The Invention of Byzantine Studies in Early Modern Europe

Date: 

Thursday, October 26, 2017 (All day) to Friday, October 27, 2017 (All day)

Location: 

Barker Center 110 (the Thompson Room), 12 Quincy Street

A two-day symposium exploring the process by which scholars came to see "Byzantium" as distinct from its Roman predecessor and medieval contemporaries, the scholarly practices and contemporary concerns that shaped how early modern scholars studied the "Byzantine" past, and how the historical context of Byzantium’s emergence continues to shape the discipline of Byzantine studies today.

Keynote address on Thursday, 26 October (5:00 pm) by Anthony Grafton (Princeton University), followed by a public reception. Sessions all day Friday, featuring presentations by Shane Bobrycki (Harvard University and MIT), Elena Boeck (DePaul University), Richard Calis (Princeton University), Frederic Clark (New York University), Stephano Efthymiadis (Open University of Cyprus and Dumbarton Oaks), Anthony Kaldellis (Ohio State University), Przemysław Marciniak (University of Silesia), John Monfasani (University at Albany-SUNY), Leonora Neville (University of Wisconsin Madison), William North (Carleton College), Fabio Pagani (Catholic University of America), Teresa Shawcross (Princeton University), and Leah Whittington (Harvard University). The conference is free and open to the public; for a complete program and registration information, please visit the conference website, www.inventionofbyzantium.com.

Co-sponsored by the Committee on Medieval Studies, the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture at Hellenic College Holy Cross, Harvard’s Provostial Fund for the Arts and Humanities, the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, the Department of the Classics, and the Center for the Study of World Religions.