Seen on the Classicists list:

The UK Ancient Historians’ Annual Meeting (the ‘Norman Baynes’ meeting) will be held from May 17/18 in Stevenage, Herts.
(Spaces are limited; reserve yours now to avoid disappointment!)

The ‘Baynes meeting’ is the annual opportunity for all UK ancient historians, whatever their specialism, and whether in post or retired, to meet for both formal and informal discussion. Early-career ancient historians have particularly appreciated the chance to get to know other members of the profession and to exchange ideas, and are particularly encouraged to attend.

The event is open both to those with university posts and to others at post-doctoral level. As well as an opportunity to hear and discuss two papers, the meeting provides an excellent opportunity to learn about research projects, forthcoming publications and publishing initiatives, and to discuss other developments and concerns in teaching and research.

The cost (Dinner, bed and breakfast, lunch) will be £96.25. The cost for non-residents (i.e. only Saturday or only Sunday) will be £10.00 for Saturday (£30 including dinner) and £15 for Sunday. There will be a £10 registration charge. No advance payment is required.

Please let me have the earliest possible indications of interest
(to );
firm booking (to me) MUST BE MADE by 9 a.m. on Thursday May 8th.

PROGRAMME
Saturday 17 May
3.00 to 4.30 p.m. Achieving interdisciplinarity: Classics boasts that it is the original interdisciplinary subject, but how do we actually achieve that – either for ourselves, or in our students? How does one balance specific skills training with a breadth of interdisciplinary vision?

4.30 pm Tea
5.00-6.30 pm Dr Mirko Canevaro (Edinburgh) ‘How to make (and change) laws in ancient Athens: a developmental perspective’.
7.30 pm Dinner

Sunday 18 May
9.30-11.00 am Dr. Koen Verboven (Ghent) ‘Merchant and shipper associations in the Roman world: the problem of formalization’.
11.00 am Coffee
11.30 -12.30 Information exchange/business meeting/discussion of sourcebooks
12.30 pm 3-course lunch

The meeting will be held at the Novotel Stevenage, Knebworth Park, Stevenage, Herts, SG1 2AX. This is a short taxi ride from the railway station (on the East Coast mainline), and readily accessible from junction 7 of the A1(M). For directions see:
http://ift.tt/1iBXoBX

Robin Osborne

Seen on the Classicists list:

Here’s the first call for papers for the next Women’s History Network Annual
Conference, deadline 1 April 2014.

HOME FRONTS: GENDER, WAR AND CONFLICT
On 5-7 September 2014 at the University of Worcester

Offers of papers are invited which draw upon the perspectives of women’s and
gender history to discuss practical and emotional survival on the Home Front
during war and conflict. Although the term Home Front was initially used
during the First World War, and the conference coincides with the
commemorations marking the centenary of the beginning of this conflict, we
welcome papers which explore a range of Home Fronts and conflicts, across
diverse historical periods and geographical areas. For further details
please visit the conference website at http://ift.tt/1iBXolo
fronts-gender-war-and-conflict

The Women’s History Network, which has been operating for more than twenty
years, is for anyone with a passion for researching, writing, reading and
sharing women’s history. It holds an annual national conference and a number
of regional seminars and conferences. For further information about the
Women’s History Network please visit their website at
http://ift.tt/1hA7jp2

We would also like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to the
Women’s History Network Prizes awarded annually by the WHN – The Book Prize
– an annual £500 prize for a first book in women’s or gender history. The
Clare Evans Prize – an annual £500 prize for a new essay in the field of
“Gender and History” and the WHN Community History Prize – sponsored by the
History Press – an annual £500 prize for a Community History Project which
has led to a documentary, pamphlet, book, exhibition, artefact or event
completed between the 1st of January 2013 and 31st May 2014. Details of all
are attached.

Forwarded on behalf of the 2014 Women’s History Network Conference
Organising Committee. Email and mail correspondence should be sent to Prof
Maggie Andrews, IHCA, University of Worcester, Henwick Grove,WR2 6AJ email
address maggie.andrews AT worc.ac.uk

Seen on the Classicists list:

REMINDER: CFP

University of Cyprus, 16-18 October 2014 

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 

Miracles and Wonders in Antiquity and Byzantium 

Tales of miracle and wonder decorate both ancient and Byzantine literature and seem to have had a great impact upon ancient and Byzantine thought. A strong interest in the wondrous is already apparent in the works of Homer and Hesiod. However, a more organized recording of marvels is detected much later, in Herodotus’s time, when marvelous stories and travel accounts of exotic places and peoples are increasingly produced. From the era of Alexander and onwards such stories are recruited by historians and rhetors in an attempt to apotheose the ideal ruler. Between the third century BC and the third century AD, the genre of paradoxography, collections of stories relating strange events and phenomena, achieves great popularity, and influences another new genre, the Hellenistic novel. At about the same time, a number of stories circulate that relate the miraculous healings of suffering people who practice incubation in Asclepian temples. Later the practice of incubation is taken over by Christian pilgrims who are cured by saints. Miraculous healings and other types of miracles that are associated with a particular Christian shrine become the material of a new genre, the miracle collection which is cultivated throughout the Byzantine era. Miracle stories are included in all Byzantine hagiographical genres, since they constitute the strongest sign of holiness. Miracles and wonders are also found in profane Byzantine genres, such as chronicles and romances. Despite the fact that marvel literature enjoyed such a high popularity in antiquity and Byzantium, it has been mostly dismissed by modern scholars as debased, boring and even unintelligible, an attitude that has condemned this literature to obscurity. 

The conference’s main aims are to bring to light miracle and wonder literature and to open up new avenues of approach. 

Topics of exploration may include: 

• Literary Theoretical Approaches 

• Cultural Studies 

• Psychological Approaches 

• Comparative Literary Studies 

• Linguistics 

Specialists are invited to submit a thirty-minute paper in English on a relevant topic.Due to budgetary constraints, the organizers cannot cover the speakers’ travel and hotel costs. There is no registration fee for participation or attendance. 

Prospective speakers are asked to submit by 30 April 2014 a title and a 400-word abstract to Stavroula Constantinou (konstans AT ucy.ac.cy) and Maria Gerolemou (mariagerolemou AT live.de).