IMC 2018: Sessions

For three millennia, the fall of Troy has been a popular topic in European culture. Not only did the classical texts that were the product of Greco-Roman culture continue to circulate in the Middle Ages, but also many 'new' works were composed on different aspects of the story of Troy, not only in Latin and Greek but also in vernacular languages. These texts, old and new, shaped the perception of the Trojan War and enabled the further production and transmission of narratives on Trojan characters and scenes throughout the Middle Ages. Trojan topics also remained popular in visual imagery, from early Greek vases and Roman sculptures to medieval illuminations and tapestry. With every work written, drawn, sculpted, carved, or copied, the past was reconstructed and renarrated yet again in a different context emphasising different values. These four sessions explore the reasons behind the fascination with the Trojan narrative and the ways in which the story of Troy was employed in the Middle Ages. The final session will emphasise the pervasiveness of the Trojan narrative across geographies, languages, and mediums. Marilynn Desmond will discuss the materiality of the transmission and the specific temporality of the story, a vision of the city of Troy as ever present yet always already destroyed. María Sanz Julián will explore the Trojan imagery in the early German and Spanish prints in order to present how, through these images, the matter of Troy overcame political and literary borders, adapting to the new times and literary tastes. As the last paper of the four sessions, N. Kıvılcım Yavuz will give an overview of the manuscript production of a set of different texts dealing with the matter of Troy across a thousand years and discuss whether the manuscript evidence points to different trends based on period, place or patronage.