SYMPOSIUM November 10th - November 11th
organized together with the Varangian Network, University of Aarhus, Denmark, and the
Nordic Centre for Medieval Studies
Søren Sindbæk & John Lind Vassily Christides & Elena Melnikova
Transferable cosmologies – cultural exchange between the Baltic and the Black Sea
This seminar considers the content and consequences of cultural exchange within the study-area. While cultural communication is only sometimes apparent in language and material culture, it is strikingly evident in the sphere of cult and mythology. From the adoption of enclosed ritual buildings in late antiquity to the exchange of pagan myths and cosmological thoughts, and to the adoption of Christianity in the 10th century, Slavic and Scandinavian developments often moved in close concert. What form of communication do similarities as these express, and how can a comparative study contribute to an improved understanding?
Programme for the seminar
Monday 10th November
10.00-10.15: Welcome.
Kurt Villads Jensen, Director of Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Southern Denmark
10.15-10.30: Introduction
Søren Sindbæk, University of Aarhus, Denmark, John Lind, University of Southern Denmark and Line Bjerg, University of Aarhus, Denmark
10.30-11.30: Darkness in the East? Scandinavian Scholars and the Question of Eastern Influence
John Lind, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Southern Denmark.
11.30-11.40: Break
11.40-12.40 The cult of St Nicholas across the Early Christian North (c.1000-1150)
Ildar Garipzanov, Centre for Medieval Studies. University of Bergen, Norway
12.40-13.40: Lunch
13.40-14.40: Kalkmalerier og byzantinske motiver: Sønder Jernløse og Vä Kirker (Danish Frescoes and Byzantine motives: Sønder Jernløse and Vä Churches. In Danish with English summaries)
Ulla Haastrup, The Nationalmuseum, Copenhagen, Denmark
14.40-15.40: The Mental Map of the Compiler of the Russian Primary Chronicle
Elena Mel’nikova, Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
15.40-16.20: Coffee
16.20-17.20: Wulfila's Alphabet in the Light of Neighbouring Scripts
Antoaneta Granberg, Institute of Slavonic Languages, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
17.20-17.50: Book-launch: “Regionalitet i Danmark i vikingetid og middelalder” (Hikuin
vol. 35)
Tuesday 11th November
9.30-10.30: Round table discussion for the participants in the Varangian network
10.30-11.30 Culture in the source region of Düna/Dvina/Daugava and Dnjepr before Gnezdovo
Johan Callmer, University of Lund, Sweden
11.30-12.30: Viking warriors in the Byzantine Empire – was there a transfer of seafaring know-
how?
Ole Crumlin-Pedersen, Viking Ship Museum, Roskilde, Denmark
12.30-13.40: Lunch
13.40-14.40: Finds of Byzantine Origin from the Early Urban Centre Gnezdovo in the Light of the Contacts between Rus and Constantinople (10th - early 11th centuries).
Natalia Eniosova, Department of Archaeology, Moscow State University, Russia
14.40-15.10: Coffee
15.10-16.10 The Attitude of the Byzantines towards foreign
nations: Varangian Soldiers and Heroes in the Byzantine Sources
Vassily Christiades, Institute of Graeco-Oriental and African Studies, Greece
16.10-17.00 General discussion