SHIFTING FRONTIERS
IN LATE ANTIQUITY
An Interdisciplinary Conference
The University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
March 23-26, 1995
Organized by
Hagith S. Sivan
University of Kansas
Ralph W. Mathisen
University of South Carolina
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This conference was supported by the gen-
erous assistance of:
*The Dean of the College of Letters and
Sciences, University of Kansas
*The Dean of the School of Law, University
of Kansas
*The Chancellor of the University of Kan-
sas
*The Office of Academic Affairs, Universi-
ty of Kansas
*with additional support provided by:
*The Department of History, University of
Kansas
*The Graduate Association of Students in
History (GASH)
*The Office of the Vice Chancellor for
Research and Graduate Study, Univer-
sity of Kansas
The organizers also acknowledge the special
assistance of:
*Kay Albright, Editor, The Oread
*Babette Crowder, Administrative Assistant
*Lori Eklund, Educational Services Coordi-
nator, Spencer Museum
*Richard Kay, Artistic Adviser
*Chris Jennings, KU Printing Office
*Lynn Nelson, Computer Guru
*James and Virginia Seaver
*The College of Letters and Sciences Word
Processing Center Staff
*The History Department Administrative
Staff
*The Kansas Union Food Services Staff
Local Arrangements by:
*Hagith S. Sivan
*James Seaver
Program
Thursday, March 23
(All activities at Spencer Museum of Art)
3:00- 4:00 Registration and Coffee
4:00- 4:15 Opening session
Greetings and Introduction:
Ralph W. Mathisen (Co-Organizer,
Univ. of S. Carolina)
4:15- 5:15 Session I: Collaborative
Projects: New Visions of Late Antiq-
uity
Chair: James Seaver (Prof. Emeritus,
Univ. of Kansas)
Richard J.A. Talbert (Univ. of N.
Carolina), "New Vision, New Frontiers
for the Classical World"
Evangelos Chrysos (U. of Ioannina,
Greece), "The Transformation of the
Roman World: A European Scientific
Program"
Gillian Clark (Univ. of Liverpool,
England), "Translated Texts for Histo-
rians"
5:30- 6:30 Session II: Frontier Theory
Chair: Dionysios Kounas (Univ. of
Kansas)
David H. Miller (Tulsa, Oklahoma),
"A Frontier Perspective on the Transi-
tion between the Late Ancient World
and the Early Middle Ages"
Hugh Elton (Trinity College), "Defin-
ing Roman Frontiers"
6:30- 8:00 Reception at Spencer Muse-
um of Art
Introductions:
Hagith S. Sivan (Co-Organizer, Univ.
of Kansas)
Official Welcomes:
James L. Muyskens, Dean, College of
Liberal Arts and Sciences, Univ. of
Kansas
Janet E. Riley, Assistant Vice Chan-
cellor, Academic Affairs, Univ. of
Kansas
-----------------------------
Friday, March 24
(All sessions in Spencer Museum of Art
Auditorium)
8:30-11:00 Session III: Geographical
Frontiers
Western Frontiers
Chair: Ronald Weber (Univ. of Texas
-- El Paso)
Lawrence Okamura (Univ. of Mis-
souri) "Roman Withdrawals from
Three Transfluvial Frontiers"
Frank M. Clover (Univ. of Wisconsin),
"The Northeast Frontier of Vandal
Africa, A.D. 476-533"
Eastern Frontiers
Chair: C.E.V. Nixon (Macquarie Uni-
versity, Australia)
John Eadie (Michigan State Univ.),
"The Transformation of the Eastern
Frontier, 260-305 CE"
Walter Kaegi (Univ. of Chicago),
"Reconceptualizing Byzantium's East-
ern Frontiers in the Seventh Century"
11:00-11:15 Break: Coffee
11:15-12:30 Session IV: Barbarians on the
Frontier
Chair: Sarolta Takacs (Harvard Uni-
versity)
Linda Ellis (San Francisco State
Univ.), "Dacians, Sarmatians, and
Goths on the Roman-Carpathian
Frontier, 2nd-4th Centuries A.D."
John F. Drinkwater (Univ. of Not-
tingham, England), "The Authenticity
of the German 'Threat': A Romano-
Gallic Artefact?"
1:30- 4:00 Session V: Town, Country,
and Local Frontiers
Chair: Michael Maas (Rice University)
Dennis Trout (Tufts University), "The
Great Divide: Town, Countryside, and
Christianization at Paulinus' Nola"
Sebastian Heath (Univ. of Michigan),
"Society and Settlement in Southern
Gaul: Boundary to the Past?"
