The Byzness, 31st October 2023
Oxford University Byzantine Society
THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY BYZANTINE SOCIETY
The Byzness, 31st October 2023
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1. NEWS AND EVENTS
2. CALLS FOR PAPERS
3.
JOBS AND SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
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1. NEWS AND EVENTS
Event - Du Nouveau sur la Sicile Byzantine, Islamique et Normande
Journée d’étude - Vendredi 24 novembre 2023
Organisée par Annliese Nef et Vivien Prigent (UMR 8167)
Collège de France
3, rue d’Ulm
Salle de Conférence, R. de C.
L’histoire byzantine, islamique et normande de la Sicile a suscité nombre de travaux depuis le XIXe siècle, mais son étude connaît des renouvellements notables depuis deux décennies. La journée d’étude du 24 novembre 2023 vise à mettre en lumière les découvertes les plus
récentes, en grande partie encore inédites, relatives aussi bien à la diplomatique et à la
sigillographie qu’à l’archéologie. Elle met l’accent sur les travaux menés par des chercheurs, chercheurs associés, doctorants et docteurs de l’UMR 8167.
PROGRAMME
9h15 : accueil
9h30-9h45 : Annliese Nef (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), « Introduction »
Des sceaux et des diplômes (présidence Annliese Nef)
9h45-10h15 : Cristina Rognoni (Università di Palermo), Autour du projet ERC Documenting Multiculturalism : coexistence, law and multiculturalism in the administrative and legal documents of Norman and Hohenstaufen Sicily, c. 1060-c. 1266. Un premier bilan des travaux en cours
10h15-10h45 : Giulia Sorrentino (doctorante Università di Palermo), « L’étude de la
chancellerie normande de Sicile : défis et perspectives »
10h45-11h15 : Questions
Pause 11h15-11h45
11h45-12h15 : Vivien Prigent (Ecole française de Rome) « 159 ans après ‘L’appel de
Salinas’, où en est le corpus des sceaux byzantins de Sicile ? »
12h15-12h45 : Guilhem Dorandeu (Ecole française de Rome) « La construction du royaume
normand de Sicile : l’apport des sceaux »
12h45-13h15 : Questions
Buffet
Topographie et archéologie (présidence Jean-Pierre Van Staëvel – Paris 1 Panthéon
Sorbonne)
14h30-15h00 : Elena Pezzini (Museo Regionale archeologico Palermo), « Palermo dopo la
Conquista normanna: questioni aperte »
15h00-15h30 : Lucia Arcifa (Università di Catania), « “Byzantine Heritage of Southern Italy Project” (PRIN 2017) : la frontière arabo-byzantine et la transformation du paysage »
15h30-16h00 : Questions
Pause 16h00-16h30
16h30-17h00 : Michelangelo Messina (post-doctorant Università di Catania), « Pratique et idéologie du ribāṭ au sein de la Méditerranée fatimide : les enjeux du taġr sicilien (Xe-
XIe siècles) »
17h00-17h30 : Viva Sacco, « Les réseaux d’échange en Méditerranée centrale IXe-XIe
siècle : le rôle de Palerme »
17h30-18h00 : Questions
Débat général
Lecture - The Windvane and the Nilometer in Byzantine Art and Texts
The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture is pleased to announce the next lecture in its 2023–2024 lecture series.
Monday, November 6, 2023 | 12:00 PM EST | Zoom
Measuring Weather: The Windvane and the Nilometer in Byzantine Art and Texts
Paroma Chatterjee, University of Michigan
This lecture draws attention to the monumental scientific devices that appear in the Byzantine literary and pictorial tradition. Specifically, it focuses on the windvane (anemodoulion) that stood for centuries in Constantinople before its destruction during the Fourth Crusade (1204 CE), and the Nilometer used for measuring the rising levels of the Nile, and which is depicted in textiles, mosaics, and other media. In considering these objects, the lecture makes the case that bucolic imagery (which we find associated with the windvane and the Nilometer in its visual representations) was deemed most suitable for devices linked to measuring and signaling weather patterns. Finally, the lecture proposes that the bucolic mode was linked to these objects as its conventions articulated the contingency of the relations between humans, non-humans, and nature.
