RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF BYZANTINE CULTURE UNIVERSITY OF PELOPONNESE	THE GENNADIUS LIBRARY AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES	ISTITUTO ELLENICO DI STUDI BIZANTINI & E POST BIZANTINI DI VENEZIA

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

MYSTRAS: IDENTITIES AND PERSPECTIVES

The kastron of Mystras, on a hill west of Sparta at the foot of mount Taygetos, built by Guillaume II Villehardouin, was transferred to the Byzantines in 1262 after the battle of Pelagonia. Looking for security, the inhabitants of Lakedaimon built a city under the walls of the castle. The city-kastron of Mystras became the seat of the Despotate of Moreas from 1348 to 1460, when it was occupied by the Ottomans.

At this remote place of the Byzantine soil, in the context of the expected tragic end of Byzantium, Mystras flourished as a great centre of letters and arts. In a period of constant military conflicts and intense political contacts, Mystras was continuously looking towards Constantinople from which it received political power, and spiritual and artistic tradition. At the same time, it absorbed numerous cultural elements from the West, and turned to antiquity for a new identity.

The conference attempts to throw light on the three sides of the cultural orientation of Mystras, namely, Constantinople, West and ancient Sparta. This thematic approach will project the complexity of the cultural synthesis achieved at Mystras, the charm of which inspired Goethe the castle in Faust.

May 20, 2010, Gennadius Library, Cotsen Hall, 9 Anapiron Polemou, Athens

program

9:30-10:00 am Introduction

Morning Session I: 10:00-12:00 am

Stavros Arvanitopoulos, Museum of the City of Athens: Mystras: Topography, political power and society.

Elias Anagnostakis, Institute of Byzantine Research, National Hellenic Research Foundation: Mystras versus Monemvasia in the antagonism of the chrysobulls.

Antonia Kioussopoulou, University of Crete: Social Contrasts in the Despotate of Mystra in the XV^th century.

Iohannes Smarnakis, University of Aegean: Power and intellectuals at Mystra in the XV^th c.

Coffee break

Morning Session II: 12:30-14:00 pm

Jean-Michel Spieser, Université de Fribourg: Tradition and innovation in the Pantanassa.

Μelita Emmanouel, National Technical University of Athens: The iconographic program of Peribleptos and the ktetor.

Αnastasia Koumousi, 6^th Ephoria of Byzantine Antiquities: The influence of the art of Mystra in the painting of the XIV^th-XV^th c. in Achaïa. The Old Monastery of the Taxiarches in Aigialeia and the Despots Palaiologoi.

Evening Session: 6:00-8:00 pm

Silvia Ronchey, Università di Siena: Cleopa in Mystras: life and death, Platonic initiation and political metamorphosis of a fifteenth-century Italian princess, fatally attracted by Byzantium.

Titos Papamastorakis, University of Aegean: Mystras and Constantinople: reciprocal relations.

Aspasia Louve-Kize, Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation: Isabelle de Lusignan – Zabea de Lezinao (1348-1380): the influence of the West on the Despotate.

Iohannes Theodorakopoulos, University of Peloponnese: Mystras and the perception of Ancient Sparta in the Palaiologan age.

Conclusions