Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies (University of Birmingham)

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies (University of Birmingham)
Name	Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies
Established	1976
Parent institution	University of Birmingham
Location	Birmingham, England

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies (University of Birmingham) is an academic unit within the University of Birmingham devoted to the study of Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek history, literature and culture. The Centre engages with scholarship on Constantinople, Istanbul, Athens and Thessaloniki and links comparative research on the Balkans, Anatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean. It hosts postgraduate training, scholarly events and archival work that intersect with studies on the Byzantine Empire, Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece.

History

The Centre was founded amid scholarly initiatives that included comparative projects on the Byzantine Empire, Ottoman Empire and Modern Greek state formation, influenced by figures connected to institutions such as the British School at Athens, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, and Dumbarton Oaks. Early staff were engaged with topics ranging from the Fourth Crusade, the Fall of Constantinople, the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca and the Greek War of Independence, and collaborated with archives like the Public Record Office, the Hellenic Parliament Library and the Süleymaniye Library. Over decades the Centre convened symposia on subjects including the Iconoclasm controversy, the Battle of Lepanto, the Tanzimat reforms, and the Balkan Wars, drawing on archival material from the Vatican Apostolic Library, the Ottoman Archives of the Prime Minister’s Office, the British Library and the National Library of Greece.

Academic Programs and Research

The Centre offers postgraduate supervision connected to degree programs at the University of Birmingham and modules that complement work on subjects such as Byzantine administration, Ottoman legal history, and Modern Greek literature. Students pursue theses on topics spanning the Komnenian restoration, the reign of Alexios I Komnenos, the rise of the Seljuks, the Siege of Constantinople (1453), the Treaty of Sèvres, the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey and the Asia Minor Catastrophe. Research themes include manuscript studies tied to the Codex Sinaiticus, palaeography linked to Mount Athos, epigraphy from Ephesus, numismatics associated with Byzantine coinage, and philological work on poets such as Dionysios Solomos and Constantine P. Cavafy. The Centre supports comparative projects that reference scholars and collections at institutions like the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery, the Hellenic Institute, and the Ottoman Bank Archives.

Faculty and Staff

Faculty associated with the Centre have included specialists in medieval history, Ottoman studies, Byzantine art history and Modern Greek studies who have links to universities and research institutes such as the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Princeton University, Columbia University, Harvard University, Leiden University, University of Vienna and the University of Thessaloniki. Staff expertise covers Byzantine hagiography, Ottoman archival practice, Modern Greek theatre, Byzantine liturgy, and Aegean archaeology; these areas engage with scholarship on persons and topics like Anna Komnene, Michael Psellos, Mehmed II, Suleiman the Magnificent, Rigas Feraios, Eleftherios Venizelos, Nikos Kazantzakis and Maria Callas. Visiting fellows and postdoctoral researchers have come from centres including Dumbarton Oaks, the Hellenic Centre, the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, the Institute for Advanced Study and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.

Publications and Projects

The Centre produces and contributes to monographs, edited volumes and journal articles on subjects related to Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek studies and collaborates with presses and journals such as Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Brill, Routledge, Byzantinische Zeitschrift, Journal of Hellenic Studies and Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. Major projects have included catalogues of manuscript collections, editions of primary texts concerning the Council of Florence, the Council of Ferrara–Florence, annotated translations of Ottoman imperial firmans, and digitisation initiatives for archival material from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Monastery of Saint Catherine and the Patriarchal Library of Alexandria. The Centre has organized conferences on topics such as Crusader states, the Reconquest of Constantinople, the Greek Revolution, and comparative studies of Islamicate law and Orthodox canon law.

Facilities and Collections

Located within the University of Birmingham campus, the Centre draws on the university’s Special Collections, which hold materials relevant to Hellenic studies, Ottoman history and Byzantine manuscripts, and cooperates with regional repositories including the Cadbury Research Library and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts. Collections consulted by staff and students include photographic archives of Constantinople/Istanbul topography, microfilm of Ottoman registers (tahrir defterleri), epistolary archives connected to Philhellenic movements, and catalogued holdings of icons, seals and inscriptions from sites such as Mystras, Pergamon, and Mount Athos. The Centre facilitates access to digital resources and databases including palaeographical corpora, coin databases for Byzantine follis and hyperpyron specimens, and GIS layers mapping Byzantine fortifications and Ottoman urban plans.

Collaborations and Partnerships

The Centre maintains partnerships with bodies including the British School at Athens, the Hellenic Institute, Dumbarton Oaks, the Institute for Balkan Studies, the Turkish Historical Society, the National Library of Greece, the Süleymaniye Library, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and the British Academy. Collaborative ventures feature joint research grants with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, exchange programmes with the University of Ioannina and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and project alliances with museums and archives such as the Benaki Museum, the Museum of Byzantine Culture, the Istanbul Archaeology Museums, and the Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum. These links support fieldwork, excavations at sites like Nicopolis and Philippi, manuscript conservation with the Vatican Library, and interdisciplinary seminars with centres such as the Centre d’études byzantines, néohelléniques et sud-est européennes and the École française d'Athènes.

Category:University of Birmingham