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Call for Papers: Das Geruchs- und Geschmackserlebnis in der griechisch-römischen Welt

02. November 2022, Dorothée Grieb - Call for papers

Internationale Konferenz
8.-10. September 2023, Dresden
Deadline: 30.11.2022

Das Geruchs- und Geschmackserlebnis in der griechisch-römischen Welt

Der Geruchssinn und Geschmackssinn galten bereits in der Antike als niedere Sinne, da beide im Vergleich zu anderen Sinnesmodalitäten mit deutlich geringeren kognitiven Leistungen verbunden schienen. Diese Haltung der Zeitgenossen fand ihren Niederschlag in antiken literarischen Zeugnissen und wirkte lange Zeit auch in der altertumswissenschaftlichen Forschung nach. Dies hatte zur Folge, dass hier Riechen und Schmecken als Vorgänge der Sinneswahrnehmung lange Zeit vernachlässigt wurden. Die antiken Zeugnisse zu beiden Sinnesmodalitäten sind jedoch überaus reichhaltig.

Geruchs- und Geschmackssinn liegen nicht nur unmittelbar benachbart, sondern sind auch anatomisch und neurophysiologisch eng miteinander verbunden. Ein solch enger Konnex zeigt sich beispielsweise bereits bei Cicero, der diesen beiden Sinnen in einer gemeinsamen Betrachtung zwar Erkenntnisvermögen zubilligt, dieses jedoch als defizitär einstuft (vgl. Cic. ac. 2,20). Eine gemeinsame Untersuchung der Geruchs- und Geschmackswahrnehmung in der antiken Welt eignet sich daher besonders, um kulturspezifische Wahrnehmungsmuster und Diskursivierungspraktiken zu beleuchten. Diesem Anliegen widmet sich die internationale Konferenz, die vom 8. bis zum 10. September 2023 in Dresden stattfinden wird. Aus einer interdisziplinär altertumswissenschaftlichen Perspektive sollen für die Modi und Strategien der literarischen Diskursivierung von Geruchs- oder Geschmackserfahrungen folgende Fragen im Mittelpunkt stehen:

  • Was wurde als wohlschmeckend oder gutriechend betrachtet und was nicht? Was ist hierfür jeweils der Hintergrund?
  • Wie wird die Erfahrung von Geruch oder Geschmack literarisch verarbeitet? Werden solche Sinneseindrücke näher beschrieben, und gibt es bestimmte Bilder oder Metaphern, die sich mit ihnen verbinden? Wie und zu welchem Zweck wird die Geruchs- oder Geschmackswahrnehmung narrativiert? Gibt es in der Antike eine Poetik des Riechens oder Schmeckens?
  • Welche literaturwissenschaftlichen Konzepte und Methoden sind geeignet, um literarische Darstellungen von Geruchs- und Geschmackseindrücken zu untersuchen? Lassen sie sich z. B. narratologisch oder rezeptionsästhetisch analysieren, oder braucht es hierfür eigene Ansätze – und welche könnten das sein?
  • Welche Grenzen oder Grenzüberschreitungen waren mit der Erfahrung von Gerüchen oder Geschmackseindrücken verknüpft? Auf welche Weise wurden diese Prozesse diskursiviert?
  • Welche soziale oder moralische Dimension ist mit der Geruchs- und Geschmackswahrnehmung verbunden? Besitzen diese Sinnesmodalitäten distinguierendes oder hierarchiebildendes Potential? Gab es bestimmte Präferenzen in bestimmten gesellschaftlichen Kreisen und wie stabil wurden diese Vorlieben artikuliert? Wie ging man mit Innovation oder Wandel im Bereich des Geruchs- und Geschmackserlebens um?
  • Auf welche Weise thematisiert die antike Medizin die Geruchs- oder Geschmackswahrnehmung?
  • Welchen heuristischen Mehrwert für die Forschung besitzen Überlegungen zum Geruchs- oder Geschmackserleben in der griechisch-römischen Welt generell? Welche neuen Einblicke in die antike Literatur und Kultur verschafft eine Betrachtung dieser beiden Sinne?

