‘THE END OF ANCIENT EMPIRES’ - Programme
Links from paper titles lead to abstracts
Friday 19 June
2-4 pm Registration
3.45 Welcome (D. Cairns, Edinburgh, Chair of CAS Council)
Session 1: Greece and the Hellenistic World
| 4.00-4.30 | G. Longley (Oxford) | The Causes of Imperial Decline in Ancient Authors from Herodotus to Polybius |
| 4.30-5.00 | C. A. Farrell (KCL) | The Afterbirth of the Seleucid Empire? Re-examining Imperial Ideology and Stateless Monarchs |
| 5.00-6.00 Keynote lecture | Professor T. D. Barnes (Toronto/Edinburgh) | tba |
6.00-7.00 Reception
7.30 Dinner in a local restaurant
Saturday 20 June
Session 2: the Near East
| 9.30-10.00 | E. Almagor (Jerusalem) | The Decline and Fall of the Persian Empire in Plutarch’s Writings |
| 10.00-10.30 | A. Nagel/ R. Sheikoleslamy (Ann Arbor/Tehran) | Eternal Flames or The End of Antiquity’s Largest Empire – New Evidence from the Hall of Hundred Columns in Persepolis, Iran |
| 10.30-11.00 | L. Gregoratti (Udine) | Vologeses’ “New Deal” and the transformation of the Parthian Empire |
11.00-11.30 tea and coffee
Session 3: the Fall of Rome (i)
| 11.30-12.00 | A. Collar (Exeter/Ankara) | Understanding Fracture in the Roman Empire through Cult: Jupiter Dolichenus and the Power – and Fragility – of Military Networks |
| 12.00-12.30 | K. Petrovicová/J. Bednarikova (Brno) | Martianus Capella’s questionable relation to the Vandals |
12.30-2.00 Lunch
Session 4: the Fall of Rome (ii)
| 2.00-2.30 | G. Kelly (Edinburgh) | tba |
| 2.30-3.00 | H. Ziche (Antilles and Guyane) | Decoupling Economic and Institutional Development in the Fifth-century Roman Empire |
| 3.00-3.30 | F. Haarer (KCL) | Cities in Transition: Change and Continuity in the Late Roman World |
3.30-4.00 tea and coffee
Session 5: After the Fall
| 4.00-4.30 | M. S. Bjornlie (Claremont McKenna) | Assessing Decline and Fall in Ostrogothic Italy: The Fiscal Profile from Cassiodorus’ Variae |
| 4.30-5.00 | P. Wynn | Where are the Barbarians? Reframing the ‘Enemy’ after the Empire’s Fall in the Vita Germani |
Evening free: restaurant recommendations will be available.
Sunday 21 June
Session 6: Intellectual History/History of Scholarship/Reception
| 10.00-10.30 | A. Roberts (KCL) | George Grote, the Destruction of Ancient Empires, and British imperialism |
| 10.30-11.00 | R. Bryant Davies (Cambridge) | Marius amidst the Ruins of Carthage: a Nineteenth-Century Understanding of Empire |
| 11.00-11.30 | tea and coffee | |
| 11.30-12.00 | D. Engels (Brussels) | “Ist nicht mit Actium und der pax Romana die antike Geschichte zu Ende?” Oswald Spengler on the Transformation and Fall of the Roman Empire |
12.00-12.45 Closing Discussion (Chair: J. Harries, St Andrews)