In association with Oxford Medieval Studies, sponsored by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH)
We are delighted to announce the finalised programme (and opening of advance registration for online attendance) for the Oxford University Byzantine Society’s 26th Annual International Graduate Conference ‘Transgression in Late Antiquity and Byzantium’, taking place on the 24th-25th February, 2024 at the Faculty of History, George Street, OX1 2BE.
The programme and abstracts of papers can be found on the dedicated conference website and below. The costs for attendance are as follows:
In person attendance: £15 for OUBS members / £20 for non-members
Online attendance: £5 for students / £6 for non students
Papers will be delivered in-person, with the proceedings broadcast on a Zoom link which will circulate via email to those purchasing online attendance tickets via Eventbrite (see link below). Advance registration for in person attendance is not necessary. If you plan on attending online, please purchase a ticket at our Eventbrite link.
We are grateful for the generous support of The Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research (OCBR), The Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity (OCLA), Oxford Medieval Studies, in association with The Oxford Research Centre for Humanities (TORCH), and The Faculty of History of the University of Oxford, as well as the many others who have helped with the conference’s facilitation.
We look forward to welcoming you to Oxford. Best wishes, the Conference Organisers:
OUBS President Alexander Sherborne
OUBS Secretary Ilia Curto Pelle
OUBS Treasurer Benjamin Sharkey
The OUBS Committee is grateful for the generous support of:
- The Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research (OCBR)
- The Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity (OCLA)
- Oxford Medieval Studies, in association with The Oxford Research Centre for Humanities (TORCH)
- The Faculty of History of the University of Oxford
The OUBS Committee would also like to express its gratitude to Shaun Cason, Eleanore Debs, Gavriella Makri, Bryce O’Connor, Rosalie Van Dael, Sophia Miller, Alexander Johnston, Nathan Websdale and Duncan Antich for their assistance with the conference’s facilitation.
Conference Programme
Venue: Faculty of History, George Street, Oxford, OX1 2RL
Saturday (February 24th, 2024)
11.00 a.m. – Opening Remarks (Lecture Theatre)
11.30-13.00 p.m. – Session 1: Panel 1a (Lecture Theatre); and Panel 1b (Rees Davies Room)
13.00-14.00 p.m. – Lunch Break (Common Room)
14.00-15.30 p.m. – Session 2: Panel 2a (Lecture Theatre); and Panel 2b (Rees Davies Room)
15.30-16.00 p.m. – Coffee and Tea Break (Common Room)
16.00-17.30 p.m. – Session 3: Panel 3a (Lecture Theatre) and Panel 3b (Rees Davies Room)
17.30-19.00 p.m. – Wine Reception (Common Room)
19.30 p.m. – Conference Dinner
Sunday (February 25th, 2024)
11.30-13.00 p.m. – Session 4: Panel 4a (Lecture Theatre); and Panel 4b (Rees Davies Room)
13.00-14.00 p.m. – Lunch Break (Common Room)
14.00-15.30 p.m. – Session 5: Panel 5a (Lecture Theatre); and Panel 5b (Rees Davies Room)
15.30-16.00 p.m. – Closing Remarks (Lecture Theatre)
16.00-18.00 p.m. – Parting Tea Reception (Common Room)
Schedule of Papers
Session 1: Saturday, 11.30–13.00
| Panel 1a: ‘The Literary’ (Chair: Findlay Willis) | Panel 1b: ‘The Political’ (Chair: Alexander Johnston) |
| Duncan Antich (Blackfriars College, Oxford) Compassion and Community: The Regula Pastoralis and Gregory’s Approach to Schism Alejandro Laguna López (Central European University) An Anti-Novelistic Novel: Subverting Love in Niketas Eugenianos’ Drosilla and Charicles Averkios (Dimitris) Agoris (University of Athens) Multigeneric examples in Michael Choniates’s Educational Activity | Euan Croman (Queen’s University Belfast) Transgressing the domus imperii in the fourth and fifth centuries: Treason or Family Trouble? Daniel Murphy (Independent Scholar) Usurpation Narratives as Political Commentary in Fourth-Century Historiography Merve Savas (Ohio State University) Twisting the Narrative: Textual Transgression in Ammianus Marcellinus’ Res Gestae 14 |
