Greek and Roman armies in Northern Balkans
This is a conference very close to my research interests. I would have liked to participate. Is anyone else going?
“Call for Proposals – Annual Conference of the Metropolitan Library of Bucharest, Sinaia, Romania, 20-22 September 2011. Section IV c.
WORKSHOP “Greek and Roman Armies in Northern Balkans : Conflicts and Integration of the Warrior Communities, Vth c. B.C.- IIId c. A.D. ”
This workshop is part of the research project “Warrior Structures and Exchanges between ancient Balkan Peoples”, Metropolitan Library of Bucharest, Bucharest University, Archaeological Institute of Tirana, University of Paris IV Sorbonne, UMR 8167 “East and Mediterranean “. The first workshop on this subject was hold in Bucharest in Sept. 2010 and the proceedings for 2010 will be published in the journal Dacia, Revue d’archéologie et d’histoire ancienne, 55 (2011).
Strabo, in the seventh book of his Geography, distinguished as a coherent geographical set the regions located “between the Adriatic and the left part of the Euxine, separate from the first [ie other areas of northern and Eastern Europe] by the Ister and go south to Greece and Propontis” (Strabo, VII, 1, 1). We propose here to consider the consistency of this whole Balkan area, in terms of military relations between the peoples of the Balkans and the Greeks and the Romans, between the fifth century B.C. and the third century A.D.
The different forms of these relationships and the exchanges that have accompanied them can inform us about the structures of these warrior societies, who are among the least known of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. The exchanges are not limited to purely commercial transactions : we will be interested in men and value products exchanged in warrior contexts.
These relationships, in a military point of view, are conceived through two components : conflict, conquest and looting raids in one hand, and, in the other hand, the integration of warrior communities of the Balkans within the Greek and Roman armies.
We will focus on the progressive integration of the Balkan peoples, Illyrians, Paeonians, Thracians, Celts and other peoples of the Danube valley, in Greek and Roman armies, from the classical area to the Roman rule, which seems to have put an end to a certain form of social and military organization in the region.
The establishment of Roman rule seems indeed to be a break in the history of these peoples, whose bellicosity, channeled through the Hellenistic kingdoms by massive enlistments in the armies, then expressed through a resumption of looting raids and enduring conflicts with the Romans.
The study of the modalities of the integration of these warriors in the Roman armies could allow a better understanding of the changes in the local warrior structures that occurred during the Roman period.
We will focus particularly on coins, which can contribute significantly to the knowledge of the military operations led in the region and of the relationships between the warriors communities of the Balkan area and the Greek and Roman armies. Contributions covering literary, epigraphic and archaeological sources are also very welcome.
Proposals should not exceed 300 words and are expected before 15 June 2011.
Accepted languages: French and English.
A limited number of travel bursaries may be offered.
Papers should be sent by e-mail to Aliénor RUFIN SOLAS, Paris IV Sorbonne University, France : alienor.rufinsolas@gmail.com and Adrian DUMITRU, Metropolitan Library of Bucharest : seleukosnikator@yahoo.com”
Classics list
