## **Upcoming Conferences and Symposia (Please click "Read More")** ## In this Wiki you will find a listing of upcoming conferences of interest ## **Hymns Homilies and Hermeneutics in Byzantium** ## **18 August 2018, Museum of Ancient Cultures, Building X5B, Level 3, Macquarie University** Abstracts can be found in the Files pod of the Upcoming Confereneces Section ![enter image description here][1] ![enter image description here][2] ## **Envisioning the Roman Emperor in Speech and Word in Late Antiquity** ## **25 July 2018, Macquarie University, Australia** This colloquium is organised by **Dr Meaghan McEvoy** as part of the Faculty of Arts Visiting Fellowship Grant for the visit to MQ of **Assoc. Prof. Jan Willem Drijvers** (University of Groningen, the Netherlands), and is supported by the MQ Ancient Cultures Research Centre and the Australasian Society for Classical Studies. Assoc. Prof. Drijvers is a distinguished scholar of late Roman studies, whose many publications range from seminal works on the empress Helena, mother of the first Christian emperor Constantine, to a series of scholarly commentaries on the key late Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, and studies of the Syriac Julian Romance. His current research projects include a monograph on the emperor Jovian and new commentaries on the *Panegyrici Latini*. This is his first visit to Australia and offers a crucial opportunity for students of Roman and late antique studies in particular to benefit from his expertise in this area. He will provide a keynote paper at the colloquium. Further confirmed speakers for this event include: **Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides** (Macquarie University) **Meaghan McEvoy** (Macquarie University) **Paul Roche** (University of Sydney) **Byron Waldron** (University of Sydney) A full program will be posted in due course. Attendance at the colloquium is free, but space is limited, so those wishing to attend should email meaghan.mcevoy@mq.edu.au by **July 4th** to confirm their attendance. In addition, thanks to the generous support of ASCS, we are able to offer 3 bursaries of $250 each to assist postgraduate students from outside Sydney to travel to Macquarie to attend this event. Applications for these bursaries are open to both Masters and PhD students, should be made in writing by **April 15th**, and should include: 1. A 1-page statement of the applicant’s current research topic, the degree under which this research is being conducted, and the benefit to the student’s research project of attending this colloquium; 2. A 1-page CV All applications should be sent to meaghan.mcevoy@mq.edu.au Successful applicants will be informed by April 30th of the outcome. ## **Making and Unmaking Memory in the Ancient World, from the 7th Century BCE to the 7th Century CE** ## **19th UNISA Classics Colloquium in collaboration with the ARC Discovery Project, ‘Memories of Utopia: Destroying the past to create the future (300-650 CE)’** **Pretoria, 7-10 November 2018** **Call for Papers:** We are pleased to announce the first call for papers for the annual Unisa Classics Colloquium in collaboration with the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project: “Memories of Utopia: Destroying the Past to Create the Future (300-650 CE)”. The conference aims to explore a wide variety of aspects relating to the building, dismantling and reconstructing of memory and reputation across the various cultures bordering on the ancient Mediterranean, and over a wide time-frame. We know that memory and history are not fixed, objective occurrences, but are subjective representations of reality, and we can see evidence of this in the way in which those items which transmit memory are manipulated and used throughout antiquity. Memory and history are often reconstructed in light of various utopian (or dystopian) ideals, thereby also creating a vision of the future that is based on strategic manipulations of the past. The unmaking and reconstitution of memory may also occur through violent means, whether through discursive and/or “physical” violence, which is an important aspect for further investigation. The proposed conference aims to create fruitful interaction between the disciplines of Classics, Early Christian Studies, Late Antiquity and Byzantine Studies, by exploring both ancient written material and/or ancient material culture. The conference theme thus offers plenty of areas for further exploration, of which the following fields are a sample: - Methodological considerations on the use of Memory Studies and Utopia Studies in the field of Ancient History - From damnatio to renovatio memoriae. The mutilation, transformation and/or re-use