Byzantium & Friends Entries

From Byzantium & Friends at 2026-01-29 16:07:35

148. The Classical Near East, with Kevin van Bladel (KevinVanBladel.mp3)

A conversation with Kevin van Bladel (Yale University) on his proposal regarding "The Classical Near East," a constellation of fields defined by the classical literary traditions of medieval Near Eastern cultures, including Byzantium. We talk about languages, fields, classical traditions, translations, and more. The conversation is based on Kevin's chapter 'The Classical Near East' in E. S. Bolman et al., eds., Worlds of Byzantium: Religion, Culture, and Empire in the Medieval Near East (Cambridge 2024) 79-97.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2026-01-15 14:59:44

147. The survival of esoteric academic fields, with Jana Matuszak and Petra Goedegebuure (JanaAndPetra.mp3)

A conversation with Jana Matuszak, a Sumerologist, and Petra Goedegebuure, a Hittitologist (both University of Chicago) about the prospects for the survival of smaller academic disciplines that require specialized language skills. What critical mass of experts is needed? How can these fields be combined with others? Byzantine Studies is still larger than Sumerology and Hittitology, but the numbers of our full-time faculty is shrinking. How can our fields navigate an uncertain future?

From Byzantium & Friends at 2026-01-01 21:31:36

146. How the ninety percent experienced the Roman economy, with Kim Bowes (KimBowes2.mp3)

A conversation with Kim Bowes (University of Pennsylvania) about her recent book, Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent (Princeton University Press 2025), which presents a brilliant new model of the Roman imperial economy, specifically for how the majority of the population experienced it. We talk about the skeletal evidence, monetization, affluence and precariousness, and levels of consumption. This is only a taste of the many exciting new arguments made in the book, which all of you should go read.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-12-18 11:18:16

146. Ezana of Aksum, the first Christian king in Africa, with Aaron Butts (AaronButts.mp3)

A conversation with Aaron Butts (University of Hamburg) on the conversion to Christianity of Ezana, the fourth-century king of Aksum (in modern Ethiopia and Eritrea). "Conversion" is a conventional term, but what Ezana's inscriptions and coins reveals is a complicated process of appealing to different groups and the coexistence of religions in his realm and the royal monuments. The conversation is based on Aaron's forthcoming paper 'Ezana of Aksum: The First Christian African King,' Aethiopica 28 (2025).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-12-04 20:29:10

145. Seeing into the minds of others, with Ellen Muehlberger (EllenMuehlbergerUnseen.mp3)

A conversation with Ellen Muehlberger (University of Michigan) about how some people in late antiquity tried to model, confirm, or interpret what they thought was going on in the minds of others. We briefly talk about the genre of the lecture book, and then about classroom exercises in impersonation (were they exercises in empathy or not?) and breaking into houses to see what people had in their private quarters. The conversation is based on Ellen's recent book Things Unseen: Essays on Evidence, Knowledge, and the Late Ancient World (University of California Press 2025).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-11-20 11:00:36

144. The two millennia of Roman history, with Ed Watts (EdWatts.mp3)

A conversation with Ed Watts (University of California, San Diego) about his recent book, The Romans: A 2,000 Year History (Basic Books 2025), which covers two millennia of Roman history, down to 1204 AD. We talk about questions of scale in writing history, of continuity and discontinuity in the Roman experience, and what enabled this polity to last for so long. What insights does studying its second millennium (at Constantinople) cast on its first (at Rome), and vice versa?

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-11-06 14:04:35

143. Coping with earthquakes in the churches of Constantinople, with Mark Roosien (MarkRoosien.mp3)

A conversation with Mark Roosien (Yale University) about the earthquakes that struck Constantinople in late antiquity and about how emperors and the people of the City reacted to them in the moment. We focus on the church liturgies that commemorated and tried to make sense of them. The conversation is based on Mark's book Ritual and Earthquakes in Constantinople: Liturgy, Ecology, and Empire (Cambridge University Press 2024).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-10-24 01:11:53

142. The decline of animal sacrifice in the late Roman world, with James Rives (JamesRives.mp3)

A conversation with James Rives (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) on the history of ancient animal sacrifice in the Roman world. We focus on its decline and eventual demise in the third and fourth centuries. Animal sacrifice was caught up in the conflicts between the Roman emperors and the Christian Church, which endowed it with an importance it had not had before. The conversation is based on James' recent book Animal Sacrifice in the Roman Empire (31 BCE-395 CE): Power, Communication, and Cultural Transformation (Oxford University Press 2024).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-07-24 04:07:47

141. The Renaissance and Byzantium are characters in the same play, with Ada Palmer (AdaPalmer.mp3)

A conversation with Ada Palmer (University of Chicago) about the invention of the idea of the Italian Renaissance and the functions that it serves in the western historical imagination. "Byzantium" is a similarly invented category that often works in tandem with "the Renaissance" to mark good and bad moments in the history of culture. The conversation is based on Ada's recent book, Inventing the Renaissance: The Myth of a Golden Age (University of Chicago Press, 2025). She is also an award-winning science-fiction author and one of the most successful and popular teachers at the University of Chicago, featured in the New York Times for the mock papal elections through which she teaches students about the inner workings of Renaissance politics.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-07-10 13:28:58

140. A newly identified portrait of Konstantinos XI Palaiologos (1448-1453), with Anastasia Koumousi (AnastasiaKoumousi.mp3)

A conversation with Anastasia Koumousi (Director of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Achaea, Greek Ministry of Culture) about the recently identified portrait of the last emperor of the Romans in Constantinople, Konstantinos XI Palaiologos, in a monastery church in the northern Peloponnese. The discussion is based on her article ‘Παλαιά Μονή Ταξιαρχών Αιγιαλείας: η αναχρονολόγηση της ίδρυσης στους μεσοβυζαντινούς χρόνους και η προσωπογραφία του τελευταίου βυζαντινού αυτοκράτορα,’ in M. Xanthopoulou et al., eds., Το αρχαιολογικό έργο στην Πελοπόννησο 3 (Kalamata 2024) 747-759. Images of this portrait can be found online here and here and here.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-06-26 03:04:29

139. Captivity and enslavement in the late medieval Aegean, with Alasdair Grant (AlasdairGrant.mp3)

A conversation with Alasdair Grant (University of Hamburg) about the captivity and enslavement that many Greeks (Romaioi) experienced in the late medieval period, a period of state collapse during which they were subject to Italian and Turkish raids and attacks. We talk about the differences between captivity and enslavement, the prospects for being ransomed, and the religious basis of one's legal status. The conversation is based on Alasdair's book, Greek Captives and Mediterranean Slavery, 1260-1460 (University of Edinburgh Press 2024), which is freely available online here.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-06-12 12:18:41

138. Romeyka, a parallel branch of Greek surviving in northeastern Turkey, with Ioanna Sitaridou (IoannaSitaridou.mp3)

A conversation with Ioanna Sitaridou (University of Cambridge) about a Greek language (Romeyka) still spoken in northwestern Turkey, though now endangered, whose grammar retains interesting archaic features. The ancestors of its current speakers were not exchanged in 1923 because they were Muslim; the primary language in their communities today is Turkish. We talk about Romeyka itself, why it was not impacted by the standardization of modern Greek, and the ethical and political care that field-work must take. See here for the Romeyka Project. For Ioanna's study of its grammar, see her article 'The Romeyka Infinitive: Continuity, Contact and Change in the Hellenic Varieties of Pontus,' Diachronica 31:1 (2014) 23-73.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-05-29 13:42:08

