A conversation with Emily Neumeier (Temple University) about Ali Pasha of Ioannina (d. 1822), a powerful Ottoman governor of Albanian origin who created a quasi-independent realm at a time when the Ottoman empire was feared to be collapsing. We talk about how he crated his own brand-image, in part by forging closer relations with his Christian Greek subjects and also through archaeological work and use of antiquities. His was an almost post-imperial world, but the nation-state had not yet...

A conversation with Volker Menze (Central European University) about the fifth-century patriarch Dioskouros of Alexandria, what we really know about him, and why he was demonized in the western traditions. A close reading of the Council Acts suggests a different picture: a bishop who thought he was doing right by the established creed and following the directives of the emperor suddenly found himself in the hot seat. The conversation is based on Volker's book Patriarch Dioscorus of...

A conversation with Przemysław Marciniak (University of Silesia) about books of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and alternative history that are either set in Byzantium or have a Byzantine ambiance. We talk about the features that signal a Byzantine setting and what the latter is good. Basically, we chat about books that we liked (or did not like). The conversation is based on Przemek's chapter 'Fantastic(al) Byzantium: The Image of Byzantium in Speculative Fiction,' in M. Kulhánková and P....

A roundtable discussion of how the study of ancient pathogen DNA intersects with the study of disease in late antiquity. Can laboratory scientists and cultural historians find ways to interface given their different methods, data, concepts, and conclusions? The discussion was organized by Tina Sessa (The Ohio State University) and Tim Newfield (Georgetown University), and moderated by Dionysios Stathakopoulos (University of Cyprus). In addition to Tina and Tim, participants include Kyle...

A roundtable discussion of how the study of ancient human DNA intersects with the study of migration in late antiquity. Can laboratory scientists and primarily textual historians find ways to interface given their different methods, data, concepts, and conclusions? The discussion was organized by Tina Sessa (The Ohio State University) and Tim Newfield (Georgetown University), and moderated by Anthony Kaldellis (University of Chicago). Participants include Patrick Geary (Institute for Advanced...

A conversation with Andrea Myers Achi (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) about the enduring connections between Byzantium and a number of African cultures, beginning in late antiquity (e.g., Aksum) and continuing into medieval and modern times (e.g., Nubia and Ethiopia). Andrea organized a exhibition at the Met to illustrate these connections (including also manuscripts, textiles, icons, and inscriptions), and it has now moved to the Cleveland Museum of Art. If you can't visit it there,...

A conversation with Eugene Smelyansky (Washington State University) on the invention of ideologically useful versions of Byzantium in modern Russia. We talk about the much more limited engagement with Byzantium in imperial Russia and the reasons behind some of the current obsessions with it. The conversation is based on Eugene's just-published book on Medievalisms in Russia: The Contest for Imaginary Pasts (Arc Humanities Press 2024), which looks also at the current re-imagining of Russia's...

A conversation with Monica White (University of Nottingham) about the earliest contacts between Constantinople and the first Rus'-Varangian raiders, traders, and mercenaries to cross the Black Sea. Who were these people, what did they want, and how did contact with east Roman culture change them? The conversation is based on a number of Monica's recent publications, including 'Early Rus: The Nexus of Empires'; 'The Byzantine "Charm Defensive" and the Rus''; and 'Leo VI and the Transformation...

A conversation with Maria Parani (University of Cyprus) on the emperor's clothing and the staging of his public appearances. We talk about his most formal garments, what he wore on the battlefield, his military banner, how he changed, and much more. Maria has published many studies of this topic, which you can find on her Academia.edu page, including "Clothes maketh the emperor? Embodying and Performing Imperial Ideology in Byzantium through Dress"; "Cultural Identity and Dress: The Case of...

A conversation with Michele Salzman (University of California, Riverside) about the resilience shown by the city of Rome and its ability to recover from crisis during the fifth-seventh centuries. These recoveries were usually spearheaded by the Senate of Rome, which continued to invest in the city and its institutions even after the emperors ceased to reside there full-time. The conversation is based on Michele's recent book, The Falls of Rome: Crises, Resilience, and Resurgence in Late...

