Calls for Papers/Aug 09, 2023

What Means Late Antiquity in the Balkans? New Concepts, Historiographies and Case Studies for the Period Between the 3rd and the 8th Centuries

What Means Late Antiquity in the Balkans? New Concepts, Historiographies and Case Studies for the Period Between the 3rd and the 8th Centuries lead image

What Means Late Antiquity in the Balkans? New Concepts, Historiographies and Case Studies for the Period Between the 3rd and the 8th Centuries, online, October 23, 2023

The Young Scholars Circle of the HAEMUS (YSCH) International Research Network is pleased to invite you to its first International Online Seminar for PhD students and Postdocs: What Means Late Antiquity in the Balkans? New Concepts, Historiographies and Case Studies for the Period between the 3rd and the 8th Centuries. This first edition of the YSCH online seminar aims to stimulate a discussion that, relying on the most recent studies, can contribute to specifying the definition of the concept of “Late Antiquity” for the Balkan Peninsula.

This first edition of the YSCH online seminar aims to stimulate a discussion that, relying on the most recent studies, can contribute to specifying the definition of the concept of “Late Antiquity” for the Balkan Peninsula.

Taking into account the distinctive features of this historical period, as defined in the major epistemological works on the question, and recognising the elements of rupture and continuity from the past, the debate that will arise from this activity will try to answer such questions (among others):

  • What means Late Antiquity in the Balkans? (Viz. how Late Antiquity is generally perceived in studies produced in the Balkans and on the peninsula.)
  • Is it a simple synonym for the Late Roman or the Early Byzantine/Mediaeval periods, or is it a period in its own right?
  • What are its ante and post quem termini, when applied to the Balkans?
  • With regard to the Late Antique period, what makes the Balkans specific and what makes it an integral part of the Empire?

This seminar will be multidisciplinary, relying on any kind of testimonies available in the fields of history, archaeology and art history. Among the themes for which discussion are encouraged, we can mention (but not exclusively):

  • Historiography
  • Epigraphy
  • Numismatics
  • Topography
  • Iconography
  • Administration
  • Urban development
  • Military organisation
  • Religion
  • Migrations

Presentations from PhD students or Postdocs who have defended their PhD dissertation during the last 5 years are accepted from this call for papers.

Presentations may be in English and in French.