| Reports by SPBS Members |
Conferences
held in 2003 |
37th SPRING SYMPOSIUM OF BYANTINE STUDIES Report on the 37th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, The Symposium theme, Eat, drink, and be merry (Luke 12:19): Production, consumption and celebration of food and wine in Byzantium, allowed the symposiasts to consider the rituals of eating together in the Byzantine world (‘Guess who’s coming to dinner?’), the material culture of Byzantine food and wine consumption (‘The art of eating’), the transport and exchange of agricultural products (‘Over the river and through the woods’), and a variety of other topics, including: dancing at dinner, banquets in Byzantium, monastic dining, what to wear to dinner, the Byzantine diet, where to eat and what to drink. The opening lecture was delivered by J Koder, on ‘Monókythra and pastá – thrýmmata megála in the diet of every day?’; his Viennese colleague, E Kislinger, presented the closing lecture on ‘Connoisseurs and drunkards: Byzantine attitudes towards wine consumption’. In between we heard a papers short and long, plus communications. The shorter papers – ‘Lunch Specials’ – were R Macrides, reading a paper by P Magdalino on ‘Bread of heavens’; M Cunningham, ‘Divine banquet: The Theotokos as a source of spiritual nourishment’; A Lymberopoulou, ‘Representations of feasts in Palaiologan churches in Venetian-dominated Crete’; L James, ‘The Fat and the Thin in Byzantine Art’; B Crostini Lappin, ‘Peter and the animals’; and A Eastmond, ‘“Thou art neither hot nor cold”: vomit, regurgitation and Paradise in Byzantium’. Longer papers were delivered by R Cormack, on ‘Did fun end at Pompeii?’; S Malmberg, ‘Dazzling Dining - Banquets as an Expression of Imperial Legitimacy’; A-M Talbot, ‘Mealtimes in monasteries’; J Vroom, ‘The changing dining habits at Christ’s table’; M Grünbart, ‘Store in a cool and dry place: Perishable goods and their preservation in Byzantium’; D Stathakopoulos, ‘Between the field and the plate: how agricultural products were processed into food’; J Baun, ‘Dreaming of food’; I Kalavrezou, ‘Dancing at dinner’; P Armstrong, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil’: merchants of Venice at Sparta in the twelfth century’; A Dunn, ‘Late Roman and Byzantine farmers and transhumants on public lands: markets versus corvée’; A Harvey, ‘Wine production and distribution in late Byzantium’; and E Georganteli, ‘Production, monetary transactions and cultural encounters in Anatolia (12th-14th centuries)’. The international range is obvious: in addition to the 20 speakers and postgraduate communications-givers from the UK, there were four speakers from Austria, three from the USA, two from Greece, and one each from Hungary, the Netherlands, and Sweden. There was, in addition, a paper sent from China to distribute to all in the registration packs. Attendance, with 162 participants, was excellent. Though he did not know in advance, the Symposium was dedicated to Prof Antony Bryer, who founded Byzantine Studies in the UK, and the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Birmingham. The ‘Happy Hour Specials’ on Saturday’s programme were in fact tributes to Bryer from former students and colleagues: J Crow, C Galatariotou, JF Haldon, R Morris, M Mullett, J Munitiz, and J Smedley (at the last minute, A Cameron and J Herrin could not attend, but sent lovely messages). Some tributes were touching, some were amusing, but all celebrated Bryer’s role in creating a vibrant discipline and establishing UK scholars as the strongest international force in the field of Byzantine Studies. The papers, and some of the communications, will appear in a volume in Bryer’s honour, published, as all SPBS volumes, by Ashgate/Variorum. Respectfully submitted, Dr Leslie Brubaker, Symposiarch |
| |