Category: SPBS supported

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Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies / British School at Athens Autumn Joint Lecture with Dr Vicky Manolopoulou

Dr Vicky Manolopoulou (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), “A Landscape of Fear and Hope: Perceptions and Responses to Environmental change in Byzantine Constantinople”

4 December @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm GMT

How did the environment shape landscape experience in Byzantine Constantinople? This talk explores aspects of the environmental history of the city by focusing on environmental emotion; it discusses how the city’s inhabitants experienced, imagined, and emotionally adapted to a changing environment shaped by earthquakes, storms, and other challenging climatic conditions. Drawing together newly available high-resolution paleoclimatic data from the Uzuntarla speleothem record with textual and archaeological evidence, the paper uncovers how Constantinople’s citizens transformed fear and uncertainty into narratives of hope, resilience, and divine protection. Moving between the concepts of “landscapes of fear” and “landscapes of hope,” it illuminates the affective dimensions of urban life in the Byzantine world and the multifaceted relationship between people and place.

To attend online via webinar, please register HERE

Location: Lecture Theatre 2.16, 2nd Floor, Armstrong Building (University map ref:22), Newcastle University

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Mary B. Cunningham

It is with great sadness that the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies (SPBS) announces the death on 11 October 2025 of our dear friend and colleague Dr Mary B. Cunningham, Vice-President of the Society and Honorary Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK.

Mary was a distinguished scholar and a valued member of our community, whose contributions to Byzantine studies and to the Society will be remembered with deep respect and gratitude.

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Save the date! Byzantium and Bloomsbury

A one-day online workshop, 1 April 2026, 10am-5pm, organised by The Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies

This one-day online workshop will focus on the interest of members of the Bloomsbury Group in Byzantium, especially Byzantine art. Both Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant demonstrated an interest in Byzantine art, in terms of their aesthetic concerns and their subject matter; in 1912 Vanessa Bell painted a work entitled ‘Byzantine Lady’ and Grant painted a similar work entitled ‘The Countess’, and their Famous Women dinner service, commissioned by Kenneth Clark in 1932, featured the Empress Theodora as one of the twelve queens depicted on the set of fifty plates. But the interest of the Bloomsbury Group in Byzantine art was more fundamental than this. Byzantium had a vital place in Clive Bell’s Art(1914); Clive, art critic and husband of Vanessa, declared ‘since the Byzantine primitives set their mosaics at Ravenna no artist in Europe has created forms of greater significance unless it be Cézanne’. His enthusiasm was shared by Roger Fry, both artist and art critic (and collaborator with Vanessa and Duncan in the Omega Workshop, 1913-1919), who initially labelled Cézanne and Gauguin as ‘proto-Byzantines’ before adopting the term ‘post-Impressionists’. Boris Anrep, who worked in mosaic (e.g. at Westminster Cathedral), knew Fry (Anrep’s wife left him for Fry), Lytton Strachey, Maynard Keynes and Virginia Woolf.

In recent years there has been a growing interest in the work of Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and Roger Fry. In October 2024 there was an exhibition at the MK Gallery on Vanessa Bell, A World of Form and Colour, this year Charleston (Vanessa and Duncan’s Sussex home) will mount an exhibition devoted to Roger Fry (15 November 2025 – 15 March 2026), and in 2026 there will a major exhibition at Tate Britain on Bell and Grant (12 November 2026 – 11 April 2027). Thus this is an opportune moment to turn the spotlight on the interest of the Bloomsbury Group in Byzantium.

The workshop will feature a series of talks by scholars (including Professor Christopher Reed, author of Bloomsbury Rooms), and will also include discussion sessions. It is open to members of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies (reduced fee), but also to non-members (full fee). It is organised by Liz James, Rowena Loverance and Shaun Tougher. Further details will be released in due course. For expressions of interest/initial queries please contact Shaun Tougher (toughersf@cardiff.ac.uk).

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SPBS Reception at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds – Tuesday 8 July

The Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies is pleased to announce that it will be hosting a drinks reception at the International Medieval Congress 2025, held at the University of Leeds.

Date: Tuesday, 8 July 2025
Time: 18:00–19:00
Venue: University House, Little Woodhouse Room, University of Leeds

We warmly invite all registered attendees of the Congress with an interest in Byzantine studies to join us for this informal gathering. The reception offers an excellent opportunity to meet fellow Byzantinists, engage in conversation, and learn more about the Society’s work in promoting the study of Byzantium.

Whether you are a long-standing member or new to the field, we would be delighted to welcome you.

