PENELOPE: UNWEAVING PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN THREADS

Marriage and family was the cornerstone of ancient Roman society. Despite having no political power, a woman played a vital role within the household and her 'virtue' was reflected in her husband's advancement in the social hierarchy. Christianity undermined this system with its celebration of celibacy and virginity. In the fourth century, threads from both ideologies were apparent in texts. 'Novels' emphasised the importance of marital concord for the maintenance of society while Christian writers extolled sexual continence as the most important pathway to personal salvation. These latter writings would influence views on marriage and women for centuries to come. The figure of Penelope, however, was an element used by writers on both sides of the debate, representing the ideal of marital concord as well as chaste fidelity. This paper will demonstrate how Penelope was used by both pagan and Christian sources in the fourth century and thus perpetuated the ideal of the married woman within a society less accommodating to the ideal of marriage.

DRESSED TO KILL: FINERY AND VIOLENCE IN THE ICELANDIC SAGAS

The Sagas of Icelanders are narratives of feuds within a society that lacked other mechanisms for regulating behaviour and redressing grievances. Despite their apparent violence, feuds are structured and controlled through a variety of processes. One example of the social regulation of feuding may be the apparent requirement for killers to be dressed in their best when they set forth to carry out a revenge killing. While saga narratives are usually unadorned with personal descriptions, at critical points in feud detailed descriptions of clothing are provided, usually when someone is about to kill or be killed. In this paper I argue that the insertion of this sartorial information is a means of demonstrating that the proprieties of feud are being observed as it displays the high status and social visibility of the participants.

JAINA RITUALS AND CUSTOMS IN PADMAPURANA

Early Medieval Indian history is full of socio-cultural, economic, political and religious dynamism. Ramayana is a depository of the tradition of India and has literary variations in terms of language, region, political context and religious affiliation. Jaina literary tradition has enriched Indian culture over the centuries. We have several Jaina Ramayanas written in different languages from ancient times. Padmapurana was written by Ravisena in Sanskrit in CE 678 and consists of 123 Parvans (Cantos) and 18,000 Slokas. His work is the first in Sanskrit as far as Jaina story-literature is concerned. Jaina Ramayanas throw light on various aspects, such as rituals and customs which form the theme of this paper, apart from political, social and religious aspects of early medieval India. Interestingly, the Jaina Ramayanas in general can be seen as an attempt at popularizing Jaina religion by using well established epic story and in the process Jainising the account, characters and places. Thus it is in this process lies the key to their religious rituals and customs.

HOT-HOUSING WONDER: THE PLAY OF MEANINGS IN THE SECOND EXETER BOOK ADVENT LYRIC

The Advent Lyrics hold pride of place in the Exeter Book, the first items in an anthology that comprises every known genre of Old English poetry. Though we will never know the exact reason they open the collection (chance? their length? their devotional verve? their quality as poems?), we can at least assume they were highly regarded by the compiler. With that likelihood in mind, I would like to present a close reading of the second Advent Lyric, with particular emphasis on its ecstatic vision of Christ's advent as a moment of transformation that illuminates scriptural prophecies whose true import had lain dormant until that point in time when, in the poem's striking vegetative imagery, Christ's advent caused them to burst into full flower. The poet's exuberant balancing of a number of contrasting imageries - dark and light, imprisonment and liberation, concealment and revelation - make this poem not only an eloquent expression of orthodox doctrine but also a bravura demonstration of the visionary reach of vernacular poetry in the Anglo-Saxon milieu.

INNOCENT I AND THE SUBURBICARIAN CHURCHES: THE LETTER TO FLORENTINUS OF TIVOLI

Sometime during his episcopate in the first two decades of the fifth century Innocent I, bishop of Rome, wrote to a neighbouring bishop after having heard a complaint from another neighbouring bishop about alleged infringements of episcopal rights. While Innocent's response (Epistula 40) is couched in the language of fraternal advice (conuenit) that he used in most of his correspondence, it differs from many of his other letters in that he would hear any appeal about the matter himself. This paper investigates the evidence of this letter in comparison with what is found in other correspondence from the Roman bishop to other parts of the Roman world in order to reveal that Innocent's authority was greatest over the bishop of suburbicarian Italy, that area over which Innocent acted as metropolitan. It shall be argued that the complaining bishop wrote to Innocent, not because the latter was head of the church but because he was the local metropolitan, and that the arrangement we can see in this letter should not be taken as indicative of Rome's relationship with other churches outside suburbicarian Italy.

