So EB players and team members , where do you go to school or what is your degree?

[Long lost Caesar]

just to be completely awkward and ruin this college reunion...i go to a shitty secondary school in reading (pronounced "redding", not like looking at words :P) its a large town in southern england, which SHOULD be a city but some reason we're not. anyway, i go to bulmershe, a shithole. chavs EVERYWHERE! hoping to run away once i finish sixth form and uni...maybe go to america...

[russia almighty]

A lot of history people .


Anyone here in med school , in a pre-med program or even in the internship?

[Landwalker]

What period/focus are you thinking of for your Ph.D? I'm curious, as I have a deep interest in Byzantium too:-)

Though if you do go to Harvard, we must get together and share a few drinks and discuss Byzantine History; Holy Cross Hellenic is not terribly far away, after all.

Absolutely. Always glad to commiserate with a fellow Byzantinist.

Indeed:-)
Might not hurt you to get that double major. Unless you think it'll affect your GPA....

Out of curiosity, how did you get into Byzantine studies?

Unfortunately, the one class I'm short is the "Classics Major Senior Seminar" course that majors are required to take... the fall of their senior year. I wasn't able to fit it into my schedule (and, on top of that, didn't realize it until several weeks into the semester), so I'll have to settle for a History major, concentrating on Medieval Studies, with a whole heck of a lot of classics courses.

Of course, to make up for it, I am writing an honors thesis for my History degree. My thesis is about the imperial ideology of the Emperor Justinian, and in particular how it related to / affected his domestic policies and especially his decisions to launch campaigns of reconquest in Africa and Italy in the first half of the sixth century. Despite that, in graduate school I would like to focus on Byzantine history during the age of the crusades, particularly from the mid-11th century (pre-Battle of Manzikert) until 1204 (the sack of Constantinople courtesy of a misguided Fourth Crusade), and potentially beyond into the period of the Latin kingdom. Any particular period of focus for yourself?

I'm not really sure how I got into Byzantine history... my college doesn't offer any classes on it, but it seems to "pop up" in a lot of the medieval history courses (like courses on the Vikings, the Christianization of Europe, the First Crusade, and so forth). Given that it seemed to be such a constant peripheral player, I ended up writing several research papers on its influence and experience, and just got drawn in. Part of it is the mystique of "continuing" the old Roman Empire, part of it is straddling the boundaries between the West and the East, and part of it is interest in what has seemingly, at least in America, been cast to the fringes of history despite its substantial importance.

Cheers.

[Mithradates VI]

Absolutely. Always glad to commiserate with a fellow Byzantinist.



Unfortunately, the one class I'm short is the "Classics Major Senior Seminar" course that majors are required to take... the fall of their senior year. I wasn't able to fit it into my schedule (and, on top of that, didn't realize it until several weeks into the semester), so I'll have to settle for a History major, concentrating on Medieval Studies, with a whole heck of a lot of classics courses.

Of course, to make up for it, I am writing an honors thesis for my History degree. My thesis is about the imperial ideology of the Emperor Justinian, and in particular how it related to / affected his domestic policies and especially his decisions to launch campaigns of reconquest in Africa and Italy in the first half of the sixth century. Despite that, in graduate school I would like to focus on Byzantine history during the age of the crusades, particularly from the mid-11th century (pre-Battle of Manzikert) until 1204 (the sack of Constantinople courtesy of a misguided Fourth Crusade), and potentially beyond into the period of the Latin kingdom. Any particular period of focus for yourself?

I'm not really sure how I got into Byzantine history... my college doesn't offer any classes on it, but it seems to "pop up" in a lot of the medieval history courses (like courses on the Vikings, the Christianization of Europe, the First Crusade, and so forth). Given that it seemed to be such a constant peripheral player, I ended up writing several research papers on its influence and experience, and just got drawn in. Part of it is the mystique of "continuing" the old Roman Empire, part of it is straddling the boundaries between the West and the East, and part of it is interest in what has seemingly, at least in America, been cast to the fringes of history despite its substantial importance.

Cheers.

That sounds absolutely fascinating. I'd love to read it when you're done with it. No, seriously. As for myself, I've dabbled through a lot, but there are three main periods that interest me: the Heraklian Dynasty (especially involving Justinian II...what a character), the Late Macedonian Dynasty, the Comnenoi "restoration" and the resulting chaos that was the Angeloi...(which really, is the only kind word I can ascribe to them, everything else usually involves massive amounts of cursing. I've written a few papers on it (usually the Comnenoi, I have a particular fondness for Alexios and Manuel, though my favorite Byz emperor has to be Justinian II. Any guy who comes back sans a nose and retakes his throne totally gets kudos from me).

Heh. There's been a few times where I've actually had to force some college professors here to see just how important Byzantium really was, in sparing Europe from most Islamic invasions (Charles Martel did the rest, on the other side), as well as the really surprising and instrumental role it had in the Renaissance in Italy. I'm known in the history department here as "That Byzantinist Guy" But suffice it to say...I'm rather ticked it gets the short thrift of the history stick, as it were, here. I never even HEARD of Byzantium, except by accident, in High school (and mostly because I picked up a historical fiction novel about it, and curiosity was unleashed). It only was really mentioned (and lightly at most times, though we did have a solid Byzantine History class, which was pretty nifty:-D)

And indeed, cheers.

[Landwalker]

Ah, yes, I'm a big fan of the Komnenoi (I wrote a 25-page paper last year on Byzantine perceptions and attitudes towards the First Crusade, so I got to hang out a lot with Anna and Alexios). I'm actually hoping to do a lot of work in graduate school on Byzantium during the age of the crusades (up through the 1204 debacle), so I'll get to spend even more time with them if that works out. Admittedly, I also feel a bit of sympathy for Romanos Diogenes, the poor guy--gets creamed at Manzikert, then manages to get back to Constantinople after being captured only to be deposed and blinded.

Believe me, I know how difficult it is to be a Byzantinist in America. Since my college is very small (only about 2,100 undergrads), the history department only has one medieval historian. As fantastic as he is, he specializes in Carolingian history and, by this point, is less familiar with Byzantine history (or at least with the period of Justinian I) than I am. I've even had directors of graduate programs (like Tom Noble at Notre Dame's medieval institute) warn me of the potential perils of being a Byzantine scholar in the United States: Namely, that the U.S. doesn't give a hoot, and I might never find a job. Byzantine studies really does get the short end of the stick here in America--maybe a passing mention in a couple of history courses, if you're lucky. I'm really hoping I can contribute to bringing it out from its current location in American academia--as my professor/advisor called it, "the fringes of the fringes". Of course, I've got to at least "market" myself in such a way that I can get a job after graduate school, first, so I may end up at least nominally claiming to be focusing on "Mediterranean history/studies", which is apparently very popular now-a-days. But we all know what'll happen once I finally get a college/university to accept me onto the faculty...

Cheers.