137. Conspiracy theories and the deep state, now and then, with Winston Berg (WinstonBerg.mp3)

Winston Berg is a political scientist (University of Chicago) who studies modern American conspiracy theories about politics and the deep state; his dissertation studied the movement known as QAnon. Given our political moment, I thought it would be interesting to discuss with him the different contours and valences that conspiracy theories and deep state notions took in the east Roman polity and in the United States. Check out Winston's recent article 'Origins of the “Deep State” Trope,' Critical Review 35:4 (2023) 281-318.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-05-15 12:17:47

136. The federal assault on American research universities, with Clifford Ando (CliffAndo.mp3)

A conversation with Cliff Ando (University of Chicago) about the revenue models of American research universities and the dangers to advanced research posed by the freezes recently placed on federal funding. While the biggest cuts are to scientific and medical research, the humanities will also be significantly impacted. Cliff has published a number of op-ed articles on what is happening and how universities should respond; see, for example, here.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-05-01 18:24:39

135. Latin literature in late antiquity, with Gavin Kelly (GavinKelly.mp3)

A conversation with Gavin Kelly (University of Edinburgh) about the corpus of Latin literature from antiquity down to the present, where we discuss the reasons why most scholars focus on the period before 200 AD, why late antiquity is overlooked (despite having some first rate authors), and what can be done about that. Similar issues, we find, emerge from the study of Greek literature too. The conversation is based on Gavin's recent study of 'Periodisations' in R. K. Gibson and C. L. Whitton, eds., The Cambridge Critical Guide to Latin Literature (Cambridge 2024) 97-157.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-04-17 11:20:36

134. Peer-review: the good, the bad, and the amusing, with Tina Sessa and Marion Kruse (PeerReview.mp3)

A conversation with Tina Sessa (The Ohio State University) and Marion Kruse (University of Cincinnati) on the process of peer-review in the humanities: what it's for, how it can be done well, and where it can go awry. The conversation is based on many decades of collective experience of peer-review, on all sides of the process.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-04-03 19:26:40

133. Taste, meals, and food culture, with Adam Morin (AdamMorin.mp3)

A conversation with Adam Morin (University of Ioannina) about categories of taste, the meal structure, and the food and ingredients that east Romans ate. What foods were prized and what looked down upon? How do we know what they ate? What do we know about individual preferences? The conversation is based on Adam's dissertation, Food and Food Culture in the Byzantine Empire, Seventh to Fifteenth Centuries (Queen's University, 2024).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-03-20 11:33:10

132. Who was Allah before Islam?, with Ahmad Al-Jallad (AhmadAlJallad.mp3)

A conversation with Ahmad Al-Jallad (The Ohio State University) about the languages and inscriptions of pre-Islamic Arabia, our main contemporary source for life, death, and worship before the time of the Prophet Muhammad. We talk about field surveys in search of inscriptions and what they tell us about Allah and other Arabian deities in the early centuries of the first millennium. You can find his work on academia.edu (here) and some of his lectures are posted online. The article on which this conversation is based has not yet been published (its provisional title is "Ancient Allah: An Epigraphic Reconstruction"). You can access the Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia (OCIANA) here.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-03-06 14:21:22

131. To Miklagarðr and back again: Varangians return from Constantinople, with Sverrir Jakobsson (SverrirJakobsson.mp3)

A conversation with Sverrir Jakobsson (University of Iceland) about the experiences of Northmen -- especially Varangians -- who traveled to Constantinople and the south and returned home with stories, swords, riches, and prestige. The conversation is based on Sverrir's book The Varangians: In God’s Holy Fire (Palgrave 2020). Instead of my usual intro, Sverrir and I discuss some odd parallels in the histories of Greece and Iceland.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-02-20 13:58:13

130. A conversation with Johanna Hanink on Greek literature, on publishing in a new field, and on podcasting (JohannaHanink.mp3)

A conversation with Johanna Hanink (Brown University) on Greek literature (ancient, modern, and in-between), on publishing outside one's main area of academic expertise, and on podcasting. Johanna is a classics professor who has also written on modern Greek culture and literature, and is the host of the new academic podcast Lesche: Ancient Greece, New Ideas. She recently translated Andreas Karkavitsas' The Archaeologist and Select Sea Stories (Penguin Books 2021). Her personal website is here, where you can find links to her many projects and interests.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-02-06 10:57:22

129: Labor organizations and collective action, with Sarah Bond (SarahBond.mp3)

A conversation with Sarah Bond (University of Iowa) about organized labor groups in the Roman empire. Ancient occupational groups often formed associations (sometimes called collegia) which are often regarded as little more than dining, cult, and burial societies. In her new book, Strike: Labor Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire (Yale University Press 2025), Sarah Bond argues that they sometimes engaged in collective action and bargaining. These continued in existence into late antiquity and possibly beyond. Also, check out Sarah's blog History from Below and her contributions to Hyperallergic.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-01-23 19:22:16

128. Constantinople as seen by its inhabitants, with Paul Magdalino (PaulMagdalino.mp3)

A conversation with Paul Magdalino (St. Andrews and Koç University) about the literary traditions and genres that Constantinopolitans developed to talk about the origins, history, cosmic importance, and superlative beauty of their city -- the City. The conversation touches on themes in Paul's recent book, Roman Constantinople in Byzantine Perspective: The Memorial and Aesthetic Rediscovery of Constantine's Beautiful City, from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance (Brill 2024). Like the book, our discussion culminates with the majestic oration Byzantios by Theodoros Metochites.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2025-01-09 11:20:28

127. The genetic history of Rome, with Hannah Moots (HannahMoots.mp3)

A conversation with Hannah Moots (Center for Palaeogenetics, Stockholm) about paleogenetic research, its goals, methods, and conclusions. What does it mean to study ancient DNA, and what does it tell us about human history? The conversation is based on an article co-authored by Hannah and many other collaborators entitled "Ancient Rome: A Genetic Crossroads of Europe and the Mediterranean," Science 366 (2019) 708-714.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-12-26 15:24:28

126. Can scholars and clerics be manly?, with Maroula Perisanidi (MaroulaPerisanidi.mp3)

A conversation with Maroula Perisanidi (University of Leeds) about the distinctive kind of masculinity that was fashioned by scholars and priests in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the challenges and deficits that it faced, and the masculine capital that men in those occupations tried to amass and then spend. The conversation is based on Maroula's just published book Masculinity in Byzantium, c. 1000-1200: Scholars, Clerics and Violence (Cambridge University Press 2024).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-12-12 16:01:04

125. Souvenirs and city branding in the experience of the Roman world, with Maggie Popkin (MaggiePopkin.mp3)

A conversation with Maggie Popkin (Case Western Reserve University) about souvenirs in the Roman world, how they tie in with city identities and city branding, and the experience of travel. These portable objects shaped how people thought of places and the Roman world as a whole, from its attractions and experiences to its religious cults. The conversation is based on Maggie's book Souvenirs and the Experience of Empire in Ancient Rome (Cambridge University Press 2022).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-11-28 13:20:22

124. Shadow empires, with Thomas Barfield (ThomasBarfield.mp3)

A conversation with Thomas Barfield (Boston University) about a distinctive category of empires that he has proposed in a new book, Shadow Empires: An Alternative Imperial History (Princeton University Press 2023). These are empire that derive a significant part of their revenues or symbolic capital not from lands that they rule directly but by extorting them from other empires, from control over trade routes, or from the ruins of previous states. During its long history, Romanía dealt with a number of these "exogenous" empires, including the Huns, Venetians, and Rus'.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-11-14 10:40:38

