Medieval Europe without a “core”, with Christian Raffensperger
A conversation with Christian Raffensperger — one hundred episodes after our previous one! — on medieval European rulership from Iberia and Scandinavia to Rus’ and Constantinople. We talk about succession and co-rulership and titles in ways that don’t prioritize the British, French, and German models.
So you’re the Roman emperor… now what?, with Olivier Hekster
A conversation with Olivier Hekster about the position of Roman emperor, from the beginning to the sixth century. We talk a little bit about titles and mostly about the expectations that subjects had of their emperors and how the latter navigated these demands and tried, or failed, to play their roles properly.
Byzantine law, its experts, and its languages, with Daphne Penna
A conversation with Daphne Penna about Byzantine law, or (what it really was) the Greek-language phase of Roman law. We talk about the study of east Roman law, its experts (both then and now), and the interaction of Greek and Latin in legal texts. What did the law do and what do we learn from studying it?
About time, with Jesse Torgerson
Jesse Torgerson and I take a stab at understanding time, as it was measured, structured, and experienced in so many overlapping ways by Christian east Romans. Their days, months, and years were defined by the state tax cycle, the Church festival cycle, and nature itself, to name the most important temporal grids.
Byzantium and Balkan national identities, with Diana Mishkova
A conversation with Diana Mishkova about how the national historiographies of Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania cope with Byzantium — how they try to appropriate, incorporate, circumvent, or abjure it, and so always reinvent it in the process.
How to de-colonize Byzantine Studies, with Ben Anderson and Mirela Ivanova
A conversation with Ben Anderson and returning guest Mirela Ivanova on their co-edited volume of papers on the question Is Byzantine Studies a Colonialist Discipline? Toward a Critical Historiography. We talk about how colonial, imperialist, or exploitative practices and ideologies have marked the history of our field, whether by making it complicit in them or by colonizing it.
Our new book on the armies, and on revisionism in history, with Marion Kruse
In this 100th episode of Byzantium & Friends, Marion and Anthony talk about their new co-authored book, The Field Armies of the East Roman Empire, 361-630
A new history of medieval Christianity, with Peter Heather
On Byzantium & Friends, it is a conversation with Peter Heather about his new book Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300.
Egyptian Hieroglyphs in Late Antiquity, with Jennifer Westerfeld
A conversation with Jennifer Westerfeld on the scripts used to write ancient Egyptian, especially hieroglyphs. Their last attested use was in the 390s AD, ending their long history in our period. Meanwhile, Greek, Roman, and Christian observers were developing their own theories about how the script worked, often quite fantastic, and reacted to texts inscribed in public spaces.
The remarkable world of hospitals, orphanages, and leprosaria, with Tim Miller
A conversation with Timothy Miller about philanthropic institutions in Constantinople, especially hospitals, orphanages, and leprosaria.
Pre-Islamic Arabia, with Valentina Grasso
A conversation with Valentina Grasso on Arabia before Islam. This used to be known primarily from preserved Arabic poetry, but the picture is now filling in from inscriptions and contemporary texts. There were competing kingdoms, tribal coalitions, and foreign empires with a stake in trade routes. There were pagans, Jews, and Christians, as well as generic or “cautious” monotheists. The cultural background of the Quran has never been known in such richness and complexity.
Rome and Byzantium in Heavy Metal music, with Jeremy Swist
A conversation with Jeremy Swist on why some heavy metal bands write music about Roman and Byzantine history. Expect “good” and “bad” emperors to be reversed here!
What academic tenure does for you (yes, you!), with Jacques Berlinerblau
This episode of Byzantium & Friends features a wide-ranging conversation with Jacques Berlinerblau about the changing nature of the academic profession, especially regarding the erosion of academic freedom through the expansion of contingent academic labor and direct attacks on it by the states. Is research becoming increasingly vulnerable to outside political pressures?
The afterlife of pagan inscriptions in Byzantium, with Anna Sitz
A conversation with Anna Sitz on how Byzantines read ancient inscriptions – or modified, re-used, and defaced them. Ancient cities were full of inscribed texts, many on temple walls or referring to the gods in prominent ways. How did Christians cope with these monuments when they took over the cities of Greece and Asia Minor?
An insider’s guide to academic publishing, with Byzantine studies in mind, featuring Anna Henderson
A conversation with Anna Henderson of ARC Humanities Press about the world of academic publishing today, including its challenges, opportunities, and aspirations. ARC is a fairly recent venture, but has already published a number of excellent books in medieval studies (including on Byzantium).
Scavenging in the ruins of empire, with Robin Fleming
A conversation with Robin Fleming about how the lives and material circumstances of people in Roman Britain changed when the imperial state and…
At the dawn of Byzantine Studies: Martin Crusius (1526-1607), with Richard Calis
A conversation with Richard Calis about Martin Crusius (aka Kraus: 1526-1607 AD), one of the first philologist-historians who tried to reconstruct Byzantine history from the sources. We talk about his interest in the Greek language and the Ottoman empire, in using Byzantine sources to understand antiquity, and his working methods — all in an era before there was much scholarship to guide him.
The resilience and agency of rural communities, with Fotini Kondyli
A conversation with Fotini Kondyli about our changing picture of rural communities in late Byzantium. We talk about resilience in times of crisis — the fourteenth century was not an easy one! — and about how we can reimagine and restore the power and agency of these rural non-elites. We also talk about survey archaeology, one of our main tools for accessing these communities.
Women’s labor, with Anna Kelley
A conversation with Anna Kelley about women’s labor and occupations in the Roman and later Roman Empire. It turns out that they may have engaged in more types of business and workshop production, especially in textile manufacture and marketing, than contemporary gender norms suggest.
Dragons! with Scott Bruce
A conversation with Scott Bruce about dragons, ancient, medieval, and early modern, from around the world. Where did our “canonical” image of the dragon come from? What other kinds of dragons existed? What did dragons mean in different cultures?
How to organize a museum exhibition – and bring the Holy Land home, with Amanda Luyster
A conversation with Amanda Luyster on how to organize a museum exhibition, from conception and design to securing the objects and planning events around it. We also talk about the famous tiles of Chertsey Abbey, a royal commission that evoked the Crusades with artistic allusions to Byzantium and the Islamic world.
Lead mining and lead pollution in the Roman world, with Paul Stephenson
A conversation with Paul Stephenson about the impact of lead mining and smelting on the miners themselves, the communities around them, and on plants, animals, and human beings across the Roman Empire. This is part of a broader and ongoing project on metallurgy and environmental violence.
On writing narrative history
Why and how should we write narrative histories? What do they accomplish in the overall economy of the scholarly production of knowledge?
Blinding as punishment and enforced disability, with Jake Ransohoff
A conversation with Jake Ransohoff on the practice of blinding in Byzantium. Why and how was it done? Why was it more prominent in some periods rather than in others? And how did its victims cope with this disability that the state had imposed on them for (usually) crimes of treason?