The Byzness, 10th May 2026
Oxford University Byzantine Society
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THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY BYZANTINE SOCIETY
The Byzness, 10th May 2026
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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
Dear all,
Happy third week! There isn’t too much to report on from the OUBS side, other than to remind any student members thinking about running for Committee positions to send in their manifestos by May 25th!
Hopefully everyone is enjoying this mostly lovely weather!
Remember to follow us on our socials.
Instagram: @oxbyzsoc
Bluesky: @oxunibyzantinesoc.bsky.social
X/Twitter: @oxbyz (if you do follow us on X, we are transitioning over to Bluesky, so please do follow us there in the first instance)
All my best,
Madeleine.
For those wishing to submit an event, call for papers, job or scholarship opportunity to the Byzness please send details to the committee at byzantin...@gmail.com indicating the relevant list for The Byzness our external to Oxford and year-round newsletter or The Byzantine Lists our Oxford-centered events and circulated only in term-time. Please keep listing brief and include all relevant information in the body of the notice. Outside of exceptional circumstances, we only share events once.
Workshop: Late Antique Astronomical Sciences in Medieval Compendia
UCL (Bloomsbury Campus)
June 10th 2026, 9am-6pm
This workshop examines the methodological tools through which astronomical, astrological, and calendrical texts in medieval sources can be identified as late antique. It discusses the significance of their preservation in the medieval compendia that constitute their principal text witnesses. It considers what manuscripts reveal about the formation of scientific corpora in late Antiquity, and examines the processes that facilitated the transmission of this material in the medieval period.
Programme
9am: Registration and coffee
Session 1
9:30am: Valentina Calzolari Bouvier (University of Geneva) – The introduction of the liberal arts in Armenia and their transmission in medieval Armenian manuscript collections
10:15am: Stephanie Pambakian (UCL) - The World in a Codex: Astronomy and natural philosophy in Armenian manuscripts
11:00am: Discussion
11:45am: Coffee/tea break
Session 2
12pm: Christine Roughan (Princeton University) – Diverging echoes of a late antique astronomical curriculum in medieval Greek and Arabic manuscripts
12:45pm: Discussion
1pm: Lunch (kosher lunch provided)
Session 3
2pm: Abigail Pearson (UCL) Dating the Chronicon in a late medieval Syriac manuscript: Astronomical and lexical analysis
2:45pm: Emilie Villey (CNRS) – Dating a Late Antique Syriac Astronomical Text
3:30pm: Discussion
4:15pm: Coffee/tea break
Session 4
4:30pm: Nadia Vidro and Sacha Stern (UCL) Early astronomical texts in Cairo Genizah compilations
5:15pm: Discussion
5:30pm: Final comments
Conference: “Voices from the Ambo: Homiletic Discourse in Byzantium and Beyond” (Bucharest, 27 November 2026)
The international conference “Voices from the Ambo: Homiletic Discourse in Byzantium and Beyond” (Bucharest, 27 November 2026) brings together leading and early-career scholars to explore Byzantine and post-Byzantine homiletic literature. The papers examine a wide range of sermon collections and authors, including Theodore the Stoudite, Germanos II, Neilos Kerameus, Isidore Glabas, Makarios Chrysokephalos, Antonios of Larissa, Nicetas Myrsiniotes (Neilos II of Rhodes), Damaskinos the Studite, and Elias Miniatis, with a focus on their composition, transmission, and historical contexts. Part of an ongoing collaborative research agenda, the conference contributes to a broader reassessment of the role of preaching in Byzantine culture and beyond.
The keynote lecture will be delivered by Professor Antonio Rigo (President of the International Association of Byzantine Studies).
Venue: Library of the Holy Synod (Antim Monastery), Bucharest
Date: 27 November 2026
Further information: https://srsb.ro/events, https://www.facebook.com/srsbyzantium.ro
Contact: mihail...@yahoo.com
Online Summer Languages at U.Tennessee
UT-Knoxville is happy to be able to offer Beginning Syriac and Intermediate Syriac online this summer with the amazing George Kiraz for only $500 thanks to generous donors (free for UT-affiliated): https://marco.utk.edu/summerlanguages/
Conference: Transmitting and Preserving Languages in the Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean. Second Workshop.