123. The fall of Constantinople, pope Pius II, and the birth of Europe, with Nancy Bisaha (NancyBisaha.mp3)

A conversation with Nancy Bisaha (Vassar College) about the origins of the idea of "Europe" as a place of identity and not just geography. One of its first theorists was the Italian humanist Aeneas Piccolomini (later pope Pius II), who was in part reacting to the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks. The problem of whom to include and exclude as Europeans was there from the start. We talk about Aeneas himself and the siege of the City. The conversation is based on Nancy's recent book, From Christians to Europeans: Pope Pius II and the Concept of the Modern Western Identity (Routledge 2023).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-10-31 12:41:57

122. Latin words in ancient and Byzantine Greek, with Eleanor Dickey (EleanorDickey.mp3)

A conversation with Eleanor Dickey (University of Reading) on Latin words in ancient and Byzantine Greek. Eleanor has tracked them down and compiled them in a specialized dictionary, where she also offers new arguments about when, how, and why they were borrowed by Greek-speakers. It reaches down to 600 AD, but many of them survived later too, even into modern spoken Greek. The conversation is based on that publication: Latin Loanwords in Ancient Greek: A Lexicon and Analysis (Cambridge University Press 2023).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-07-11 07:56:48

121. Ali Pasha of Ioannina, antiquities and archaeology between empire and the nation-state, with Emily Neumeier (EmilyNeumeier.mp3)

A conversation with Emily Neumeier (Temple University) about Ali Pasha of Ioannina (d. 1822), a powerful Ottoman governor of Albanian origin who created a quasi-independent realm at a time when the Ottoman empire was feared to be collapsing. We talk about how he crated his own brand-image, in part by forging closer relations with his Christian Greek subjects and also through archaeological work and use of antiquities. His was an almost post-imperial world, but the nation-state had not yet arrived. We also talk about the concept of the "post-Byzantine," which is used, especially in art history, for works of this period. The conversation is based on three of Emily's articles -- "Mediating Legacies of Empire," "Rivaling Elgin," and "Spoils for the New Pyrrhus" -- that you can find on her academia webpage.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-06-27 12:38:22

120. Dioskouros of Alexandria, Or the making of a Church villain, with Volker Menze (VolkerMenze.mp3)

A conversation with Volker Menze (Central European University) about the fifth-century patriarch Dioskouros of Alexandria, what we really know about him, and why he was demonized in the western traditions. A close reading of the Council Acts suggests a different picture: a bishop who thought he was doing right by the established creed and following the directives of the emperor suddenly found himself in the hot seat. The conversation is based on Volker's book Patriarch Dioscorus of Alexandria: The Last Pharaoh and Ecclesiastical Politics in the Later Roman Empire (Oxford University Press 2023).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-06-13 08:34:11

119. Byzantium in science fiction, fantasy, and horror, with Przemysław Marciniak (MarciniakFinal.mp3)

A conversation with Przemysław Marciniak (University of Silesia) about books of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and alternative history that are either set in Byzantium or have a Byzantine ambiance. We talk about the features that signal a Byzantine setting and what the latter is good. Basically, we chat about books that we liked (or did not like). The conversation is based on Przemek's chapter 'Fantastic(al) Byzantium: The Image of Byzantium in Speculative Fiction,' in M. Kulhánková and P. Marciniak, eds., Byzantium in the Popular Imagination: The Modern Reception of the Byzantine Empire (I.B. Tauris 2023) 249-260.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-05-30 12:35:58

118. Pathogen paleogenetics and late antique disease: A cross-discipline discussion (aPathogens.mp3)

A roundtable discussion of how the study of ancient pathogen DNA intersects with the study of disease in late antiquity. Can laboratory scientists and cultural historians find ways to interface given their different methods, data, concepts, and conclusions? The discussion was organized by Tina Sessa (The Ohio State University) and Tim Newfield (Georgetown University), and moderated by Dionysios Stathakopoulos (University of Cyprus). In addition to Tina and Tim, participants include Kyle Harper (University of Oklahoma), Marcel Keller (University of Basel and University of Tartu), and Maria Spyrou (University of Tübingen). A transcript of the discussion will appear in the journal Studies in Late Antiquity.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-05-16 11:18:56

117. Human paleogenetics and late antique migration: a cross-discipline discussion (aDna.mp3)

A roundtable discussion of how the study of ancient human DNA intersects with the study of migration in late antiquity. Can laboratory scientists and primarily textual historians find ways to interface given their different methods, data, concepts, and conclusions? The discussion was organized by Tina Sessa (The Ohio State University) and Tim Newfield (Georgetown University), and moderated by Anthony Kaldellis (University of Chicago). Participants include Patrick Geary (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, emeritus), Janet Kay (Princeton University), István Koncz (Eötvös Loránd University), Hannah Moots (University of Chicago), Brian Swain (Kennesaw State University), and Krishna Veeramah (Stony Brook University). A transcript of the discussion will appear in the journal Studies in Late Antiquity.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-05-02 13:04:16

116. Africa and Byzantium, with Andrea Myers Achi (AndreaMyersAchi.mp3)

A conversation with Andrea Myers Achi (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) about the enduring connections between Byzantium and a number of African cultures, beginning in late antiquity (e.g., Aksum) and continuing into medieval and modern times (e.g., Nubia and Ethiopia). Andrea organized a exhibition at the Met to illustrate these connections (including also manuscripts, textiles, icons, and inscriptions), and it has now moved to the Cleveland Museum of Art. If you can't visit it there, definitely check out the exhibition volume that she edited, Africa and Byzantium (New York: The Met 2023).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-04-18 14:42:29

115. Imaginary Byzantiums in modern Russia, with Eugene Smelyansky (EugeneSmelyansky.mp3)

A conversation with Eugene Smelyansky (Washington State University) on the invention of ideologically useful versions of Byzantium in modern Russia. We talk about the much more limited engagement with Byzantium in imperial Russia and the reasons behind some of the current obsessions with it. The conversation is based on Eugene's just-published book on Medievalisms in Russia: The Contest for Imaginary Pasts (Arc Humanities Press 2024), which looks also at the current re-imagining of Russia's own medieval past and that of western Europe.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-04-04 15:04:56

114. Byzantium and the early Rus’, with Monica White (MonicaWhite.mp3)

A conversation with Monica White (University of Nottingham) about the earliest contacts between Constantinople and the first Rus'-Varangian raiders, traders, and mercenaries to cross the Black Sea. Who were these people, what did they want, and how did contact with east Roman culture change them? The conversation is based on a number of Monica's recent publications, including 'Early Rus: The Nexus of Empires'; 'The Byzantine "Charm Defensive" and the Rus''; and 'Leo VI and the Transformation of Byzantine Strategic Thinking about the Rus'' (for full references, see her CV on academia).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-03-21 11:02:45

113. The emperor’s clothing and public appearances, with Maria Parani (MariaParani.mp3)

A conversation with Maria Parani (University of Cyprus) on the emperor's clothing and the staging of his public appearances. We talk about his most formal garments, what he wore on the battlefield, his military banner, how he changed, and much more. Maria has published many studies of this topic, which you can find on her Academia.edu page, including "Clothes maketh the emperor? Embodying and Performing Imperial Ideology in Byzantium through Dress"; "Cultural Identity and Dress: The Case of Late Byzantine Ceremonial Costume"; and "‘Rise like the sun, the God-inspired kingship’: Light-symbolism and the Uses of Light in Middle and Late Byzantine Imperial Ceremonials."

