Congress

Byzantine studies in the 21st century is flourishing. From Argentina and Turkey to China and Japan, from Johannesburg to Trondheim, and from Los Angeles to Moscow, countless scholars from diverse cultural backgrounds engage with the Byzantine Middle Ages. They employ both traditional methods and digital techniques to comprehensively study the history, culture, and environment of the Eastern Mediterranean from the 4th to the 15th century. Increasingly, the field is examined in interaction with its neighboring disciplines, as the medieval Roman Empire was part of the global Middle Ages in an Afro-Eurasian context. Interactions with the Latin West, the Slavic world, and especially Islam were omnipresent. This perspective allows for new insights into the influence of Byzantine culture by expanding the geographical scope beyond the boundaries of the Byzantine Empire and the chronological framework beyond the fall of Constantinople. This approach highlights the enduring impact of Byzantine culture far beyond the empire’s borders. The congress theme “Byzantium beyond Byzantium” reflects these premises: it draws on the concept of “Byzance après Byzance,” proposed in 1934 by the Romanian national historian Nicolae Iorga (1871–1940), which remains frequently cited today despite some problematic political views of its author. While Iorga primarily considered the reception of Byzantine culture in the Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, the geographical and thematic scope here is understood and conceptualized more broadly. “Byzantium beyond Byzantium” in the 21st century provides an opportunity to uncover new, unexpected insights by considering Byzantine culture in its full complexity and far-reaching influence up to the present day.