Thursday 4 June 2026.
Balliol College, Gillis Lecture Theatre, 9:00am–5pm.
This one-day workshop explores how and why languages were taught, learned, and sustained across the diverse and shifting socio-cultural landscapes of the late medieval and early modern Mediterranean. Integrating history with literary studies and historical sociolinguistics and adopting a comparative and cross-disciplinary perspective, the workshop aims to identify shared trends, comparable elements, and distinctive features in language learning and transmission. This approach offers a renewed perspective on the interconnected Mediterranean world—a region where multilingualism, mobility, and intercultural exchange were and are central to daily life. The impact of these dynamics on language teaching, preservation, and use has often been underestimated.
The event will include dedicated time for discussion and reflection, allowing participants to engage in a broader conversation about language and cultural transmission. At its core, the workshop presents the medieval and early modern Mediterranean as a space of teaching, learning, and multilingual exchange.
Convenors: Daniel Gallaher and Ugo Mondini
Speakers: Marina Bazzani (University of Oxford); Valentina Calzolari (University of Geneva); Benedetta Contin (Austrian Academy of Sciences); Andrea Cuomo (Ghent University); Karen Hamada (University of Tokyo); Anthony Kaldellis (University of Chicago); Markéta Kulhánková (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic).
Chairs: Stratis Papaioannou, Alice Rio, and Theo Maarten van Lint.
To register for online attendance, please contact Ugo Mondini at ugo. mondini@ mod- langs. ox. ac. uk
This event is co-sponsored by the Balliol Interdisciplinary Institute (BII), the John Fell Fund (TORCH Network Poetry in the Medieval World), the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), the Modern Greek Studies Association (MGSA), and the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research (OCBR).
Transmitting and Preserving Languages in the Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean. Exhibition and Manuscript Workshop.
Friday, 5th June 2026.
Weston Library, Horton Room, 9:00–11:00 am.
Exhibition and workshop on Greek and Armenian Manuscripts from the Bodleian Libraries.
Organisers: Nina Sietis (University of Cassino and Southern Lazio) and David Zakarian (California State University, Fresno), in collaboration with: Nicholas Kontovas, Péter Toth (Bodleian Libraries), Ugo Mondini and Daniel Gallaher
Due to limited capacity, advance registration is required to the manuscript exhibition at the Weston Library. Places will be allocated in order of registration, with priority given to the students and staff of the University of Oxford. The manuscript workshop is co-sponsored by the JFF Project Euripides Byzantinus.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL IN OSTIA
The Constantinian Episcopal Church of Ostia: Structure - Development -Context
7 September – 9 October 2026
Join us for the fourth excavation campaign of the Episcopal Church Complex in Ostia, taking place in autumn 2026. This church complex is of exceptional significance, as it represents one of the earliest episcopal churches, built under Constantine in the 4th century and preserves the only archaeologically attested episcopal palace. The site is also remarkable for its earlier history: the church was constructed on top of an older Hadrianic insula, whose razed walls were reused for the church’s foundations. It also borders the original Republican city wall of Ostia. The excavation therefore aims not only to investigate the Episcopal Church Complex itself, but also to shed light on the character of the area prior to its construction.
The project is a collaboration between German and Italian institutions (see above), bringing together an international excavation team. It is designed as a teaching excavation, offering hands-on training in archaeological fieldwork, methods and documentation through active participation in the excavation of an archaeologically significant site. Participation can also be credited as an internship.
We welcome applications from BA, MA and PhD students in Classical Archaeology and Late Antique / Christian Archaeology. Excavation experience is desirable but not required.