THE WARRIOR SAINTS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE ANTIQUE AND CHRISTIAN WORLD

The paper intends to illuminate phenomenon of the Warrior Saints against the background of ideological transmission from antique to Christian thought. Roman legionnaires, who were obliged to defend Rome in its desperate fighting against the new ideology, Christianity, following the Apostles became propagators and Martyrs for Christian faith. Consequently, the Warrior Saints (St George, St Demetrius, St Theodore and many others) gained worldwide popularity that is attested by the huge number of icons and hagiographical texts dedicated to them. I argue that reasons for these processes should be found in ideological crises in the Roman Empire reflected among militaries. Greek ideology of death from Archaic to Hellenistic time represents heroes, who approach self-perfection in a battle, where a man could show his courage, chivalry and supremacy. As a result they are rewarded with everlasting glory that overcomes the death. By contrast, in the late Roman Empire the attitude was more nihilistic: everlasting remembrance is ephemeral, after-fame is utter vanity. Such spirit is dominated in the 'Meditations' of the great Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius whose reign is marked as 'the end of antique world'. On the other hand, spiritual salvation, victory of the soul over the body performed by repeating the martyrous death of Christ suggested the way to get out of that nihilism. From the Christian point of view death is a relief, liberation of the soul from the fetters of the flesh, transition into the next reality. A martyr's death is usually described as a significant and solemn act in hagiographic texts. Thus the sainthood replaced the heroism. To conclude, martyrdoms of the Warrior Saints not just chronologically coincide with the transitional period of paganism to Christianity, but also they (Warrior Saints) represent an essence of transmitting from antique to Christian mentality by displaying priority of spiritual weapons over physical ones.

JULIANNA GRIGG
University of Melbourne

MAINTAINING THE COSMOS: THE EARLY IRISH NEMED AND CIVIL ORDER

Early Irish legal and status tracts provide evidence for the conceptualisation of a layered and interconnected society whose members performed, created and maintained cosmographical order. One of the most important social categories was that of the 'Nemed', variously translated as sacred or privileged. An important Old Irish status tract, Uraicecht Becc, declared that 'truth and right are founded on the nemed', a significant statement as 'truth and right' formed the basis for all contractual arrangements and relationships. Members of this order were granted specific legal immunities and protections, particularly in making contracts, receiving hospitality and sick maintenance. Not only were kings, nobles and clerics categorised as Nemed, but this order also included bards, poets, legal experts and artisans of every description. The inclusive nature of this category, from king to the lowly carver of bone, has mystified some commentators who have suggested this curiosity as a pagan-survival. This paper will discuss the significance of this social category in relation to their performative social functions to understand why they were designated Nemed and why the category included both 'free' and 'un-free' members.

GATHERING THE THREADS OF HOLY AND JUST WAR: THE CONQUEST OF POMERANIA

In the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries the Christian rulers of Poland attempted to incorporate the territories of pagan Pomerania into their realm. The borderlands between the Polish province of Great Poland and Pomerania acquired the character of a frontier as the twelfth century progressed and as the Poles pushed for settlement of more land and favourable trading conditions. These borderlands become a boundary between 'civilised' Christendom and 'barbarian' paganism and, in political terms, between the centrally administered Polish state and decentralised tribal Pomerania. At first the efforts of the Polish dynasts were only partially successful and the Pomeranians were not subjugated. However, within a decade of the First Crusade and in a series of missionary military campaigns the Polish ruler Boleslaw III broke the resistance of the pagans and heralded the victory of the Cross on the shores of the Baltic. This paper will explore the accounts of the conquest of Pomerania from the early twelfth-century narrative source the Gesta principum Polonorum of the Anonymus known as Gallus. The Gesta narrates the events of the conquest and justifies it in the terms of the Augustinian qualifications for just war. It contains a striking early example of the transfer of crusading ideology and imagery used by historians of the First Crusade to North Central Europe and conceptualisation of the pagans as the enemies of Christianity.