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-03-07 18:58:29

112. Crisis and resilience in late antique Rome, with Michele Salzman (MicheleSalzman.mp3)

A conversation with Michele Salzman (University of California, Riverside) about the resilience shown by the city of Rome and its ability to recover from crisis during the fifth-seventh centuries. These recoveries were usually spearheaded by the Senate of Rome, which continued to invest in the city and its institutions even after the emperors ceased to reside there full-time. The conversation is based on Michele's recent book, The Falls of Rome: Crises, Resilience, and Resurgence in Late Antiquity (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-02-22 14:55:43

111. Inheriting the mantle of the Roman empire, with Nathan Aschenbrenner (NathanAschenbrenner.mp3)

A conversation with Nathan Aschenbrenner (Bard College) about western European claims to the Roman imperial title, from the Middle Ages to early modernity. We also discuss some plans in the west after 1453 to reclaim the "eastern empire" and a curious history from the early sixteenth that fuses western and eastern imperial history into one. Nathan (along with Jake Ransohoff, episode no. 83) co-edited the volume The Invention of Byzantium in Early Modern Europe (Dumbarton Oaks 2021).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-02-08 16:49:14

110. Justinian: statecraft, law, and self-glorification, with Peter Sarris (PeterSarris.mp3)

A conversation with Peter Sarris (University of Cambridge) about the emperor Justinian (527-565), on the 401st anniversary of the rediscovery of Prokopios' Secret History. We talk about Justinian's goals, accomplishments, and victims, all of which continue to spark debate and controversy, just as they did during his own lifetime. The conversation is based on Peter' new trade book Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint (Basic Books 2023).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-01-25 14:23:48

109. The discovery of Constantinople, with Sarah Bassett (SarahBassett.mp3)

A conversation with Sarah Bassett (Indiana University) about the exploration and discovery of the antiquities of Constantinople, starting in the sixteenth century. We talk about scholars, diplomats, and archaeologists, and the intellectual trends of their times. Sarah wrote the book on The Urban Image of Late Antique Constantinople (Cambridge University Press 2004) and recently edited The Cambridge Companion to Constantinople (2022). This episode goes well with no. 76 (Sergei Ivanov).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2024-01-11 13:41:30

108. Who is ‘Islamic History’ about?, with Christian Sahner (ChristianSahner.mp3)

A conversation with Christian Sahner (University of Oxford) about the notion of Islamic history as a field of study. What does it prioritize, who does it tend to see most, and what about everyone else? No field-name is perfect; they all have advantages and disadvantages, and we need to be clear-eyed about them. The conversation is based on Christian's recent article 'What is Islamic History? Muslims, Non-Muslims and the History of Everyone Else,' The English Historical Review 138 (2023) 379-409.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-12-28 19:58:40

107. Shifty Greeks, Arrogant Latins: Polemical authors and the schism of the Churches, with Alessandra Bucossi (AlessandraBucossi.mp3)

A conversation with Alessandra Bucossi (Ca' Foscari University, Venice) about the text "Against the Greeks" and "Against the Latins" that were produced by writers taking sides in the Schism of the Churches (Rome and Constantinople, of Greek and Latin, or Catholic and Orthodox, as we would call them today). There are many of these texts and they contain fascinating material, but have yet to receive the attention they deserve. Alessandra is our guide through the jungle. Check out her co-edited volume Contra Latinos et Adversus Graecos: The Separation between Rome and Constantinople from the Ninth to the Fifteenth Century (Peeters 2020), and the Repertorium Auctorum Polemicorum de pace et discordia inter Ecclesiam Graecam et Latinam.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-12-14 16:16:56

106. Medieval Europe without a “core”, with Christian Raffensperger (Raffensperger2.mp3)

A conversation with Christian Raffensperger (Wittenberg University) -- one hundred episodes after our previous one! -- on medieval European rulership from Iberia and Scandinavia to Rus' and Constantinople. We talk about succession and co-rulership and titles in ways that don't prioritize the British, French, and German models. Christian develops this more inclusive paradigm in his recent book Rulers and Rulership in the Arc of Medieval Europe, 1000-1200 (Routledge 2024).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-11-30 13:51:38

105. So you’re the Roman emperor... now what?, with Olivier Hekster (OlivierHeckster.mp3)

A conversation with Olivier Hekster (Radboud University Nijmegen) about the position of Roman emperor, from the beginning to the sixth century. We talk a little bit about titles and mostly about the expectations that subjects had of their emperors and how the latter navigated these demands and tried, or failed, to play their roles properly. The conversation is based on Olivier's recent book Caesar Rules: The Emperor in the Changing Roman World (c. 50 BC - AD 565) (Cambridge University Press, 2023).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-11-16 11:35:48

104. Byzantine law, its experts, and its languages, with Daphne Penna (DaphnePenna.mp3)

A conversation with Daphne Penna (University of Groningen) about Byzantine law, or (what it really was) the Greek-language phase of Roman law. We talk about the study of east Roman law, its experts (both then and now), and the interaction of Greek and Latin in legal texts. What did the law do and what do we learn from studying it? For an accessible introduction to the main sources, see the anthology edited by Daphne Penna and Roos Meijering, A Sourcebook on Byzantine Law: Illustrating Byzantine Law through the Sources (Brill 2022).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-11-02 11:04:50

103. About time, with Jesse Torgerson (JesseTorgerson.mp3)

Jesse Torgerson (Wesleyan University) and I take a stab at understanding time, as it was measured, structured, and experienced in so many overlapping ways by Christian east Romans. Their days, months, and years were defined by the state tax cycle, the Church festival cycle, and nature itself, to name the most important temporal grids. Jesse's recent monograph focuses on an author (or two) who made interesting innovations in chronology: The Chronographia of George the Synkellos and Theophanes: The Ends of Time in Ninth-Century Constantinople (Brill 2022).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-10-19 20:29:58

102. Byzantium and Balkan national identities, with Diana Mishkova (DianaMishkova.mp3)

A conversation with Diana Mishkova (Center for Advanced Study, Sofia) about how the national historiographies of Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania cope with Byzantium -- how they try to appropriate, incorporate, circumvent, or abjure it, and so always reinvent it in the process. The conversation is based on Diana's comprehensive and lucid analysis in her recent book Rival Byzantiums: Empire and Identity in Southeastern Europe (Cambridge University Press 2023).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-10-05 11:31:45

101. How to de-colonize Byzantine Studies, with Ben Anderson and Mirela Ivanova (BenMirela.mp3)

A conversation with Ben Anderson (Cornell University) and returning guest Mirela Ivanova (University of Sheffield) on their co-edited volume of papers on the question Is Byzantine Studies a Colonialist Discipline? Toward a Critical Historiography (Penn State University Press 2023). We talk about how colonial, imperialist, or exploitative practices and ideologies have marked the history of our field, whether by making it complicit in them or by colonizing it. You can access Ben and Mirela's compelling introduction to the volume here.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-09-21 12:16:32

100. Our new book on the armies, and on revisionism in history, with Marion Kruse (MarionRevisionism.mp3)

In this episode, Marion and I talk about our new co-authored book, The Field Armies of the East Roman Empire, 361-630 (Cambridge University Press, 2023). For those interested in the military history of this period, this book contains a downright mutinous revision of the organization of the East Roman field armies and the changing priorities behind their deployments. We also take the opportunity to discuss revisionist scholarship in general, the kinds we like and those we would court-martial.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-09-07 11:33:56

99. A new history of medieval Christianity, with Peter Heather (PeterHeather3.mp3)

A conversation with Peter Heather (King's College, London) about his new book Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300 (New York: Knopf, 2023). Peter is one of the leading historians of the fall of the western Roman empire and the emergence there of the post-Roman, "barbarian" kingdoms. He now brings a revisionist approach to the emergence of the Church in (mostly western) Europe. This book covers a lot of ground, and so we focus on the early period, where his arguments affect the east too. We talk about the role of contingency, the near-miss of Homoian Christianity, the decisive role of secular rulers, and much more.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-07-13 13:19:53