Paroma Chatterjee is Professor of Byzantine and medieval Mediterranean art history at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Advance registration required at https://maryjahariscenter.org/events/lecture-by-measuring-weather
Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjc...@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture with any questions.
Intensive Introductory Workshop in the Palaeosciences for Pre-Modernists
Monday 15th – Thursday 25th January 2024
Led by Ed Cook (Columbia), Warren Eastwood and Chris Bradley (Birmingham University/UK), John Haldon, and Lee Mordechai (Princeton)
A series of 16 x 3-hour sessions over 8 days with a final day for reflection and discussion.
This entry-level workshop will introduce participants from the fields of history and archaeology to the palaeoecological sciences and their relevance to historical and archaeological research. Beginning with an overview of palaeoecology, how it works and how it can be used, the program will offer surveys of key ecological sciences, involving the study of stable isotopes and sedimentary geochemistry; speleothems, ice cores and tree-rings; palynology and dendroclimatology; C14 dating, multi-proxy data, and more. The focus will be on the reconstruction of pre-instrumental climate, vegetation, and land cover.
In particular, the program will explain how such proxies are interpreted, the conceptual basis for the reconstructions derived from them, and the assumptions, uncertainties, and statistical methods for data transformation that accompany their use. While we will focus on the Mediterranean Basin as a case study, examples will also be drawn on from other world regions, including temperate Europe and North America.
• An intensive 9-day workshop
• Entry-level: no previous knowledge of the subject required
• Geared towards younger scholars (junior faculty members and graduate students, although undergraduates may also be admitted)
• For scholars in the humanities and social sciences
Seminars will convene in Scheide Caldwell House and in Guyot Hall.
There will be some preparatory reading - a very short bibliography will be issued nearer the time!
Application Process and Deadlines:
Limited places are available. Those interested should submit a statement of interest (<200 words), including their current position/program, to John Haldon (jha...@princeton.edu) by November 15th 2023, with the subject line “Application for Palaeoscience Workshop.” Successful applicants will be notified by 1 December 2023. Workshop attendance is free and lunch provided, but nonPrinceton attendees must cover their own travel and accommodation costs (although CCHRI can arrange accommodation if requested).
Additional Information:
The workshop is open in the first instance to Princeton graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and junior faculty, with a limited number of places for non-Princeton researchers. Undergraduates may be admitted depending on availability of places. Coffee and lunches will be provided.
Organized by John Haldon, Lee Mordechai and Tim Newfield
For more information about CCHRI: https://cchri.princeton.edu
Last Issue of Archaeologia Bulgarica for 2023
The last issue of Archaeologia Bulgarica (Scopus Q2) for 2023 has been
published.
Its contents:
Popova, M. / Parvanov, S.: Ceramic Assemblage from the Beginning of the
Late Eneolithic from Tell Poroy,
Municipality of Pomorie...1
Klenina, E. / Moisieiev, D.: Byzantine Roof Tiles from Chersonesos
(Crimea, Ukraine):
A techno-morphological approach...43
Charalampakis, P.: A Byzantine lead seal depicting Christ Philanthropos
found near Sozopol, Bulgaria...71
Garbov, D. / Prahov, N. / Hristov, I. / Batchvarov, K.: The Carronades
from Ezerets:
Archaeology and Conservation of an Underwater Chance-Find from the
Northern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast...87
More info at:
https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.archaeologia-bulgarica.com%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cbyzans-l%40po.missouri.edu%7Cc17a0169233b4443d91408dbd5693191%7Ce3fefdbef7e9401ba51a355e01b05a89%7C0%7C0%7C638338421767226716%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=zjU6Pffpy0Vjw8so3WrqQQlRuEES97C%2Fug0vk%2BxHfVc%3D&reserved=0
2. CALLS FOR PAPERS
Conference - 'How Rebellion Ends' in the Late Antique and Early Islamic World, by SCORE at Hamburg
The SCORE research team at Hamburg is delighted to announce the CfP for its second conference, which will take place at the University of Hamburg (Germany) on 12-13 September 2024! The conference theme is 'How Rebellion Ends', and it aims to bring together scholars of late antique and early Islamicate societies for a fruitful interdisciplinary engagement with (shared?) cultures of conflict resolution.
