Kalender

The conference is funded by the Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), Aarhus University

Organised by

Professor Krešimir Matijević (University of Flensburg)
Professor Rubina Raja (UrbNet, Aarhus University)
Professor Jörg Rüpke (Max-Weber-Kolleg, University of Erfurt)

Date: 30-31 May 2024

Venue: University of Flensburg, Tallinn Building (Room 007)

Outline

The life and career of Gaius Julius Caesar have been topics in research for centuries. His last years were the time in which he was the main driver of changes in the Roman world, changes which turned out to have immense impact on the centuries to come, including paving the way for imperial rule of the Roman Empire. This stage of his life has until today not been explored to its fullest extent.

This conference aims at bringing together scholars from a variety of disciplines, archaeology, history, philology and history of religion, in order to move towards a more multifaceted narrative about his dictatorship and the changes that he spurred, the changes that were stalled, the changes that were envisioned and the changes that were carried out – some, in the end, by others.

We are looking for papers on focused topics such as Caesar’s impact on colonization of the Mediterranean world. Which colonies did he found, which ones did he plan and what did he leave to his successors complete? What role did the urban Roman population play, and what effects did the settlement of foreign populations have for the locals? Caesar’s foreign policy plans also remained unfinished. Here the Parthian question was constantly in the air after the defeat at Carrhae and remained in the minds of the various politicians after Caesar’s death. Furthermore, the regulation of the necessary defence of Gaul against the constant Germanic invasions across the Rhine remained postponed. In many respects, Caesar’s coinage was exemplary, and it was subsequently imitated in various respects in the triumvirate and in the imperial period, for example, in the minting of the ruler on the obverse. But here it would have to be examined why certain details were no longer found in the later imperial coinage, such as the embossing of priestly symbols. Similarly, Caesar’s inscriptions are to be analysed for their exemplary function for the imperial period. Caesar’s building programme in Rome and beyond was, on the one hand, indebted to the example of influential politicians of past times and, on the other hand – in its unprecedented monumentality, as with his forum – an intensification of previous practice that exerted a clear influence on the period that followed. Other possible aspects that require more intensive study are Caesar’s influence on Roman historiography, the patronage system in Rome, the cursus honorum and the political system in general, as well as Caesar’s religious programme and use of religion in and outside Rome. Through bringing new views into play across disciplines, we hope to bring new fruitful lines of investigation to the forefront of a central figure.

Speakers

Bernhard Woytek (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften)
Christopher Hallett (UC Berkeley)
Henriette van der Blom (University of Birmingham)
Janico Albrecht (University of Bonn)
Jörg Rüpke (Max-Weber-Kolleg, University of Erfurt) - organiser
Kresimir Matijevic (University of Flensburg) - organiser
Martin Jehne (Dresden University of Technology)
Michael Koortbojian (Princeton University)
Nicola Hömke (Universität Rostock)
Robert Morstein-Marx (UC Santa Barbara)
Rubina Raja (Aarhus University) - organiser
Sofia Bianchi Mancini (University of Erfurt)
Trine Arlund Hass (University of Oxford)
Valentina Arena (University College London)
Practical information for speakers

Travel 
For invited speakers we will cover travel (economy class only) and 2–3 nights of accommodation. Please book your own travel to Flensburg, and we will reimburse you after your stay (please book your ticket directly through an airline and not via a travel search engine). We would appreciate it, if you could book sooner rather than later in order to get a reasonably priced flight.

Accommodation
Hotel am Fjord
Wilhelmstraße 1
24937 Flensburg
Deutschland

Website Phone: +49 46 18 60 80

Diet
We will host a speakers’ dinner on the evening of 30 May, and we will of course cater for you during the event. If you have any dietary restrictions (incl. allergies), please let Christina Levisen (levisen@cas.au.dk) know by 16 May 2024.

Programme and book of abstracts

Download abstract book, incl. programme, as PDF (updated 24 January 2024).

Please note that the abstract book will only be available online.

Photographs

We will take photographs during the conference, which we store and use for e.g. reporting purposes, news stories on our websites etc. If you do not want us to use photos in which you are depicted, please contact Christina Levisen (levisen-TextEinschliesslichBindestricheBitteEntfernen-@cas.au.dk).