In Byzantine Studies it is a strange fact that there exists no equivalent to Fergus Millar’s The Emperor in the Roman World, despite the centrality of the ruler in the Byzantine world. While there may be books on individual emperors or periods or aspects there is no general book on the emperor across the span of the Byzantine empire. This oddity is compounded by the recent publication of a plethora of books devoted to Byzantine empresses. This Symposium (the first Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies to be held in Wales) seeks to address this oddity, placing the Byzantine emperor centre stage as both ruler and man. The Symposium will consist of five main sessions, of three papers each, addressing the following themes: Dynasty; Imperial Literature; The Imperial Court; Imperial Duties; and The Material Emperor. In addition there will be a series of communications, as well as a public lecture on Byzantium and Wales.
Main Speakers & Topics
Dynasty: Imperial Families
Mark Humphries (Swansea University): Family, Dynasty, and the Construction of Legitimacy: The Roman Background
Mike Humphreys (University of Cambridge): The Dynasty of Heraclius
Mark Masterson (Victoria University of Wellington): Basil II and the Macedonian Dynasty
Imperial Literature: The Emperor as Subject and Author
John Vanderspoel (University of Calgary): Imperial Panegyric
Savvas Kyriakidis (University of Johannesburg): The Emperor in Historiography – The History of John Kantakouzenos
The Imperial Court: The Emperor’s Men
Meaghan McEvoy (Goethe University, Frankfurt): The Court of Theodosius II and its Consequences
Jonathan Shepard (Oxford): Emperors and Administrators in the Middle Empire
Jonathan Harris (Royal Holloway, University of London): Who was who at the Court of Constantine XI (1449-1453)
Imperial Duties: The Emperor as Ruler
Bernard Stolte (University of Groningen): The Emperor and Law
Michael Grünbart (University of Münster): The Emperor and the Patriarch
Frank Trombley (Cardiff University): The Emperor and War
The Material Emperor: Imperial Art and Architecture
Alicia Walker (Bryn Mawr College): The Emperor in Art
Eurydice Georganteli (University of Birmingham): The Emperor and Coinage
Lynn Jones (Florida State University): Emperor and Palace
Public Lecture
Byzantium and Wales: Mark Redknap (National Museum Cardiff)
Cardiff University, 25-27 April, 2014
