Seen on the Classicists list:

The Faculty of Theology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is pleased to
announce an international conference on ‘Episcopal Elections in Late
Antiquity’, 26-28 October 2009. The conference programme will include
fourteen keynote lectures and eleven short paper sessions. Registration,
travel and accommodation information is available on the conference website,
and further information can be requested from the conference secretary.

Scientific Committee
Pauline Allen (ACU Brisbane), Jean-Marie Auwers (Louvain-la-neuve),
Boudewijn Dehandschutter (Leuven), David Engels (Bruxelles), Hans Hauben
(Leuven), Mathijs Lamberigts (Leuven), Johan Leemans (Leuven), Hartmut
Leppin (Frankfurt), Peter Van Nuffelen (Exeter), Andrea Schmidt
(Louvain-la-neuve), Stefan Schorn (Leuven), Ewa Wipszycka (Warsaw)

Organising Committee
Boudewijn Dehandschutter (Leuven), Shawn Keough (Leuven), Johan Leemans
(Leuven), Carla Nicolaye (Leuven-Aachen), Peter Van Nuffelen (Exeter)

URL: http://theo.kuleuven.be/page/esla
Secretary: shawn.keough AT theo.kuleuven.be

It is well known that episcopal elections in the later Roman Empire were
often a complicated and complicating event, as the controversy (and even
violence) attendant upon the elections and successions of many bishops
indicates. This conference will approach the phenomenon of episcopal
elections and succession from the broadest possible perspective, examining
the varied combination of factors, personalities, rules and habits that
played a role in the process that eventually resulted in one specific
candidate becoming the new bishop, and not another. The many diverse and
even conflicting aspects of this phenomenon will be addressed: the influence
of doctrinal conflicts, the relationship between Church and State,
patronage, local habits and regional differences, chronological
developments, ethnic identity. Also relevant is the development of images of
the ideal bishop, especially the manner in which such idealized
representations shaped the outcome of contested elections and affected the
character and exercise of episcopal authority in late antique society.

All those interested in conference registration and other information are
encouraged to contact the conference secretary, Dr. Shawn Keough
shawn.keough AT theo.kuleuven.be.

Seen on the Classicists list:

Hengstberger Symposium 2009

Political Communication and Public Opinion in the Ancient World

Dates: Friday, 10 July — Sunday, 12 July 2009

Venue: Internationales Wissenschaftsforum Heidelberg, University of Heidelberg (http://www.iwh.uni-hd.de/index.html)

Numbers are restricted. There are only a few places left. If you would like to attend, please register by email to christina.kuhn AT classics.ox.ac.uk

Programme:

Friday, 10 July 2009

09.15: Welcome: Dr. Klaus-Georg HENGSTBERGER and Dr. Christina KUHN

09.30: Dr. Christina KUHN (Classics Department, University of Oxford): "Einfuehrung: Politische Kommunikation und Oeffentliche Meinung in der Antike"

Section I: Theories and Concepts
Chair: Prof. Dr. Tonio HOELSCHER (Department of Classical Archaeology, University of Heidelberg)

10.00: Prof. Dr. Kurt IMHOF (Department of Sociology, University of Zuerich): "Oeffentlichkeitssoziologische Konzepte fuer das Altertum?"

10.45: Coffee

11.15: Dr. Thomas PETERSEN (Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research): "Die moralische Komponente oeffentlicher Meinung — Was Historiker und Sozialwissenschaftler voneinander lernen koennen"

Section II: Classical and Hellenistic Greece
Chair: Prof. Dr. Angelos CHANIOTIS (Classics Department, University of Oxford)

12.00: PD Dr. Christian MANN (Department of Ancient History, University of Freiburg): "Imagekonstruktionen und oeffentliche Meinung im demokratischen Athen"

12.45: Lunch

14.15: Dr. Gunther MARTIN (Classics Department, University of Oxford):
"Demokratiekritik vor der athenischen Oeffentlichkeit?"

15.00: Prof. Dr. Eftychia STAVRIANOPOULOU (Department of Ancient History, University of Heidelberg): "Tou dikaiou tuchein, oder: Die Macht der Bitte"

15.45: Coffee

16.15: Peter KATO (Department of Ancient History, University of Heidelberg): "Heftige Winde ueber das stille Meer: Aeusserungsformen und Beeinflussung der oeffentlichen Meinung in den hellenistischen Staedten"

17.00: Dr. Ruth BIELFELDT (Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University): "Oeffentlichkeit als Offensichtlichkeit: Zur Kultur des Erscheinens in der hellenistischen Stadt"

Saturday, 11 July 2009

Section III: Republican and Imperial Rome
Chair: Dr. Christina KUHN (Classics Department, University of Oxford)

09.15: Dr. Nikolaus JACKOB (Department of Communication Studies, University of Mainz): "Cicero’s Perception of the Nature, Role and Power of Public Opinion in the Late Roman Republic"

10.00: Prof. Dr. Gert UEDING (Rhetoric Department, University of Tuebingen): "Das Konzept des Redners als Meinungsfuehrer in der roemischen Rhetorik"

10.45: Coffee

11.15: Prof. Dr. Robert MORSTEIN-MARX (Classics Department, University of California, Santa Barbara): "Political Communication, Public Opinion and the Power of the ‘Populus’ in the Late Roman Republic"

12.00: Christian BECHTOLD, M.A. (Department of Ancient History, University of Frankfurt): "Die Versetzung unter die Sterne in der politischen Kommunikation der roemischen Kaiserzeit"

12.45: Lunch

Chair: Prof. Dr. Christian WITSCHEL (Department of Ancient History, University of Heidelberg)

14.15: Prof. Dr. Clifford ANDO (Classics Department, University of Chicago): "Empire, State, and Communicative Action"

15.00: Prof. Dr. Aloys WINTERLING (History Department, Humboldt University Berlin): "Oeffentliche Geheimnisse: Die Doppelboedigkeit der Kommunikation zwischen Kaiser und Aristokratie im Rom des 1. und 2. Jahrhunderts"

15.45: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Jan STENGER (Free University of Berlin): "Libanios und die oeffentliche Meinung in Antiochia"

16.30: Coffee

17.00: Public Lecture: Prof. Dr. Juergen WILKE (Department of Communication Studies, University of Mainz): "Die Kommunikationswissenschaft und die Antike"

Sunday, 12 July 2009

Section IV: Ancient Egypt, China and Israel
Chair: Prof. Dr. Andrea JOERDENS (Institute of Papyrology, University of Heidelberg)

09.15: Dr. Thomas ROESSING (Department of Communication Studies, University of Mainz): "Oeffentliche Meinung in der Philosophie des Alten China aus sozialwissenschaftlicher Sicht"

10.00: Prof. Dr. Joachim Friedrich QUACK (Department of Egyptology, University of Heidelberg): "Pharao und Hofstaat, Palast und Tempel. Entscheidungsfindung, Oeffentlichkeit und Entscheidungsveroeffentlichung im Alten Aegypten"

10.45: Coffee

11.15: PD Dr. Erich LAMP (Department of Communication Studies, University of Mainz): "Oeffentliche Meinung im Alten Testament"

12.00: Final Discussion