98. Egyptian hieroglyphs in late antiquity, with Jennifer Westerfeld (JenniferWesterfeld.mp3)

A conversation with Jennifer Westerfeld (University of Louisville) on the scripts that were used to write ancient Egyptian, especially hieroglyphs. Their last attested use was in the 390s AD, putting the end of their long history in our period. Meanwhile, Greek, Roman, and Christian observers were developing their own theories about how the script worked, often quite fantastic, and reacted to texts that were inscribed in public spaces. The conversation is based on Jennifer's fascinating book Egyptian Hieroglyphs in the Late Antique Imagination (University of Pennsylvania Press 2019). For more on Coptic in this period, see episode 13.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-06-29 05:31:13

97. The remarkable world of hospitals, orphanages, and leprosaria, with Tim Miller (TimMiller.mp3)

A conversation with Timothy Miller (Salisbury University) about philanthropic institutions in Constantinople, especially hospitals, orphanages, and leprosaria. Tim has done more than anyone to illuminate these remarkable places, starting with his impressive monograph The Birth of the Hospital in the Byzantine Empire (Johns Hopkins University Press 1985, 2nd ed. 1997). His current thinking on hospitals, orphanages, leprosaria can be found in the chapter 'Philanthropic Institutions,' in S. Bassett, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Constantinople (Cambridge 2022) 245-261.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-06-15 13:11:08

96. Pre-Islamic Arabia, with Valentina Grasso (ValentinaGrasso.mp3)

A conversation with Valentina Grasso (Bard College) on Arabia before Islam. This used to be known primarily from preserved Arabic poetry, but the picture is now filling in from inscriptions and contemporary texts. There were competing kingdoms, tribal coalitions, and foreign empires with a stake in trade routes. There were pagans, Jews, and Christians, as well as generic or "cautious" monotheists. The cultural background of the Koran has never been known in such richness and complexity. The conversation is based on Valentina's recent book, Pre-Islamic Arabia: Societies, Politics, Cults, and Identities during Late Antiquity (Cambridge 2023).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-06-01 16:53:02

95. Rome and Byzantium in Heavy Metal music, with Jeremy Swist (JeremySwist.mp3)

A conversation with Jeremy Swist (Brandeis University) on why some heavy metal bands write music about Roman and Byzantine history. Expect "good" and "bad" emperors to be reversed here! Jeremy has published much on this, including 'Satan's Empire: Ancient Rome's Anti-Christian Appeal in Extreme Metal,' Metal Music Studies 5 (2019) 35-51; 'Headbanging to Byzantium: The Reception of the Byzantine Empire in Metal Music,' in "What Byzantinism is this in Istanbul!" Byzantium in Popular Culture (Istanbul 2021) 200-231; and online, 'Enjoy My Flames' (Lapham's Quarterly) and 'Dawn of a Dark Age: Constantine the Great in Heavy Metal Music.'

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-05-18 13:59:39

94. What academic tenure does for you (yes, you!), with Jacques Berlinerblau (JacquesBerlinerblau.mp3)

A wide-ranging conversation with Jacques Berlinerblau (Georgetown University) on the changing nature of the academic profession, especially regarding the erosion of academic freedom through the expansion of contingent academic labor and direct attacks on it by the states. Is research becoming increasingly vulnerable to outside political pressures? The conversation is based partly on Jacques's book Campus Confidential: How College Works, or Doesn’t, for Professors, Parents, and Students (Melville House, 2017), and partly on articles that he has written for news outlets, including MSNBC and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-05-04 12:17:40

93. The afterlife of pagan inscriptions in Byzantium, with Anna Sitz (AnnaSitz.mp3)

A conversation with Anna Sitz (Universität Heidelberg) on how Byzantines read ancient inscriptions - or modified, re-used, and defaced them. Ancient cities were full of inscribed texts, many on temple walls or referring to the gods in prominent ways. How did Christians cope with these monuments when they took over the cities of Greece and Asia Minor? We talk about a number of cases, including the massive inscription of Augustus' Res Gestae in Ankara. The conversation is based on Anna's book Pagan Inscriptions, Christian Viewers: The Afterlives of Temples and Their Texts in the Late Antique Eastern Mediterranean (Oxford University Press 2023).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-04-20 15:23:49

92. An insider’s guide to academic publishing, with Byzantine studies in mind, featuring Anna Henderson (AnnaHenderson.mp3)

A conversation with Anna Henderson (ARC Humanities Press) about the world of academic publishing today, including its challenges, opportunities, and aspirations. ARC is a fairly recent venture, but has already published a number of excellent books in medieval studies (including on Byzantium). You can find out more about it here: https://www.arc-humanities.org In fact, the very first episode of this podcast was on a book published by ARC.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-04-06 15:41:17

91. Scavenging in the ruins of empire, with Robin Fleming (RobinFleming.mp3)

A conversation with Robin Fleming (Boston College) about how the lives and material circumstances of people in Roman Britain changed when the imperial state and its economy withdrew from the island in the fifth century AD. Among other topics, we talk about food, skills, recycling of materials, and adaptation. The conversation is based on Robin's recent book The Material Fall of Roman Britain, 300-525 AD (University of Pennsylvania Press 2021).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-03-23 14:22:25

90. At the dawn of Byzantine Studies: Martin Crusius (1526-1607), with Richard Calis (RichardCalis.mp3)

A conversation with Richard Calis (Utrecht University) about Martin Crusius (aka Kraus: 1526-1607 AD), one of the first philologist-historians who tried to reconstruct Byzantine history from the sources. We talk about his interest in the Greek language and the Ottoman empire, in using Byzantine sources to understand antiquity, and his working methods -- all in an era before there was much scholarship to guide him. The conversation is based on Richard's chapter 'Martin Crusius's Lost Byzantine Legacy,' in N. Aschenbrenner and J. Ransohoff, eds., The Invention of Byzantium in Early Modern Europe (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 2021) 105-142.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-03-09 17:19:37

89. The resilience and agency of rural communities, with Fotini Kondyli (FotiniKondyli.mp3)

A conversation with Fotini Kondyli (University of Virginia) about our changing picture of rural communities in late Byzantium, based on her book Rural Communities in Late Byzantium: Resilience and Vulnerability in the Northern Aegean (Cambridge University Press 2022). We talk about resilience in times of crisis -- the fourteenth century was not an easy one! -- and about how we can reimagine and restore the power and agency of these rural non-elites. We also talk about survey archaeology, one of our main tools for accessing these communities.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-02-23 11:32:12

88. Women’s labor, with Anna Kelley (AnnaKelley.mp3)

A conversation with Anna Kelley (University of St. Andrews) about women's labor and occupations in the Roman and later Roman empire. It turns out that they may have engaged in more types of business and workshop production, especially in textile manufacture and marketing, than contemporary gender norms suggest. The conversation is based on Anna's article 'Searching for Professional Women in the Mid to Late Roman Textile Industry,' Past and Present 258 (2023) 3-43. You can read that article at https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtac007

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-02-09 14:45:39

87. Dragons! with Scott Bruce (ScottBruce.mp3)

A conversation with Scott Bruce (Fordham University) about dragons, ancient, medieval, and early modern, from around the world. Where did our "canonical" image of the dragon come from? What other kinds of dragons existed? What did dragons mean in different cultures? The conversation is based on Scott's recent anthology, The Penguin Book of Dragons (2021), which has a chapter on Byzantine dragons.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-01-26 18:46:46