Interested parties should submit an abstract (300 words) and a short biography to hannah-len...@uni-hamburg.de by 15 December 2023. They welcome submissions from established as well as junior scholars, advanced PhD students, and independent researchers. Travel and accommodation will be covered.
You can find all the details, including a broad range of research questions they hope to address over the course of the conference, in the CfP on its website: https://www.aai.uni-hamburg.de/voror/forschung/score/news/conferences/conference-2024.html.
Conference - Being Human: Rhythms, Actions, Inter-actions in the Medieval Mediterranean
The Eighth International Conference of the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean (SMM)
24-27 June 2024, Edinburgh
Being Human: Rhythms, Actions, Inter-actions in the Medieval Mediterranean
www.societymedievalmediterranean.com/2024-edinburgh
Call for Panels & Papers
Deadline: 14 January 2024
The theme of the Eighth International Conference of the Society for the Medieval
Mediterranean (SMM) is ‘Being Human: Rhythms, Actions, Inter-actions in the Medieval
Mediterranean’. Scholars are invited to explore the ‘human’ histories of the Mediterranean,
especially the multifaceted interactions which took place in and around the sea from
quotidian and cross-cultural perspectives. Attention will be paid to the rhythmic and
cyclical nature of human activity in the Mediterranean and in the maritime cities and towns
surrounding it.
We invite papers that examine the theme from different disciplinary perspectives, including
History, Archaeology, Literature, Linguistics, Art History, Religious Studies/Theology, among others. We welcome research papers that, through the analysis of diverse types of sources, apply innovative approaches and stimulate debates that will enhance our understanding of individual and collective perceptions and experiences of human interactions in and across the medieval Mediterranean.
Topics of the conference could include, but are by no means limited to:
- Cross-cultural contacts, interactions, assimilation and/or conflicts
- Rhythms of activity, e.g., sailing seasons, fishing and farming, markets, and the impact of
- natural conditions
- Religious interactions, e.g., of pilgrims, missionaries, travellers and scholars
- Diplomatic interactions, e.g., of emissaries, translators and merchants
- Daily interactions, e.g., love, sex, marriage, family, friends and neighbours
- Military interactions, e.g. of mercenaries and crusaders
- Interactions between peoples of the Mediterranean and the wider world
- Slavery, liberty and captivity
- Pirates, renegades and rule-breakers
- Migration, movement and settlement
- Material evidence of exchange and interactions
- Construction and/or deconstruction of ‘identities’
- Narrative, visual and materials depictions of the everyday and the commonplace
for 1.5 hour sessions, and should nominate a chair. We will do our best to accommodate
applications for individual papers but panels will be prioritised.
Language:
Papers will be delivered in English. However, panel chairs will be allowed to
accept discussions in any other language, while guaranteeing, if needed, translation into
English.
Deadline:
Panel proposals, in the form of a session title, session abstract (150–200 words), and 3 paper titles with short abstracts (100–150 words) as well as the name of a nominated chair where there is a preference should be submitted to socmed...@gmail.com by 14
January 2024.
Paper proposals, in the form of a paper title and short abstract (100–150 words) should be
submitted to socmed...@gmail.com by 14 January 2024.
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World Conference
The ISAW Student Council invites submissions for the inaugural session of a graduate conference series ‘I Saw the Future of the Past.’ This first conference, to be held in March 2024, is titled ‘Encountering the Past: Reflections on an Interdisciplinary Ancient World.’ The study of the human past takes many forms, from close readings of texts to visual analysis to archaeological excavation. Traditional disciplinary boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred, however, opening up new questions and offering a greater appreciation for the interconnectedness, diversity, and complexity of people living in ancient societies—not to mention how we engage with representation and other forms and styles of academic writing. In this spirit, this conference aims to bring together the next generation of scholars of the ancient world for a dialogue about how and why we study the past.
