Italy in the 5th Century: Social, Political and Economic Transformations in a Society under Stress, 395-493 CE

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Italy in the 5th Century: Social, Political and Economic Transformations in a Society under Stress, 395-493 CE

Veranstalter
Sarah Bühler / Sebastian Schmidt-Hofner, Tübingen; Stefan Rebenich, Bern; John Weisweiler, Cambridge; Istituto Svizzero di Roma; Istituto Archeologico Germanico di Roma
Veranstaltungsort
21.03.: Istituto Archeologico Germanico di Roma, Via Sicilia 136 00187 Roma; 22.-23.03.: Istituto Svizzero di Roma, Via Ludovisi 48, 00187 Roma
Ort
Rom
Land
Italy
Vom - Bis
21.03.2019 - 23.03.2019
Deadline
20.03.2019
Website
https://sites.google.com/view/5thcenturyitaly/home
Von
Bühler, Sarah

The goal of this conference is to better understand a crucial moment in the history of Italy: In the fifth century CE, having gone through decades of civil war and being exposed to external threats, the Western Roman Empire disintegrated into a group of successor states – a political rupture which had profound social, economic and cultural effects. Italy, which for centuries had been the seat and ideological heart of the Roman empire, was deeply affected by these events and offers a paradigmatic example for the ensuing transformations. Pre-existing social relations dissolved or were transformed, property was re-distributed, and the economy was re-organized. Most prominently, after decades of political and military turmoil, Italy ceased to be ruled by an emperor: In 476, Odoacer, a senior officer of the imperial army, removed Romulus, the last Roman emperor proclaimed in the West, from office. Henceforth, Italy was governed by kings and a military élite whose members claimed to belong to an ethnicity that was distinct from their civilian subjects.

The purpose of the conference is to develop a new synthetic perspective on this period of swift social change in Italy. Our aim is to explore the ways in which different social groups responded to the diverse threats to the old social order and how they adapted to new conditions. Social and economic transformations will play an important role in our discussions. So will the rise of religious institutions, developments in religious practices and attitudes (asceticism, liturgy, charity), changing self-images and strategies of self-fashioning among the elites as well as other cultural developments. In addition to these systematic perspectives, the conference will also adopt a regional approach that analyzes demographic and economic developments as well as changes in settlement patterns from one region to another. By exploring how groups in different regions of Italy coped differently with the challenges they faced from the social and political ruptures, we aim to produce a comprehensive and nuanced picture of Italian society, politics and culture in the fifth century.

Programm

Programme

Thursday, 21st March

Venue: Istituto Archeologico Germanico di Roma

Chair: Tanja Itgenshorst (Fribourg)

09.30-10.00
Welcome& Introduction

10.00-10.45
Imperial Elites (Sarah Bühler, Tübingen)

10.45-11-00
Coffee Break

11.00-11.45
Municipal Elites (Sebastian Schmidt-Hofner, Tübingen)

11.45-12.30
Fiscality and Elite Formation (John Weisweiler, Cambridge)

12.30-14.00 – Lunch Break

Chair: Rita Lizzi (Perugia)

14.00-14-45
Warfare and Violence (Jeroen Wijnendaele, Ghent)

14.45-15.30
Portraits and Elite Representation (Carlos Machado, St. Andrews)

15.30-16.00
Coffee Break

16.00-16.45
Economic Trajectories and Commerce: A Survey (Paolo Tedesco, Tübingen)

16.45-17.30
Poetry under Stress. Paulinus of Nola between Violence and Peace in the Early 5th C. (Robert Kirstein, Tübingen)

17.30-18.15
Spiritual Developments (Kristina Sessa, Ohio State University)

18.15-18:30
Coffee Break

18.30 – Evening lecture

Simony and the State in the Fifth Century Church (Michele-Renee Salzman, UC Riverside)

19.45 – Reception

Friday, 22nd March

Venue: Istituto Svizzero di Roma

Chair: Marco Maiuro (Rome, La Sapienza)

09.30-10.15
Aemilia (Claudio Negrelli, Venezia)

10.15-11.00
Tuscia Annonaria and Suburbicaria (Federico Cantini, Pisa)

11.00-11.15
Coffee Break

11.15-12.00
Umbria, Flaminia and Picenum (Fabrizio Oppedisano, Pisa)

12.00-12.45
Latium and the Roman Suburbium (Cristina Murer, Bern)

12.45-14.15 – Lunch Break

Chair: Arnaldo Marcone (Roma Tre)

14.15-15.00
Campania (Eliodoro Savino, Naples)

15.00-15.45
Lucania and Bruttium (Battista Sangineto, University of Calabria)

15.45-16.15
Coffee Break

16.15-17.00
Corsica and Sardegna (Pier Giorgio Spanu, Sassari)

17.00-17.45
Settlement Patterns in the Sicilian Countryside (Angelo Castrorao Barba, CSIC, LAAC/EEA Granada)

17.45-18.30
Apulia and Calabria (Giuliano Volpe/Roberto Goffredo, Foggia)

20.00 Uhr Dinner

Saturday, 23rd March

Venue: Istituto Svizzero di Roma

Chair: Domenico Vera (Parma)

09.00-09.45
Peasants and Agriculture (Kim Bowes, UPenn)

09.45-10.30
Venetia and Histria (Alexandra Chavarría Arnau, Padova)

10.30-10.45
Coffee Break

10.45-11.30
Coin Circulation (Flavia Marani, Pisa)

11.30-12.15
Italy and the East (Umberto Roberto, Rome)

12.15-13.00
Cities (Neil Christie, Leicester)

13.00-13.30
Conclusions (Stefan Rebenich, Bern)

We are grateful for the generous support by:

Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 923 "Threatened Order - Societies under Stress", University of Tuebingen

SNF - Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung

Istituto Svizzero di Roma

Istituto Archeologico Germanico di Roma

Kontakt

Sarah Bühler
Keplerstr. 2
72074 Tübingen

sa.buehler@uni-tuebingen.de

https://sites.google.com/view/5thcenturyitaly/home