Author: JvW

The Western Empire in the 5th Century

At an online conference in Jena, ‘Das Weströmsiche Reich und seine Erforschung – neue Perspektiven’ (4-6 June 2021), Tabea Meurer specifically addressed Sidonius in connection with the development of the senatorial otium concept.

For a report of the conference see: Tagungsbericht: Das Weströmische Reich und seine Erforschung – neue Perspektiven, 04.06.2021 – 06.06.2021 digital (Jena), in: H-Soz-Kult, 28.06.2021.

Sidonius and the Other

Sidonius is thematized in two upcoming papers at the conference ‘Othering and the Other. Performing Identity in the Roman Empire’ (Universities of Coimbra and Évora) on 13 July, 15:15 – 16:45 (Lisbon-London time):

Pavle Pavlović (Singidunum University of Belgrado), The barbarian ‘Other’ and Sidonius’ ‘language of paradox’

Filomena Giannotti (University of Siena), News from a mundus senescens: Romans, Visigoths and Saxons in a letter by Sidonius Apollinaris (viii 6).

Register here (also links to the conference programme and the booklet of abstracts).

Rush: Landscapes Along the 5th-C. Rhône

Richard Rush is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Riverside (United States of America). In his dissertation, “Landscapes along the Fifth-Century Rhône,” he argues that the literary use of a landscape cannot be separated from the author’s experience of that landscape. Richard uses Latin authors who lived along the Rhône during the long fifth century to explore how reading their texts in conjunction with an analysis of the landscapes evoked therein can deepen our understanding of the authors’ lived experiences. This dissertation requires close engagement with both the literary works of fifth-century Gallic authors and what remains of the fifth-century landscape.
While in Lyon, Richard will analyze the local geography’s relationship to the works of Sidonius Apollinaris, Avitus of Vienne, and the “Life of Apollinaris of Valence,” as well as the fifth-century archeology of Lyon and its environs.

He currently is a HiSoMA bursary in Lyon, as part of the project Lugdunum dans l’empire de Rome. See also paper IMC Leeds.