CALL. 29.02.2020: The Flavian Empire - Maynooth (Ireland)
FECHA LÍMITE/DEADLINE/SCADENZA: 29/02/2020
FECHA CONGRESO/CONGRESS DATE/DATA CONGRESSO: 18-19/06/2020
LUGAR/LOCATION/LUOGO: Maynooth University (Maynooth, Ireland)
ORGANIZADOR/ORGANIZER/ORGANIZZATORE: Jonathan Davies.
INFO: call - jonathan.davies@mu.ie
CALL:
In recent years, work on the Flavian dynasty has proliferated substantially. However, not enough attention has been devoted to the relationship between the dynasty itself and the wider world which it governed. This is surprising considering the nature of Flavian rule: the dynasty rose to power from the Eastern provinces, the Flavian period saw numerous innovations in provincial administration, and a great deal of Flavian political communication centres on the exploits of the dynasts in provincial and overseas settings.
In particular, Roman literature from and about the Flavian period engages deeply with themes related to empire, and with the wider world: Pliny the Elder’s encyclopaedia provides a catalogue of empire; Silius restages a key moment the history of Rome’s imperial expansion; Valerius Flaccus’ short epic engages with themes relating to the exploration and taming of wild foreign spaces; the empire writes back in the prolific works of Flavius Josephus; Tacitus’ Agricola examines imperial expansion and provincial administration in Flavian Britain; Martial celebrates the imperial dimensions of Flavian spectacle in the amphitheatre.
The aim of this conference is to bring the Flavian empire into the heart of the conversation about Flavian Rome, both by examining the discourses of empire in evidence (in literary and other sources) at Rome itself, and by looking at how individuals and communities in the provinces received and responded to Flavian messaging about empire.
Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:
· How themes of expansion, conquest, subjugation, enslavement, mastery, exploration, ethnography and the Roman or Flavian imperial destiny are treated in Flavian literature.
· How artistic, architectural, numismatic and epigraphic sources relate to these themes.
· How provincial art and literature adopts, adapts and responds to Flavian discourses of empire.
· What Flavian administrative innovations (such as Vespasian’s municipalisation of the Spanish provinces, the absorption of allied kingdoms into provinces, or Domitian’s reorganisation of the northern frontier) might suggest about Flavian imperial priorities and ideologies.
· How the dynasty’s foreign and provincial successes are represented and communicated, at Rome and elsewhere.
Those interested in participating should send an abstract of up to 500 words for a 30-minute paper to jonathan.davies@mu.ie, no later than 29th February 2020. Confirmations of acceptance will be sent out by the end of March.