WHAT WE OFFER
▪ Guided tours in Ostia and Rome
▪ Participation in an international excavation project with institutional partners in Germany and Italy
▪ Acquiring or developing skills in stratigraphic excavation, surveying and SfM
▪ Practical training in photographic and drawing documentation
▪ Building competencies in registering and processing of finds (incl. pottery)
▪ Food and beverages during work breaks
▪ 6 ECTS credits for participation
REQUIREMENTS
▪ Availability to participate in the entire excavation campaign (7 September – 9 October 2026)
▪ Enrollment in an archaeology or history program
- Willingness to work under demanding conditions (hot temperatures, strong sunlight and intensive physical labor)
▪ Travel, accommodation and meals outside working hours must be covered by the participants themselves
APPLICATION PROCESS
To apply, please submit the following documents (max. 10 MB in total):
▪ Motivation letter (1 page)
▪ CV outlining academic background and relevant experience (max. 2 pages)
- Transcript of records / Overview of your current grades
Please send your application by May 15, 2026 to: appli...@ostia-basilica.eu
Byzantine Studies Lectures (NHRF), May 2026
The Byzantine Studies Lectures of the Institute of Historical Research (National Hellenic Research Foundation) continue on Monday May 18 with a hybrid lecture on:
Perceptions of the Orient and Crusading Memory in the Works of Marino Sanudo Torsello, William Adam, and Philippe de Mézières
Nikolaos Chrissis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
18:00 EET
The lecture will be hosted by Princeton Athens Center: 3 Timarchou Str. 11634 Athens
Those who wish to attend in person must register following this link: https://forms.gle/QELSm9Sgsj2tX2bN8
To join via Zoom please follow the link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__wqZncxTQ-W-PmkS-rYUtA
Mischa Meier (University of Tübingen), Jerusalem under Heraclius (610-641): Christians, Jews, Muslims, and the End of the World
On Thursday, 7 May, at 4.45 p.m. CET, Mischa Meier (University of Tübingen) will present a paper Jerusalem under Heraclius (610-641): Christians, Jews, Muslims, and the End of the World. We are meeting in Room 203 at the Faculty of Law and Administration (UW Main Campus), but you can join us on Zoom at this link.
Abstract
The lecture deals with the city of Jerusalem under Emperor Heraclius (610-641) as a focal point of intense apocalyptic expectations among Jews, Christians, and early Muslims. It argues that three events are tightly linked by shared eschatological patterns: the Persian conquest of 614 (with massacres, deportations, and the removal of the True Cross), Heraclius’ triumphant restitution of the Cross in 630 (celebrated as a near‑cosmic victory and tied to hopes for an end‑time emperor), and Caliph ʿUmar’s entry in 638 (staged as a counter‑ritual to Christian claims, possibly drawing on Jewish messianic ideas). Only by considering these end‑time expectations, such the conclusion, can the exceptional brutality and symbolic intensity of the struggle for Jerusalem in the early 7th century be understood.
Forthcoming seminars
14.05 Elisabeth R. O’Connell (British Museum), From Byzantium to Aksum: Displaying the Red Sea port of Adulis at the British Museum
21.05 Giulia Rosetto (University of Vienna), The Sinai Palimpsests and Their Contributions to the Study of Late Antique Greek Scripts and Texts
28.05 Kristina Sessa (Ohio State University), Disaster at Scale: Experiencing Ruinous Events in Late Antiquity
Arabo-Byzantine Workshop: Towards a Cross-Disciplinary Analysis of Eastern Mediterranean Sources (Rome, 18-22 May 2026)
Doctoral and Postdoctoral Spring School. Arabo-Byzantine Workshop: "Towards a Cross-Disciplinary Analysis of Eastern Mediterranean Sources” Rome, 18-22 May 2026
A fresh understanding of medieval Eastern Mediterranean history requires a careful and integrated reading of a wide range of primary sources. Textual, documentary, and material sources (such as manuscripts, papyri, coins, and seals) all offer distinct perspectives, yet they are often studied in disciplinary and linguistic isolation. An effective historical analysis demands not only philological precision, but also a solid methodological approach that includes close attention to the materiality of these objects: their format, script, language, and context of production. Such features can reveal much about circulation of objects and knowledge, as well as its transmission and usage. This is especially vital when working with sources in Arabic and Greek, the two dominant languages of administration, culture, and daily life across much of the medieval Eastern Mediterranean. Moreover, bilingual or multilayered sources (such as Graeco-Arabic manuscripts and papyri, or Arabo-Byzantine coinage) provide invaluable insight into contact zones and hybrid identities. A critical and comparative reading across both source typologies and linguistic traditions thus allows historians to reconstruct cultural and event-driven history in a more comprehensive and dynamic way, uncovering layers of meaning that would remain hidden in a monolingual or single-source approach.