For further information about the Society and its activities, please explore the rest of our website or get in touch via our contact page.

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56th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies: Symposium Information

The Byzantine Empire was built on the backs of the rural and urban labour force. From agricultural production and the extraction of raw materials to the physical construction of urban centres and buildings, the strength of the empire’s economy and its imperial administration rested upon complex networks of labourers, artisans and ‘local notables’, across its natural landscapes, in villages, and cities. While huge advances have been made in studying labour processes in recent years, the experiences of such populations within the Byzantine world have received comparatively less attention when compared to other fields of late Roman and western medieval studies. How the Byzantine Empire was experienced and understood by those far removed from its centres of governance and central networks of power, are crucial questions for understanding the lived experience of the mostly silent majority whose lives played out both within, and around, the empire’s fluctuating ‘borders’. Beyond exploring the contribution of rural communities and non-elites to modes of production, this symposium will also explore what can be said of the intricacies of their lives, societies, and what it meant to ‘be Byzantine’, viewed from below.

Symposiarch

Dr Daniel Reynolds

Cost

Full three days:

  • Members of SPBS – £95
  • Non-members – £110
  • Students/ unwaged: – £50

One day:

  • Members of SPBS – £55
  • Non-members – £65
  • Students/ unwaged – £30

Symposium Feast

Sunday 13 April 1930 (Kolkata Lounge Restaurant) – £40 per head

Online:

  • Members: £20
  • Non-members: £35
  • Students/unwaged: £10

 

 

 

 

Venue

The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom

The Symposium will be hosted in the Arts Building on the University of Birmingham’s main campus (map reference R16): https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/university/edgbaston-campus-map.pdf

An interactive map can be accessed here: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/contact/directions

 

Getting to campus

Train

The University of Birmingham has its own train station known as ‘University’. Trains leave every 10-15 mins from Birmingham New Street Station, usually departing from platform 11B.

Further details on train travel: https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/student/travelling-to-campus/travelling-by-train.aspx

Information on National Rail Services: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

It may be possible to get cheaper tickets, especially for longer-distance rail travel within the UK, here: https://www.thetrainline.com/

By bus

Local routes 61, 63, 41, 48, 76, X21, X22, 19, 20, 20A directly serve the University of Birmingham campus, linking the university to the city centre, local train stations and neighbourhoods. The circular 11A and 11C routes also run nearby.

Further details on bus travel: https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/student/travelling-to-campus/travelling-by-bus.aspx

Car Parking

Northeast multi-storey car park (Pritchatts Road, B15 2SA).

You can park here for up to ten hours. Parking charges apply Monday to Sunday, between 8am and 6pm. This includes Bank holidays and university closed days.

Charges start from £3.40 and are capped at £10 (as of October 2024) Monday to Friday. If parking at the weekend or on a Bank holiday, there is a flat day rate of £2.50.

 

Taxi

TOA Taxis are a Birmingham-based company which is recommended by the university.

TOA Taxis: Birmingham black cab taxi service | Home | TOA Taxis

Accommodation

The university has its own onsite hotel accommodation, now known as the Edgbaston Park Hotel:  https://www.edgbastonparkhotel.com/

The city centre has a greater range of accommodation options and is located around 10-15mins away by train.

Further information on city centre options can be found here: https://visitbirmingham.com/where-to-stay/

Medical assistance

First Aid: Dr Daniel Reynolds (symposiarch) is a qualified first aider.   

Emergency service numbers: 999 or 112

Medical Practice:

The university has its own dedicated GP practitioner for non-emergency care: https://www.theump.co.uk/

UBHeard is a confidential listening and support service for all registered students (undergraduate and postgraduate) at the University of Birmingham. It offers immediate emotional and mental health support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Call the service on 0800 368 5819 (Freephone UK*) or 00353 1 518 0277 (International), or visit the UBHeard portal (create an account with your UoB email address). You can also text ‘Hi’ to +44 74 1836 0780 for SMS & WhatsApp support (standard rates apply) or contact UBHeard via Live Chat.

Security

If there is an immediate risk to life, safety or security – yours, another person’s, or property – call the emergency services on 999. Then call Security on 0121 414 4444. If you are a member of the University of Birmingham, you can also alert them through the SafeZone app.

If you’re calling to report an alleged crime (especially assault/sexual assault, indecency, fraud, theft, or burglary), you should always contact both the police and Security. Security will be able to support you while you wait for the emergency services to arrive.

