International Symposium on “Classicising learning, performance and power: Eurasian perspectives from Antiquity to early modern Period” 2019
Dear colleagues,
The team of the PAIXUE project is delighted to announce that its international Symposium on “Classicising learning, performance and power: Eurasian perspectives from Antiquity to early modern Period” will take place between the 12th and the 14th of December 2019 at the University of Edinburgh.
The symposium brings together scholars from across North America, Europe and Asia in order to explore how public performances of classicising learning (however defined in each culture) influenced and served imperial or state power in premodern political systems across Eurasia and North Africa. Aiming at encouraging scholarly exchanges among experts in different fields and cultures, the papers relate to the following three interconnected thematic strands: (a) Classicising learning and the social order, (b) Classicising learning and the political order, and (c) Classicising learning and the self.
Speakers: Robert Ashmore (Berkeley), Floris Bernard (Ghent), Mirko Canevaro (Edinburgh), Javier Cha (Seoul), Ming-kin Chu (Hong Kong), Christophe Erismann (Vienna), Michael Fuller (University of California, Irvine), Elena Gittleman (Bryn Mawr), Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila (Edinburgh), James Hankins (Harvard), Florian Hartmann (Aachen), Michael Hope (Yonsei), Pascal Hugon (Vienna), Takeshi Inomata (Arizona), Ashton Lazarus (Kyushu), Marina Loukaki (Athens), Christopher Nugent (Williams), Daphne Penna (Groningen), Alberto Rigolio (Durham), Asuka Sango (Carleton), Jonathan Skaff (Shippensburg), Luka Spoljarić (Zagreb), Ariel Stilerman (Stanford), Justin Stover (Edinburgh), Elizabeth Tyler (York), Lieve van Hoof (Ghent), Griet Vankeerberghen (McGill), Milan Vukašinović (ANAMED, Koç University), Elvira Wakelnig (Vienna), Stephen H. West (Berkeley), Julian Yolles (Odense)
The full programme and the list of abstracts are available in our website. For your convenience we include below a copy of the program. Places are limited, so early registration is strongly recommended.
We much look forward to you participation!
Best wishes,
Foteini Spingou and Michael Höckelmann
On behalf of the PAIXUE team
PAIXUE Symposium
Classicising Learning, Performance, and Power
Eurasian Perspectives from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period
School of History, Classics & Archaeology
The University of Edinburgh
12–14 December 2019
Venue: Meadows Lecture Theatre, William Robertson Wing/Doorway 4, Old Medical School
Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG
THURSDAY 12 DECEMBER 2019
| Time | Where | |
| 8:15 | Registration and coffee | McMillan Room, William Robertson Wing/Doorway 4, Old Medical School – first floor |
| 8:45 | Welcome and opening remarks
Niels Gaul and Curie Virág |
- Classicising learning and political philosophy
Chair Foteini Spingou (University of Edinburgh)
| 9:00 | Christophe Erismann (University of Vienna)
Educating students, burying Iconoclasm, and advising the prince: The classicising approach of Photius, patriarch of Constantinople |
| 9:30 | Javier Cha (Seoul National University)
Creativity in the service of the state: autocracy without orthodoxy in the political philosophy of Sŏng Hyŏn (1439–1504) |
| 10:00 | Discussion |
| 10:30 | Coffee |
- Classical models of rulership and education
Chair Gavin Kelly (University of Edinburgh)
| 11:00 | Mirko Canevaro (University of Edinburgh)
The Attic orators in the Hellenistic period: Political relevance and ‘classicising’ learning |
| 11:30 | Elvira Wakelnig (University of Vienna)
Ibn Bahrīz’s definitions and divisions |
| 12:00 | Florian Hartmann (University of Aachen)
Classicising learning within the political system of the Italian communes (twelfth–thirteenth centuries) |
| 12:30 | Discussion |
| 13:00 | Lunch |
- The politics of classicising learning
Chair Joachim Gentz (University of Edinburgh)
| 14:30 | Elizabeth Tyler (University of York)
‘A Theban Song’: Fratricide, civil war and the politics of classicism in eleventh-century England |
| 15:00 | Michael Fuller (University of California, Irvine)
The Confucian canon and the construction of cultural identity in Song dynasty China |
| 15:30 | Luka Špoljarić (University of Zagreb)
Humanism and politics in Renaissance Dalmatia: Split, c.1490–c.1520 |
| 16:00 | Discussion |
| 16:30 | Tea |
- Establishing political authority through classicising learning
Chair Michael Höckelmann (University of Erlangen-Nürnberg)