The aim of this workshop is to equip participants with both a nuanced understanding of the different typologies of medieval sources and the methodological tools necessary to address their diversity and fluidity in a rigorous way. In addition, the workshop seeks to foster dialogue between experts and early-career researchers from a range of disciplines (including Classical, Byzantine, and Islamic Studies) who have often worked in isolation within the boundaries of their respective fields.
The workshop is organized over five thematic days, each dedicated to a specific category of sources for the study of medieval Eastern mediterranean history (paleography/codicology, diplomatics, sigillography/numismatics, papyrology, and philology) and their critical and comparative analysis. Each afternoon, two participants will present their own work (30-minute presentations followed by 15 minutes of discussion). Each day will conclude with either a case study or a practical session designed to build on and integrate the material covered in the morning sessions.
See here for the programme.
2. CALL FOR PAPERS
CfP: "Security in the Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean" symposium, April 9-10, 2027
Held at the University of Missouri in Columbia
In 1981, the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas opened its exhibition, Security in Byzantium: Locking, Sealing, Weighing. The exhibition featured Byzantine objects centered around three “genres” of security, as defined by Gary Vikan and John Nesbitt, including, “locks and keys, sealing and stamping implements, and official weights1”. It was a groundbreaking initiative that opened the door to new questions dealing with the materiality of security in Byzantium.
Currently, a new exhibition, Byzantine Security: How to Protect an Empire in the Palm of your Hand, is being prepared for the spring of 2027 at the University of Missouri Museum of Art and Archaeology. It aims to build upon questions raised by the Menil Collection exhibition and expand its scope. It will feature objects from both the Byzantine collection and from earlier Mediterranean cultures, and it will combine objects from the three “genres” established by the Vikan and Nesbitt, with other objects used to protect their owners from harmful forces through metaphysical processes, such as amulettes and objects of veneration or ritual that could induce miraculous intervention by gods or saints.
The symposium, “Security in the Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean: Theory, Execution, and Materiality” will accompany the exhibit, with the goal of generating scholarly discussion pertaining to the idea of security from a wider vantage point. In addition to the study of small objects, such as those exhibited in the museum, the symposium will call on the examination of textual sources and large-scale material sources such as architecture and monumental decoration.
During the symposium, scholars will reflect on the different ways in which ancient and medieval people protected themselves, their property, and the broader social structures on which they depended. To begin, we will ask what defined security in the ancient and medieval Mediterranean world, and, consequently, against what forces people sought to be protected. How do authors describe security and protection? Are they linked to individual property and well-being or collective concerns? Do authors associate security and protection with negative emotions, like fear, or with more positive ones, like comfort? In writing about protection and security, are authors concerned with natural or spiritual forces?
Then, we will study the mechanisms and materials used to ensure security and how they were implemented. What objects and structures did medieval and ancient people use to protect themselves? Were there distinct private and public mechanisms devised to protect individuals and the state? Were there differences in the ways people protected their bodies and their souls? Throughout our discussions, we will reflect on whether preoccupations with security and protection hindered or nurtured technological and artistic advancements and if they tended to promote fear and division or to strengthen communal bonds.
Some topics that could be addressed are:
- Mechanisms for protecting states from foreign enemies, such as fortifications, military strategies, and diplomacy.
- Questions concerning the use of violence and force for protection and how those in power justified it.
- Legal mechanisms for protecting oneself from violence within one's own community or for protecting personal property, such as legal procedures or prescriptions dealing with ownership and violent acts.
- Material mechanisms for protecting property such as locks, keys, caskets, and seals.
- Architectural mechanisms and clothing used for protecting people from the elements.
- Spiritual or metaphysical ways of protecting oneself from sickness, harm, and other evil forces, such as devotion to particular gods or saints and the performance of magic.
- Individual and collective understandings of security.
- Protection of the body vs. protection of the soul.
Keynote Speaker
George Demacopoulos, Fordham University
The symposium’s topics will be related to ancient and medieval cultures from the broader Mediterranean, so that we can consider questions of both change and continuity over time.
Please send abstracts of up to 400 words to Elizabeth Zanghi at ez...@missouri.edu by July 31, 2026. Partial funding can be made available for speakers as needed.