Effective papers should build on students’ existing research and engage with specific examples or case studies from antiquity to meditate on broader interdisciplinary questions including, but not limited to, the following themes:
● Individual and collaborative research spanning geographic and temporal boundaries
● Cross-cultural transmission of materials and ideas
● Comparative studies of ancient societies and/or ancient and modern societies
● Receptions and appropriations of the ancient past
● Narrativity and modes of representation in writing
● Teaching and pedagogy
● Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in studying the ancient world
The conference will be hosted in person at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, in New York City. Responses to the graduate papers will be offered by ISAW Visiting Research Scholars and Visiting Assistant Professors. Presenters will also have the opportunity to publish their paper as part of an edited collection through ISAW Papers.
Submissions are open to graduate students at any level. Each presenter will have 20 minutes to speak. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words. Please email your submissions as PDFs to isawstuden...@gmail.com by December 20th, 2023.
Conference - Character Construction in Byzantium
Prague 12 – 13 September 2024
Institute of Slavonic Studies, Czech Academy of Sciences
Organizers: Markéta Kulhánková, Florin Leonte, Petra Melichar
The presentation of characters emerges as a multifaceted complex of literary devices, reflections of gender, power dynamics, and social norms of the period during which a text was produced. When delving into the characters that populate Byzantine texts, we notice a predominance of elite male characters who are overrepresented at the expense of other individuals. As early as in 1998, Elizabeth A. Clark noted that the voices of "real women" remain elusive in premodern literary works. This observation can be extended to other social groups, including non-elite and non-binary individuals, such as peasants, servants, eunuchs, disabled persons, and eventually even the members of the Byzantine elite. Subsequently, if we cannot hear the real people, can the characters supply any insights into the Byzantine society and culture? Whose voices do actually speak? These questions and considerations lie at the core of our research project, which focuses on female characters in the late Byzantine literature. To foster a more focused scholarly debate, we invite researchers to present papers addressing various facets of character construction in Byzantine texts. We encourage a cross-generic approach, examining both the "factual" characters of historiographic genres and the "fictional" characters of hagiography and verse
narratives, and also aim at scrutinizing both major and minor characters in narrative literature as well as narrative sections of non-narrative genres. We wish to explore the representation of gender and of marginalized characters but also invite papers that focus on the relations between individuals and the environment.
We welcome presentations exploring (but not restricted to) the following topics:
• The construction of major and minor characters in Byzantine literature• Techniques and devices producing gender in texts• Processes of categorization and individuation• The connection of character construction with other narrative categories such as space and time• The relation between characters and audiences• The intersectionalities of gender and class in character representation
Paper proposals of no more than 300 words are due by 1 April 2024. Please include a brief biographical statement along with your submission. Questions and proposals should be sent to kulha...@slu.cas.cz.
Authors will be notified of acceptance by 1 May 2024.
Conference - Paratexts in Premodern Writing Culture (Ghent)
The Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams project (accessible at http://www.projectdbbe.ugent.be) will organise a conference on “Paratexts in Premodern Writing Cultures”, which will take place in-person at Ghent from Monday 24 - Tuesday 25 June 2024.
The study of paratexts has become increasingly crucial to the understanding of premodern book culture. The growing scholarly attention to the historical and cultural significance of the material features of textual supports has led to a keen interest in these texts that according to Genette’s definition are situated on the threshold between the extratextual and the textual. They can be studied as unique vectors of knowledge, as testimonies to a history of reading, and as indications for spiritual, cultural, and economic motivations behind book production and consumption.
Since its inception in 2010, the DBBE project has aimed to collect Byzantine book epigrams (or: metrical paratexts) in an open-access online database, conceived and developed with an interdisciplinary approach. Book epigrams, in the Byzantine Greek tradition, are poems that provide us with more information about the books they are written in. In many of these poems, scribes, patrons, and book owners reveal their presence and feelings, by means of colophons, prayers, and dedicatory epigrams. Book epigrams may also comment on the texts transmitted in the manuscripts and their authors, or on the miniatures that appear in books. In other book epigrams the readers are addressed and involved in an imaginary dialogue with the scribe or with the book itself. The paratextual dimension of book epigrams turns out to be a fascinating aspect that connects book culture with broader historical questions.