Vorschläge für Beiträge in deutscher oder englischer Sprache können in Form eines Abstracts (pdf-File, max. 3.000 Zeichen sowie fünf Schlagworte) bis zum 30.11.2022 via E-Mail bei den beiden Organisatoren eingereicht werden: mario.baumann@tu-dresden.de oder isabelle.kuenzer@geschichte.uni-giessen.de.
Für die einzelnen Vorträge ist ein Zeitfenster von jeweils 60 Minuten vorgesehen (30 Minuten Vortrag + 30 Minuten Diskussion), so dass ein intensiver Austausch über die Thematik gewährleistet ist. Eine Veröffentlichung der Tagungsbeiträge in einem Sammelband ist vorgesehen. Die Übernahme von Reisekosten wird angestrebt.

Organisation:
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Mario Baumann (Institut für Klassische Philologie, TU Dresden): mario.baumann@tu-dresden.de
Dr. Isabelle Künzer (Professur für Alte Geschichte, JLU Gießen): isabelle.kuenzer@geschichte.uni-giessen.de
 


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CALL FOR PAPERS: 54. Internationales Keramik-Symposium

14. Juni 2022, Katrin Bemmann - Call for papers

54. Internationales Keramik-Symposium des Arbeitskreises für Keramikforschung

Veranstalter: Landkreis Dingolfing-Landau und Kastenhof Landau – Das Museum für Steinzeit und Gegenwart
04.09.2022 bis 10.09.2022

„Trink- und Schankgefäße – Innovation, Produktion, Handel und Verwendung“
Bereits in der Jungsteinzeit wurden in Mitteleuropa Keramikgefäße zum Konsum, zur Aufbewahrung und zum Ausschank von Flüssigkeiten gefertigt. Seit dieser Zeit tauchen in jeder Epoche mehr oder weniger spezifische Trink- und Schankgefäße auf. Neben elementaren Formen kannte man von Beginn an aufwändig hergestellte, nicht selten reich dekorierte Trink- und Schankgefäße. Im Mittelalter trat Steinzeug hinzu, in der Neuzeit beispielsweise Porzellan. Tafelgerät für Getränke war nicht selten Mittel sozialer und kultureller Repräsentation und gehört zu den eindrucksvollsten materiellen Hinterlassenschaften vergangener Zeiten, Stile und Moden. Einfach und praktisch oder auch hoch differenziert in Material und Ausführung sind keramische Trink- und Schankgefäße ebenso Zeugen der Serienproduktion wie auch eines luxuriösen Lebensstils mit spezifischen Tafel- und Trinksitten.

ORGANISATION:
Landratsamt Dingolfing-Landau
SG15 – Dr. Florian Eibl
Obere Stadt 1 Tel.: 08731/87 350
84130 Dingolfing E-Mail: archaeologie@landkreis-dingolfing-landau.de


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Call for Papers: "Konservieren – Rekonstruieren – Visualisieren: Zur Präsentation prähistorischer Gebäude in archäologischen Freigeländen"

16. Mai 2022, Katrin Bemmann - Call for papers

"Konservieren – Rekonstruieren – Visualisieren: Zur Präsentation prähistorischer Gebäude in archäologischen Freigeländen" (Innsbruck, 20.-21.10.; CfP bis 30.6.)
Die langfristige Bewahrung von ergrabenen Überresten gehört, so die Organisatoren, zu den schwierigsten und anspruchsvollsten Aufgaben der Denkmalpflege überhaupt. So zahlreich die möglichen Maßnahmen, so breit gefächert ist auch die Diskussion über die Zulässigkeit der jeweiligen Methoden. Bei der Tagung sollen anhand von Fallbeispielen ein Einblick in aktuelle Fragestellungen und Problemfelder geboten, vielfältige Möglichkeiten der Sicherung und der Substanzerhaltung besprochen sowie unterschiedliche didaktische Konzepte und Perspektiven der Rekonstruktion und Präsentation erläutert werden. Abstracts sind bis 30.6. willkommen. Die Organisatoren sind bemüht, für die Referenten Reisekostenzuschüsse bereitzustellen.
https://www.uibk.ac.at/archaeologie-museum/mueller/2022_tagung_rekonstruktionen.pdf


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Theban Archaeology Meeting 2022: Announcement and Call for Papers!

