Byzantine seals have emerged lately as a valuable resource for the study of Byzantium. This course aims to bring together students from various parts of the world and provide them with the skills to analyse and use seals as a source for understanding Byzantine society and culture, without requiring an extensive background in sigillography.  At the same time, the students will contribute to the creation of a digital scholarly exhibition, which will revolve around some themes related to the topic of the Seminar.

Structure: Two introductory sessions (17.11.2023 and 24.11.2023) after the end of which students will be handed out assignments with the aim of analysing seals under the prism of specific questions and topics, such as identity, relation between text and image, expressions of piety, and individual representation. At the end of the semester there will be a week-long workshop (19.02.–23.02.2024) with presentations and discussion of the commentary and the texts prepared by the students.

Aims: The students will have the opportunity to contribute to the creation of an online exhibition that is intended to serve as reference to the wider scholarly community and public, by introducing seals as a crucial source for the society and culture of Byzantium. The exhibition will consist of texts on topics related to the history and culture of Byzantium, focused on a set number of seals selected out for this purpose. These texts will be produced by the students and the instructor during the course.

Application: Please fill in the application form and the motivation statement (no longer than 500 words) describing the academic achievements, the scholarly interests, and the reasons for applying to this course. Please address any queries to: c.malatras@uni-koeln.de  

The full call for application is here https://uni.koeln/5RZFF as well as attached to this message.

All the very best from Cologne and looking forward to hearing from many of you,

Martina (Filosa)