86. How to organize a museum exhibition – and bring the Holy Land home, with Amanda Luyster (AmandaLuyster.mp3)

A conversation with Amanda Luyster (College of the Holy Cross) on how to organize a museum exhibition, from conception and design to securing the objects and planning events around it. We also talk about the famous tiles of Chertsey Abbey (UK), a royal commission that evoked the Crusades with artistic allusions to Byzantium and the Islamic world. The exhibition, Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece, will run from 26 January to 6 April, 2023, at the Cantor Art Gallery in Worcester, MA, so catch it if you are in the region. There is a companion volume too, edited by Amanda, with the same title, on which our conversation is based.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2023-01-12 20:06:03

85. Lead mining and lead pollution in the Roman world, with Paul Stephenson (PaulStephenson.mp3)

A conversation with Paul Stephenson (Penn State University) about the impact of lead mining and smelting on the miners themselves, the communities around them, and on plants, animals, and human beings across the Roman empire. This is part of a broader and ongoing project on metallurgy and environmental violence. Paul integrates the recent science of Roman lead into his history of the empire, in New Rome: The Empire in the East (Harvard University Press 2022).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-12-29 17:18:58

84. On writing narrative history, with guest-host Marion Kruse (NarrativeEpisode.mp3)

In this end-of-the-year episode, guest host Marion Kruse (University of Cincinnati) interviews me about writing narrative history. Why and how should we write narrative histories? What do they accomplish in the overall economy of the scholarly production of knowledge? What pitfalls did I identify in writing my new history of Byzantium, and how did I try to avoid falling into them? (Apologies for the self-indulgent length of this episode. I was too busy talking and didn't keep good track of the time.)

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-12-15 15:39:42

83. Blinding as punishment and enforced disability, with Jake Ransohoff (JakeRansohoff.mp3)

A conversation with Jake Ransohoff (Simon Fraser University) on the practice of blinding in Byzantium. Why and how was it done? Why was it more prominent in some periods rather than in others? And how did its victims cope with this disability that the state had imposed on them for (usually) crimes of treason? The conversation is based on Jake's dissertation (Sightless Eyes, Broken Bodies: Blinding, Punishment, and the Politics of Disability in the Byzantine World, Harvard University, 2022).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-12-01 19:23:32

82. What was First Iconoclasm about?, with Leslie Brubaker (Brubaker.mp3)

A conversation with Leslie Brubaker (University of Birmingham) on the first period of Byzantine iconoclasm (ca. 730 to 787 AD). What was the problem with religious icons? What did the "Isaurian" emperors Leon III and Konstantinos V try to do about it, and why? A great deal of what we used to know, largely by following pro-icon sources, has come undone in the latest research. Where we stand now has been lucidly presented by Leslie in her Inventing Byzantine Iconoclasm (Bristol Classical Press 2012).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-11-17 16:50:46

81. Surviving the Mongol storm, with Nicholas Morton (NicMorton.mp3)

A conversation with Nicholas Morton (Nottingham Trent University) about the Mongol conquests of the thirteenth century, the terror that they inspired, and the strategies by which its targets tried to survive them. What did the Mongols think they were doing and how did the Byzantines use diplomacy to deflect the danger and even use it to their advantage? The conversation is based on Nic's just-released book The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East (Basic Books 2022).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-11-03 19:23:41

80. Diagrams: from sundials to the schematics of the Trinity, with Linda Safran (LindaSafran.mp3)

A conversation with Linda Safran (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto) on the hitherto-unexplored world of Byzantine diagrams. We talk about maps, sundials, and more abstract representations of the world and even God. The conversation is based on Linda's papers in a volume she co-edited, The Diagram as Paradigm: Cross-Cultural Approaches (Dumbarton Oaks 2022), as well as "A Prolegomenon to Byzantine Diagrams,” in the edited volume The Visualization of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Brepols 2020) 361-382. Also check out her dynamic website on medieval art and architecture.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-10-21 01:49:30

79. The enduring power of ancient statues in Constantinople, with Paroma Chatterjee (Paroma79.mp3)

A conversation with Paroma Chatterjee (University of Michigan) on the power that ancient statues still had in Orthodox Constantinople. In many contexts, they were more prominent than icons. We talk about some of their functions, but also why Byzantine art history is so focused on icons, which were secluded objects, in comparison. The conversation is based on Paroma's recent book Between the Pagan Past and Christian Present in Byzantine Visual Culture: Statues in Constantinople, 4th-13th Centuries CE (Cambridge University Press 2021).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-08-18 03:55:13

78. How to be philanthropic in early Byzantine Christianity, with Dan Caner (DanCaner.mp3)

A conversation with Dan Caner (Indiana University) about the different kinds of charitable giving in early Byzantium. We talk about the pre-Christian background, the role of institutions, and views about wealth. Was giving primarily good for the soul of the giver, and under what conditions, or for the material assistance of the needy? How could one give to ascetics, who had renounced such needs? The conversation is based on Dan's recent book The Rich and the Pure: Philanthropy and the Making of Christian Society in Early Byzantium (University of California Press 2021).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-08-04 12:13:16

77. How did most people in the Roman empire get by? with Kim Bowes (KimBowes.mp3)

A conversation with Kim Bowes (University of Pennsylvania) about production and consumption in the Roman world, especially by the 90% of the population who are less represented in our literary sources. How did they get by from day to day? What alternatives does the evidence suggest to the "subsistence" model that many ancient historians have used? The conversation is based on a paper on "Household Economics in the Roman Empire and Early Christianity," forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of Biblical Households, and earlier publications, including The Roman Peasant Project 2009-2014: Excavating the Roman Rural Poor (Penn Museum/University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021); “Tracking Liquid Savings at Pompeii: The Coin Hoard Data," Journal of Roman Archaeology 35 (2022) 1-27; and “Tracking Consumption at Pompeii: The Graffiti Lists,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 34 (2021) 552-584.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-07-21 12:44:17

76. Exploring the monuments of Byzantine Constantinople, with Sergey Ivanov (SergeyIvanov.mp3)

A conversation with Sergey Ivanov (Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the University of Munich; corresponding member of the British Academy) on the monuments, buildings, and ruins of the Byzantine phase of the City's history. We talk about how to explore them, how to access their history, and even get a feel for the lingering presence of the events that took place in them. We ponder what has been lost and what might yet be found. The conversation is based on Sergey's recent book In Search of Constantinople: A Guidebook through Byzantine Istanbul and Its Surroundings, tr. by Sara Buzadzhi and D. Hoffman, ed. David Hendricks (Istanbul: The Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, 2022).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-07-07 08:14:55

75. The politics of archaeological heritage and reclamation, with Jonathan Hall (JonathanHall.mp3)

A conversation with Jonathan Hall (University of Chicago) about how the archaeological past of the city of Argos was reclaimed in the long nineteenth century. What institutions and political debates took shape around the heritage of the past? What role did the ancient travel writer Pausanias play in defining what the past was? What was the interplay between local, national, international, and imperial interests? The conversation is based on Jonathan's book Reclaiming the Past: Argos and its Archaeological Heritage in the Modern Era (Cornell University Press 2021).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-06-23 14:07:51

74. Laments for the Fall: Constantinople and Tenochtitlan in counterpoint, with Eleni Kefala (EleniKefala.mp3)

A conversation with Eleni Kefala (University of St. Andrews) on the fall of two empires, the Byzantine and the Aztec. What role did these momentous events play in the emerging identity of western Europe? And how were they experienced by the Romaioi and the native Mexica, especially through the laments that they wrote and sang about these events? The conversation is based on Eleni's book The Conquered: Byzantium and America on the Cusp of Modernity (Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington D.C. 2020).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-06-09 21:52:16