21. April 2022, Katrin Bemmann - Call for papers

Announcement and call of papers for a new conference at Luxor in November 2022: the Theban Archaeology Meeting!

Theban Archaeology meeting 2022 logohe French-Egyptian Centre for the Study of the Temples of Karnak (CFEETK— MoTA/CNRS) is pleased to announce a new conference to be held in Luxor on the 18th and 19th of November 2022: the THEBAN ARCHAEOLOGY MEETING. The conference will take place at the Mummification Museum.

 

A Call for Papers is now open to all Egyptian and international archaeological missions working on both banks of Luxor to present their recent work (archaeology, restoration, etc.).

To propose your participation, please send us by email a title and an abstract of 300 words maximum by the 6th of May 2022 (ThebanArchaeologyMeeting@gmail.com). Each presentation, in English, will be limited to 20 minutes. It is also possible to propose a poster for missions that cannot be there on that date.


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Call for Papers: International Congress ‘Distinguished above others. The role of the artists in New Kingdom Art’ in Madrid

21. April 2022, Katrin Bemmann - Call for papers

16-17.6.2022: International Congress ‘Distinguished above others. The role of the artists in New Kingdom Art’ in Madrid

The NATIONAL DISTANCE EDUCATION UNIVERSITY (UNED), Spain, in collaboration with the NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF TUCUMÁN, Argentina, are pleased to announce the celebration of the International Congress ‘Distinguished above others. The role of the artists in New Kingdom Art’ (DOA), in Madrid (16-17th June 2022).
The expression ‘Distinguished above others’ belongs from the stela of the artist Userhat Hatiay, kept at the Rijks Museum Van Oudheden, containing one of the fewest autobiographies preserved from ancient Egyptian artists. It reflects the admiration towards the work of the artists in whose guild Userhat Hatiay claims to be distinguished above others, as an expert in his field.
The current international congress will focus on the following topics, but not excluding others:
− The role of the artists in New Kingdom and the creative dimension of artworks (techniques, creativity, innovation, emulation, sources of inspiration, etc.).
− The process of negotiation between patrons and artists.
− Artists’ mobility in New Kingdom art, especially as agents of diffusion of icons and styles.
− Identification of workshops or artists.
− Etc.
The event will feature six guest speakers: Dr. Myriam Seco (University of Seville), Dr. Nico Staring (University of Liège – Belgium), Dr. Silvina Vera (Universidad Nacional de Tucumán), Shaimaa Magdi (CEDAE, Egypt), Dr. Inmaculada Vivas (UNED) and Dr. Gema Menéndez (UESD).
In addition, presentations of about 15-20 minutes will be included in the congress, chosen among the proposals selected by the scientific comitee. The presentations may be preferable in person or online.
For this reason, we invite all members of the academic community to submit their proposals to the DOA ‘Distinguished above others. The role of the artists in New Kingdom Art'. Abstracts in English and Spanish are welcomed (maximum 300 words). The deadline for submissions is the 20th April 2022.
Accepted proposals will be notified by 1st May 2022.
Proposals must be sent to: doaresearchic@gmail.com indicating in the subject “DOA Proposal”.
It will also be possible to attend the evento in person or online (with previous registration sending an email to the organisers indicating in the subject “DOA Attendance”).
Organizer Committee: Dr. Inmaculada Vivas (UNED) and Dr. Gema Menéndez (San Damaso University - UESD).


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Call for Papers: Colour Schemes and Surface Finish of the Roman Architectural Orders

12. April 2022, Dorothée Grieb - Call for papers

International Conference
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, November 7-9, 2022

Colour Schemes and Surface Finish of the Roman Architectural Orders

This conference will explore the richness of colour and texture in Roman architecture. More specifically, it will consider colour schemes and surface finishes of the architectural orders in relation to regional variation, 'global' trends, and semantics.

