The Byzness, 8th June 2025
Oxford University Byzantine Society
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THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY BYZANTINE SOCIETY
The Byzness, 8th June 2025
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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
"The Medium is the Message": A Fairy-Tale Codex of Aesop from Medici Florence
Speaker: Lorenzo Maria Ciolfi
Date: 10/06/25, 17:00 – 18:00 BST
Location: Norwegian Institute in Rome
This talk will explore key moments in the rich Aesopic tradition, from the Romance of Aesop to various fable collections across Eastern and Western cultures. It will highlight the significance of the Medici Aesop, focusing on its exceptional craftsmanship and its role as a cultural artifact within the vibrant intellectual scene in Italy that fueled the rediscovery and revival of the Classics. Additionally, the talk will introduce a newly curated edition of the manuscript, which, for the first time, presents both volumes of the Medici Aesop together, featuring the Greek text alongside Giulio Landi’s elegant Italian translation.
For more details, as well as in-persona and Zoom registration, please see here.
2. CALLS FOR PAPERS
Call for papers - New Ancient Greek Literature: Contexts, Audiences, Legacies
Conference Date: 8–9–10 July 2026
Location: Leuven (Couvreur Room & Aula Emma Vorlat)
Conveners: Liese Dictus, Dries Nijs, Raf Van Rooy, Reinhart Ceulemans (KU Leuven, HellBel)
The ongoing HellBel project organizes an international conference devoted to the vibrant but understudied phenomenon of New Ancient Greek (NAG) or Humanist Greek literature (also known as e.g. Neo-Greek). This body of texts, composed primarily during the Renaissance and the early modern period but by no means limited to it, sought to revive and reinvent classical Greek as a living literary language, bridging antiquity and Byzantium with the authors’ contemporary intellectual landscapes.
Our conference aims to explore NAG literature not simply as a philological curiosity but as a dynamic cultural practice — crafted by specific authors, for specific audiences, and shaped by particular literary and performative conventions.
Keynote speakers:
¶ Tua Korhonen (University of Helsinki)
¶ Han Lamers (Norwegian Institute, Rome)
¶ Filippomaria Pontani (Ca’ Foscari University, Venice)
We invite proposals for papers on any topic relevant to the subject matter of the conference. We especially welcome contributions engaging with the following themes:
α – Author, Audience & Performance
How were NAG texts intended to be read, heard, or staged? What roles did rhetorical training, manuscript/print culture, visual presentation, or oral delivery play in their production and reception? How did NAG authors influence each other, whether within Greek or across languages?
β – Byzantine Legacy
In what ways did Byzantine literature (and collections such as the Greek Anthology), scholarship, or (religious) culture influence the content, form, and function of NAG texts?
γ – The Epic Tradition
How did humanist authors imitate and emulate the epic tradition in Greek? What narrative, metrical, linguistic, or ideological strategies did they adopt, adapt, or transform?
We welcome proposals from scholars across disciplines including (but not limited to) classical studies, Byzantine studies, Neo-Latin and New Ancient Greek philology, Renaissance studies, performance studies, and intellectual history.
Paper format: 30 minutes for presentation, followed by 15 minutes of discussion
Working language: English — proposals in German, French & Italian will also be considered.
Output: A selection of papers will be invited for publication in a peer-reviewed volume.
Please submit title & abstract (max. 300 words) and a biographical note (max. 100 words) to hel...@kuleuven.be.
☞ Deadline for submissions: 30 November 2025
☞ Notifications of acceptance: 1 February 2026
☞ Registration fee: €50
Participants are expected to arrange their own travel and accommodation. We may be able to reimburse some of the expenses of early career researchers who have no funding of their own. Please indicate this in your submission.
Information on how to reach Leuven from various locations within Europe, including from Brussels Airport (Zaventem) and Brussels South International Airport (Charleroi) can be found here. An overview of options for accommodation in Leuven can be found here.
3. JOBS AND SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
North of Byzantium Announcements: Essay Prize and Assistant Editor Position
NoB are excited to announce two new opportunities connected to their North of Byzantium project:
- The North of Byzantium Essay Prize will be awarded in 2025 to a PhD candidate for an original research essay that focuses on an aspect of the visual culture of Eastern Europe between the 13th and 17th centuries. The research essay, in the range of 1500-2000 words, should be submitted in English along with a 2-page CV (including details about thesis title and doctoral mentors). The winning submission will receive $250 and the opportunity to be revised and published as a contribution on the Mapping Eastern Europe website. Deadline: July 31, 2025
- We are seeking an Assistant Editor to work with us on our North of Byzantium and Mapping Eastern Europe projects for the 2025/2026 academic year. The successful candidate should be a graduate student pursuing an MA or a PhD degree in a European or North American institution in a relevant field. Duties include updating website content, uploading recent scholarship, and editing text for the North of Byzantium and Mapping Eastern Europe projects. The role carries a $700 honorarium. Deadline: July 31, 2025
For further details, please see here.
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Alexander Johnston
MPhil in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies
President, Oxford University Byzantine Society
http://oxfordbyzantinesociety.wordpress.com