The Byzness, 2nd March 2025
Oxford University Byzantine Society
THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY BYZANTINE SOCIETY
The Byzness, 2nd March 2025
====
1.
NEWS AND EVENTS
2. CALLS FOR PAPERS
3. JOBS AND SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
====
1. NEWS AND EVENTS
People and Powers: Rome, Persia, and Armenia in the Fifth Century, University of Lille & online, 31/03/2025
Workshop, 31/03/2025, University of Lille & online
Campus Pont-de-Bois, Bat. E 1.51
To get the zoom link, please register here: https://forms.gle/y2N9GBratYUQkn5t7
Programme
Organizer: Ekaterina Nechaeva
Respondent: Geoffrey Greatrex
10:15 Welcome
10:30 Daniel Alford (Université de Lille), Kings, Wives, and Put-Upon Priests: Exerting Sasanian royal control in the fifth century Caucasus
11:15 Giusto Traina (Sorbonne Université), The tractus Armeniae before and after 428 CE: a New Reading of Nov. Theod. V, 3
12:00 Lunch
13:45 Khodadad Rezakhani (Universiteit Leiden), Ērān or Anērān?: Sasanian Center and Its Peripheries in the Late Fourth and Early Fifth Centuries
14:30 Ekaterina Nechaeva (Université de Lille), Alamundarus, Anatolius, Areobindus, Ardaburius, Ardazanes, and Aspebetus: A Military Prosopography of the Conflict of 421
15:15 Coffee break
15:45 Michael David Ethington (Université de Lille), Merchants and Craftsmen, Bishops and Apostates: Christian Identities in Persia and the Perceptions of Captivity surrounding the Conflict of 421
16:30 Anna Usacheva (Université de Lille), The Educational-Ecclesiastic Missions and Networking between the Roman Osrohene and Sasanian Armenia in the First Half of the Fifth Century
17:15 Ani Honarchian (Saint Louis University), Bad Seeds and Sacred Fires: Religious Defiance and Imperial Contamination in Fifth Century Armenia
18:00 Discussion
See for further details: https://ex-patria.univ-lille.fr/news/workshop-people-and-powers-rome-persia-and-armenia-in-the-fifth-century
“Popes and Emperors in Late Antiquity: New Perspectives on the Collectio Avellana” – Round Table
The Università Cattolica del S. Cuore of Milan will host a Round table entitled: “Popes and Emperors in Late Antiquity: New Perspectives on the Collectio Avellana” (“Papi e imperatori nella Tarda Antichità: nuove prospettive di ricerca sulla Collectio Avellana”).
Speakers include Milena Raimondi (Università Cattolica); Alexander W. H. Evers (PhD Oxford), Rita Lizzi Testa (Università degli Studi di Perugia-Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei), Mar Marcos (Universidad de Cantabria)
The Round table will take place on Wednesday, 19 March 2025 at 14:00 (CET) in “Cripta dell’Aula Magna” (Università Cattolica, Largo A. Gemelli, 1, Milan).
Remote attenders can join the Round table at the following link here.
Online Lecture: Luxury for All? Jewelry and People in the East Roman Empire
The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture is
pleased to announce the next lecture in our 2024–2025 lecture series.
Luxury for All? Jewelry and People in the East Roman Empire
Georgios Makris, University of British Columbia
March 11, 2025 | 12:00 PM (EDT, UTC -4) | Zoom
Valued for its beauty, intricate production processes, and often the precious
raw materials it contained, jewelry had a ubiquitous presence in the East Roman
Empire. As the quintessential accessory, jewelry was an essential element of
official (and sometimes non-official) attire throughout the Middle Ages. Though
the medium still sits at the margins of the history of medieval art, especially
in comparison to other forms of portable material culture, recent specialist
scholarship has stepped outside the world’s museum galleries to consider how
jewelry items were treated in the global medieval world as objects of sale,
trade, and diplomatic exchange. Due to jewelry’s historical affiliation with
luxury and elite culture, the question of whether and how jewelry mattered for
the people of underprivileged socioeconomic backgrounds across the empire
remains open.
