Great Power and the Modern Invention of “Byzantium”, ANAMED Library Talk with Anthony Kaldellis (The Ohio State University) and Young Richard Kim, moderator (University of Chicago Illinois), Koç University via Zoom, September 14, 2021, 6:00 pm (Istanbul Time)

ANAMED Library Talks, jointly organized by Koç University’s Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED) Library and the History Foundation (Tarih Vakfı), will continue with Anthony Kaldellis on September 14, 2021.  

Byzantine Studies is exceptional among academic disciplines in that it refuses to call the society that it studies and its people by its proper name – Romanía and the Romans.  It is well understood that the term “Byzantium” is a modern construct, but the politics of its invention remain unexplored. Why do we have that category at all? Whose interests did it serve? Should we still use it?

This presentation will explore how the Great Powers of the nineteenth century created “Byzantium,” and the key role of the Greek War of Independence and Crimean War in that process. The talk will be moderated by Young Richard Kim.  This month’s talk will be in English and will take place online. 

Anthony Kaldellis is Professor and Chair of Classics at The Ohio State University.

Young Richard Kim is Associate Professor and Head of Classics and Mediterranean Sudies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Advance registration required.