GRK 2304:  Byzantium and the Euro-Mediterranean Cultures of War. Exchange, Differentiation and Reception

• Subject Area: Ancient Cultures
• Term: since 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 316695450

The RTG 2304 “Byzantium and the Euro-Mediterranean Cultures of War. Exchange, Differentiation and Reception” is the only co-operative research project in Germany to examine the relevance of Byzantium for the history and culture of the Euro-Mediterranean in a systematical and interdisciplinary way, using cultures of war as its research topic. Cultures of war are especially characterized by processes of exchange, differentiation and reception, be it between Byzantium and Latin Europe, the Slavic world or the Near East. We define cultures of war as the norms, interpretations, and reflections concerning war as well as its forms and practices. The RTG stands out through the great number of its participating disciplines, which enable us to analyse cultures of war from antiquity to early Modern times. The inclusion of the history of Islam in the Eastern Mediterranean in the second funding period will broaden the scope even further. The RTG’s research programme is divided into four thematic areas (strategies of justification and legitimation, conceptualizations of persons and groups, rituals and cults, knowledge and infrastructure). Each of these areas possesses various thematic clusters that focus on narrower topics. In the second research period, we will strengthen the connections between the areas even further by introducing four cross-sectional topics (consequences of war, war and gender, war narratives, and interaction practices of war). The RTG’s education programme strives to train the graduate students to become specialists of their own fields, to teach them interdisciplinary skills and to offer them perspectives for work within and outside of academia. Our study programme offers a well-grounded methodical-theoretical as well as practical education both through indivual mentoring and through colloquia, workshops and conferences. The latter also provide many possibilities for national and international networking. For the second research period we have planned a modularisation of the programme, which allows for individual priorisations and encourages independent and pro-active research work. The RTG offers the graduate students an excellent and inspiring working environment, not least through its connection with the profile area “40.000 years of Human Challenges” at the JGU, and the Leibniz ScienceCampus Mainz/Frankfurt “Byzantium between Orient and Occident”. The RTG also has a strong cooperation with the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, which offers the graduates a seminar on public outreach as well as more general insights into work at a research museum. In the second research period, the RTG will also cooperate with the Academy for Science and Literature Mainz and its young academics programme, as well as the Martinus library.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
• Participating Institution: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz; Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg; Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA)
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Johannes Pahlitzsch
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr. Irene Dingel; Professorin Dr. Heide Frielinghaus; Professorin Dr. Heike Grieser; Dr. Barbara Henning; Professorin Dr. Marietta Horster; Professor Dr. Jan Kusber; Professor Dr. Ludger Körntgen; Professor Dr. Hans-Christian Maner; Professor Dr. Klaus Pietschmann; Professor Dr. Dieter Quast; Professor Dr. Jörg Rogge; Professorin Dr. Ute Verstegen