The Post-1204 Byzantine World: New Approaches and Novel Directions
School of History, Classics & Archaeology
School of History, Classics & Archaeology
The University of Edinburgh
13–15 April 2018
13–15 April 2018
The 2018 symposium will
be dedicated to the later Byzantine world, taking its starting point from the
cataclysmic events of 1204.
Especially in recent
years, the late Byzantine period has seen an increasing amount of exciting
research activity: from continuing Grundlagenforschung (palaeography, critical
editions, translations and commentaries) via the reevaluation of key social,
political, and economic practices to the application of new methods such as
network studies or sociolinguistics, our understanding of the society and
politics of the final two hundred and fifty years of Roman rule in the eastern
Mediterranean have much increased. If down to the late 1990s Laskarid and
Palaiologan Byzantium was often still perceived as one of the (many)
Cinderellas of Byzantine Studies, this is clearly no longer the case. Wherever
one looks these days, exciting postgraduate projects are under way; in an
increasing number of universities, Byzantine Studies is taught by colleagues
with expertise in the later Byzantine period.
The 51st Spring
Symposium of Byzantine Studies seeks to take stock of these novel approaches to
the post-1204 Byzantine world by bringing together established researchers, new
voices, and open communications on all aspects of this newly polycentric world
that stretched from Constantinople to Mystras and from Arta to Trebizond: we
will explore the functioning of late Byzantine politics – the interaction of
emperors and rulers with aristocratic, ecclesiastical, urban elites and the
demos – look at the cultural, religious, and literary life in the various
post-1204 polities from various angles, and explore the fragile position of the
dwindling Eastern Roman polities in their wider Mediterranean context, from the
Italian powers via the Balkans to the Mamluks, Ottomans, and Mongols.
Symposium venue
The Symposium will be
held in the University of Edinburgh’s School of History, Classics and
Archaeology, located in the Willam Roberson Wing (Doorway 4) of the Old
Medical School on Teviot Place (EH8 9AG), as well as in the Teviot
Lecture Theatre (Doorway 5) of the same building (for campus maps, please
consult ed.ac.uk/maps/maps;
to download: ed.ac.uk/maps/download).
The University of
Edinburgh’s Central Area – along Teviot Place, recently renovated Bristo
Square, and around beautiful George Square – is within convenient walking
distance of Waverley Railway Station, Princes Street and the Royal Mile; close
to the National Museum and National Gallery of Scotland; and only a short walk
(15 minutes) from the Palace of Holyroodhouse and Arthur’s Seat. More
information about the city and what to do during your stay can be found here: ed.ac.uk/visit/cityand edinburgh.org.