HANGING BY A THREAD: JUDAS' SUICIDE IN EARLY MEDIEVAL ART

While suicide was at times respected or admired in the ancient world, hanging as a method of voluntary death was generally reviled. Evidence suggests it was frequent among the Greeks and Romans, yet it was associated with the poor, and particularly women. It was thus maligned as a choice of death and the associated shame might account for the rarity of extant pictorial references to it in Greco-Roman art. The iconographic lineage of the image of Judas Iscariot hanging himself is therefore difficult to trace.

Both accounts of Judas' death in the New Testament, in Matthew and Acts, differ as to how he died but agree in suggesting that as a traitor he met a bad end. While in later medieval art the two literary traditions are often merged to form a single narrative type, the earliest surviving visual references to Judas' death directly and consistently favour the Matthean version, recalling the death of the Old Testament traitor Achitophel who hanged himself. As a subject for depiction, Judas' hanging appears relatively late in the development of Christian art and after its introduction in the fourth century was swiftly instated as a powerful pictorial trope of betrayal in medieval visual culture. As it thus appears across the medieval period, the iconography has been interpreted largely on the basis of post-Augustinian polemics which condemn voluntary death per se and see Judas as having increased rather than atoned for guilt by killing himself.

Focusing on the earliest pictorial evidence for the representation of Judas hanging himself, this paper will submit that recognition of and closer attention to the early Christian visual tradition reveals the way in which such an interpretation is misplaced for images produced before the fifth century at least. Prior to this date, the image appears to have stood as motif not of sin and betrayal, but of remorse. In exploring this point, the diversity of the iconography's visual and literary heritage will be examined. Various social, legal, theological and artistic influences will be seen to have interacted to prompt the birth of an underestimated image in early Christianity and so it will be argued that a richer understanding of the iconography in its formative pictorial contexts yields important insights into the reading of a powerful symbol both of remorse and betrayal in medieval art and culture.

MANICHAEISM AND SPACE IN THE CODEX JUSTINIANUS

Although Mani considered his religion to be a revealed one, preaching his message to the world at large, the figure of the Manichaean is one that is shrouded in ambiguity. Referred to as 'the most vile of all heresies' in the Codex Justinianus, Manichaeism was consistently and harshly legislated against in the early Byzantine empire. However, the existing laws were convoluted and sporadically enforced and any heterodox movement risked having the label 'Manichaean' applied to them, regardless of their actual beliefs. Nevertheless, several clear themes emerge from the confusion. This paper is based on my Masters research into the relationship between anti-Manichaean legislation and the construction of space in early Byzantium, in the light of Book I.V of the Codex Justinianus. It will focus specifically on how legislation on Manichaean property, conversion and magic construct an image of Christian space through exclusion, with the ill-defined figure of the Manichaean serving as a representative figure for any undesirable elements. The undesirable elements, unwelcome in Christian space for differing reasons, ranged from actual Manichaeans and other heretics to magicians, to outsiders from Persia - the country Manichaeism was perceived to have arisen from. I shall also explore how the punishments most frequently prescribed for Manichaeans - exile and death - also contribute to an understanding of the underlying preoccupations with space, its violation and perceptions of its holiness in a Christian empire.

WEAVING A CONTEXT FOR THE ECCLESIA MATER MOSAIC

Current opinion holds that early Christian funerary mosaics originated from an African tradition of realistic representation and a shared Roman predilection for mosaic pavements. The Ecclesia mater mosaic, located in Thabarca's Chapel of Martyrs, is a unique tomb marker, devoid of more familiar early Christian symbolism. Its schematic rendering of architecture is treated in multiple and simultaneous points of view and was at first thought to represent the basilica in which it was found. While the epitaph (ECCLESIA MATER VALENTIA IN PACAE [sic]) has led some scholars to an allegorical reading, the image itself has proven more difficult to interpret. Theories about the mosaic establish comparisons with a very narrow body of early Christian art and assert the interplay between the physical and the metaphorical conceptions of the church in the epitaph.

The artist or patron made specific choices in selecting this image and this paper will demonstrate that such treatment of architecture was not uncommon in a funerary context. In addition, the absence of a picture of the deceased and the wording in the epitaph leads to a possible redefinition of sacred space and allows a glimpse into the impact of such an image. Broadening the search for comparanda, I will apply John Clark's (2006) approach to Roman art, a holistic methodology that re-places artefacts in a wider artistic and archaeological context.

