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IMC 2018: Sessions

Session 218: The Late Antique Empress, I: Imperial Women between Court Politics and 'Barbarian' Kings

Monday 2 July 2018, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:Women's Classical Committee / Medieval & Ancient Research Centre, University of Sheffield (MARCUS)
Organisers:Julia Hillner, Department of History, University of Sheffield
Victoria Leonard, Institute of Classical Studies, University of London
Moderator/Chair:Richard Flower, Department of Classics & Ancient History, University of Exeter
Paper 218-aReviewing the Roles of 4th-Century Imperial Women: The Case of Justina
(Language: English)
Belinda Washington, Independent Scholar, Edinburgh
Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Ecclesiastical History, Gender Studies, Women's Studies
Paper 218-bGalla Placidia as 'Human Gold': Consent and Autonomy in the Early 5th-Century Western Mediterranean
(Language: English)
Victoria Leonard, Institute of Classical Studies, University of London
Index terms: Gender Studies, Military History, Sexuality, Women's Studies
Paper 218-cReturn of the Confined Empress: The Burial of Verina
(Language: English)
Margarita Vallejo-Girvés, Departamento de Historia y Filosofía, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid
Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Gender Studies, Politics and Diplomacy, Women's Studies
Abstract

This is the second session offering new work on late antique empresses. It focuses on case studies that are rarely discussed or in need of reassessment, as they have significant things to tell us about late antique ecclesiastical, military and political developments. Paper -a investigates the changing relationship between state and church through Justina's role in 4th-century Milan; paper -b asks how a reinterpretation of Galla Placidia's Visigothic marriage as war captivity affects our understanding of Roman-Barbarian relationships; paper -c explores the rising power of late 5th-century imperial women through the burial of the disgraced Verina by her daughter, Ariadne.