UDC 930.85(4–12) ISSN 0350–7653 eISSN 2406–0801 SERBIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS INSTITUTE FOR BALKAN STUDIES BALCANICA XLVII ANNUAL OF THE INSTITUTE FOR BALKAN STUDIES Editor-in-Chief DUŠAN T. BATAKOVIĆ Director of the Institute for Balkan Studies SASA Editorial Board JEAN-PAUL BLED (Paris), LJUBOMIR MAKSIMOVIĆ, ZORAN MILUTINOVIĆ (London), DANICA POPOVIĆ, DRAGAN BAKIĆ, SPYRIDON SFETAS (Thessaloniki), GABRIELLA SCHUBERT (Jena), NIKOLA TASIĆ, SVETLANA M. TOLSTAJA (Moscow) BELGRADE 2016 REVIEWS 23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies Belgrade, 22–27 August 2016 Reviewed by Darko Todorović* The 23rd International Congress of Byz- Maksimović, President of the Organizing antine Studies (ICBS) organized by the Committee of the 23rd ICBS, this motto Serbian National Committee of Byzantine highlights the guiding idea of the Belgrade Studies and the Association Internationale convention, which brought into focus “the des Études Byzantines (AIEB) was held in question of institutional transitions and the Belgrade on 22–27 August 2016. The Serbi- phenomena which constitute Byzantium”, an capital, as in the now distant year of 1927 viewing the millennium-long process from when it played host to the 2nd ICBS, once the perspective of its profound and palpable again brought together the most prominent legacy which is indeed still influential. names in Byzantine and medieval stud- The primarily Eurocentric character of ies from all around the world. With more Byzantine studies is easy to explain by the than 1,200 participants from 49 countries, very nature of the field of study, as well as it was the largest scholarly gathering in the by the fact that the discipline originated in century-long history of the Association (the Europe (Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Czecho- previous, 22nd ICSB, held in Sofia in 2011, slovakia, Poland, Austria, Germany, Italy, hosted 1,000 scholars). By way of illustra- Greece, France, Great Britain). The presence tion, the number of 60 participants in the of one Chinese scholar at the Congress obvi- 1st Congress in Bucharest in 1924 rose, at ously testifies to a rising interest in Byzan- the next meeting in Belgrade, to 200 special- tine studies in the Far East. American Byz- ists in this, at the time still new, academic antinology already has a well-established discipline. The central theme of this year’s international reputation, while Canada and meeting, Byzantium – a World of Changes, Australia have recently become major cen- was inspired by the epigram of the Byzan- tres of Byzantine studies, mainly due to the tine scholar Maximus Planudes (c. 1260 significant Greek diaspora outside Europe, – c. 1305) “Everything changes, but noth- ing perishes” (Πάντα μὲν γὰρ μεταβάλλεται, ἀπόλλυται δὲ οὐδέν). According to Ljubomir * Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade 342 Balcanica XLVII (2016) many of the scholars actually being of Greek then addressed by Johannes Koder, Presi- origin. This was reflected in the ethnic dent of the AIEB, by a representative of the composition of the participants in the 23rd Serbian National Commission for UNES- Congress, where representatives of different CO, and finally by Ljubomir Maksimović, national traditions in the field of Byzantine President of the Serbian National Commit- studies were in a position to compare and tee of Byzantine Studies, who declared the critically evaluate the scholarly achieve- Congress officially open. The opening ses- ments of their respective national schools. It sion was concluded with the inaugural lec- was only natural that the Belgrade gathering ture delivered by John F. Haldon, Professor was attended by a larger-than-usual number of History at Princeton University, “Change” of Serbian Byzantinologists and experts in in Byzantium. Thinking about Stability, Resil- related medievalist disciplines. ience and Movement in Medieval East Roman The Congress was structured in six ple- Society, which re-examined the relationship nary sessions, numerous round-table dis- between the historico-geographical environ- cussions and thematic sessions. The main ment and social and political change in the program was accompanied by eight thematic Byzantine world. In the evening of the first exhibitions, a book show (presenting the re- congress day, Mr Nikolić gave a reception at cent Serbian and foreign production in the the Presidential Palace. field), a three-volume book Byzantine Heri- All plenary sessions (except for the tage and Serbian Art, and numerous film and opening one, which proceeded with the work music events revolving around the theme of program after the opening ceremony) were the Byzantine world. Apart from this, the held in the Main Hall of the Serbian Acad- attendees had an opportunity to visit several emy