Unlike the polychromy of ancient sculpture or the use of colour and paint in Greek architecture, the use of colour in Roman architecture has received relatively little attention. Compared to the clearly defined 'Archaic color triad', or even to the broader Hellenistic palette, Roman architects seem to have used more and different painted colour schemes, surface treatments, and a wider variety of materials with diverse tones and optical qualities. Moreover, they blended these things in seemingly unorthodox ways. For example, polished white marble, sometimes highlighted by gilding, was juxtaposed with rough stone textures. Dull stucco-coated columns and brick facades painted in monochrome red or yellow coexisted with lush veining and luxuriant vegetation emulated in paint.

The aim of this conference is to bring together scholars, working on different regions of the Roman empire, to discuss the striking plurality (or unity) of concepts of colour in Roman architecture. Moreover, we are interested in scholarship that considers intermedial and intermaterial aspects of paint and colour in architectural decoration. We welcome presentations of new research or, alternatively, critical engagements with existing themes or datasets that go beyond the presentation of individual architectural works. Possible questions to be addressed include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Where and in what condition have traces of paint survived on elements of the architectural orders from within a given region of the Roman empire?
  • How was paint applied to elements of the orders or how was a texture created? What were the logistical, technical, and economical requirements involved?
  • Can recurring schemes in the use of colour and texture be reconstructed for a certain region or time period of the Roman empire?
  • How do trends across the Empire relate to local developments? Were there trendsetters and followers? How were design trends transmitted? What accounts for the widespread adoption of certain trends and the rejection of others?
  • Have colour, paint and texture been used to imitate or emulate different materials? How do colour schemes or surface finishes relate to other media than architecture?
  • Do colours in Roman architecture make sense? How was colour used to create meaning or to appeal aesthetically? Is it possible to detect semantics of colour in Roman architectural design?
  • How was the colour and surface texture of architecture described and conceptualized in Roman literary or epigraphical sources?

We invite researchers to submit abstracts of approximately 300 words by email (colour.mainz@gmail.com) no later than April 30, 2022. Presentations are accepted in German, English, French, or Italian. Speakers will be allotted 30 minutes.

Travel expenses and accommodation in Mainz will be covered.
The organizers plan to publish the proceedings of the conference.

Organization: Matthias Grawehr and Johannes Lipps

Contact: colour.mainz@gmail.com
 


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Call for Papers: New Research in the Vesuvian Cities

23. März 2022, Dorothée Grieb - Call for papers

Round-Table-Conference for young researchers, hybrid mode
eikones - Center for the Theory and History of the Image, University of Basel, 27 - 28 May 2022

New Research in the Vesuvian Cities

Pompeii, Herculaneum and the other cities in the area around Mt. Vesuvius undoubtedly form an important source of evidence for a number of questions in (Pre)Roman archaeology. The cities’ unique status is reaffirmed by the large number of ongoing PhD projects applying the latest research theories and methods, shedding new light on old questions.

Since several of these projects share comparable questions and approaches, a network of young researchers was formed in 2020, resulting in a first Round-Table Conference in August 2021 at the CAU Kiel. As the meeting proved highly beneficial for all participants, a follow-up conference will be held at the University of Basel in May 2022 with the financial support of eikones - Center for the Theory and History of the Image Basel, Switzerland.
The aim of these meetings is to bring together young researchers in the early stage of their career, offering them the opportunity to present their projects, discuss interdisciplinary approaches and exchange ideas with a special emphasis on methodical innovativeness. The focus of attention of this year’s conference will be to questions on images and their spatial contexts. Differing contributions are welcome as well.

The call for papers is specifically aimed at but not limited to young international researchers. Participants should currently be working on a subject concerning a PhD, Post-Doc or research project (MA thesis at least) on a subject concerning “the Vesuvius region”.