THE DIALOGUES OF POPE GREGORY THE GREAT

In recent years, Francis Clark has produced two long books and several lengthy articles to prove (in his mind at any rate) that Pope Gregory the Great did not ruin his reputation as a serious scholar and theologian by composing the all too popular Dialogues. Although Gregory is still accepted as their author by most Catholic scholars, Clark has persuaded most Protestant and even some Benedictine scholars to accept his thesis. In this paper I shall closely examine key evidence in the Pope's letters (especially letter 3.50) and in the Dialogues to show that Clark has totally misjudged the character of Pope Gregory and has erected a house of cards on a very flimsy basis. I shall show how the Pope shared a fondness for miracles with Maximian, the Archbishop of Syracuse and Vicar of Sicily, to whom he sent letter 3.50. My translation of this key letter will be circulated before I examine it in detail.

GONE FISHIN', GOIN' BIRDIN': LOANWORDS, FOOD, TRADE AND THE ECONOMY IN VIKING-AGE IRELAND, SCOTLAND AND THE HEBRIDES

The social fabric of Ireland, Scotland, the Hebrides and the Isle of Man following the arrival and settlement of the Vikings was fundamentally changed from the pre-Viking period. The interaction between these different language speakers was, in part, driven by economic necessity. Irish and Scots Gaelic words that derive from Old Norse are an important, if occasionally misunderstood, source of information about Scandinavians in the Celtic West and the mixing of these two language groups. This paper reports on PhD research that has explored the extent to which Old Norse loanwords can be used to hypothesise the culture and society in the Celtic West under Scandinavian influence and brings forward a number of conclusions that are available around who was doing what, based on loanword evidence. The paper will focus on loanwords that are concerned with the semantic fields of fishing and fowling, proposing an important role for Scandinavians in establishing associated economic and cultural practices.

WARRIORS AND WOMEN: THE SEX RATIO OF EARLY NORSE MIGRANTS TO ENGLAND

There is often an underlying assumption in scholarship that few Norse women migrated to England. This is understandable as all of the traditional forms of evidence seem to point in that direction: Norse women are rarely mentioned in the written sources, there are more male Norse place-names than female, as well as more male Norse personal names and name forms than female, and DNA samples of the modern English population are also suggestive of a higher number of male than female migrants. Furthermore, sexing probable Norse burials by grave-goods supports this interpretation. The opinion may in part also be based on preconceptions on the make-up of Viking armies, as the earliest Norse migrants to England arrived as part of conquering forces. Yet all of this evidence is circumstantial and open to criticism, perhaps accounting for the reluctance of modern scholars to comment upon the likely male-female sex ratio of the migrants. However, there is a way of obtaining data which is likely to be much more accurate than those used previously: by finding burials that are most certainly Norse and have also been sexed osteologically. Although a small sample of only thirteen burials, it provides very different results for the ratio of male to females Norse migrants. Indeed, it suggests that female migration may have been as significant as male, and that Norse women were in England from the earliest stages of the migration, including during the campaigning period.

WEAVING WORDS: LAW AND PERFORMANCE IN EARLY GERMANIC TRADITION

The reference to málrúnar or 'speech runes' in Sigrdrífumál suggests a performative aspect to the practice of early Germanic law that transcends the swearing of oaths and the reciting of law codes attested to by literary sources. Indeed early runic texts often feature alliteration, much as do the old Scandinavian legal tracts. This parallelism suggests that early Northern legal language was not stylised merely for mnemonic purposes, but instead reflects an oral-performative praxis similar to that which appears to be reflected in early Irish sources. But the relationship between performance and memorisation has not always been demarcated clearly in recent scholarship. Oral-performative theory is often called upon today without reference to explanations of social action. The privileging of generative performance over pre-literate memory culture seems to represent only an awkward victory of the medievalistic 'anthropological turn' over other key expressions of socio-cultural theory.

