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2010 Program - Spring Symposium

April 30th–May 2nd, 2010 | John F. Haldon, Symposiarch

Warfare in the Byzantine World

Friday, April 30th

  • 9.30 Coffee etc.
  • 10.00 Welcome
  • 10.15 Introduction – John Haldon

Session 1: Background

  • 10.30 The Big Picture: China, Byzantium and the shadow of the steppe (David Graff)
  • 11.15 The Small Picture: Government by Exception and Exemption. Evidence from the Later Byzantine Military (Mark Bartusis)
  • 12.00 Discussion
  • 12.30 Lunch

Session 2: Legitimation and ideology

  • 14.00 Fighting for peace: the legitimation of warfare (Frank Trombley)
  • 14.45 A Conflicted Heritage: The Byzantine Religious Establishment of a War Ethic (John McGuckin)
  • 15.30 Discussion and break
  • 16.15 Byzantium confronts its neighbours: Islam and the Crusaders (John France)
  • 17.00 Discussion
  • 17.30–19.00 Cocktails

Saturday, May 1st

  • 08.30 Coffee

Session 3: Literary and visual representations of war

  • 09.00 The visual representation of peace (Lioba Theis)
  • 09.45 The Art of War (Robert Nelson)
  • 10.30 Discussion and break
  • 11.15 The paradoxes of heroism in Byzantium: Military saints and secular warriors (Anthony Kaldellis)
  • 12.00 Discussion
  • 12.30 Lunch

Session 4: The resources of warfare

  • 14.00 Resources, warfare and the Manzikert campaign (John Haldon)
  • 14.45 The Medieval Logistics Project: warfare on the grid (Vince Gaffney)
  • 15.30 Discussion and break
  • 16.15 Landscapes, movement and logistics: multi-agent systems and simulating medieval campaigns (Georgios Theodoropoulos)
  • 17.00 Discussion
  • 19.00 Speakers' dinner

Sunday, May 2nd

  • 09.45 Coffee

Session 5: Legitimation and ideology

  • 10.15 War, Social Change and the Politics of Empire: Prisoners of War between Slavery and Freedom (Youval Rotman)
  • 11.00 The face of protracted war (Walter Kaegi)
  • 11.45 Discussion
  • Concluding remarks – John Haldon