Dumbarton Oaks sponsored sessions at 57th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University Online, May 9–14, 2022

Dumbarton Oaks and the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library welcome abstracts for sponsored paper sessions, panel discussions, and roundtables at the 57th International Congress on Medieval Studies, which takes place online May 9–14, 2022.

Byzantium and the Ottomans
The growth of the Ottoman Empire and its eventual conquest of Byzantium, culminating in the capture of Constantinople in 1453, hold perennial interest for historians of the medieval world. This panel seeks fresh approaches to the relationship between Byzantium and the East, particularly the Ottomans, in the Late Byzantine period and beyond. Panelists might explore the political maneuverings or military campaigns between the Byzantines and Ottomans, literary or religious developments in light of the changing fortunes of these empires, western attitudes toward the two, or any other relevant topics.

Coins and Seals in Byzantium 
Byzantine coins and seals survive in enormous numbers, and thus provide some of the most important sources of evidence for economic and administrative history and historical geography. Lead seals in particular are underexploited by scholars despite the rich onomastic and prosopographic data encoded on each specimen. Although focusing on coins and seals from Byzantium this panel welcomes speakers working on materials from a comparative perspective. 

Power and Piety in Byzantine Material Culture
Whether through wealth, family, or office, relative power dictated social relations in Byzantium, leaving traces in the material culture, from imperial insignia on coins to epigraphic habits on seals to designs of textiles. Relationships between the human and divine found expression in the production and use of objects, the interplay of image and text, and the built environment. The panel will focus on how individuals and groups used material culture to demonstrate and present their power and piety to the world around them. Although focusing on objects from Byzantium, this panel welcomes speakers working on materials from a comparative perspective.

Digital Byzantine Seals: From Storage to Gallery to Classroom (A Panel Discussion) 
As a decade of online cataloguing of Dumbarton Oaks’ lead seal collection comes to a close in 2021, this panel aims to take stock of the new life breathed into old objects by the digital medium. Speakers will be invited address seals from the perspective of research, exhibition, K–12 education and outreach, and data, and we hope to include a respondent who can speak from the comparative perspective of the Western Middle Ages.

Translating Medieval Texts (A Roundtable Discussion)