MYTHS OF THE CLOISTER: GREGORY THE GREAT, PLAINCHANT AND THE BENEDICTINE IMPRINT ON EARLY MEDIEVAL SOCIETY

This paper explores two influential images of Gregory the Great widely influential in the medieval world and beyond: that this famous pope was the inspiration for 'Gregorian plainchant' and that he propagated the Benedictine Order throughout Europe. It considers what the debate provoked by Francis Clark's hypotheses about the Gregorian Dialogues may contribute to our understanding of the slow process by which the Rule of Benedict became known in the sixth and seventh centuries, whether or not his hypotheses are correct. It explores what connection there may be between the image of Gregory as the Pope who authorized the Rule of Benedict with the image of Gregory as the inspired authority behind the composition of Gregorian chant.

FROM THE EGYPTIAN DESERT TO THE MEDIEVAL CLOISTER: HOW THE 'NOONDAY DEMON' OF AKEDIA BECAME THE 'DEADLY SIN' OF SLOTH

Evagrius of Pontus (c 345-c 399 CE) was perhaps the first great systematiser of early Christian monastic life. Evagrius taught that the monk's primary battle was that fought against eight generic thoughts, each of which could be placed in the mind of a monk by a demon specifically associated with that thought. These eight generic thoughts were gastrimargia (gluttony), porneia (fornication), philargyria (love of money, avarice or greed), lupe (sadness), orge (anger), akedia (listlessness), kenodoxia (vainglory) and hyperephania (pride).

John Cassian (c 360-c 435 CE), a student of Evagrius Ponticus in late fourth-century Egypt, introduced this Egyptian form of monastic life to Western Europe through the establishment of the monastery of St Victor near modern-day Marseilles, as well as through his books -The Institutes of the Cenobia and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Vices and The Conferences. These books exerted a profound influence upon the development of Western monasticism, especially through the contribution of St Benedict the Great (480-547 CE), who recommended the public reading of Cassian's writings in his own monastic communities.

In keeping with the conference's theme of "Gathering the Threads: Weaving the Early Medieval World", I would like to trace the development of the eight generic thoughts of Evagrius into the seven deadly sins of Pope Gregory the Great (c 540-604 CE) and to examine the transformation of the 'noonday demon' of akedia (listlessness) into the 'deadly sin' of socordia (sloth).

BYZANTINE SEALS UNEARTHED BY THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT THE YENI MOSQUE

The Kadi Mahmud Chelebi or the Yeni (New) mosque in Bitola was built in 1553/1554 (or year 961 after Hijra). According to a local legend the mosque was erected on the site where once the church of St George existed. Prior to 2003 the project named 'The Location of Medieval Bitola' started with the archeological excavation in the interior of the Yeni mosque. The excavations were continued in 2004-8, when the foundations of a basilica were uncovered, with the apse on the eastern section. Several objects were unearthed as well; such were: a double sided pectoral medallion dated in the eleventh century, two silver rings, two eleventh-century lead seals, one with the bust of St George and the second one depicting the Holy Virgin and infant Jesus. The recent archaeological research unveiled foundations of Christian edifices dating between the seventh and fourteenth centuries, as well as the foundation of an older mosque. It is worth noting the orientation of the Yeni mosque, the mihrab of which is towards the south and the direction of the basilica, the apse of which is eastward and creates an angle of 45 degrees. Two Byzantine lead seals discovered during the archaeological excavations in the prayer hall of the Yeni mosque in 2008 provide an insight into the period of eleventh- and twelfth-century Byzantine provincial administration at the Bishopric and medieval settlement of Bitola.

THE SHIFTING TERRAIN: ITALY AND GERMANY DANCING TO THEIR OWN TAPESTRY

Adelheid, empress of Germany in the late tenth century, owned more lands than her husband the emperor. She had inherited them from her father, Rudolf, king of Burgundy and Italy and from her first husband, Lothar, king of Italy. The possession of these lands was arguably the most important source of power in the tenth century although seldom discussed in current historical studies. In 952, Adelheid brought the kingdom of Italy to her second marriage with Otto (then the leading Saxon man) and emperor of Germany to be. The sophisticated Italian court culture met the vibrant Germanic 'new culture' and both were enriched. Adelheid continued to rule her lands during her marriage to him and after his death. As land was a source of power, she wielded considerable authority in her own right.

This paper seeks to understand the sources of the ownership of the land and how effectively Adelheid used it as a tool of rulership blending two cultures - the one into which she was born and the other into which she married.