To report a non-emergency crime (e.g., theft), call Security on 0121 414 3000 or report an incident through the SafeZone app. You should also report the incident to the police online or by calling 101.

 

Food and drink

Lunch and refreshments will be provided for all symposium delegates. However, the campus also has a wide range of options you may prefer to explore: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/community/university-campus/retail/food-fellows/opening-times

 

The Main Library

The University Main Library is open 0800-2000 during university holidays and is open to visitors for consultation. Further information can be found here:  https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/student/libraries/index.aspx

Symposium Feast (Sunday 13 April 1930)

The symposium feast will be held at Kolkata Lounge 1488 Pershore Rd, Bournville, Birmingham B30 2NT.   

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Byzantium from Below: 56th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies – UPDATED PROGRAMME

Byzantium from Below

12th-14th April 2025

Saturday 12th April

0930-0945: Welcome from symposiarch

0945-1030: Keynote: Sharon Gerstel (UCLA), “Seeing villages over time: case studies from rural Greece”

1030-1100: Tea and coffee

Session 1: Documented Lives 

1100-1125: Matthew Kinloch (Oslo), “Non-elite characters in late Byzantine history writing”

1125-1150: Dora Konstantellou (Dumbarton Oaks), “When is a rural painter identified by name? Reading representations of painters in late Byzantine/medieval rural societies”

1150-1200 Milan Vukašinović (Uppsala), “Collective subjectivity in the Athonite archives”

1200-1210 Nikolas Hächler (Zurich), “The Dialogus de scientia politica: an anonymous comment on and critique of the early Byzantine state under Justinian I” (Communication)

1210-1230: Questions

1230-1400:  Lunch

Session 2: Law, Land and Property

1400-1425: Arietta Papaconstantinou (Aix-Marseilles) “Byzantine “tormented voices” from the edge of empire”

1425-1450: Jenny Cromwell (Manchester Metropolitan), “Patrons and property in rural Egypt in the early 8th century”

1450-1500 Franka Horvat (UCLA), “Islanders’ perspective: the case of the Elaphiti Archipelago” (Communication)

1500-1510 Thomas Laver (Cambridge), “Using tax registers to study labour relationships in the villages of Byzantine Egypt”

1510-1530: Questions

1530-1600: Tea and coffee

 

Session 3: Landscape and Settlement

1600-1625: Jim Crow (Edinburgh), “Rural settlement in the Cyclades: excavations at Kato Chora”

1625-1650: Archie Dunn (Birmingham) “From communal corvées to fiscal and communal enterprises in medieval Byzantium”

1650-1715: Sophia Germanidou (Hellenic Ministry of Culture), “Unseen, unheard and disregarded: tracing female labour in the Byzantine countryside through an interdisciplinary approach”

1715-1735: Georgios Makris (British Columbia), “Modest luxury? Rural cemeteries and grave goods in the Valley of Kalamas, Epiros”

1735-1800: Questions

1800-1900: Wine reception

Sunday 13th April 

Session 4: Material Approaches and Labour  

1000-1025: Flavia Vanni (Newcastle), “The contribution of rural artisans to Byzantine sacred spaces (11th-13th centuries)”

1025-1050: Sean Leatherbury (Dublin) “Craft labour and rural communities in the late antique east”

1050-1115: Anna Kelley (St Andrews), “Career opportunities: apprentice contracts and social networking in late antique workshops”

1115-1125: Zeynep Olgun (Cambridge), “Ships in villages: maritime labour in Byzantine society” (Communication)

1125-1135: Questions

1135-1200: Tea and coffee

 

Session 5: Social Life

1200-1225: Sophie Moore (Newcastle) “Title TBC”

1225-1250: Vicky Manopoulou (Durham), “Processing villages: litanic experiences of rural communities in Byzantium”

1250-1300: Rachael Helen Banes (Vienna), “Artisans or amateurs: who wrote the graffiti at late antique Aphrodisias?” (Communication)

1250-1310:  Jacopo Dolci (Nottingham) “A Monument in Transition: The Artemision and the Evolving Urban Landscape of Late Antique Gerasa (c. 350–750)”

1310-1320: Questions

1330-1430 Lunch (SPBS Exec)

1430-1530: Communications

1) Irakli Tezelashvili (Courtauld), “Painted and adorned for the salvation of all of this valley: great and lesser’: Svan Churches of T’evdore, ‘the King’s Painter,’ Revisited”

