested in the related concerns of the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies.

Reality and Illusion: Seeing through the 'Byzantine Mirage'

The Oxford Byzantine Society's 2012 International Graduate Conference

History Faculty, University of Oxford

Byzantium is famed as a place where the seemingly insubstantial could hold great weight: where the operation of wills and natures was a matter of life and death, where images could save or damn, where the pomp of court held an empire together, and great processions heralded the invisible presence of the divine. Is this reputation justified, or just another Byzantine myth? And how were boundaries between the real and the illusory understood?

We are interested in papers which explore functions of reality and illusion in all fields of Late Antique and Byzantine studies, including history, art history, archaeology, theology, literature, and philology. A broad range of approaches to realities and illusions, both historical and historiographical, are welcome.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE

STELLA ROCK (Texas)
Following in Mary’s footsteps: Marian presence and the
construction of sacred space in contemporary Russia

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, Birmingham: General Seminar programme 2011-12

The Centre’s General Seminar normally meets in the Whitting Room (436), 4th floor, Arts Building on Thursdays at 5.15pm, unless otherwise stated and is open to all interested in the related concerns of the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies.

NEVILA MOLLA (Sienna)
Fortification building practices and defence strategies in
medieval Epirus

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, Birmingham: General Seminar programme 2011-12

The Centre’s General Seminar normally meets in the Whitting Room (436), 4th floor, Arts Building on Thursdays at 5.15pm, unless otherwise stated and is open to all interested in the related concerns of the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies.

SPBS & THE FRIENDS OF THE BRITISH SCHOOL OF ATHENS INAUGURAL JOINT LECTURE 20 MARCH 2012

SPBS & The Friends of the British School at Athens present an illustrated lecture by Michael Heslop entitled "Byzantine Defences in the Dodecanese Islands; Planned or Improvised"

The lecture will take place at 6.00 pm on Tuesday 20 March 2012, followed by an informal reception, at Room G22/26, Ground Floor, South Block, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU.

The nearest tube station is Russell Square.

Entrance is free for SPBS members but please confirm attendance to Michael Saxby

MASONS AT WORK
Architecture and Construction in the Pre-Modern World

2012 Center for Ancient Studies Symposium

at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)

The symposium aims to assemble specialists in various fields to examine building practices in the pre-modern world, with an emphasis on aspects of construction and structure in ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine, medieval, and early-to-middle period Islamic architecture. While some technologies and built forms may be shared across pre-modern cultures (such as vault construction or the use of centering), other may be specific to a single period or region (such as the use of concrete or structural ribs in vaulting). In addition to a panel of invited speakers, we are soliciting 20-minute papers that examine the problems pre-modern masons commonly encountered – and the solutions they developed – in the process of design and construction. Evidence may be drawn from a variety of sources, including written evidence and the archaeological record, but for the purpose of the symposium we encourage studies based on the analysis of standing buildings.

Keynote Address: Lynne Lancaster (Ohio University)

Commentator: Kostis Kourelis (Franklin and Marshall University)

Organizing committee: Lothar Haselberger, Renata Holod, Robert Ousterhout

Call for papers: Those wishing to speak at the symposium should submit by email a letter to the organizing committee, including name, title, institutional affiliation, paper title, plus a summary of 200 words or fewer. Graduate students should include a note of support from their adviser. Deadline: 30 November 2011; the final program will be announced by the end of November. Submit proposals to ancient@sas.upenn.edu with “Masons at Work” in the subject line.

Note: There is no registration fee; receptions and meals are provided to all speakers. However, speakers must arrange their own transportation and hotel accommodation. Philadelphia has a major international airport and is easily accessible by train. A conference hotel rate will be available at the Club Quarters in downtown Philadelphia, a short bus ride or walk from the campus. Those wishing to attend but not speak should register in advance to guarantee space is available. More information will be available in the second circular.

[posted on BEDLAM, 4th Oct 2011]

British Archaeological Association
Romanesque and the Eastern Mediterranean

The British Archaeological Association will hold the second of the biennial International Romanesque conferences in Palermo on 16-18 April, 2012. The theme is Romanesque and the Eastern Mediterranean, and the aim is to examine points of contact between the Latin West and the Byzantine and Islamic worlds in the 11th and 12th centuries. These took many forms: the widespread importation of artefacts, including textiles, ceramics, ivories and metalwork, the recruitment of eastern painters and mosaicists, and the emulation of eastern Mediterranean forms and buildings, particularly those in Jerusalem.

The Conference will be held in the historic centre of Palermo from 16-18 April, with the opportunity to stay on for three days of visits to medieval buildings in and around Palermo from 19-21 April.