39th Symposium of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Archaeology and Art
On behalf of the Executive Board of the Christian Archaeological Society we hereby
announce the organization of the 39th Symposium of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine
Archaeology and Art of the Christian Archaeological Society, which will be held in
Athens, at the Byzantine and Christian Museum, May 31 – June 2, 2019.
The one day special topic of the 39th Symposium of the ChAE: Ideological and
cultural reception of Byzantium by other cultures (7th-15th centuries) is the
continuation of the special topic of the 38th Symposium Seeking the place of the
“other” in Byzantium which explored the impact of other religious and ethnic groups
on the material culture and the artistic production of Byzantium. The special topic of
the 39th Symposium will attempt to complete the picture by investigating the image of Byzantium and its ideological and cultural reception by others, especially by its
neighbors, Slavs, Russians, Georgians, Armenians, Seljuk and Ottoman Turks, Arabs, Normans, Scandinavians, Venetians, Genoese, Franks and other Crusaders etc.
Thanks to its military, diplomatic, and cultural supremacy, the Byzantine empire
was diachronically a model for imitation and a reference point for foreign peoples. The great impact of this ecumenical uniqueness that characterized the period of the
empire’s apogee (843-1071), was gradually reduced when the European states of the West shifted their attention toward the East (1071-1204), but this change was not entirely perceived by the ruling dynasty, state officials, economic elites and
intellectuals during the difficult circumstances of the last period (1204-1453).