2) Giuseppe Belsito (independent scholar), “The rural context in the Sicilian Theme (6th-8th centuries AD): an impoverished or a dynamic economic area within the overall Byzantine polity? Contradictory data emerging from recent archaeological excavations in Sicily”

3) Husamettin Simsir (Notre Dame), “Anthroponymic appellations, names, sobriquets, nicknames and titles of mid-15th-century post-Byzantine landholders in the Ottoman Balkans”

4) Nicolas Varaine (Paris), “Ordinary devotion in the late Byzantine world: looking for the modest donors of

Venetian Crete”

5) Bjarke Bach Christensen (Cambridge) New Ostraka Evidence for an Integrated Estate in Sixth-Century Byzantine North Africa

1530-1600: Tea and coffee

 

Session 6: Comparative perspectives

1600- 1630: Chris Wickham (Oxford) “The West’”

1630-1700: Hugh Kennedy (SOAS), “Slavery as a vehicle for social mobility in the early Islamic world”

1700-1730: Questions

1730-1830: Wine reception

1830-1930: Travel to feast

1930: Feast (Kolata Lounge, 1488 Pershore Rd, Bournville, Birmingham B30 2NT)

Monday 14th April

Session 7: Rural Life on Islands and Peripheries

0930-0955: Luca Zavagno (Bilkent), “‘From the gentle coast and where the stream descends from the grove of the river and all the high peaks there’. The countryside of large Byzantine islands in the early Middle Ages”

0955-1020: Basema Harmaneh (Vienna), “On peripheries: exploring the non-elite universe in the late antique Levant”

1020-1045: Angelo Castrorao Barba (Granada), “Living in the Sicilian countryside during the Byzantine-Islamic transition: archaeological perspectives”

1045-1100: Questions

1100-1130: Tea and coffee

1130-1200: AGM

1200-1230:  Closing remarks by Stuart Pracy (Exeter) and Leslie Brubaker (Birmingham)

1230: Closing of the symposium and announcement of the next symposium

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56th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies – Programme

Saturday 12th April

0930-0945: Welcome from symposiarch

0945-1030: Keynote: Sharon Gerstel (UCLA), “Seeing villages over time: case studies from rural Greece”

1030-1100: Tea and coffee

Session 1: Documented Lives 

1100-1125: Matthew Kinloch (Oslo), “Non-elite characters in late Byzantine history writing”

1125-1150: Dora Konstantellou (Dumbarton Oaks), “When is a rural painter identified by name? Reading representations of painters in late Byzantine/medieval rural societies”

1150-1200 Milan Vukašinović (Uppsala), “Collective subjectivity in the Athonite archives”

1200-1210 Nikolas Hächler (Zurich), “The Dialogus de scientia politica: an anonymous comment on and critique of the early Byzantine state under Justinian I” (Communication)

1210-1230: Questions

1230-1400:  Lunch

Session 2: Law, Land and Property

1400-1425: Arietta Papaconstantinou (Aix-Marseilles) “Title TBC”

1425-1450: Jenny Cromwell (Manchester Metropolitan), “Patrons and property in rural Egypt in the early 8th century”

1450-1500 Franka Horvat (UCLA), “Islanders’ perspective: the case of the Elaphiti Archipelago” (Communication)

1500-1510 Thomas Laver (Cambridge), “Using tax registers to study labour relationships in the villages of Byzantine Egypt”

1510-1530: Questions

1530-1600: Tea and coffee

Session 3: Landscape and Settlement 

1600-1625: Jim Crow (Edinburgh), “Rural settlement in the Cyclades: excavations at Kato Chora”

1625-1650: Archie Dunn (Birmingham) “Title TBC”

1650-1715: Sophia Germanidou (Newcastle), “Unseen, unheard and disregarded: tracing female labour in the Byzantine countryside through an interdisciplinary approach”

1715-1735: Georgios Makris (British Columbia), “Modest luxury? Rural cemeteries and grave goods in the Valley of Kalamas, Epiros”

1735-1800: Questions

1800-1900: Wine reception

Sunday 13th April 

Session 4: Material Approaches and Labour  

 1000-1025: Flavia Vanni (Newcastle), “The contribution of rural artisans to Byzantine sacred spaces (11th-13th centuries)”

1025-1050: Sean Leatherbury (Dublin) “Craft labour and rural communities in the late antique east”

1050-1115: Anna Kelley (St Andrews), “Career opportunities: apprentice contracts and social networking in late antique workshops”

1115-1125: Zeynep Olgun (Cambridge), “Ships in villages: maritime labour in Byzantine society” (Communication)