CFP: Byzantine Nature Beyond the Natural: Hybrids and Imaginary Animals
Recent years have seen an ‘animal turn’ in Byzantine Studies with scholars deploying diverse approaches such as zooarchaeology, ecocriticism, and ecotheology to investigate how the Byzantines engaged with and thought about a variety of animal species. This animal turn is itself part of a wider environmental focus within the humanities to examine human perceptions of and interactions with the natural world.
One further means to explore conceptions of nature and animals within human societies is through examining hybrids and imaginary animals. Greco-Roman hybrids such as centaurs, satyrs, cynocephali, sirens, and tritons dwelled within the pages of Byzantine literature, illustrating notions of creative human-animal fusions, which were not disconnected from actual human relationships with animals. In a similar manner, Byzantine authors and artists were interested in many imaginative animals. As Boria Sax in his Imaginary Animals (2013) has theorized about this category, we should look beyond the conventional construing of human ‘experience’ and ‘imagination’ as opposing forces, and should instead understand these as intertwined. Each exerts vital influence upon how humans approach and consider the natural world and its inhabitants, especially as recent research in cognitive psychology affirms that perception itself consists largely of imagination. Accordingly, we find animals such as the phoenix, the echeneis, ant-lions, griffins, sea monsters, and dragons throughout a variety of Byzantine texts such as hagiographic and hexaemeral literature, while these are occasionally deployed within philosophical and theological discussions.
Moving beyond purely rationalizing assessments of these figures, this online conference seeks to bring together these imaginative conceptions to examine this understudied reflex of Byzantine animals. As Sax has remarked, instead of considering such figures as relics of a bygone era, ‘their creation is a constant part of the human condition,’ and an essential byproduct of human engagement with and theorization of the natural world. We welcome proposals that, rather than offering euhemerist speculations about what may ‘lie behind’ non-existent animals, strive to understand what these contemporary representations and concepts contributed to Byzantine culture and systems of knowledge.
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
• Analysis of Byzantine folkloric and mythological conceptions of hybrids in both textual and artistic media
• Ecocritical examination of imaginary animals in Byzantine theorizing about nature and its possibilities
• Exploring Byzantine uses of hybrids in philosophical, religious, or political discourse
• Ecotheological approaches to Byzantine Christian interpretations of earlier ideas about Greco-Roman hybrids and imaginary animals
This online conference will take place on November 12-13 and is hosted by the Centre for Byzantine Studies at the University of Silesia in Katowice as part of the NCN-funded project ‘Beyond the Sacred: Conceptions of Nature in Byzantium (4th-15th centuries)’. Abstract submissions (up to 150 words) for a 20 minute presentation and a brief bio (c. 100 words) should be sent to biza...@us.edu.pl by September 30. Select papers will be invited to contribute to a planned edited volume on this theme.
Organizers: Ryan Denson, Przemysław Marciniak, and Max Ritter
3. JOBS AND SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
CHRYSOS+ Project - Research Assistant
The Ashmolean Museum, home to the internationally recognised Heberden Coin Room, offers an opportunity to contribute to CHRYSOS+, a research project exploring wealth transfer in the ancient world. You will work closely with the Principal Investigator to support the development of a structured, interdisciplinary research framework.
You will help consolidate and standardise numismatic datasets, review archaeological and textual sources, and support the integration of scientific analyses of coinage. The role includes contributing to digital research tools, preparing research outputs, and engaging with project partners and academic audiences.
This is a fixed-term (research project) post for 12 months, working part-time for 18.75 hours per week. The anticipated working pattern will be agreed with the line manager and includes up to four days of remote working.
More information on the listing can be found here.
Postdoctoral Positions in Ancient Medicine and Ancient Disease and Pandemics at the University of Exeter
Details for one postdoctoral and one doctoral position at the University of Warsaw, in the ERC-funded project Peripolis, beginning in October. Please find links to the calls below. The English listing can be found after the Polish listing.
Postdoctoral position https://konkursy dla nauczycieli.uw.edu.pl/api/document/3893/datafile/pdf
Doctoral position https://konkursydlanauczycieli.uw.edu.pl/api/document/3892/datafile/pdf
Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR) Scholarships and Research Fellowships
Applications are due on May 15th.
Please see THIS link for further information and to apply.
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Madeleine Duperouzel
DPhil in History
President, Oxford University Byzantine Society
http://oxfordbyzantinesociety.wordpress.com