This summer, participants of the late antique research programme at Aarhus University co-organised a summer school “Constantinople: Space and Representation in the Late Antique Metropolis” on location in Istanbul. The energetic cohort of students came from Finland, England and Denmark. Among many interesting sites visited were the Hagia Eirene (above), the harbour excavations at Yenikapi, the so-called Palace of Antiochos, the Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia and the Golden Gate (all below the fold). Many thanks to our hosts at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul who made our stay so pleasant and rewarding as well as Simon Malmberg, Sarah Bassett, Arja Karivieri, and local Turkish colleagues who tirelessly led the group through the streets of Istanbul in search of late antique monuments!

Constantinople – Space and Representation in the late antique Metropolis

Study during the summer and meet international lecturers and fellow students in the cosmopolitan city of Istanbul!

Constantinople – Space and Representation in the late antique Metropolis is an intensive two week Summer School organized by the Section for Classical Archaeology, Aarhus University in collaboration with the Swedish Research Institutes in Istanbul (SRII) and Rome. It is held at the SRII and can therefore take advantage of its setting in Istanbul to explore the city of Constantinople and give the students a unique firsthand experience of the late antique monuments. The Summer School will also present new and exciting discoveries from the ongoing excavations in the city and its vicinity.

Teaching takes place from 26 June-10 July 2011 at the SRII with daily excursions to famous sites and new excavations in the heart of modern day Istanbul. More information here.

The week-long summer school in English will be taught by a group of international and Danish specialists on Late Antiquity, including Professor Lea Stirling (Manitoba), Professor Niels Hannestad (Aarhus), Professor Siri Sande (Oslo/Rome), Arja Karivieri (Stockholm), Curators Mette Moltesen and Jan Stubbe Østergaard (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen), Curator John Lund (National Museum, Copenhagen), Birte Poulsen (Aarhus), and Rubina Raja (Aarhus). More names will be announced later.

The summer school is part of the research programme “Art and Social Identities in Late Antiquity”, based in the Department of Classical Archaeology. The following is a description of the thematic range of the summer school:

The reign of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman Emperor (AD 312-337), is traditionally considered to be the start of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The 4th-6th centuries AD – often called Late Antiquity – form a vacuum between Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Politically, the period is marked by the disintegration of the Roman Empire; in the West, new barbarian kingdoms emerge, in the East, the Byzantine world takes its beginning. It is also a period of religious change, characterized by the triumph of Christianity and the disappearance of the ancient pagan cults. However, it has become evident that Late Antiquity is to be characterized as a transitional and highly tolerant period in which pagans and Christians lived side by side, mostly in peace. Changes occurred slowly and the classical tradition with widespread pagan elements continued to be visible in various arts such as mythological and portrait sculpture, sarcophagi, mosaics and silverware.

The course will include themes like the urban images of Rome and Constantinople, the early Church, as well as material culture such as sculpture, mosaics and architecture as expressions of social status, identity, and power. The course also includes ‘hands-on’ workshops with artifacts in museum collections including the Museum of Ancient Art at the University of Aarhus. A full-day excursion to the museums and collections in Copenhagen will be arranged.

Please visit the summer school website for information on how to apply etc.