| 17:00 | Julian Yolles (University of Southern Denmark)
Performing learned Latinity in the Levant (twelfth–thirteenth centuries) |
| 17:30 | Marina Loukaki (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
Politics and religion in Byzantium: Bishops and classicising learning in the provinces; Athens in the twelfth century |
| 18:00 | Ming-kin Chu (University of Hong Kong)
Performance of learning through imperial voice: Parallel proses by Wang Zao and Sun Di in the northern–southern Song transition |
| 18:30 | Discussion |
| 19:00 | Welcome reception
McMillan Room, William Robertson Wing/Doorway 4, Old Medical School – first floor |
FRIDAY 13 DECEMBER 2019
- Receiving and reconstructing the ‘Classics’
Chair Alexander Riehle (Harvard University)
| 9:00 | Christopher Nugent (Williams College)
Thinking through categories: The Chuxue ji and literary composition |
| 9:30 | Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila (University of Edinburgh)
Regaining the Zoroastrian past: Muslim elites and Zoroastrian wisdom |
| 10:00 | Justin Stover (University of Edinburgh)
The Spring of Pergusa: Greek into Latin in the eleventh and twelfth centuries beyond the philosophical |
| 10:30 | Discussion |
| 11:00 | Coffee |
- Examinations of classicising learning
Chair Stephen McDowall (University of Edinburgh)
| 11:30 | Robert Ashmore (University of California, Berkeley)
Competence and its failure in early Tang examinations |
| 12:00 | Floris Bernard (Ghent University)
Exploiting the talent for words: The sociological value of poetry and rhetoric in eleventh-century Byzantium |
| 12:30 | Discussion |
| 12:45 | Lunch |
- Classicising education
Chair Anna Shields (Princeton University)
| 14:00 | Pascale Hugon (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Tibetan Buddhist scholars and the Indian heritage |
| 14:30 | Alberto Rigolio (Durham University)
Education and paideia in early Syriac |
| 15:00 | James Hankins (Harvard University)
Philosophy, the liberal arts, and the humanities in Renaissance Italy |
| 15:30 | Discussion |
| 16:00 | Tea |
- Arguing it out with the Classics
Chair Divna Manolova (University of York)
| 16:30 | Asuka Sango (Carleton University)
The acts and texts of commentary: Debate (rongi) as a means of classicising learning in medieval Japanese Buddhism |
| 17:00 | Michael Hope (Yonsei University)
The wisdom of royal glory: The oral transmission of knowledge at Mongol Quriltai ceremonies |
| 17:30 | Discussion |
| 18:00 | End of proceedings |
SATURDAY 14 DECEMBER 2019
- The social dynamics of classicising learning
Chair Patricia Ebrey (University of Washington)
| 9:00 | Lieve van Hoof (University of Ghent)
Libanius’ letters: Culture as an instrument for political power |
| 9:30 | Ashton Lazarus (Kyushu University)
Scholars and performers in Heian Japan: Addressing commoners in Fujiwara no Akihira’s writings |
| 10:00 | Milan Vukašinović (EHESS Paris)
Style, identity or legal argument? Classicising learning in the writings of thirteenth-century Epirote bishops |
| 10:30 | Discussion |
| 11:00 | Coffee |
- Classicising learning and elite formation
Chair Eduardo Manzano Moreno (St Andrews/CSIC Madrid)
| 11:30 | Griet Vankeerberghen (McGill University)
The Ban family of western and eastern Han and the performance of classicising learning |
| 12:00 | Takeshi Inomata (The University of Arizona)
Elite performance and power in Classic Maya society |
| 12:30 | Discussion |
| 12:45 | Lunch |
- Enacting classicising learning
Chair Lucy Grig (University of Edinburgh)
| 14:00 | Elena Gittleman (Bryn Mawr College)
Holy actors: Christian learning and the ancient theatre in the Menologion of Basil II |
| 14:30 | Stephen West (University of California, Berkeley)
Classicisation and humour: Upending classicism in quotidian texts in the Song |
| 15:00 | Ariel Stilerman (Stanford University)
Classical poetry across the spatial and social expansion of court culture in early medieval Japan |
| 15:30 | Discussion |
| 16:00 | Tea |
- Classicising learning in law and diplomacy
Chair Niels Gaul (University of Edinburgh)
| 16:30 | Jonathan Skaff (Shippensburg University)
Sui-Tang diplomatic protocol as Eurasian ritual performance |
| 17:00 | Daphne Penna (University of Groningen)
Classical literature in Byzantine legal sources |
| 17:30 | Discussion |
| 17:45 | Closing remarks: Foteini Spingou and Michael Höckelmann |
| 18:00 | Farewell reception
McMillan Room, William Robertson Wing/Doorway 4, Old Medical School – first floor |
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
For more information please visit their website.