If you are interested in participating, please submit your application (in English or German) containing a short project description (1 page) and your CV to Adrienne Cornut: adrienne.cornut@unibas.ch. The deadline is April 1st 2022.

Contact:  adrienne.cornut@unibas.ch
 


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Call for Papers: Exemplary Representation(s) of the Past: New Readings of Valerius Maximus’ Facta et dicta memorabilia

01. Februar 2022, Dorothée Grieb - Call for papers

Internationale Konferenz
Fribourg (CH), Institut für Antike und Byzanz, 15.-17.12.2022

Exemplary Representation(s) of the Past: New Readings of Valerius Maximus’ Facta et dicta memorabilia

Die letzten 30 Jahre haben ein verstärktes Interesse an Valerius Maximus und seinen Facta et dicta memorabilia zutage gefördert; die Sammlung historischer exempla wird nun stärker als zuvor als Werk mit einem eigenen literarischen Anspruch gelesen und im Hinblick auf seine ethische, soziale und intellektuelle Bedeutung im frühen Principat und darüber hinaus untersucht.

Diesem Interesse möchten auch die Mitglieder des an der Universität Fribourg angesiedelten und vom Schweizerischen Nationalfonds geförderten Projekts „Im Spiegel der Republik. Valerius Maximus’ Facta et dicta memorabilia“ (https://valmax.hypotheses.org/) Ausdruck geben und hiermit eine internationale Konferenz ankündigen, die vom 15. bis 17. Dezember 2022 in hybrider Form in Fribourg (Schweiz) stattfinden wird, unter dem Titel: „Exemplary Representation(s) of the Past: New Readings of Valerius Maximus’ Facta et dicta memorabilia“.

Die Konferenz hat das Ziel, neue Perspektiven auf Valerius und sein Werk zu eröffnen. Wir freuen uns daher auf Forschungsbeiträge zu unterschiedlichen Aspekten der Facta et dicta memorabilia sowie zu ihrer Rezeption. Dabei könnten sowohl einzelne Passagen (z.B. Kapitel oder Sequenzen von exempla) im Zentrum stehen als auch das Werk insgesamt; mögliche Zugänge könnten etwa Valerius’ literarische Gestaltung, seine Vorstellungen von der Vergangenheit Roms oder auch seine weitere sozio-ethische oder intellektuelle Bedeutung sein.

Ihre Teilnahme bereits zugesagt haben die drei externen Partner des Fribourger Projekts, Prof. Rebecca Langlands (University of Exeter), Prof. Matthew B. Roller (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore) und Prof. David Wardle (University of Cape Town).

Die Konferenzsprache wird Englisch sein. Eine Publikation der Beiträge in einem renommierten Fachverlag ist geplant.

Konkrete Themenvorschläge mit einem inhaltlichen Abstract von max. 300 Wörtern sollten bis Montag, 28. Februar 2022 per E-Mail eingereicht werden (tanja.itgenshorst@unifr.ch).
Es wäre sehr nützlich, wenn Sie bereits angeben könnten, ob Sie im Präsenzmodus in Fribourg teilnehmen würden (sofern dies die allgemeine Lage gestattet). Mit einer Rückmeldung von unserer Seite ist Mitte März 2022 zu rechnen.
Reise- und Unterbringungskosten bei der Anreise nach Fribourg werden erstattet.

Université de Fribourg
Institut für Antike und Byzanz
Geschichte der Antike
Rue Pierre-Aeby 16
CH-1700 Fribourg

https://valmax.hypotheses.org/
 


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Call for Papers: The End of the Roman Climate Optimum and the Disintegration of the Roman Empire

