Geography and Cosmography in the Byzantine and the Ottoman World: Workshop in June 2022

July 29, 2022
Collage of three photos from a workshop session in a venue with one speaker and an audience of 20 people seated in desks around him.

Collage of three photos from a workshop session in a venue with one speaker and an audience of 20 people seated in desks around him.A group of scholars from the US and Turkey, whose academic work is dedicated to Byzantine and Ottoman Studies, traveled to Nafplio last June in the context of the "Geography and Cosmography in the Byzantine and the Ottoman World" workshop. Bringing together two units of Harvard and two esteemed institutions, the workshop was implemented from June 23 to 26 by Harvard University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies and Boğaziçi University's Byzantine Studies Research Center in collaboration with CHS Greece and with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The workshop's sessions were held at the CHS Greece lecture hall, while the schedule also included a day trip to Mystras. The 21 professors, post-doc researchers, and graduate students came from Harvard, Boğaziçi University, University of California Berkeley, University of Winnipeg, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Spanish National Research Council and Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.

A small group of people walking towards a tall medieval palace on a sunny day.

Initially scheduled for 2020, anticipation for the workshop had been building up for more than two years, which seems to have enhanced the joint initiative's success. The researchers engaged in high-quality educational discussions about travel, the science of geography, and representations of the earth and the cosmos during the byzantine and ottoman eras.

CHS Greece would like to extend its appreciation for all participants, as well as the Center for Middle Eastern Studies of Harvard University and the Byzantine Studies Research Center of Boğaziçi University for their effective collaboration.

Logo of Harvard University's Center for Middle Eastern StudiesLogo of Boğaziçi University’s Byzantine Studies Research Center