FROM PATCHWORK TO TAPESTRY: METHODOLOGIES AND MATERIALS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE EARLY MEDIEVAL

This paper visits theories, methodologies and source materials from sociology, archaeology, literature and law to discuss ways of understanding the transformation of the early medieval social fabric from a patchwork of subsistence groups to a tapestry of specialised individuals and classes. The paper focuses on the Gaelic and Anglo-Saxon areas of the British Isles to enquire into the nature of the complex developments that took place across early medieval societies. In Gaelic Scotland and Ireland, the opening of the fifth century, where society was made up of undifferentiated petty kingdoms with little or no economic specialisation, can be contrasted with say the ninth century, where largely centralised control of the means of production, complex political systems and self-conscious legal systems had become the norm. In England, a similar contrast can be drawn between the earlier years of Anglo-Saxon settlement, characterised by small self-contained social units, and the time of Aethelstan (putative first king of England) with its codified laws, national political organisation and monetary currency. This paper will seek to demonstrate ways in which an understanding of the causal dynamics of social development in the intervening centuries can be advanced using interdisciplinary perspectives.

JOHN CASSIAN AS CONDUIT AND FILTER

John Cassian interwove the spiritual threads of Eastern and Western spirituality at the time when they were pulling apart. Cassian's transition of monastic custom provides us with a unique perspective on how Christian practices were transmitted between different cultural landscapes in a late antique environment rife with theological turmoil. In Cassian's Conferences we are able to discern how various practical and theological concerns coalesced and competed.

Cassian's practical approach has been noted by many historians in regards to the specifics of his instructions. However, such pragmatic sensitivities have been overlooked when considering Cassian's formula as a whole. Along with this we have also neglected the importance of Cassian's experiences in the East because the details remain obscure. This paper will address these deficiencies and show that Cassian's rational and experienced approach brings together two previously mutually exclusive and indeed seemingly oppositional goals: he retains the special status of the monk while integrating the monastery into the established church and wider Christian community.

Cassian's handling of the Origenist Controversy and the tensions between bishop and monastery led him to create a defined role for the monk that satisfied the Evagrian tradition whilst promoting unity within the community from which it sought to retain distance. In Cassian the complex tapestry of Christian community found a masterful weaver.

A WELL-SPOILED CITY: SPOLIA IN THE REIMAGINING OF FOURTH-CENTURY CHRISTIAN ROME

John Curran's influential study, Pagan City and Christian Capital, proposed a new means by which the urban topography of fourth-century Rome could be understood as other than the product of cautious, imperial concessions to the non-Christian past. Previously, scholars had held that Constantinian Christian Rome was unavoidably shaped by that emperor's desire to avoid confrontation with the city's pagan heart: thus, Constantine's great ecclesiastical buildings ringed the city, but never impinged upon its thoroughly non-Christian centre. Curran suggested that the previous scholarship had erred in its fascination with what Constantine ought to have done, that is, in proposing a prescriptive understanding of the topography of Constantinian Rome.

This paper extends Curran's argument and seeks to locate the shape of Constantine's Rome in the context of imperial patronage and Christian triumphalism. It will be argued that as early as Constantine's reign, the idea of 'Christian Rome' was far from an apologetic construction dwelling solely outside the city walls, but was a viral awareness actively displacing and appropriating the city's non-Christian past. The key evidence for this argument lies in the cultic landscape of the Constantinian city's tituli and the transformation of household religion into a universalising confession of public witness. The concept of spolia (reused materials) is expanded to include the entirety of non-Christian Rome as a source of material for the reimagining of the city as Curran's 'Christian capital'. This paper will seek to demonstrate that the processes summarily referred to as 'Christianisation' actually incorporate a decidedly syncretistic attitude to notions of the 'orthodox' and the 'ecumenical'.