04. November 2021, Dorothée Grieb - Call for papers

International Conference
Binn, Valais, Switzerland, 29 Aug – 1 Sep 2022

The End of the Roman Climate Optimum and the Disintegration of the Roman Empire

Palaeoclimatologists believe to have identified a period of unusually warm and humid weather in Europe and the Mediterranean that expanded from roughly 200 BCE to 150 CE, which they called the ‘Roman Climate Optimum’ or the ‘Roman warm period’. Some historians have linked this overall perseverance of unusually stable and favorable climatic conditions to the expansion of the Roman Empire to its greatest height, and argue that these predominantly warm and humid conditions in large parts of the Empire enabled the delivery of sufficient supply to the growing urban population around the Mediterranean and to the Roman army. From the middle of the second century CE, climate change occurred at different rates, from apparent near stasis during the early Empire to rapid fluctuations during the late Empire. A general cooling trend coincided and, as some scholars argue, contributed to the crisis of the Empire, the Germanic migration, civil wars, and the subsequent ‘decline’ or ‘transformation’ of the Roman world. Furthermore, differences in climate conditions in the Western and Eastern Mediterranean have been hypothezised to mirror the diverging fates of the Roman West and the Byzantine Empire. More recently, other scholars based on regional datasets of climate proxies have reasoned that establishing such a connection between the climatic conditions and its consequences for the history of the Roman Empire does not do justice to the multitude of microclimates in Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East and North Africa on the one hand and the complexity of the material available on the other one.

This international conference will be the first that is specifically devoted to the notion of a Roman Climate Optimum and its impact on the fate of the Roman Empire. The conference will examine the implications of a Roman Climate Optimum for writing Roman environmental, political, social and economic history, and will bring climate scientists, ancient historians and environmental archaeologists around one table. We aim at papers that focus on regional studies and pursue a synthesis of the evidence from written, archaeological, and natural climate archives. Special emphasis will be placed on the challenges of a collaboration between ancient historians, archaeologists and palaeoclimatologists, the methodological difficulties in distinguishing between correlation and causality, and methods of assessing the impact of climatic variability or change on ancient societies without oversimplifying causal connections.

The event is part of the research project ‘The Roman Egypt Laboratory: Climate Change, Societal Transformations, and the Transition to Late Antiquity’ (PI: Sabine R. Huebner) and is sponsored by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the Swiss Association of Classical Studies (SVAW/ASEA), and the Swiss Academic Society for Environmental Research and Ecology (SAGUF). 

Confirmed speakers include:

  • John Haldon (Princeton University)
  • Joseph McConnell (University of Nevada)
  • Annalisa Marzano (University of Reading)
  • Timothy Newfield (Georgetown University)
  • Lee Mordechai (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
  • Kevin Bloomfield (Cornell University)
  • Paolo Maranzana (Boğaziçi University)
  • Petra Vaiglova (Washington University)
  • Christophe Corona (University of Clermont Auvergne)
  • Brandon McDonald (University of Basel)
  • Matthias Stern (LMU Munich)
  • François Blondel (University of Geneva)
  • Charlotte L. Pearson (University of Arizona)
  • Markus Stoffel (University of Geneva)

We welcome abstracts of about 300 words. Papers should be 20 minutes in length, allowing for 10 minutes of discussion time after each paper, and should be in English. We encourage junior researchers and recent PhD holders to apply as well. The results of this conference will be published in form of an open-access peer-reviewed volume in the new series “Studies in Premodern History and Environment”, ed. CCHRI, Oxford University Press.

Please submit your abstract by e-mail to Prof. Dr. Sabine R. Huebner (sabine.huebner@unibas.ch), including the full title of your paper and a short biographical note on your affiliation and previous research.
The deadline for proposals is 30 November 2021.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Sabine Huebner
Petersgraben 51
4051 Basel
Schweiz
e-mail: sabine.huebner@unibas.ch


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Call for Papers: The Eastern Roman Empire under the Severans – new beginnings, old connections?

20. Oktober 2021, Dorothée Grieb - Call for papers

International Conference, Online
Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, 16.-18. June 2022

The Eastern Roman Empire under the Severans – new beginnings, old connections?