Susan T. Stevens (Randolph Macon
Woman's College), "Transitional
Neighborhoods in Late and Post Ro-
man Carthage: The City and its Mar-
gins in the 5th -7th c."
Michael Jones (Bates College), "Geo-
graphical-Psychological Frontiers in
Sub-Roman Britain"
4:00- 4:15 Break: Coffee
4:15- 5:30 Session VI: Literary Frontiers
Chair: Oliver Phillips (Univ. of Kan-
sas)
Andre Basson (Rand Afrikaans Univ.,
Johannesburg, South Africa), "A
Transformation of Genres: Shifting
Frontiers in Late Latin Literature"
Michael DiMaio (Salve Regina Uni-
versity), "Imago Veritatis aut Verba in
Speculo: New Frontiers in the Coptic
Use of Greek"
6:00- 8:00 Chancellor's Reception
(Chancellor's Residence)
Introductions:
Hagith S. Sivan, Co-Organizer
Comments:
Delbert M. Shankel, Acting Chancel-
lor, Univ. of Kansas
Charles Stansifer, Chair, Dept. of
History, Univ. of Kansas
-----------------------------
Saturday, March 25
(All sessions at Spencer Museum of Art
Auditorium)
8:30-10:30 Session VII: Cultural and
Legal Frontiers
Chair: Richard Kay (Univ. of Kansas)
A.J. Boudewijn Sirks (Univ. of Am-
sterdam, The Netherlands), "Shifting
Frontiers in the Law"
Hagith S. Sivan (Univ. of Kansas),
"Why Not Marry a Barbarian? Marital
Frontiers in Late Antiquity"
Jill Harries (Univ. of St. Andrews,
Scotland), "Sidonius and the Frontiers
of Romania"
10:30-10:45 Break: Coffee
10:45-12:15 Session VIII: Frontiers of
Visual and Material Culture
Chair: Lynn Nelson (Univ. of Kansas)
Constantin Marinescu (Columbia
Univ.), "The Use and Reuse of
Greco-Roman Art in Late Antiquity:
Episodes of Adaptation and Accultu-
ration"
Sara Orel (N.E. Missouri St.), "Politi-
cal Border, Cultural Change: The Case
of Gebel el Haridi (Egypt)"
1:30- 3:30 Session IX: Frontiers of Gen-
der and Society
Chair: Judith Evans-Grubbs (Sweet
Briar College)
Fannie J. LeMoine (Univ. of Wiscon-
sin), "Winning the Right to Read:
Women and the Study of Scripture in
Late Antiquity."
Gillian Clark (Univ. of Liverpool,
England), "'The Bright Frontier of
Friendship': The Body as Frontier
Zone"
Lisa Bitel (Univ. of Kansas), "The
Land of Women: Domestic Space and
the Frontiers of Gender in Early Me-
dieval Ireland"
3:30- 3:45 Break: Coffee
3:45- 5:45 Session X: Mystical and Su-
pernatural Frontiers
Chair: Catherine Peyroux (Duke Uni-
versity)
Richard Burgess (Univ. of Ottawa),
"Hydatius and the Final Frontier"
Beatrice Caseau (Universite de Nant-
erre, France), "Fragrances: A Gateway
through the Impenetrable Frontier
Between Earth and Heaven"
Ralph W. Mathisen (Univ. of S. Caro-
lina), "Crossing the Supernatural Fron-
tier in Western Late Antiquity"
7:00- 8:30 Reception Hosted by James
and Virginia Seaver
Introductions:
Hagith S. Sivan, Co-Organizer
-----------------------------
Sunday, March 26
(All sessions at Eldridge Hotel)
8:00- 9:45 Session XI: Frontiers of Reli-
gion
Chair: Richard Ring (Watson Library,
Univ. of Kansas)
Richard Rothaus (Oklahoma State
Univ.), "Christianization and De-pa-
ganization: The Late Antique Creation
of a Conceptual Frontier"
Thomas Smith (Loyola University --
New Orleans), "The Western Frontiers
of Primal Grace"
James Brundage (Univ. of Kansas),
"The Paradox of Equality in Canon
Law"
9:45- 11:00 Champagne Brunch at the
Eldridge Hotel
11:00- 12:15 Session XII: Frontiers of
Imperial Ideology
Chair: Caroline Nelson (Univ. of Kan-
sas)
Jacqueline Long (Univ. of Texas),
"Two Sides of a Coin: Aurelian, Va-
ballathus, and Economic Frontiers in
the Early 270s"
David Olster (Univ. of Kentucky),
"The Oikumene and its Limits: The
Transformation of Roman Universal-
ism in the Seventh Century"
12:15- Final Discussion and Future
Directions