The 2023-24 Byzantine Seminar Series entitled “Becoming and Unbecoming Roman” organized by the Program of CCI and the Department of History at Bilkent University, in collaboration with IFEA-Istanbul, Hacettepe University, and Koç University will start with the opening lecture by:
Leonora Neville (University of Madison Wisconsin) will be delivering a seminar entitled “Romans in the East, Roman Religion, and Unbecoming Roman” on Friday, 15 December 2023, at 12.30 p.m. at Bilkent University (Room H-232).
This is an online seminar. To obtain event details please send a message to department.
Leonora Neville is John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Chair of Byzantine History; Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; she is a historian of the medieval eastern Mediterranean, specializing in the society and culture of the eastern Roman Empire (the Byzantine Empire) in the ninth through twelfth centuries. Her research interests include gender, civic religion, and religious aspects of political culture, and historical memory and historiography. She is the author of several monographs, including Heroes and Romans in Twelfth-Century Byzantium: The Material for History of Nikephoros Bryennios (Cambridge University Press, 2012), Anna Komnene: The Life and Work of a Medieval Historian (Oxford University Press, 2016), and Guide to Byzantine Historical Writing (Cambridge University Press, 2018).
Abstract:
This talk will delve into the debated issue of “Romaness” in Byzantium, focusing on the complex nature of Byzantine identity and its connection to the Roman legacy. Indeed, as the Byzantines saw themselves as heirs to the Roman Empire, they are often seen as simply emphasizing the continuity of Roman traditions; however, recent and more nuanced perspectives on the Byzantine understanding of “Romaness” challenged prevalent notions and emphasized the multifaceted nature of Byzantine identity deeply rooted in the Roman tradition.