For most of the 20th century, the distribution of land and other wealth has been central to scholarly discussion of late antique societies, not least in assessing the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire. While the pace of scholarly discussion slowed down towards the end of the century, in recent years a new interest in the economic history of Late Antiquity has emerged. Much of this renewed interest has focussed on assessing the wealth and the power of secular elites, such as the influential contributions of Jairus Banaji on the social impact of the gold currency (2001) or the relevant sections in Chris Wickham’s Framing the Early Middle Ages (2005), among others. Renewed interest has also emerged in related areas such as the history of the household, with work such as Kyle Harper’s 2011 study of slavery, and the history of Christianity, with, for example, Peter Brown’s monumental study of the issue of wealth in the rise of ecclesiastical institutions (2012).

In light of these developments, a cross-disciplinary stock-taking seems more than welcome. ILAN 2014, Property and Power in Late Antiquity, will offer an opportunity to exchange ideas with colleagues from numerous disciplines and as many countries.

Paper proposals are invited from all the disciplines of Late Antiquity – from the material cultures of archaeology, architecture, epigraphy, and papyrology to the diverse textual cultures of the Greek, Latin, and Semitic world – spanning the period from ca. 200 to ca. 700 CE. Discussion will include, but not be limited to, the following questions:
- The distribution of property in the late antique world and impact of political, institutional, and religious developments across Late Antiquity
- The social impact of property in local and regional societies and in supra-regional networks
- Property, power and material culture in late antique societies
Decoration, display, and the culture of prestige
- Relations of property, power, status, and exploitation in the household (slavery, gender, patria potestas) Property and politics in the Later Roman Empire and beyond
- Concepts of and Discourses about wealth and poverty
Wealth and the power of institutions, including but not limited to the Church(es)

The deadline for proposals is 31 October 2013. Please e-mail a short (ca. 200-250-word) proposal to property.and.power.2014@gmail.com.

Graduate students presenting a paper may apply for financial support to the organizers.