A conversation with Nathan Aschenbrenner (Bard College) about western European claims to the Roman imperial title, from the Middle Ages to early modernity. We also discuss some plans in the west after 1453 to reclaim the "eastern empire" and a curious history from the early sixteenth that fuses western and eastern imperial history into one. Nathan (along with Jake Ransohoff, episode no. 83) co-edited the volume The Invention of Byzantium in Early Modern Europe (Dumbarton Oaks 2021).

A conversation with Peter Sarris (University of Cambridge) about the emperor Justinian (527-565), on the 401st anniversary of the rediscovery of Prokopios' Secret History. We talk about Justinian's goals, accomplishments, and victims, all of which continue to spark debate and controversy, just as they did during his own lifetime. The conversation is based on Peter' new trade book Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint (Basic Books 2023).

A conversation with Sarah Bassett (Indiana University) about the exploration and discovery of the antiquities of Constantinople, starting in the sixteenth century. We talk about scholars, diplomats, and archaeologists, and the intellectual trends of their times. Sarah wrote the book on The Urban Image of Late Antique Constantinople (Cambridge University Press 2004) and recently edited The Cambridge Companion to Constantinople (2022). This episode goes well with no. 76 (Sergei Ivanov).

A conversation with Christian Sahner (University of Oxford) about the notion of Islamic history as a field of study. What does it prioritize, who does it tend to see most, and what about everyone else? No field-name is perfect; they all have advantages and disadvantages, and we need to be clear-eyed about them. The conversation is based on Christian's recent article 'What is Islamic History? Muslims, Non-Muslims and the History of Everyone Else,' The English Historical Review 138 (2023) 379-409.

A conversation with Alessandra Bucossi (Ca' Foscari University, Venice) about the text "Against the Greeks" and "Against the Latins" that were produced by writers taking sides in the Schism of the Churches (Rome and Constantinople, of Greek and Latin, or Catholic and Orthodox, as we would call them today). There are many of these texts and they contain fascinating material, but have yet to receive the attention they deserve. Alessandra is our guide through the jungle. Check out her co-edited...

A conversation with Christian Raffensperger (Wittenberg University) -- 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. Christian develops this more inclusive paradigm in his recent book Rulers and Rulership in the Arc of Medieval Europe, 1000-1200 (Routledge 2024).

A conversation with Olivier Hekster (Radboud University Nijmegen) 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. The conversation is based on Olivier's recent book Caesar Rules: The Emperor in the Changing Roman World (c. 50 BC - AD 565) (Cambridge University Press,...

A conversation with Daphne Penna (University of Groningen) 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? For an accessible introduction to the main sources, see the anthology edited by Daphne Penna and Roos Meijering, A Sourcebook on Byzantine Law: Illustrating...

Jesse Torgerson (Wesleyan University) 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. Jesse's recent monograph focuses on an author (or two) who made interesting innovations in chronology: The Chronographia of George the Synkellos and Theophanes:...

A conversation with Diana Mishkova (Center for Advanced Study, Sofia) 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. The conversation is based on Diana's comprehensive and lucid analysis in her recent book Rival Byzantiums: Empire and Identity in Southeastern Europe (Cambridge University Press 2023).

A conversation with Ben Anderson (Cornell University) and returning guest Mirela Ivanova (University of Sheffield) on their co-edited volume of papers on the question Is Byzantine Studies a Colonialist Discipline? Toward a Critical Historiography (Penn State University Press 2023). 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. You can access Ben and Mirela's...

In this episode, Marion and I talk about our new co-authored book, The Field Armies of the East Roman Empire, 361-630 (Cambridge University Press, 2023). For those interested in the military history of this period, this book contains a downright mutinous revision of the organization of the East Roman field armies and the changing priorities behind their deployments. We also take the opportunity to discuss revisionist scholarship in general, the kinds we like and those we would court-martial.