This talk will examine the reasons behind jewelry’s identification as an elite
category of artefact and discuss jewelry made for and used by non-elites far
from the metropolis of the empire. It will draw on finds from excavated
cemeteries in mainland Greece. Ultimately, the aim is to initiate a discussion
about taste and access to trade routes by the ordinary people, who formed the
majority of the population.
Georgios Makris is Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of
British Columbia. He specializes in Byzantine art and archaeology, placing
particular emphasis on monastic landscapes and material culture.
Advance registration required. Register: https://maryjahariscenter.org/events/luxury-for-all
Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjc...@hchc.edu),
Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture, with any
questions.
2. CALLS FOR PAPERS
25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies: Byzantium beyond Byzantium
The Austrian Committee of Byzantine Studies is delighted to inform you that the website of the 25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies has now been launched. Please visit us at www.icbs2026.org.
At the same time, the Call for Free Communications and Posters has now been opened. Please provide the members of your committee with the following news. You may also distribute them via other channels, including social media.
Call for Free Communications and Posters
If you would like to present your work at the ICBS 2026, you are invited to submit an abstract for Free Communications and Posters by April 30, 2025, via https://www.icbs2026.org/congress/abstract-submission/.
Please note that Plenary Sessions, Round Tables, and Thematic Sessions have already been scheduled. If you contribute to any of these formats, you do not need to upload your abstract now.
Proposals for Free Communications may be submitted as individual papers or group sessions.
Submissions for Single Papers and Posters must include the following information:
∙ name of the speaker
∙ paper title
∙ abstract (maximum 300 words)
∙ up to five keywords
Posters accepted will be presented in printed form at the International Congress of Byzantine Studies, but also in digital form via the Congress Website (ahead and after the event). Details for format and layout will be provided when a poster proposal has been accepted.
Group submissions should consist of 4–6 speakers from at least two different countries. The following information is required:
∙ name of the convener
∙ session title
∙ names of the speakers and titles of their contributions
∙ abstract (maximum 300 words)
∙ up to five keywords
Languages: You can submit your abstract in English, French, German, Italian, or Modern Greek.
Abstracts of all accepted contributions will be published on the website.
3. JOBS AND SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Post Doc Material Religion, Networks and Power at the University of Bergen (4 years, 100%)
The Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion (AHKR) at the University of Bergen (Norway) invites applications for a four-year fully-funded post-doc position in ancient material religion or religion of place with a focus on power, networks and sacrality in antiquity.
The successful applicant will join the research group ‘the Ancient World’ at the University of Bergen, a multidisciplinary group that unites different strands of scholarship connected to the ancient world.
Information about the position and the application process can be found at Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Ancient Studies at the University of Bergen (275792) | University of Bergen
The deadline for the applications is the 17th of March.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the research group leaders, dr. Marijn Visscher (margrete...@uib.no) (history), dr. Christian Bull (christi...@uib.no) (religion), or prof. Simon Malmberg (simon.m...@uib.no) (archaeology) or the director of the department, prof. Teemu Ryymin (teemu....@uib.no).
Visiting Fellowship opportunity to study Byzantine-Slavonic Literature at KU Leuven
4-6 weeks, non-stipendiary, accommodation provided, travel expenses covered
KU Leuven Special Collections are home to the academic heritage of Francis Thomson (1935–2021), an internationally renowned Slavist who initiated a rapprochement between the scholarly paradigms of Slavonic and Byzantine studies. Next to substantial parts of his library and archive, Special Collections contain Thomson’s Cartotheca: a card index of almost 100,000 items on Slavonic translation literature, legendary among Slavists and Byzantinists because of its completeness and range. The digital publication and study of the Cartotheca is the subject of ongoing funded research at the Leuven Department of Greek Studies. More information on this project and a digital publication of the Hagiography section of the Cartotheca can be found here (https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/grieks/thomson).
