Blood in Byzantium
University of Cambridge, 30 March-1 April 2019
In 2019, the Symposium will be returning to Cambridge for the first time since 1990. The theme which has been chosen is ‘Blood in Byzantium’. This theme will facilitate inter-disciplinary discussion of research and ideas embracing Byzantine religion, art history, military history, social history, and law, as well Byzantine medicine and philosophy, drawing upon the extensive theoretical and historical literature that has emerged on the body, blood, and medicine in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, but which has yet to be systematically applied to Byzantium and its neighbours. Sessions will be arranged around the themes of ‘The Blood of Christ’; ‘The Blood of the Martyrs’; ‘Blood, Dynasty and Kinship’; ‘Bloodshed’; and ‘Blood in Medicine, Philosophy and Art’.
The main sessions of the conference will be held at Churchill College, with a reception and dinner at Trinity College.
Confirmed speakers include Claudia Rapp, Jane Baun, Phil Booth, Ioannis Pappadogiannakis, Stavroula Constantinou, Anne Alwis, Elena Draghici-Vasilescu, Caroline Goodson, Philip Wood, Nick Evans, Ruth Macrides, Andrew Marsham, Peter Frankopan, Alexandra Vukovich, Teresa Shawcross, Theodora Antonopoulou, Mike Humphreys, Maroula Perisnadi, Yannis Stouraitis, Petros Bouras-Vallianatos, Rebecca Flemming and Barbara Zipser.
Practical Information
Symposium Website
A dedicated site is now available: https://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/research/conferences/blood-in-byzantium.
Please keep checking the website periodically: further information will be added in due course, and continuously updated. The complete programme will be available in January 2019.
Contact
If you have any queries, please contact Peter Sarris (pavs2@cam.ac.uk)
Registration
A link to register for the 52nd Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies will be available on the website.
Venue
The conference sessions will take place in the designated conference centre at Churchill College (https://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/) which has excellent transport connections and parking for cars, and is within walking distance of the city centre.
Travel
Train tickets can be purchased online and collected at any UK train station from https://www.thetrainline.com/. Cambridge is connected to London via fast trains that run via King’s Cross/St. Pancras and a slower train that runs via Liverpool Street. The closest airport is London Stansted but there are also good transport connections via London to Heathrow, Gatwick, and London Luton Airports. Within Cambridge, Churchill College is served via the X5 and Citi4 Bus (see www.chu.cam.ac.uk/about/visit-us/find-us). A highly reliable taxi service is provided by Panther Taxis (01223 715715). For further details of transport connections, see www.visitcambridge.org.
Places to Stay
Accommodation is available on a first-come first-served basis at Churchill College (www.chu.cam.ac.uk/conferences). Alternatively, details of other options are available at www.visitcambridge.org.
Places to Eat
Cambridge is home to many excellent (and inexpensive) restaurants. A list of suggested eateries will be included in the delegate pack.