DEAD OR ALIVE

In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order.-for thou shalt die, and not live.

Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,

And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight: and Hezekiah wept sore.

Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,

Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.

And this shall be a sign unto thee from theLORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken,

Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sundial of Ahaz,

THE BYZANTINE WORLD IN THE NINTH CENTURY

Ninth-century Byzantium has always been seen as a sort of way station between Iconoclasm and the so-called Macedonian revival; in scholarly terms it is indeed often treated as a 'dead' century. The object of this Symposium is to question this assumption. Centuries are artificial units, and while there is a lingering resonance about the year 800, who can recall offhand anything about 900? Still, the troughs around 750, 850 and 950 have very different contours, and this Symposium aims to rescue the centre from the shadow cast forward by events of the eighth century and backwards by those of the tenth. To those who say that we cannot, like the LORD, presume to move the shadow of the sundial ten degrees or fifteen years, we can only reply that our own tenebrous ninth century A.D. was, in the light of Bvzantium, actually the sixty-third century A.M.

We look first to the contours of Byzantium on the round: the material evidence for what it looked like in the ninth century and to the infrastructure that supported that appearance. Specific aspects of the economy, archaeology and material culture (images, buildings and objects) present a picture of the Byzantine world from the Anatolian plateau to the Greek-speaking areas of Italy that is only now gradually emerging as distinct and - dare we say? - vibrant. How this world was viewed by outsiders, a theme as revealing about Byzantine success (or failure) in promoting particular views of itself is the topic of two framing lectures; while the third session of the Symposium examines the interactions between Byzantium and the rest of the world from Francia to the Caliphate. The final session takes us back to Byzantium and to what written sources tell us about Byzantine views of themselves in the ninth century and, finally, to how later Byzantine authors framed the century.

The view presented by invited speakers and those who offer communications does not claim to be comprehensive, because it is work in process: pieces of microhistory rather than theoretical overviews, which we gather in the Symposium, before we can begin to generalise about the ninth century. But by the third day of the meeting we should have an understanding of the century which is synthetic; that can be seen to interact with the activities of the ninth-century state itself; and that will permit an appreciation of the why as well as the where, what and how.

We invite you to join this common task in the spirit of the injunctions of St Theodore of Stoudios (759-826) - thou-h they are addressed to Shoemakers rather than Byzantinists:

How excellent is the shoemaker's craft
It is that of the great apostle Paul.
Emulate the sweat of his labours and accept gratefully the daily toil of this duty as workers for Christ.
Cut the skills and the hides properly,
Renew the old ones, then, also, cut the new, not discarding unreasonably, through laziness, what should not be thrown away, not cutting the skin defectively.
And if you do everything as you should,
You will complete the course of the maryrs.

THE 30th SPRING SYMPOSIUM OF BYZANTINE STUDIES

However numbered, the ninth century is discussed within a format which has evolved since the first Spring Symposium met in Birmingham in 1967. It was a modest affair, but the forerunner of annual meetings of Byzantinists in their respective countries which developed along their own lines elsewhere - in the USA from 1975, Australia from 1982, and in most European countries, notably Scandinavia and Central Europe. More manageable and focussed than the great quinquennial Congresses of the Assocation Internationale des Etudes Byzantines, of which the 19th is to meet in Copenhagen in August 1996, they have proved useful and friendly arenas of research, discussion and simple scholarly contact. From its foundation in Birmingham in 1983 The Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies has sponsored Symposia, which move to another University in alternate years, and has published them since 1990. The aims of Symposia remain constant: to promote Byzantine Studies at an international scholarly level for all who care to register in time: Symposiasts do not even have to be members of the S.P.B.S., though they may notice that it is to their financial advantage to join. Beside the usual BOOK DISPLAYS, there will be an EXHIBITION in the Barber Institute. Our parties have also been remarked upon.

***

The format is simple. No paper is longer than 30 minutes. There are three formal sessions of two framework and one concluding lectures. There are four discussion sessions, each led by five invited speakers and an active convenor, who is a ruthless time-keeper and will ensure that there is half as much time again for public discussion, along with breaks for tea, coffee, or just to take the air. Time is set aside for Communications of 12 minutes each (allowing 3 minutes' comment) which is expandable at the risk of having simultaneous sessions. Communications are, a vital part of the Svmposium, particularly useful to research students and others to test an argument or announce a finding. Offers of Communications are welcomed before 12th February 1996 on the enclosed form, when those accepted will be listed in the Final Programme. Abstracts of them are published in the Bulletin of British Byzantine Studies.

***

Accommodation and evening meals are in the nearby UNIVERSITY HOUSE, an historic Hall of Residence whose first Warden (1904-14) Margery Fry, among other attributes a great prison reformer, would be agreeably surprised at its conveniences today though perhaps not its BAR. There is nothing we can do to reduce the already reasonable tariff there, but both the S.P.B.S. and Birmingham's BO&MGS do their damndest to keep prices down, particularly for students and others, who have been known to subsist quite happily

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME

SATURDAY 23rd MARCH 1996

1000 onwards Registration in the Faculty of Education; University House open.

The Final Programme, with list of Symposiasts, is distributed at Registration.

