The conference will focus on war with Byzantium respectively the Eastern Roman empire, from an outside perspective. It will cover four thematic areas: first, the legitimation of wars against Byzantium/East Rome, including e.g. the question of how contenders constructed an enemy image of Byzantium/East Rome. How did Byzantium’s enemies describe war with the empire on the religious and ideological level? Second, we will examine the concrete ways in which wars with Byzantium were waged and what kind of infrastructure was necessary for such undertakings. Frontier regions and their protection play an important role in this context. The third thematic area will focus on the consequences of war both for the environment and for the population, such as capture, enslavement or forced conversion. Which strategies did people employ to cope with these experiences? Last, but not least, we will investigate the reception of wars against Byzantium/East Rome, may it have ended in victory or defeat, in post-byzantine times.
Organized by Hans-Christian Maner, Johannes Pahlitzsch, Jörg Rogge, Roman Shliakhtin and Ute Verstegen