73. When did women “bind up” their hair, and why?, with Gabriel Radle (RadleComplete.mp3)

A conversation with Gabriel Radle (University of Notre Dame) on the question of why and when adolescent girls or women "bound up" their hair. Which women did so, and under what circumstances? What kind of headgear was involved? And how did the Byzantine practice compare with that in other societies, ancient and medieval? Our discussion is based on Gabriel's article 'The Veiling of Women in Byzantium: Liturgy, Hair, and Identity in a Medieval Rite of Passage,' Speculum 94 (2019) 1070-1115.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-05-26 18:44:36

72. What do we mean by “Byzantine literature”?, with Stratis Papaioannou (PapaioannouFull.mp3)

A conversation with Stratis Papaioannou (University of Crete) about the mismatch between modern ideas of literature (on the one hand) and the texts, conventions, and goals of Byzantine authors (on the other). In what sense are those texts "literature"? Should they be compared to classical texts, modern literature, neither, or both? We talk also about how much of it has survived, and how much might have been lost. The conversation was prompted by the release of Stratis' edited volume,The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature (Oxford University Press 2021).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-05-12 14:08:23

71. Manuel II Palaiologos (1350-1425) had a lot to say, with Siren Çelik (SirenCelik.mp3)

A conversation with Siren Çelik (Marmara University) about the many personas that the emperor Manuel II Palaiologos crafted for himself in his surviving works. In fact, we have more writings from him -- in many genres, and many of a personal nature -- than from any prior Roman emperor. What was he hoping to accomplish and why is he worth reading? The conversation is based on Siren's recent book, Manuel II Palaiologos (1350-1425): A Byzantine Emperor in a Time of Tumult (Cambridge University Press 2021).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-04-28 11:37:53

70. Trees have histories too, with Alexander Olson (AlexOlson.mp3)

A conversation with Alexander Olson (independent scholar, British Columbia, Canada) about the secret lives of olive trees and oak trees in Byzantium. Contrary to what you may think, these were not cultivated consistently in the Mediterranean ecosystem of the Middle Ages; their uses to the human population fluctuated over time, giving the trees a history of their own, albeit one shaped by that of the people around them (and vice versa). The conversation is based on Alex's fascinating book, Environment and Society in Byzantium, 650-1150: Between the Oak and the Olive (Palgrave Macmillan 2020).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-04-14 16:01:08

69. The experiences of Byzantine children, with Oana-Maria Cojocaru (OanaComplete.mp3)

A conversation with Oana-Maria Cojocaru (Tempere University, Finland) about the images of Byzantine children in our sources, and the experiences that they would have had, once they made it past infancy. Our discussion forms a nice sequel to that with Christian Laes on childbirth (episode 66), and is based on Oana's recent book Byzantine Childhood: Representations and Experiences of Children in Middle Byzantine Society (Routledge 2022).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-03-31 14:01:48

68. Classical scholarship and philology in Byzantium, with Filippomaria Pontani (Pontani.mp3)

A conversation with Filippomaria Pontani (Ca' Foscari University of Venice) on the ways that Byzantine scholars engaged with classical texts, and their place in the transmission and study of classical literature from antiquity to the present. In addition to manuscripts, we talk about commentaries, lexika, and encyclopedias. The conversation is based on the magisterial survey that Filippomaria published recently, 'Scholarship in the Byzantine Empire (529-1453),' in the volume History of Ancient Greek Scholarship from the Beginnings to the End of the Byzantine Age, ed. F. Montanari (Brill 2020).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-03-17 10:12:31

67. Wherein Tina and I take bad scholarly habits to task, with Tina Sessa (TinaAnthony2.mp3)

In a fun romp through some of the foibles, evasions, pretensions, and generally bad habits of scholarship, Tina and I take our fields to task for practices that make our eyes roll. Sure, we've probably been guilty of most of these too! But what better place to vent a bit than a podcast? Dedicated listeners will know Tina (Ohio State University) from episodes 4 and 21; she is a veritable co-host of the show.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-03-03 15:55:30

66. The perils of childbirth, with Christian Laes (Laes2.mp3)

A conversation with Christian Laes about one of the most joyous, dangerous, and often tragic, moments of life in antiquity and the Middle Ages: childbirth. We discuss the sad fact of infant mortality, the first days of children who survived, and the difficult choices that families had to make if the mother did not survive, but the child did. What was the emotional and demographic impact of the perils of childbirth? The conversation is based on two of Christian's papers, 'Infants between Biological and Social Birth in Antiquity,' Historia 63 (2014) 364-383; and 'Motherless Infancy in the Roman and the Late Ancient World,' in the volume Missing Mothers: Maternal Absence in Antiquity (Leuven 2021) 15-41.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-02-17 16:35:27

65. Who was Hypatia of Alexandria and what does she stand for? with Silvia Ronchey (Ronchey.mp3)

A conversation with Silvia Ronchey (University of Roma Tre) about the famous philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, who was murdered in the early fifth century by goons working for Cyril, the bishop of the city. Who was she? What traditions gave her a position of social prominence? To what degree may she be considered a feminist icon? The conversation is based on Silvia's book Hypatia: The True Story, issued now in English translation (de Gruyter 2021). At the end we also talk a bit about the film Agora.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-02-03 20:13:35

64. How did emperors make decisions?, with Michael Grünbart (Grunbart.mp3)

A conversation with Michael Grünbart (University of Münster) about the problem of imperial decision-making. Byzantine emperors are often presented to us as perfectly virtuous monarchs favored by God, but can we pull the veil away from this image and understand the difficult conditions under which they had to make decisions that could potentially cost them their throne? Whom did they consult? How and why did they delegate? Did they have experts? Data? When could they avoid making decisions? As someone in academic middle-management, these questions cut close to home!

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-01-20 13:53:35

63. The religion of simple believers, with Jack Tannous (Jack_complete.mp3)

A conversation with Jack Tannous (Princeton University) about the "simple believers" who made up the majority of the population of Byzantium (as well as the caliphate and just about any premodern monotheistic society). They probably knew little about the minutiae of theology, but what did they know about their faith, and how important was theology for their religious identity? The discussion is based on Jack's recent book The Making of the Medieval Middle East: Religion, Society, and Simple Believers (Princeton University Press, 2018), which highlights the role of religious practice and interpersonal attachments.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2022-01-06 10:42:12

62. Byzantine dress and fashion, with Jennifer Ball and Elizabeth Dospěl Williams (Betsy_Jen.mp3)

A conversation with Jen Ball (City University of New York) and Betsy Williams (Dumbarton Oaks, also episode 47) on the study of Byzantine dress and fashion. How do we know what people wore? Was clothing gendered? Why are dress and jewelry studied separately? And can we talk about fashion in Byzantium, or was fashion, as some believe, a modern development? For an excellent introduction to these problems, see Jen's book Byzantine Dress: Representations of Secular Dress in Eighth- to Twelfth-Century Painting (New York: Palgrave 2005).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2021-12-23 18:17:50

61. Being Roman in Syriac, with Hartmut Leppin (Hartmut.mp3)

A conversation with Hartmut Leppin (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main) about how one could be a Roman in Syriac, focusing on the sixth-century author John of Ephesos, otherwise known as Yuhannan from Amida. If one could be Roman in Greek (which is what we call "Byzantium"), why not also in Syriac? The discussion is based on Hartmut's study of "The Roman Empire in John of Ephesus' Church History: Being Roman, Writing Syriac," in P. Van Nuffelen, ed., Historiography and Space in Late Antiquity(Cambridge University Press 2019) 113-135.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2021-12-09 12:17:46

60. Representing the trauma of captivity, enslavement, and degradation, with Adam Goldwyn (AdamComplete.mp3)

A conversation with Adam Goldwyn (North Dakota State University) about first-person narratives whose protagonists experience foreign conquest, captivity, enslavement, degradation, humiliation, and loss of rights. It is based on his recent book Witness Literature in Byzantium: Narrating Slaves, Prisoners, and Refugees (Palgrave MacMillan 2021), which uses comparisons to the literature of the Holocaust and the Atlantic slave trade to illuminate the insights of Byzantine texts that represent similar personal experiences. Can Byzantine literature speak powerfully to these transhistorical traumas? How can we activate it to do so?

