CALL. 12.02.2018: [PANEL 12] Greeks, Romans and Barbarians at War: studies in military interaction
FECHA LÍMITE/DEADLINE/SCADENZA: 12/02/218
FECHA CONGRESO/CONGRESS DATE/DATA CONGRESSO: 11-12-13-14/07/2018
LUGAR/LOCATION/LUOGO: St Andrews University (St Andrews, Scotland)
ORGANIZADOR/ORGANIZER/ORGANIZZATORE: J.C.N Coulston; Alastair Lumsden
CALL:
We invite expressions of interest and abstracts for Greeks, Romans and Barbarians at War: studies in military interaction and acculturation, 600-50 BC, which will form a 3-day panel at the 11th Celtic Conference in Classics, to be held at the University of St Andrews from 11th-14th July 2017. We are actively seeking abstracts from scholars at all stages in their career.
The purpose of this panel will be to focus on the cultural transmission of military equipment and tactics between the enemies and allies who interacted with the Greek and Roman world between c.600 and 50 B.C. Particular attention will be paid to the less often studied ‘barbarian’ peoples (Celtiberians, Dacians, Germans, Iberians, Illyrians, Thracians and Skythians), and to the ways in which their frequent contacts with the Greeks and Romans led to considerable cross-cultural interactions, and systemic developments for all parties involved.
Study of the military development of babarian peoples has long been marginalized in favour of the more apparent and readily accessible evidence for Greek and Roman warfare. The tendency of scholars to focus almost exclusively on the latter has resulted in a picture, not only of Greco-Roman exceptionalism, but also of their military-cultural self-determination. However, particularly since the 1980s, a growing number of military historians have focussed their efforts towards dispelling these notions, and have produced compelling evidence to strongly suggest radical alternatives to standard perceived views. Indeed, military development is now frequently characterised as multilaterally adaptive, adoptive, and assimilating of tactics and weaponry.
Consequently, this panel seeks to explore and promote further scholarly debate around this subject in order to obtain a more nuanced understanding of how and why Greek and Roman military cultures developed against, alongside and mutually with barbarian allies and adversaries. The final intention is to publish the panel as an edited volume.
J.C.N Coulston and Alastair Lumsden
Please contact either Alastair Lumsden arl21@st-andrews.ac.uk (with questions, expressions of interests, and abstracts. Abstracts should be no more than 300 words in length and should be submitted by February 12th 2018. We hope to notify potential participants of decisions regarding their papers by 1st of March 2018 if not before.