of items representing the past such as buildings, statues and iconography - The effects of iconoclasm and intersectional violence - Spolia: from the narrative of power to repurposing of architectural fragments - The importance of ancestry in the ancient world, for example in Greek or Roman portraiture and busts and the recutting of busts to new portraits - Continuity and change in historiography – debates on the past among the ancient historians - The making and breaking of reputations, e.g. techniques and strategies (and their effectiveness) in ancient biography and hagiography - Memory, utopia and ancient religion - Utopias and the building of collective identities - Building genealogies and ancestry, and aristocratic genealogy-competition and rivalry - The purpose of evoking memory though Classical reception Paper proposals (approximately 300 words) are invited for papers of **30 minutes** debating current issues and problems on any aspect of the above theme. Abstracts and titles should include your name and university affiliation, and should be submitted to either: - Prof Martine De Marre (Ancient History and Classics) at dmarrmea@unisa.ac.za or dmarrmea@gmail.com - Prof Chris de Wet (Early Christian Studies & Late Antiquity) at chrisldw@gmail.com **Deadline for Abstracts: 30 June 2018** We look forward to hearing from you, and please do not hesitate to contact us at the addresses provided above if you have any queries. ## **Asia-Pacific Early Christian Studies Society** ## **12th Annual Conference: 13-15 September 2018, Okayama University, Japan** **Call For Papers:** The Asia-Pacific Early Christian Studies Society invites proposals for papers to be delivered at its twelfth annual conference to be held at Tsushima Campus, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan, from Thursday morning, 13 September to Saturday afternoon, 15 September, 2018, convened by Kazuhiko Demura. Papers are 30 minutes in duration (20 minutes delivery and 10 minutes for discussion). The Society welcomes all proposals that explore any theme relevant to the early Christian world from the New Testament to the end of Late Antiquity, and especially those that focus on this year’s theme: Health, Well-being, and Old Age in Early Christianity. Early Christians were conscious of the impact of health and ageing on well-being. Physical old age could be both a blessing and curse. Health could be both desired and despised. They held a holistic concept of the notion of well-being, understanding it not only in physical, but spiritual terms also. In many instances well-being was viewed through the perspective of eschatology and soteriology, often in an ascetical or psychagogic context, with many Christian writers asserting the superiority of the spiritual over the physical. The relationship between body and soul, sickness and health, youth and maturity, sin and grace, was key to the promotion of a true understanding of Christian well-being. At the same time one should not dismiss insights early Christians provided on the physical aspects of health and old age. **A 150-word abstract should be sent by 30 April, 2018 to Prof. Kazuhiko Demura (demura@okayama-u.ac.jp) and Dr. Geoffrey D. Dunn (geoffrey.dunn@acu.edu.au).** Further questions can be addressed to Prof. Demura. Other proposals besides the conference theme are most welcome. Papers are presented in English (or other languages as appropriate). Our practice is that conference presenters distribute copies of their papers (minus notes) in English to participants to minimise language difficulties. Presenters need to bring their own copies for distribution. Registration forms and further details will be available soon on this website shortly. There will be an opportunity for some cultural event in Okayama on Thursday afternoon. A conference dinner will be held on Friday 14 September. **For more information, visit:** https://apecss.wixsite.com/apecss/next-conference ## **Byzantine Studies Association of North America** ## **Byzantine Studies Conference: 4-7 October, San Antonio, Texas, USA** The Forty-fourth Annual Byzantine Studies Conference (BSC) will be held in San Antonio, Texas, from Thursday evening, October 4th through Sunday afternoon, October 7th. For information on BSANA, please consult the BSANA website, http://www.bsana.net; for details on the conference, please consult the 2018 BSC website, https://www.bsc2018.com/, which will be further updated as new information becomes available. **Deadline for Abstracts: 15 March 2018** [1]: http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1787/42941858302_7f41c7b821_b.jpg [2]: http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1765/29119327938_965cace51c_b.jpg