'PLACE IS A BOUNDARY OUTSIDE THE UNIVERSE': ERIUGENA ON LOCUS

This paper draws attention to the unusual conceptualisation of locus (place) as 'a boundary outside the universe' proposed by the ninth-century Irish philosopher-poet Eriugena in his Periphyseon (c 864) and argues that such a conceptualisation was present in Irish writings more than two hundred years earlier. That is, it had its origins in Ireland, albeit those origins were greatly influenced by Patristic writings. Like most Irish writers, Eriugena had a preoccupation with cosmological order (or what he called Natura). Humankind's position in that order and how they could return back to God through contemplation of Nature was the axis around which the Periphyseon was crafted. As such, he developed a highly original thesis on how that could occur which was tied to his version of Maximus the Confessor's doctrine of theophany: the appearance of God in 'everything that is understood and sensed'. Eriugena's conceptualisation of 'place' was an absolutely central component of that thesis. This paper considers the Patristic materials he had direct access to and weighs them against Irish materials, using Adomnán's De locis sanctis and the metrical Dindsenchas to argue that his conceptualisation was already part of early medieval Irish thought. From this, it will become obvious that 'place' in early medieval Irish writings and Eriugena was an object of thought rather than an object of sense - defined in terms of Eriugena's contemplative conceptualisation to be considered - and as a mnemonic device or ordering principle.

GATHERING THE THREADS FROM PYTHAGORAS TO GUIDO: A TAXONOMY OF MUSICA

The central text for the study of the quadrivial discipline called musica in the early middle ages was Boethius's De institutione musica. Using this text as a starting point and looking backwards and forwards from the early 6th century covering a time span from the early Greek musical theorists, including Pythagoras and Aristoxenus to the early eleventh-century Guido of Arezzo, the aim will be to gather up the threads of ongoing influence. Throughout the modern study of /musica/ these threads are often articulated as opposing antagonists as in for example /musicus/ versus cantor, /musica theorica/ versus /musica practica/ and speculation versus demonstration. The examination of these oppositions provides illuminating insights into the taxonomy of a music theory which connects the ancient world with that of the early middle ages.

WEAVING IDENTITY: THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF BURIAL PRACTICES AT KELLIS, EGYPT

In 313, the Emperor Constantine I promulgated the Edict of Toleration, which granted religious freedom in the Roman West. Following the defeat of the Eastern Emperor Licinius in 324, the edict gained the force of law in the eastern empire. In the Late Roman Period, Kellis, a settlement in the Dakhleh Oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt, experienced a change in burial practice. The pagan necropoleis were abandoned and a new cemetery, Kellis 2, was established. The burial practice adhered to at this cemetery differed markedly from that found at the earlier pagan necropoleis and was largely uniform. The deceased were wrapped in linen shrouds, placed supine in simple pit graves and oriented west-east, with the head to the west and the hands were placed either by the sides or over the pelvis. The burials were poorly furnished or devoid of grave-goods. Although it has been argued that these were Christian burials, radiocarbon dating suggests earlier use of the cemetery and that some of the burials at least may not have followed Christian rites. This paper uses a contextual approach to analyze the burials found at Kellis 2 in comparison with those found adjacent to and near the settlement of Kellis, at earlier pagan burial sites and at the contemporary cemeteries of El-Bagawat and the Monastery of Antinos at North Saqqara. Changes in the landscape are also explored. The evidence indicates that the burials at Kellis 2 are those of Christians. Christians used an innovative set of burial practices to construct and express a new Christian identity and to clearly distinguish their burials from those of pagans.

GESTA KAROLI AD KAROLUM: A READING OF NOTKER’S GESTA KAROLI MAGNI

When compared with the masterfully crafted Vita Karoli of Einhard, Notker the Stammerer's work Gesta Karoli Magni does not come out in a positive light. The Gesta been called the product of creative anarchy, a failed biography and even a work of myth and romance. Rather than using the Gesta as a source of objective historical information, I propose a reading that focuses on the descriptions of moral qualities that dominate its chapters. Such an interpretation reveals a consistent and convincingly intentional pattern of exempla that together build an ideal of a Christian king. My argument is that Notker never intended to write history proper but a moral speculum, a collection of exempla addressed to Charlemagne's descendant Charles the Fat. Aware of Einhard's biography while consciously utilizing other narrative sources, nascent myths, as well as theological concepts - many of the latter framed in the language of Alcuin and his successors, Notker's Gesta Karoli Magni is a plea for the renewal of the might of the empire. Strictly speaking, Notker's project failed with the death of Charles the Fat, but his biography gives us a vivid sense of the transformation of Carolingian educational and cultural ideals two generations after the death of Charles the Great.