After the murder of the emperor Pertinax, the year AD 193 saw four men being proclaimed as Roman emperors by their respective troops: in Rome, Didius Julianus, an Italian, was made emperor by the Praetorian guard; Septimius Severus, who was from North Africa and had a Syrian wife, was sponsored by the troops in Pannonia; Pescennius Niger, who was from Italy, was supported by the troops in Syria and finally Clodius Albinus, again from North Africa, was proclaimed emperor by the troops in Britain. It was Septimius Severus who finally defeated his rivals and established a new dynasty that ruled till AD 235. The Severan dynasty would go on to instituted profound changes in the Roman Empire that would shape the empire’s responses towards the various challenges of the third century.

Despite the fact that the year of the four emperors in AD 193 clearly shows the cosmopolitan interconnectedness of the Roman Empire, scholarship called Septimius Severus the “African emperor”[1] and his wife and her family the “Syrian empresses”[2]. Equally, the two final emperors of the dynasty, Elagabal and Severus Alexander, are also often framed within a narrative of oriental exoticism stressing their Syrian background[3]. Even though there has been considerable scholarly interest in the Severan dynasty in the last 20 years, scholarship has not been able to entirely shake off this ‘narrative of origin’. However, important progress has been made with recent studies on individual emperors and empresses of the dynasty as well as on different aspects of their reign. Thus, aspects of Severan administration – in particular the famous Constitutio Antoniana – and military policy have received scholarly attention and re-evaluation. Equally, important new studies have stressed the innovative framing of imperial propaganda and self-representation under the Severans and the dynasty’s so far underestimated impact on Roman culture as a whole. Rantala even goes so far as to claim in the title of his book on the ludi Saeculares that the Severans instituted “a new Roman Empire”[4].

To date, however, no study has comprehensibly looked at the impact of Severan rule on the Eastern parts of the Roman Empire. The Eastern Roman Empire was, of course, also affected by the Severan refashioning of empire – from administrative changes in Egypt and Syria to building activities across the Eastern provinces, the Severans left their mark on a region they should in the logic of the ‘narrative of origin’ have been particularly partial to. But were they? Do administrative measures of the Severan emperors show a particular insight into matters of the Eastern part of the Empire? Could the new dynasty draw on local connections to develop and institute these? Did the communities of the Eastern Empire in their turn profit from the fact that the emperors and empresses hailed from their part of the world? Did they built more or honor the emperors of the Severan dynasty more because they felt a special connection to them? And what kind of a Roman Empire do we have to imagine in the East in Severan times? Did the peoples of the Eastern parts of the Empire refashion their identities because of the ‘Syrian empresses’? In short – what happened in the Eastern Roman Empire under Severan rule – do we see new beginnings, old connections?

“The Eastern Roman Empire under the Severans – new beginnings, old connections?” will bring together scholars from a wide variety of fields taking a new look at the impact of Severan rule on the Eastern half of the Roman empire in a three-day digital conference at the FU Berlin in 2022. The conference will aim to provide a forum for scholars working on the Severan age in the Eastern Roman Empire to showcase their work as well as offering a comprehensive insight into the state of the art of our current knowledge on this issue.

Speakers will be given 30 minutes for a presentation, followed by 15 minutes for discussion. Papers can be given in German, English and French, though the main language of communication will be English. Short abstracts for the papers will be shared in advance of the conference with the participants. Papers will be given by invited speakers, but this call for papers is also open for applications for further papers.
Please contact us till November, 19th, 2021, with a short proposal (400 words), if you wish to present a paper at the conference:  julia.hoffmann-salz@fu-berlin.de

Organizers:
Matthäus Heil, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften:  heil@bbaw.de
Julia Hoffmann-Salz, Free University Berlin:  julia.hoffmann-salz@fu-berlin.de
Holger Wienholz, German Archaeological Institute:  holger.wienholz@dainst.org


Notes:
[1] A. Birley, Septimius Severus: The African emperor, London 1999.
[2] J. Babelon, Impératrices syriennes, Paris 1957.
[3] E.g. R. Turcan, Héliogabale et le sacre du soleil, Paris 1985.
[4] J. Rantala, The Ludi Saeculares of Septimius Severus: the ideologies of a new Roman Empire, London 2017.
 


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