1145 Opening of the Symposium by Sir STEVEN RUNCIMAN.

1200 Framework Lecture. CHRISTOPHER WICKHAM (Birmingham): Ninth-century Byzantium through Western eyes.

1230 Buffet Lunch.

1345 Session 1: Byzantium on the ground, convened by ANTHONY BRYER (Birmingham).

I.I. ALAN HARVEY (Northumbria): The ninth-century Byzantirw economy: an overview.

I.2. GHISLAINE NOYT (C.N.R.S., Paris): Apulia and Calabria.

I.3. RASHO RASFIEV (B.A.N., Shumen): Pliska and Bulgaria.

I.4. ARCHIE DUNN (Birmingham): Greece and the Aegean.

I.5. CHRISTOPHER LIGHTFOOT (B.K.A., Ankara): Amorion and Anatolia.

I.6. JOHN KENT (Birmingham): The interaction of Greek and Latin on Byzantine coins in the ninth century.

1815 ReceptionintheBarberlnstitute,toviewanExhibitioiibyNUBARHAMPARTUMIAN(Birmingham) and JOHN KENT: Latin in a Greek world: coins in ninth-century Byzantium.

1930 Dinner in Universitv House [followed by S.P.B.S. Committees].

SUNDAY 24th MARCH 1996

0800 Breakfast in University House.

0900 Session 11: The Shape of Byzantium, convened by LESLIE BRUBAKER (Birmingham).

II.1. ROBERT OUSTERHOUT (Illinois, Urbana-Champaign): Reconstructing ninth-century Constantinople.

II.2. ALESSANDRA RICCI (Groningen and Istanbul): The shape of ninth-century palaces.

II.3. KATHLEEN CORRIGAN (Dartmouth, N.H.): The shape of visual narrative in the ninth century.

II.4. NANCY SEVCENKO (Philadelphia): Canon and C(ilendar: the role of ninth-century hymnographers in shaping the celebration a the saints.

II.5. ROBIN CORMACK (Courtauld, London): Away from the centre: 'provincial'art in the ninth century.

1300 Lunch in University House.

1430 Session III: Beyond Byzantium, convened by JAMES HOWARD-JOFINSTON (Oxford).

III. EDUARDO MANZANO MORENO (C.S.I.C., Madrid): al-Andalus and Byzantium.

III.2. THOMAS S. BROWN (Edinburgh): A ghost restored to life. Images and contacts with Byzantium in ninth-century

Italy.

III.3 THOMAS S. NOONAN (Minneapolis): The Khazar-Byzantine World of the Crimea.

III.4. SYDNEY H. GRIFFITH (Catholic University of America, Washington D.C.): Palestine in the eighth and ninth Centuries.

III.5. PAUL MAGDALINO (Edinburgh): The Byzantine revival and the road to Baghdad.

1930 Dinner in University House.

2100 Annnual General Meeting of THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF BYZANTINE STUDIES in University House Library.

MONDAY 25th MARCH 1996

0800 Breakfast in University House.

0900 Communications, convened by RUTH MACRIDES.

1230 Framework Lecture. HUGH KENNEDY (St Andrews): Ninth-century Byzantiam through Eastern eyes.

1300 Buffet Lunch.

1400 Session IV: The Thought-World of Byzantium, convened by JOHN HALDON (Birmingham).

IV.1. MARIE THERESE FOGEN (Frankfurt a-M.): Reanimation of Roman law in the ninth century.- remarks on reasons and results.

IV.2. MARIE-FRANCE AUZEPY (College de France, Paris): Manifestations of Orthodoxy in text and literature.

TV.3. CLAUDIALUDWIG(B.-B.A.W.,Berlin):The participation of the Paulicians in the Thought-World of ninth-century Byzantium.

IV.4. SHAUN TOUGHER (Belfast): The imperial Thought-World of Leo VI.

IV.5. ATHANASIOS MARKOPOULOS (Athens): Tenth-century images of ninth-century Byzantium.

1800 Concluding Lecture: PAUL SPECK (Berlin): Byzantium: cultural suicide?

1830 Closing of the Symposium and Announcement of the 31st Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Sussex, 1997.

1845 Reception.

2000 Feast in University House.

TUESDAY 26th MARCH 1996

0800 Breakfast in University House.

COMMUNICATIONS: 12th February 1996 for submission of abstracts, closing at a maximum of 28.

ACCOMMODATION AND MEALS: Ilth March 1996, when bookin-s are closed without refund.

REGISTRATION: 18th March 1996, closing at a maximum of 250.

REGISTRATION, ACCOMMODATION AND MEALS

Symposiasts return the enclosed form for one of over one million permutations, from ilO.00 to Y196.00. We can only offer such a choice with your co-operation. Note that members of the S.P.B.S. enjoy a substantial discount; and that bonafide students with sleepin- ba,-s may enquire about free rudimentary accommodation at their own risk. Apply NOW and DECISIVELY, making a note of your decisions.

Registration includes the Final Programme, unlimited tea or coffee and invitations to two Receptions...60.00 pounds

Single day registration.20.00 pounds

Students, unwaged and members of the University of Birmingham.30.00 pounds

Single day registration..10.00 pounds

Members of The Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies subscribing for 1995/6 deduct 10.00 pounds

ACCOMMODATION

Bed & Breakfast in University House at 28.00 pounds a night... 84.00 pounds

MEALS

Buffet lunches in the Faculty of Education,each:. 6.00 pounds

Dinner in University House on 23rd and 24th March, each:. 8.50 pounds

Feast in University House on 25th March:..17.00 pounds