1125-1135: Questions

1135-1200: Tea and coffee

Session 5: Social Life

1200-1225: Sophie Moore (Newcastle) “Title TBC”

1225-1250: Vicky Manopoulou (Durham), “Processing villages: litanic experiences of rural communities in Byzantium”

1250-1300: Rachael Helen Banes (Vienna), “Artisans or amateurs: who wrote the graffiti at late antique Aphrodisias?” (Communication)

1300-1315: Questions

1330-1430 Lunch (SPBS Exec)

1430-1530: Communications

1) Irakli Tezelashvili (Courtauld), “Painted and adorned for the salvation of all of this valley: great and lesser’: Svan Churches of T’evdore, ‘the King’s Painter,’ Revisited”

2) Giuseppe Belsito (independent scholar), “The rural context in the Sicilian Theme (6th-8th centuries AD): an impoverished or a dynamic economic area within the overall Byzantine polity? Contradictory data emerging from recent archaeological excavations in Sicily”

3) Husamettin Simsir (Notre Dame), “Anthroponymic appellations, names, sobriquets, nicknames and titles of mid-15th-century post-Byzantine landholders in the Ottoman Balkans”

4) Nicolas Varaine (Paris), “Ordinary devotion in the late Byzantine world: looking for the modest donors of

Venetian Crete”

1530-1600: Tea and coffee

Session 6: Comparative perspectives

1600- 1630: Chris Wickham (Oxford) “The West’”

1630-1700: Hugh Kennedy (SOAS), “Slavery as a vehicle for social mobility in the early Islamic world”

1700-1730: Questions

1730-1830: Wine reception

1830-1930: Travel to feast

1930: Feast (Kolata Lounge, 1488 Pershore Rd, Bournville, Birmingham B30 2NT)

 

Monday 14th April

Session 7: Rural Life on Islands and Peripheries

0930-0955: Luca Zavagno (Bilkent), “‘From the gentle coast and where the stream descends from the grove of the river and all the high peaks there’. The countryside of large Byzantine islands in the early Middle Ages”

0955-1020: Basema Harmaneh (Vienna), “On peripheries: exploring the non-elite universe in the late antique

Levant”

1020-1045: Angelo Castrorao Barba (Granada), “Living in the Sicilian countryside during the Byzantine-Islamic transition: archaeological perspectives”

1045-1100: Questions

1100-1130: Tea and coffee

1130-1200: AGM

1200-1230:  Closing remarks by Stuart Pracy (Exeter) and Leslie Brubaker (Birmingham)

1230: Closing of the symposium and announcement of the next symposium

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Call for communications: 56th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies at the University of Birmingham

Byzantium from below: rural and non-elite life in the Byzantine world
12th-14th April 2025
Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies
University of Birmingham
Call for communications
 
Abstracts are invited for communications at the 56th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies to be held at the University of Birmingham, UK. Communications are 10-mins long. Communications related to the themes of non-elites, peasants and rural life in the Byzantine world are particularly encouraged. Abstracts should be 250 words in length and are due by Monday 6 January 2025.
Please send abstracts to d.k.reynolds@bham.ac.uk.
Successful applicants will be notified by mid-January 2025.
Symposium abstract
The Byzantine Empire was built on the backs of the rural and urban labour force. From agricultural production and the extraction of raw materials to the physical construction of urban centres and buildings, the strength of the empire’s economy and its imperial administration rested upon complex networks of labourers, artisans and ‘local notables’, across its natural landscapes, in villages, and cities. While huge advances have been made in studying labour processes in recent years, the experiences of such populations within the Byzantine world have received comparatively little attention when compared to other fields of late Roman and western medieval studies. How the Byzantine Empire was experienced and understood by those far removed from its centres of governance and central networks of power, are crucial questions for understanding the lived experience of the mostly silent majority whose lives played out both within, and around, the empire’s fluctuating ‘borders’. Beyond exploring the contribution of rural communities and non-elites to modes of production, this symposium will also explore what can be said of the intricacies of their lives, societies, and what it meant to ‘be Byzantine’, viewed from below.
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Transitions: A Historian’s Memoir

Dear friends,
We would like to invite you to celebrate with us the launch of Transitions: A Historian’s Memoir by Prof Dame Averil Cameron, President of the SPBS.
This event is organised by the Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity.
Discussants: Revd Canon Dr Peter Groves, Prof John Haldon FBA
Date: Tuesday 12th November 2024
Time: 5pm (UK time)
Venue: Levine Auditorium, Trinity College, Oxford