Gutenberg-Symposium: Literary history in a Medieval Eurasian enviroment: Methodological and interpretive approaches
A symposium: Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, 9-11 January 2023
Supported by the Gutenberg Forschungskolleg and the Leibniz Wissenschafts-Campus
The aim of the symposium is to contribute to the debate about the writing of literary histories, categories of taxonomy, theoretical approaches to premodern texts or any other matter that the participants would see as fitting the broader framework of the symposium. The speakers will not point to influences between the various medieval literatures but rather to look at larger methodological issues from the perspective of one’s 
own field and area of specialization, but maybe also from other areas, in other words, to present problems in each respective field vis à vis its scholarly history, the history of its respective literature, and its position in a “Medieval Eurasian literary supersystem”. Τhere are sixteen participants: 9 scholars specializing in Greek literature (Classicists/Byzantinists), 2 scholars specializing in Byzantine history, 4 scholars from 4 other major medieval literatures (Slavic, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian). Ingela Nilsson (Uppsala University) will join our proceedings as a guest.
Program
Monday, 09/01, 18:15 Uhr (Philosophicum, P1)
Dimiter Angelov (Harvard University)
At the Intersection of History and Literature: Reading and Thinking with Theodore II Laskaris
Chair: Panagiotis Agapitos (GFK–JGU)
19:30 Wine Reception
Tuesday, 10/01 (Senatsaal der Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät)
Chair: Stratis Papaioannou (University of Crete)
9:00
Baukje van den Berg (Central European University)
The Byzantine Exegesis of Past Authorities: From Homer to John of Damascus
10:00
Fotini Hadjittofi (University of Lisbon)
Early Byzantine Literature and the Challenges of a “Late Antique Aesthetic”
11:00–11:30 Coffee Break
Chair: Ingela Nilsson (Uppsala University)
11:30 Uhr
Cameron Cross (University of Michigan at Ann Arbor)
Grammars of Globality
12:30 Uhr
Stavroula Constantinou (University of Cyprus)
The Art of Short Narrative: Towards a Theory of the Early Tale
13:30–14:30 Uhr Light Lunch
Chair: Miriam Salzmann (JGU)
14:30 Uhr
Divna Manolova (CNRS, Paris)
Why read Aratus in Palaiologan Byzantium? The Case of John Pothos Pediasimos and Vaticanus graecus 191
15:30 Uhr
Daniele Bianconi (Sapienza University of Rome)
Greek Palaeography and Byzantine Literature
16:30–16:45 Uhr Short Break
16:45 Uhr
Susana Torres Prieto (IE University, Madrid)
Scribal Choices in Slavic: When the Message is the Medium
17:45 Uhr Conclusion
19:30 Uhr
Participant Dinner in a downtown restaurant specializing in local cuisine
Wednesday, 11/01 (Senatsaal der Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät)
Chair: Stavroula Constantinou (University of Cyprus)
9:00 Uhr
Anna Maria Taragna (University of Torino)
“Logoi historias” Across Time: Evolution and Interrelationships in the Writing of Speeches and Letters in Byzantine Historical Works
10:00 Uhr
Stratis Papaioannou (University of Crete)
Hagiographies on the Fringe and the Issue of Fictionality in Byzantine Literature
11:00–11:30 Coffee Break
Chair: Susana Torres Prieto (IE University, Madrid)
11:30 Uhr
Michael Cooperson (University of California at Los Angeles)
Towards an Arabic Literary History
12:30 Uhr
Miriam Salzmann (JGU) & Panagiotis Agapitos (GFK–JGU)
Court Literature and Elite Culture: Animal Fables as Political Admonitory Discourse in a Medieval Eurasian Perspective
13:30–14:30 Uhr Light Lunch
Chair: Dimiter Angelov (Harvard University)
14:30 Uhr
Saskia Dönitz (Goethe University Frankfurt)
A Literary History of Byzantine Hebrew Literature: Methodological Considerations
15:30 Uhr
Theodora Antonopoulou (National and Capodistrian University of Athens)
Byzantine Oratory between Secular Rhetoric and Homiletics
16:30–17:00 Uhr Conclusion
17:30 Uhr Drinks and ad libitum light dinner on campus
Vortragsreihe Wintersemester 2022/23 Byzanz in Mainz und Frankfurt
Die Vorträge der Reihe beleuchten aktuelle Forschungsfragen und richten sich sowohl an Fachleute wie auch die breite Öffentlichkeit. Ab dem Sommersemester 2020 werden auch Vorträge in Frankfurt mit aufgeführt.
Tagung 10.- 12. November 2022 Byzanz an frühneuzeitlichen Höfen. Rezeptionen, Konfrontationen und Projekte
Internationale Tagung: Byzanz an frühneuzeitlichen Höfen. Rezeption, Konfrontation und Projekte.
Veranstaltungsort:
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Fakultätsaal des Philosophicums
Jakob-Welder-Weg 18
55128 Mainz
Online Teilnahme via Zoom:
Anmeldung erbeten bis zum 7. November 2022
unter: Neuere.Geschichte@uni-mainz.de
Konferenz, 9. - 11. Juni 2022: War with Byzantium
War with Byzantium: Legitimation, Consequences and Reception 
International Conference of the Research Training Group 2304: Byzantium and the Euro-Mediterranean Cultures of War.
Ort: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Alte Mensa / Atrium Maximum
The conference will focus on war with Byzantium, the Eastern Roman empire, from an external perspective. It will cover four thematic areas: first, the legitimation of wars against Byzantium including e.g. the question of how the empire’s opponents constructed a hostile image of Byzantium. How did Byzantium’s enemies describe war with the empire on a religious and ideological level? Second, we will examine the concrete ways in which wars with Byzantium were waged and what kind of infrastructure was necessary for such undertakings. Frontier regions and their protection played an important role in this context.
The third thematic area will focus on the consequences of war both for the environment and for the population, such as captivity, enslavement or forced conversion. Which strategies did people employ to cope with these experiences?
Last but not least, we will investigate the reception of wars against Byzantium, regardless of whether they ended in victory or defeat, in post-Byzantine times.
Vortragsreihe Sommersemester 2022: Byzanz in Mainz und Frankfurt
Die Vorträge der Reihe beleuchten aktuelle Forschungsfragen und richten sich sowohl an Fachleute wie auch die breite Öffentlichkeit. Ab dem Sommersemester 2020 werden auch Vorträge in Frankfurt mit aufgeführt.
Konferenz, 17. Dezember 2021: Polemical Literature in the Late Byzantine World (13th-15th centuries)
Vortragsreihe Wintersemester 2021/2022: Byzanz in Mainz und Frankfurt
Die Vorträge der Reihe beleuchten aktuelle Forschungsfragen und richten sich sowohl an Fachleute wie auch die breite Öffentlichkeit. Ab dem Sommersemester 2020 werden auch Vorträge in Frankfurt mit aufgeführt.
Vortragsreihe Sommersemester 2021: Byzanz in Mainz und Frankfurt
Die Vorträge der Reihe beleuchten aktuelle Forschungsfragen und richten sich sowohl an Fachleute wie auch die breite Öffentlichkeit. Ab dem Sommersemester 2020 werden auch Vorträge in Frankfurt mit aufgeführt.
Zu den Vorträgen und Programmen im SoSe 19 gelangen Sie hier.