Tuesday, December 10, 2019

CALL FOR PAPERS – INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP
*MUROS ET MOENIA*: CITY WALLS, URBAN BOUNDARIES, AND THE ARTICULATION OF
THE CITY IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM CE
16-17 April, 2020
Utrecht University

In the ancient, late antique, and the early medieval worlds, city walls
both projected strength and indicated insecurity. These impressive and
prominent constructions dominated the urban landscape and oriented the
movement of citizens. Likewise, these enclosures sought to delineate those
who did and did not belong, physically marking the inclusion of its
citizens as well as signifying the exclusion of whoever and whatever
threatened to harm the physical, symbolic, and ritual integrity of the
city. City walls were visible from afar, drawing visitors in and
advertising the city’s status from a distance. At the same time, the wall’s
overlapping layers of legal, ritual, and symbolic significance structured
narrative and normative texts across these epochs.

This international workshop seeks to bring together an international and
interdisciplinary group of scholars to work on these interrelated aspects
of ancient and early medieval walls in the Mediterranean and northwestern
Europe throughout the first millennium CE. Our keynote address will be
given by Hendrik Dey, and our confirmed speakers include Rachele Dubbini,
Penelope Goodman and Nicholas Purcell. We invite proposals for 20 minute
papers from specialists working in various disciplines, including
archaeology, history, literary studies, and art history. This workshop will
examine the commonalities and discrepancies across these disciplines, both
in terms of their methodological and theoretical approach as well as
querying the extent to which city walls functioned in a variety of
different contexts present throughout the ancient and medieval world.

Please send an abstract of no more than 300 words, plus a short
bibliography to the organizers Saskia Stevens, Megan Welton, and Kay Boers
at murosetmoenia@gmail.com by January 31st, 2020.

*Muros et Moenia* is generously supported by the NWO-VICI Project
“Citizenship Discourses in the Early Middle Ages, 400-1100,” the Utrecht
Center for Medieval Studies, Ancient History and Classical Civilisation at
Utrecht University, and OIKOS - the Dutch National Research School in
Classics.

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