KU Leuven Libraries and the research institute LECTIO offer a visiting fellowship with which a scholar can carry out research on the Cartotheca on site in Leuven and to be involved in the WEAVE research project just mentioned. Next to the institutional and financial benefits offered by the fellowship program, the successful candidate will have the academic support of Lara Sels and Reinhart Ceulemans, the PIs of the project.
The non-stipendiary fellowship takes the form of a research stay of 4–6 weeks at KU Leuven. It includes reimbursement of travel expenses (up to € 500, accommodation in Leuven for the entire period of stay, access to university facilities, shared office space and affiliations with LECTIO and the Department of Greek Studies. ECRs in particular are encouraged to apply.
For the full call, see https://www.kuleuven.be/lectio/visiting-fellowship-program/lectio-ku-leuven-special-collections-visiting.pdf. The application deadline is 16 March 2025.
Interested scholars should contact lara...@kuleuven.be or reinhart....@kuleuven.be before preparing their application.
Call for Expression of Interest: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship in Byzantine Studies
Full Announcement here: https://www.euraxess.cz/jobs/hosting/msca-pf-offer-department-history-supervisor-dr-florin-leonte-faculty-arts-palacky
The Department of History, Palacký University of Olomouc (Czech Republic), welcomes expressions of interest from researchers who intend to apply to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme 2025 (MSCA-Postdoctoral Fellowship) in the field of Byzantine Studies. Selected candidates will be offered administrative and academic support from our staff with regard to the proposal development.
Preferred Research Topics from Byzantine Studies: intellectual traditions, political and social history, literature, manuscript studies, education, gender, and digital humanities.
Candidate Requirements:
- PhD no longer than 8 years (by 9/2025) in Byzantine studies, history, medieval studies, classics or a related field.
- Previous residence in the Czech Republic no longer than 12 months in the last 3 years.
Submit the following to florin...@upol.cz by 21.3.2025:
- a research outline (including research objectives, novelty, state of the art and references)
- CV including 5 most important publications of the 5 last years.
Call for Applications: 2025-2026 Hellenic Research Fellowship Program
Thanks to generous ongoing funding, the university library is pleased to offer the continuation of the Hellenic Research Fellowship Program (HRFP) for a 13th year. The HRFP, the only residential fellowship program west of the Mississippi in Hellenic studies, provides opportunities for visiting scholars and writers-in-residence to spend time in Sacramento, CA, conducting research and crafting their creative works using the resources of the Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection. The HRFP provides a limited number of fellowships in the form of reimbursement to help offset transportation and living expenses incurred in connection with the awards. The fellowship application deadline is April 11, 2025. No late applications will be considered. See below for full program information and application instructions.
Consisting of the holdings of the former Speros Basil Vryonis Center for the Study of Hellenism, the Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection, part of the Donald & Beverly Gerth Special Collections and University Archives, is a research collection of international significance for the campus and Sacramento regional communities, as well as for scholars around the globe. Currently numbering over 83,000 volumes and 500 linear feet of personal papers and institutional archives, it comprises a large circulating book collection, journal holdings, electronic resources, non-print media, rare books, archival materials, art, and artifacts. With its focus on the Hellenic world, the collection contains materials from antiquity to the present across the social sciences and humanities relating to Greece, its neighboring countries, and the surrounding region. There is a broad representation of languages in the collection, with a rich assortment of primary source materials. For further information about the Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection, visit https://library.csus.edu/tsakopoulos.
For the full Hellenic Research Fellowship Program description, application instructions, and list of previous fellows, see: https://library.csus.edu/tsakopoulos-hellenic-collection/hrfp. Questions about the Program can be directed to George I. Paganelis, Curator, Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection (paga...@csus.edu).
-----------------
Alexander Johnston
MPhil in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies
President, Oxford University Byzantine Society
http://oxfordbyzantinesociety.wordpress.com