OxByzList: Hilary Week 4 Oxford Listings, 8-14 February
Oxford University Byzantine Society
Monday
09/02/2026, 16:30 - Robert Beddard Room, Oriel, OX1 4EW
Patristics Research Seminar - David Taylor (Oxford): ‘Women in Ephrem the Syrian's Prose Commentaries on Genesis and Exodus’
09/02/2026, 17:00 - Wharton Room, All Souls College, OX1 4AL; for Teams access join group “Medieval History Research Seminar” (team code rmppucs)
Medieval History Seminar - Cordelia Heß (Aarhus): ‘Medieval Racism? Social Practices in Colonial Contact Zones in Greenland and Sápmi (900-1500)’
Tuesday
10/02/2026, 14:00 - New Seminar Room, St John’s College, St Giles, OX1 3JP
Europe in the Middle Ages - Simon Egan (Queen’s University Belfast): ‘God forebede that a wylde Yrishe wyrlynge shulde be chosene for to be there kynge’: Gaelic Recovery in a North Atlantic Context, c.1350-c.1550’
Wednesday
11/02/2026, 12:15 - Lecture Room, Campion Hall, OX1 1QS
Syriac Lunch Seminar - Shafiq Abouzayd (ARAM): ‘Animals in Syriac Ascetic Spirituality’
Participation is open to graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from all academic fields and is by invitation. Those interested in attending are kindly asked to contact Katherine Painter (katherin...@theology.ox.ac.uk) by the Sunday prior to the date(s) they wish to attend so that complementary lunch can be provided.
11/02/2026, 17:00 - Lecture Theatre, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles’, OX1 3LU
Late Antique and Byzantine Seminar - Pamela Armstrong (Oxford): ‘The Excavations of the Church of St Polyeuktos at Sarachane Revisited’
Thursday
12/02/2026, 14:00 - Catherine Lewis Lecture Theatre, Clarendon Institute, Walton Street, OX1 2HG
Reading Group: Jewish Magical Texts from Antiquity and the Cairo Geniza - Metal Amulets
This reading group offers an encounter with key types of Jewish magical texts preserved on papyri, metal, clay, parchment, and paper, from Antiquity through medieval Cairo. Together, we will read and analyze these texts, identifying their distinctive features-biblical references, adjurations, magical formulae, angelic and demonic names, magical words and signs, and more. We will also consider the aims these texts were meant to serve, draw comparisons with parallel traditions, and discuss the significance of their similarities and differences. We will present new materials that were not presented in the Michaelmas term.
All are welcome-no prior language knowledge required.
If any queries you have, please contact Professor Piotrkowski at meron.pi...@ames.ox.ac.uk
12/02/2026, 16:00 - Seminar Room, Corpus Christi College, OX1 AJF
Late Roman Seminar - David Gywnn (Royal Holloway): ‘From the Council of Nicaea to Athanasius’ Festal Letters: Fourth-Century Translated Texts and the Late Roman Historian’
12/0/2026, 16:30 - Online via Microsoft Teams. The link can be obtained by emailing Ugo Mondini (ugo.m...@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk) by the day before each session
JFF Project Euripides Byzantinus: Euripides and the Middle Ages - Laura Swift (University of Oxford): ‘The figure of the Nurse in Medea and beyond’
12/02/2026, 17:15 - KRC Lecture Room, Khalili Research Centre, 3 St John St, OX1 2LJ
Khalili Research Seminar - BOOK LAUNCH Federica Gigante (Khalili Research Centre): ‘Islamic Objects in Seventeenth-Century Italy: Ferdinando Cospi, the Bologna Collection and the Medici Court’
Friday
13/02/2026, 09:30 - Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles, OX1 3LU
Byzantine Text Seminar - Dr Bazzani: The seminar sessions will focus on the text of the Miracles of St Artemios.
To sign up and receive the work materials, email marina....@classics.ox.ac.uk
13/02/2026, 12:00 - Visiting Scholars Centre, Weston Library, Broad Street, OX1 3BG
Lectures on the History of the Bible: From Manuscripts to Print - Translations of the Bible in the Eastern Mediterranean: Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic and Arabic
This course offers an illustrated introduction to the transmission and history of one of the world’s most influential texts: the Bible. Beginning with the Hebrew Bible and the earliest biblical papyri and manuscripts, it traces the development of biblical texts over more than two millennia, from the premodern Mediterranean world to the first printed editions of the Late Middle Ages. Drawing on some of the Bodleian Library’s most remarkable biblical treasures, the lectures provide direct insight into how the copying, translation, and circulation of the Bible shaped the history of the book and, more broadly, human culture. Particular emphasis is placed on first-hand engagement with manuscripts in different languages, scripts, layouts, and visual traditions.
No prior knowledge of biblical languages is required. By the end of the course, participants will have gained a basic familiarity with biblical manuscripts across multiple traditions and will be able to identify key scripts, layouts, and illustrative features, as well as appreciate their cultural and historical significance.
Places are limited. To register interest and secure a place, please contact the lecturer at peter...@bodleian.ox.ac.uk
If there are any events you would like to share with the OUBS, please get into contact with us.
Kind regards,
Nidanu
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Nidanu O'Shea
DPhil in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Secretary, Oxford University Byzantine Society
http://oxfordbyzantinesociety.wordpress.com