With this conference scholars will be brought together who are engaged in the exploration of premodern paratexts transmitted in a variety of languages (such as Arabic, Armenian, Greek, Coptic, Hebrew, Latin, Slavonic, Syriac). The aim of the event is to discuss the nature of paratextuality in medieval manuscripts, to reveal similarities and peculiarities of paratexts across language borders, and to understand the broader cultural and historical ramifications of paratexts. The DBBE project are interested both in the textual evidence of medieval paratexts and in their material transmission.
A crucial aspect of the DBBE project has been its commitment to the development of innovative digital tools. In tandem with the thematic conference, a workshop will take place (on Wednesday 26 June 2024) where computational approaches to the study of premodern languages are discussed. This workshop aims to stimulate an exchange of technical knowledge and good practices and to address the challenges of interoperability and sustainability. More information on this workshop (and a call for papers) will follow in due course.
Proposals are invited both for 20-minute papers, and for poster pitches (5-10 minutes).
Possible topics may include, but are not limited to, any of the following:
· Theoretical elaborations on the concept and definitions of paratext. Genette’s framework includes the concept of paratext as the general term for referring both to peritexts (elements within a book), and epitexts (elements outside of a book). However, Genette’s terminology avowedly applies only to the age of the printed book. When applying the concept of “paratext” to manuscript culture, crucial parameters change which alter its essence. Our corpus of book epigrams, for example, rather corresponds to the definition of “peritext”. Hence, which theoretical and terminological frameworks can we adopt to better understand extratextual elements typical of premodern writing cultures?
· New evidence. Which corpora of paratexts are still unexplored and worth being delved into and edited?
· Texts and objects. How are paratexts displayed? To which extent can they supersede the appearance of the main text, being more visible and evident on the material support they appear?
· Methodological elaborations that can be interesting from an intercultural or cross-language perspective. How is similar content (e.g., personal information on scribes, the physical labor of writing, indications of dating, reference to the length of the main text) expressed in different traditions? Which features of paratexts are common to any premodern writing culture, and which are cultural idiosyncrasies?
· Formal features of paratexts. How does the metrical status of paratexts impact their visual or literary status? How is their language different from that of the main text? How can we approach the formulaic nature of many paratexts?
Please submit a title and a short abstract (approx. 300 words excluding references) of your paper to db...@ugent.be (subject “Paratexts – abstract”) no later than Wednesday 15 November 2023.
Abstracts should be attached as a PDF file named with the name of the presenters. Full names of the speakers, contact details and affiliation should be clearly written on top of the text. Please indicate whether you want to participate with either a paper or a poster pitch. Accepted speakers will be notified by mid-December.
Please reach out at db...@ugent.be for any enquiries.
3. JOBS AND SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Deadline: January 15, 2024
The Gennadius Library offers the Cotsen Traveling Fellowship, a short-term grant awarded each year to Ph.D. holders or graduate students pursuing research topics that require the use of the Gennadeion collections.
Terms: Stipend of $2,000. School fees are waived for a maximum of two months. The fellowship stipend can be used to cover travel costs, housing, board, residence permits (if applicable), and other living expenses. The fellowship requires residency in Athens of at least one month during the academic year from September 1 to June 1. The recipient is expected to take part in the activities of the Gennadius Library and the School as a whole in addition to pursuing research. A final report is due at the end of the award period, and the ASCSA expects that copies of all publications resulting from research conducted as a Fellow of the ASCSA be contributed to the Gennadius Library.
Application: Submit an online application. The application includes a curriculum vitae; and a project description (up to 750 words) explaining the project and its specific relationship to the Gennadius Library or its collections, proposed dates, and a brief budget (not more than one page). Applicants should arrange for submission of two letters of recommendation by the application deadline.
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Alexander Sherborne
DPhil Candidate, Faculty of History
President, Oxford University Byzantine Society
http://oxfordbyzantinesociety.wordpress.com