ABSTRACTS

PROGRAMME

GENDER AND CLASS IN BYZANTINE SOCIETY: XVITH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE

16-18 April 2010

University of New England

The conference was held in honour of Professor John Melville-Jones.

Plenary Speakers

Dr Tom Brown, Reader, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, The University of Edinburgh
Professor John Melville-Jones, Classics and Ancient History, University of Western Australia (full text of paper)

Gender and class were key social indicators in Byzantine society, as in many others. However, masculine and feminine roles were not always clearly defined, while eunuchs made up a 'third gender'. Social status was also in a state of flux, as much linked to patronage networks as to wealth, as the Empire came under a series of external and internal pressures. This fluidity applied in ecclesiastical as much as in secular spheres.

The Conference was held 16-18 April 2010 at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.

The Biennial General Meeting of the Association was held during the conference.

Conference convenor:
Associate Professor Lynda Garland
School of Humanities
University of New England
Armidale
New South Wales 2351
tel +61 2 6773 3236
fax +61 2 6773 3520
headshum@une.edu.au