Session 2: Saturday, 14.00–15.30
| Panel 2a: ‘The Sexual’ (Chair: Alexander Sherborne) | Panel 2b: ‘The Conciliar’ (Chair: Bryce O’Connor) |
| Maria Christian (Independent Scholar) “Look at that wood!” An Investigation into a Bizarre Sexual Practice Ascribed to the “Chaldeans” Involving Iconography in an Early Islamic Sex Manual Vid Žepič (University of Ljubljana) Legal Perspectives on Sexual Transgressions in Early-Byzantine Legal Sources Pierrick Gerval (University of Nantes) Sexual violences during wartime, a transgression of Church prohibitions regarding sexuality in Byzantium (7th -13th century) | Kathleen McCulloch (University of Cambridge) Did Dioscorus transgress, or adhere to, established conciliar procedure at Ephesus II (449)? Alexander Johnston (Kellogg College, Oxford) The Edge of Divinity: The Role of Wisdom in the Logos Prosphonetikos of the Quinisext Council Rachel Edney (University of Notre Dame) The Eucharist in John Rufus’ Plerophories: Eucharistic Theology and Christological Controversy |
Session 3: Saturday, 16.00–17.30
| Panel 3a: ‘On the Edges of Byzantium’ (Chair: Benjamin Sharkey) | Panel 3b: ‘In the Land of Egypt’ (Chair: Sophia Miller) |
| Shaun Cason (Worcester College, Oxford) The End of Transgressions? Examining the Seventh-Century Treaty Between Islamic Egypt and Medieval Nubia Dmitriy Kravets (St. Hugh’s College, Oxford) Orthodoxy and/or Empire? A Reassessment of the Career of Gregory Tsamblak (fl. 1402- 1415) Helena Davies (Linacre College, Oxford) Sitt al-Mulk: A Damsel in Distress? Challenging Art-Historical Efforts to Rescue and Vindicate an Early Islamic Princess | Apolline Gay (Université libre de Bruxelles) Looking for Eve: Figures of Female Transgression on Textiles from Byzantine Egypt Michael Dunchok (Kellogg College, Oxford) A Higher Rank of Gods: In Defense of the Greek Magical Papyri Chloé Agar (Harris Manchester College, Oxford) ‘He thrust his spear into the middle of him, and his bowels came out’: Literary violence against religious and legal transgressions in Early Christian Egypt |
Session 4: Sunday, 11.30–13.00
| Panel 4a: ‘The Archaeological and the Art-Architectural‘ (Chair: Gavriella Makri) | Panel 4b: ‘The Imperial and the Ecclesiastic‘ (Chair: Nathan Websdale) |
| Eleanore Debs (Pembroke College, Oxford) Examining the Peculiar Presence of Reliquaries Within Late Antique Baptisteries of the Limestone Massif Sophia Miller (Balliol College, Oxford) Trees ‘Pleasant to the Sight’: Tree-Meaning in Late Antique Floor Mosaics in the Northern Provinces Karolina Tomczyszyn (Lincoln College, Oxford) Transgressive Use of Holy Oils: In Search of Popular Religion in Syriac Christianity | Ziyao Zhu (King’s College London) Neither Just nor Unjust: Alexios I Komnenos and the Linguistic Politics of Byzantine Extrajudicial Confiscation. Dilara Burcu Giritlioğlu (Middle East Technical University) Sinners and Saints of Constantinople: Union of Souls and Separation of Church and State Findlay Willis (St. Stephen’s House, Oxford) Natural illness or divine punishment: the use of disability rhetoric to excuse or vilify the transgressions of Michael IV |
Session 5: Sunday, 14.00–15.30
| Panel 5a: ‘Defining Aspects of Deviance’ (Chair: Dimitri Kravets) | Panel 5b: ‘Transgressing Intellectual Borders‘ (Chair: Ilia Curto Pelle) |
| Ekaterina Rybakova (Pirogov Russian National Researcher Medical University) Illnesses of Spirit or Being: The Transgression of Pneuma in Byzantine Medicine Thibaut Auplat (Aix-Marseille University) An overview of deviance in the 7th and 8th centuries: the Heresies by John Damascene Patrick Martin (University of Winchester) Transgression in Middle Byzantine eschatological iconography | Mathijs Clement (University of Cambridge) Egeria, Traveller of Borderlands Rosalie Van Dael (St. Hilda’s College, Oxford) Seeing is believing? Imagination in Augustine’s Letter 7 to Nebridius Seyhun Kılıç (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) Monk in a Mundane Realm: Exploring the Intersection of Spiritual and Secular Realms in the Middle Byzantine Period |