From Byzantium & Friends at 2021-11-25 19:00:57

59. What exactly ended in Late Antiquity?, with Polymnia Athanassiadi (PolymniaComplete.mp3)

A conversation with Polymnia Athanassiadi (University of Athens) about the way of life that ended in late antiquity. Scholars of Byzantium and the Middle Ages may see this as a period of new beginnings, but Polymnia doesn't want us to forget the practices and urban values that came to an end during it. The conversation touches on issues raised throughout her papers collected in Mutations of Hellenism in Late Antiquity (Variorum Ashgate 2015), as well as the concept of "monodoxy" explored in Vers la pensée unique: La montée de l'intolerance dans l'Antiquité tardive (Les Belles Lettres 2010).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2021-11-11 17:27:35

58. The column and equestrian statue of Justinian, a landmark monument of Constantinople, with Elena Boeck (ElenaComplete.mp3)

A conversation with Elena Boeck (DePaul University) about her recent book The Bronze Horseman of Justinian in Constantinople: The Cross-Cultural Biography of a Mediterranean Monument (Cambridge University Press 2021). Though it is often overlooked today, Justinian's column and colossal statue, which stood for a thousand years next to Hagia Sophia, defined the City almost as much as the Great Church itself. We talk about the symbolism, history, and the engineering of this monument.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2021-10-28 17:43:54

57. A global history of the Greeks, with Roderick Beaton (BeatonFinal.mp3)

A conversation with Roderick Beaton (King's College London, emeritus) on his new book The Greeks: A Global History (Basic Books 2021). We discuss different ways to define who "the Greeks" were and are (in Byzantium Graikos meant a "Greek-speaker"); the diversity of groups that make up this story; how Byzantium can be featured in a diachronic history of Greek-speakers without being overlooked in favor of the ancients and moderns (as tends often to happen); and what might tie these Greeks together in a way that doesn't quite work for, say, "the English-speaking peoples."

From Byzantium & Friends at 2021-10-14 18:37:24

56. Cyril, Methodios, and the conversion of the Slavs, with Mirela Ivanova (Mirela_complete.mp3)

A conversation with Mirela Ivanova (University of Sheffield) on the creation of the Slavonic alphabet and the lives of its creators, the Byzantine missionaries Constantine-Cyril and Methodios. Despite the huge importance attributed to these men and their activities in modern scholarship, national narratives, and Slavic Orthodox identity, our knowledge about them rests largely on two texts whose interests are quite different from our own. What do we really know about them? The conversation is based on two of Mirela's articles, 'Re-thinking the Life of Constantine-Cyril the Philosopher,' Slavonic and East European Review 98 (2020) 434-463; and 'Inventing and Ethnicising Slavonic in the Long Ninth Century,' forthcoming in the Journal of Medieval History (2021).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2021-07-29 19:06:54

55. If you could meet and interview one person from Byzantine history, who would it be and why? (Part II), with Paroma Chatterjee and Merle Eisenberg (ParomaMerle.mp3)

We know so much about the Byzantines, and yet really so little. If we had the chance to meet and debrief one person from that world, who would it be? Join me in conversation with Paroma Chatterjee (University of Michigan) and Merle Eisenberg (National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, University of Maryland), as we wrestle with that question. Who might answer the burning questions that we have? Who would alert us to questions that we aren't asking because we are used to the limitations of our sources? How would we choose our questions? Our choices are, yet again, strikingly different.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2021-07-15 12:04:55

54. The power and journeys of the True Cross and other holy relics, with Lynn Jones (LynnJones.mp3)

A conversation with Lynn Jones (Florida State University) on how fragments of the True Cross were requested, gifted, traveled, repatriated, abducted, and returned in the early Byzantine period; how they were used to validate rival claims to power; and the anxiety caused by doubts over their authenticity. The conversation is based on a number of Lynn's publications, especially 'Perceptions of Byzantium: Radegund of Poitiers and Relics of the True Cross,' in L. Jones, ed., Byzantine Images and their Afterlives: Essays in Honor of Annemarie Weyl Carr (Ashgate 2014) 105-125.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2021-07-01 09:01:05

53. What can we know about the life of the Prophet Muhammad?, with Sean Anthony (Sean_complete.mp3)

A conversation with Sean Anthony (Ohio State University) about the earliest sources for the life of the Prophet Muhammad, including the Quran, papyri, inscriptions, and Christian sources of the seventh century, and how Muslims were initially perceived by the Romans of the eastern provinces. The conversation is based on Sean's book Muhammad and the Empires of Faith: The Making of the Prophet of Islam (University of California Press 2020).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2021-06-17 10:52:20

52. Crowd behavior in imperial Rome and Constantinople, with Daniëlle Slootjes (Danielle.mp3)

A conversation with Daniëlle Slootjes (University of Amsterdam) on the behavior of crowds in late antique Rome and Constantinople, based on her chapter "Crowd Behavior in Late Antique Rome," in the edited volume Pagans and Christians in Late Antique Rome: Conflict, Competition, and Coexistence in the Fourth Century (Cambridge 2015) 178-194. As our own political world is increasingly revolving around mass protests, it is time to revisit what we know about the dynamics of crowds in imperial Roman cities, whether they acted for or against the regime of the day. Check out also the volume that Daniëlle co-edited with Erika Manders, Leadership, Ideology, and Crowds in the Roman Empire of the Fourth Century (Stuttgart 2019).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2021-06-03 13:23:22

51. Byzantine poetry on its own terms, with Marc Lauxtermann (Lauxtermann.mp3)

A conversation with Marc Lauxtermann (University of Oxford) on how to read Byzantine poetry on its own terms and in its own context. We talk about how modern Romantic notions of poetry as well as the ancient meters of classical Greek have distorted the expectations that we place on Byzantine poetry, and then discuss the specific contexts that gave rise to poetry in Byzantine society. Who were the poets? How did poems accompany objects and events? The conversation is based on Marc's magisterial and highly recommended Byzantine Poetry from Pisides to Geometres: Texts and Contexts, 2 volumes (Vienna 2003 and 2019).

From Byzantium & Friends at 2021-05-20 10:52:58

50. If you could meet and interview one person from Byzantine history, who would it be and why?, with Fotini Kondyli and Alexander Sarantis (Fotini_Alexander.mp3)

We know so much about Byzantium, and yet really so little. If we had the chance to meet and debrief one person who had experienced some part of it first-hand, who would it be? Join me in a conversation with Fotini Kondyli (University of Virginia) and Alexander Sarantis (University of Warsaw), which wrestles with that question. What person would answer the burning questions that we have? Who would alert us to questions that we aren't asking because we are used to the limitations of our sources? How would we choose our questions? Our answers are strikingly different.

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