External News and Events
XLIII Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies
University of Birmingham
27-29 March 2010
Byzantium behind the Scenes: Power and Subversion
www.iaa.bham.ac.uk/conferences/byzantine
Saturday March 27th
10am
Session I: The politics of subversion
- Dimitris Kyritses (Crete): Decision-making, consensus-building and autocracy held in check: the imperial council in Byzantium
- Kostis Smyrlis (New York): The Byzantine state and the subversive power of fiscally privileged groups (13th-14th c.)
- Michael Angold (Edinburgh): The art of subversion at the late Palaiologan court
- Cécile Morrisson (Dumbarton Oaks) and Vasso Penna (University of Peloponnese): Usurpers and rebels in Byzantium: image and message through coins
2pm.
Session II: The art of subversion
- Leslie Brubaker (Birmingham): Seeing is believing, but words tell many lies: image, text and subversion in Byzantium
- Bissera Pentcheva (Stanford): Subverting the Byzantine world: Sinai, crusader art, and the rise of optical visuality
- Liz James (Sussex): 'The world turned upside down': art and subversion in Byzantium
- Antony Eastmond (London): Power, parody and subversion
Sunday, March 28th
10:30am
Session III: Subversion in religious and popular belief
- Neil McLynn (Oxford): Playing to lose? The politics of heresy in Theodosian Constantinople
- Paul Magdalino (St Andrews): Generic subversion? The political message of apocalyptic prophecy and urban myth
- Dirk Krausmüller (Cardiff): Hiding in plain sight: heterodox readings of Byzantine theological texts
- Béatrice Caseau (Paris): The limits of religion: derision and disrespect
2:30 P.M.
Session IV: Subversion in philosophy and intellectual life
- Börje Bydén (Stockholm): 'No prince of perfection': Byzantine anti-Aristotelianism from Philoponus to Plethon
- Katerina Ierodiakonu (Athens): Really, why was John Italos anathematised?
- Maria Mavroudi (Berkeley): George Gemistos Plethon in the Islamic world
Monday, March 29th
9:30 A.M.
Session V: The literature of subversion
- Margaret Mullett (Dumbarton Oaks): How to criticise the laudandus
- Dimitris Krallis (Simon Fraser University): Harmless satire, stinging critique: a new reading the Timarion
Keynote Address:
Margaret Alexiou (Harvard): Of broth, brawls and balls: power, pain and poverty in
Ptochoprodromos
Communications
The symposium will feature 35 communication papers (10 minutes each) dealing with a wide range of themes and subjects related to Byzantine history, art history, literature, and archaeology. The programme of the communication papers will be available on the symposium website by 1 March: www.iaa.bham.ac.uk/conferences/byzantine
Information
- Registration fee: £75
- Reduced registration fee: £65 (members of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies)
- £30 (graduate students)
The registration fee includes buffet lunches on March 27 (Saturday), March 28 (Sunday) and March 29 (Monday) and wine reception on Saturday. It does not include the Sunday feast which is booked separately.
After February 26, the fees rise to £85 (full fee), £75 (members of SPBS), £35 (graduate students)
Registration fees are payable either by credit card through the symposium website or by sending a registration form (available for download from the website) along with a cheque payable to The University of Birmingham to the following address: Byzantine Spring Symposium 2010, Institute of Archaeology & Antiquity, Arts Building, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom.
If you would like to attend a single day of the symposium, please contact for day rates the Symposium Assistant Mr Michael Saxby at mss714@bham.ac.uk.
Accommodation
The University of Birmingham Conference Park
Lucas House
48 Edgbaston Park Road
Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2RA
(about 5 to 10 min from the venue of the symposium)
£60 B&B
The Conference Park is located in pleasant surroundings and within close walking distance to the Arts Building where the symposium will take place. In order to get the conference rate, please call +44 (0) 121 415 8400 between 8:30 am and 5:30 pm Mondays through Fridays. Choose option one ('B&B accommodation' ) and then again option one ('B&B enquiries'). Please make sure to give the following Events Reference Number when making the booking: 8371. If you do not cite this reference number, you will be quoted a higher price. For a map, see http://www.has.bham.ac.uk/conferences/documents/MapCpark1.pdf
Two hotels in the city centre of Birmingham provide special B&B rates for participants and guests of the symposium; these rates are guaranteed until the dates indicated below:
- Holiday Inn Birmingham City (5 min from Birmingham New Street Station) Smallbrook Queensway, Birmingham B5 4EW - £70 B&B. In order to get the conference rate, please call central reservations before 14 Februar y 2010 at +44 (0) 121 634 6222 and mention allocation booking under the name ‘Birmingham University’
- Etap Hotel Birmingham Centre (8 min from Birmingham New Street Station and on a bus route to the University of Birmingham) 1 Great Colmore Street, Birmingham B15 2AP - £38 B&B, single occupancy, per room, per night.
- £40 B&B, double occupancy, per room, per night. The hotel is ideal for graduate students. In order to book this rate, please email the Symposium Assistant Michael Saxby at MSS714@bham.ac.uk by 13 February 2010.
- There are frequent trains running between the University of Birmingham Train Station and New Street Station in Birmingham. Maps and further information will be provided.
- Another accommodation option within walking distance to the University of Birmingham might be the Awentsbury Hotel (www.awentsbury.com, tel: +44 (0) 121 472 1258), a traditional English B&B which offers accommodation priced at around £40 per night.
Event details
- XLIII Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies
- Location: University of Birmingham
- Date: Saturday, 27th March 2010 - Monday, 29th March 2010
University of Birmingham
27-29 March 2010
Byzantium behind the Scenes: Power and Subversion