BYZANTIUM: EMPIRE OF THE SEA – 21ST AABS CONFERENCE
The 21st conference was held at the University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, Brisbane, June 2–5, 2023.
Welcome to Brisbane for the 21 st conference of the Australasian Association for Byzantine Studies! Byzantium was an empire on, and of, the ancient Mediterranean and Black Seas. The ‘late’ Romans inherited a political, military and cultural system centred on waterborne trade and interconnections. Constantine’s new capital city swiftly replaced Rome as the Mediterranean entrepot of goods from east and west, building on the foundations of the connections and harbours of Byzantium, the ideal Greek emporium. The papers of this conference engage with the theme of Byzantium: Empire of the Sea, on any level of analysis, from history and hagiography, to letters, art, iconography or harbour architecture. Presenters consider the origins of Byzantium in the Roman empire, as a Greek colony; study aspects of the functioning ‘later’ Roman empire centred on Constantinople from the 4th to 15th centuries, and the navigation of its histories; and explore the legacy of Byzantine travel and trade in the Black Sea, on the Aegean islands, in the Italian maritime republics, or along the rivers, bays and coasts to the north, west and south of the Bosporus. Thank you for joining us, and we hope you have a wonderful and enriching conference experience.
The Conveners, Amelia R. Brown and the Executive Committee of the Australasian
Association for Byzantine Studies.
The Biennial General Meeting of the Association was held during the Conference at 12:30 on Monday 5 June.
Download the full programme pdf.
Formed in 1978 as the Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, the Australasian Association for Byzantine Studies is a non-profit organisation that aims to foster links between scholars, students and laypersons within Australia and New Zealand who are interested in Byzantium and related fields. The Australasian Association is a member of the Association Internationale des Etudes Byzantines. It also has close working links with Byzantine groups in a number of countries. The Association supports a biennial conference, which offers the opportunity for members to present papers or to hear discussions of interest from scholars within Australia, as well as from overseas. Participation comes from a wide range of disciplines and covers a broad time span, so that papers, even when devoted to a particular theme, are always diverse. The publication of Byzantina Australiensia is an academic series which aims to provide access to texts of the Byzantine period in translation, as well as to relevant scholarship.
Membership subscriptions for 2022-24/26 are now due: download the form.
