# Past and Present: Cultural Politics in Byzantium and Beyond #### calendar\_today Date and Time **May 1 - May 2, 2026** All day #### pin\_drop Location **Multiple Locations (See Posting for More Information)** [Cambridge, MA 02138 United States ]() **Past and Present: Cultural Politics in Byzantium and Beyond** **May 1-2, 2026** Convenors: Panagiotis Roilos and Dimiter Angelov **Friday, May 1** **Fong Auditorium** **Boylston Hall 110** 9:20 Welcome ELIZABETH KAMALI, Chair of the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies PANAGIOTIS ROILOS, Departments of Classics and Comparative Literature DIMITER ANGELOV, Department of History **Keynote Address** Chair: DAN SMAIL, Harvard University 9:30–10:00 PETER FRANKOPAN, Oxford University *Byzantium,* *Global Connections, and the Politics of History* **I. History and the Politics of Culture** Chair: PAUL KOSMIN, Harvard University 10:00–10:30 DIMITER ANGELOV, Harvard University *The Cultural Politics of Constitutional Imagination: Debating Tyranny in Byzantium* 10:30–11:00 ZACHARY CHITWOOD, University of Munich *The Ruler and the Limits of the Law: New Insights on the Concept of* Princeps Legibus Solutus *from the Late Eleventh Century* **II. Literature and Cultural Politics** Chair: ALEXANDER RIEHLE, Harvard University 11:00–11:30 BAUKJE VAN DEN BERG, Central European University *Constructing Literary History: The Cultural Politics of Ancient Literature in Byzantium* 11:30–12:00 FILIPPOMARIA PONTANI, Ca' Foscari University *Praying in Ancient Greek Verse Across the Centuries* **Lunch and Museum Visit** 12:00 Lunch 1:00–2:00 EURYDICE GEORGANTELI, Harvard University *Communicating Power: Byzantine Money and Cultural Politics,* Art Study Center, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street. [Sign up here](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScJK8B_hDbXjXzJI0T4oWbIHYqD8Wx8HHz01_8yLtP-KeAudQ/viewform?usp=publish-editor) (maximum 16 participants) **III. The Cultural Politics of Christianization** Chair: CHARLES STANG, Harvard University 2:30–3:00 PANAGIOTIS ROILOS, Harvard University *The Cultural Politics of Allegorization: Christianizing the Hellenic Past in Byzantium* 3:00–3:30 DEREK KRUEGER, University of North Carolina at Greensboro *Suppressing Same-Sex Desire in Middle Byzantine Monastic Discourse* 3:30–4:00 FABIO PAGANI, Catholic University of America *Reconstructing or Reinventing the Past? Plato and Pletho* **Coffee & tea** 4:00–4:30 **IV. Art History and Cultural Politics: Beyond Byzantium** Chair: CHRISTINA MARANCI, Harvard University 4:30–5:00 IOLI KALAVREZOU, Harvard University *The Cultural Politics of Visual Symbolism: Images of Controversies* 5:00–5:30 ANTONY EASTMOND, The Courtauld Institute of Art *The Politics of Style in the Byzantine East* **V. Lightning Talks** Chair: DIMITER ANGELOV, Harvard University 5:30 Presentations by graduate and undergraduate scholars 6:30 Reception in Ticknor Lounge, Boylston Hall **Saturday, May 2** **History Department Seminar Room** **Robinson Hall** **35 Quincy Street** **VI. The Greek Diaspora Before and After 1453** Chair: ANN BLAIR, Harvard University 10:00–10:30 JONATHAN HARRIS, Royal Holloway, University of London *The Dishypatos Family in Constantinople, Italy and France, c.1400-1496* 10:30-11:00 NATHANAEL ASCHENBRENNER, Bard College *Cultural Commerce: Michael Apostoles and the Economy of Greek Letters in Post-Byzantine Europe* Chair: PANAGIOTIS ROILOS, Harvard University 11:00 Concluding roundtable discussion With Special Thanks: Dumbarton Oaks Harvard Department of Classics Harvard Department of History Provostial Fund for the Arts and Humanities The Standing Committee on Medieval Studies --- Attachments- [ picture\_as\_pdf Past and Present Cultural Politics in Byzantium and Beyond\_program.pdf ](/sites/g/files/omnuum4421/files/2026-04/Past%20and%20Present%20Cultural%20Politics%20in%20Byzantium%20and%20Beyond_program.pdf) --- Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#) Save: [ Add to calendar calendar\_today ](https://history.fas.harvard.edu/node/1894666/event-feed.ics) Copy link link