of Sciences and Arts, while round-table late antique and medieval archaeological discussions and thematic sessions took place sites in Belgrade and across Serbia. on the premises of the Faculty of Philol- The Congress was officially declared ogy. This year, the role of the moderator was open at the Hall of Heroes of the Faculty of somewhat different in comparison to previ- Philology of Belgrade University on 22 Au- ous practice. It involved more than providing gust. It was at this venue that the 2nd ICBS usual technical support, but rather an ac- was opened 89 years ago in what then was tive participation in the work of the session the Great Hall of the recently founded New through presenting both broader introduc- University. And this time, too, the most em- tions to the theme under discussion and re- inent figures of Serbian culture and public capitulations of the results of the day’s work. life were present at the opening ceremony: The first plenary session The( Golden Mr Tomislav Nikolić, President of the Re- Age of Byzantine Hagiography) was devoted public of Serbia, His Holiness Patriarch to the innovative trends in the Byzantine Irenaeus of Serbia, representatives of the hagiography of the eighth to the eleventh diplomatic corps, and renowned figures of century, a flourishing period of this origi- Belgrade University and the Serbian Acad- nal and unprecedented genre of Byzantine emy of Sciences and Arts. The Congress literature. The Byzantine city, viewed in a was held under the auspices of the Serbian diachronic perspective and in a broad spatial President, who greeted the participants framework encompassing the Balkans, the with his welcome speech, in which he em- eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, phasized, among other things, the fact that was the topic of the second plenary session the Serbian-Byzantine heritage in Kosovo (The Byzantine City and the Archaeology of is endangered today “by untruths and at- the Third Millennium). The third day’s gath- tempts of forging historical facts as well as ering was devoted to the interesting and by physical destruction”. The audience was hitherto barely explored area of the sensory Reviews 343 aspect of the Byzantine liturgical ritual (Byz- of the Komnenoi and Angeloi; Literature in antine Religious Practices and the Senses). The the Age of the Komnenoi). fourth plenary session was concerned with Byzantine historiography was the topic the historical connection between the Slavic of thematic sessions which, divided into world and Romanitas, embodied in Old three-day cycles, looked at the origin and de- Rome, as well as its two historical “reincar- velopment of the genre within particular his- nations”, the Byzantine and the Slavic one torical and literary periods (Historiography of (Romanitas and Slavia: Political and Ideologi- the 4th–9th [10th–11th; 11th–14th] Centuries), cal Relationships between the Slavs and Old and a separate round table examined the Byz- and New Romes). The complex issue of the antine world chronicle as an autochthonous reasons for Byzantine history writing and genre of Byzantine historiographic prose of the system of inherent rules guiding the (Byzantine World Chronicle as Open Text). process was the subject of the fifth plenary A series of thematic sessions covered session (How the Byzantines Wrote History), various literary issues (Liturgical Poetry as while the last, sixth one (Byzantine Studies Literature: Rhetoric, Exegesis, and Artistry; in the New Millennium) was focused on the Poetic Circles and Anthologies in Byzantium; future of Byzantine studies, especially in Byzantine Literature in the 11th Century), as cultural environments that lack their own well as particular genres (Hagiography; Li- scholarly traditions in the field, such as Chi- turgical Poetry; Hymnography), and some of na for example. the prominent authors whose work marked The topics that attracted the greatest distinctive epochs in the history of Byzan- interest at round tables and thematic ses- tine literature (Michael Psellos. One Thou- sions were those which traditionally consti- sand Years of a Polymath’s Birth; Life and tute the core of Byzantine studies: political Works of Photius of Constantinople). Several sessions discussed topics in lin- and military history, historiography, a broad guistics and philology ( spectrum of issues concerning literature, lin- Linguistics and Phi- ; guistics and philology, philosophy and the- lology of the Byzantine Balkans Byzantine ), medieval translations of Byzan- ology, the arts, architecture, archaeology, the Philology tine texts into Slavonic and other languages music and the theatre. (Metaphrasis in Byzantine Literature; Byzan- Various particular topics concerned tine Literature in Translation; The Role of the with different periods of Byzantine history