Byzantine Anatolia: Space and Communities
For almost a thousand years Anatolia was the center of the Byzantine Empire. Through centuries of strife, the Empire and its successor states struggled for dominance of the Anatolian heartland against encroaching neighboring powers and internal rivals. Yet behind the high drama of politics, intrigue and conflict, Anatolia was also a rich and complex network of regional settlements which would shift and change with environmental, social and economic conditions, and whose character was expressed in the art, culture and politics of actively involved populations. Too often, however, in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies the province and its many regions have been overlooked in favor of the major urban centers – in particular, Constantinople.
The Fifth International Sevgi Gönül Byzantine Studies Symposium will redress this balance by focusing on the settlements and communities of Anatolia. The symposium will present new voices from diverse disciplines to share ideas, challenge established views and showcase a wealth of new material emerging from field studies and research in history and art history. Contributions from international and domestic scholars actively involved in the study of Byzantine Anatolia will be brought together to create a new reference for future research.