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IMC 2022: Sessions

Session 213: Interactions across Borders in the Late Antique, Early Medieval, and Byzantine World, II: Crossing and Defending Sea Borders

Monday 4 July 2022, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:South West & Wales 'Late Antique, Early Medieval & Byzantine Network' (SWW LAEMB)
Organiser:Laura Stops, Department of Classics & Ancient History, University of Exeter
Moderator/Chair:Josh Littell, Department of Classics & Ancient History, University of Exeter
Respondent:Josh Littell, Department of Classics & Ancient History, University of Exeter
Paper 213-aFrom Classis Britannica to Saxon Shore: Naval Forces in Later Roman Britain, 3rd-5th Centuries
(Language: English)
Alex Michael Elliott, School of Classics, University of St Andrews
Index terms: Maritime and Naval Studies, Military History
Paper 213-bBorders within the Kingdom: The Reflection of Norman Sicily's Religious and Cultural Tensions within the Tristia
(Language: English)
Samuel Azzopardi, Department of Classics & Archaeology, University of Malta
Index terms: Crusades, Daily Life
Paper 213-cSome Remarks on the Herule Pirate Attack of the Year 456 in the Vardulliarum loca maritima
(Language: English)
Jokin Lanz, Fundación Arkeolan, Irún / Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y de la Educación, Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA)
Index terms: Maritime and Naval Studies, Military History
Abstract

The first paper will explore the evolution of Roman coastal authority in Britain from the Classis Britannica to the Count of the Saxon Shore and the scale and the duties of the Roman military in protecting and maintaining the maritime borders of the Empire. The second paper will investigate the boundaries, liminalities, tensions and co-existence of Byzantine, Arabic and Norman influences in 12th century Sicily as presented in the Tristia ex Melitogaudo, and thus explore interactions across the Mediterranean Sea. Our respondent will then discuss how maritime borders can represent possibilities for defence and exclusion, as well as a border permeable to trade and influence.