Bulgaria’s Archaeology Institute Releases Program for 1st International Conference on ‘Roman & Late Antiquity Thrace’

September 25, 2016 · by Ivan Dikov · in Ancient Rome / Roman Empire, Ancient Thrace, Antiquity

Thе Conference poster features a section of the 4th century AD Tabula Peutingeriana (the Peutinger Map showing cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire, covering Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia) depicting the Roman province of Thrace (and the eastern parts of Moesia Inferior, and Dacia). Photo: National Institute and Museum of Archaeology

Bulgaria’s National Institute and Museum of Archaeology has released the program for the 1st International Conference on “Roman and Late Antique Thrace” (RaLATh) which is to take place in Plovdiv, the successor of the ancient Philipopolis, also known as Trimontium in the Roman period, on October 7-10, 2016.

The Institute, a body of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, is organizing the event in partnership with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Rhodope, an institute of the Ministry of Culture of Greece, and Istanbul University in Turkey.

The full program of the 1st International Roman and Late Antique Thrace Conference “Cities, Territories and Identities” can be accessed here (in PDF). The presented papers are to be published before the next edition of the conference in the fall of 2017.

All of Ancient Thrace (including, the Odrysian Kingdom – 5^th century BC-1^st century AD) was conquered by the Roman Empire in 46 AD, and the Thracian aristocracy was integrated into the Roman society as a provincial aristocracy.

The Roman province of Thrace corresponds to today’s geographical region of Thrace in the southern and southeastern part of Bulgaria, Northeast Greece, and Northwest (European) Turkey (that is, the Southeast Balkan Peninsula).

In its call for participants issued in March 2016, the Sofia-based National Institute and Museum of Archaeology said:

“Located in an ever contested area of Southeast Europe, Thrace has posed numerous challenges to scholarship for well over a century. Until recently, material found within the national borders of the modern-day states that cover ancient Thrace was rarely examined together with that found “beyond”, due to political or other restrictions. In view of the advancing research in the last decades, this fascinating region at the crossroads of empires deservedly attracts more and more scientific attention.

The conference theme focuses on the cities of Thrace, their territories, and the expressions of local identity in Roman and Late Antiquity times.

We aim to bring together archaeologists, historians, numismatists, epigraphists, art historians, and scholars from any related fields, for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the region. Contributors are invited to discuss all aspects of urban life in Roman and Late Antiquity Thrace. Relevant areas of research include, but are not limited to: settlement patterns, civic space planning, architecture, city economy, religion, festivals.“