INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL CONFERENCE
Empires through the Ages: Short-term Empires – Rule or Exception?
November 30th - December 2nd, 2021
The Symposium is held within the framework of the AURORA Universities Network (Innsbruck – Duisburg-Essen), the Erasmus partnership Innsbruck-Kiel, and the ongoing cooperation between Innsbruck and Kassel. 20 lectures by researchers from all around the globe deal with different "short-term empires". The broad spectrum includes empires of the Graeco-Roman world as well as China in the 3rd century BC up until South America in the 19th century AD.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Contextualizing Imperial Borderlands (9th c. BC – 9th c. AD)
Bregenz, 20th – 24th June 2022
The core issue of this conference lies on the developments within the imperial border zones from the beginning of the emergence of major empires in the Ancient Near East to the end of the so-called “Long Late Antiquity”. In this context, important developments will be gathered in a comparing cross section and classified in a historical way.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERECE
The Achaemenid Persian Empire and imperial Transformations in the Ancient Near East (7th c. BC – 3rd c. BC)
Obergurgl, 3rd – 9th July 2023
The core issue of this conference lies on the transformation processes that occurred during the emergence and fall of the Achaemenid Empire. They are to be gathered on a broad historical basis by utilising the Sargonid end phase of the Neo-Assyrian Empire as a retrospective and the early Seleucid era as a prospect. At the same time, this conference will be embedded in the major international project „New Workshops on Achaemenid Persian History“ (Rollinger/ Shayegan).
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Vienna, 29 November - 2 December, 2023
The Achaemenid-Persian Empire at its Heyday? The Era between Darius II and Darius III
The workshop aims at re-evaluating the period between Darius II and Darius III that is generally thought to represent a century of decline and downfall. Thus, traditional views have recently been challenged (see Julian Degen and Robert Rollinger, The “End” of the Achaemenid-Persian Empire: Caesura and Transformation in Dialogue, in: Michael Gehler, Robert Rollinger, and Philipp Strobl (eds.), The End of Empires (Universal- und kulturhistorische Studien / Studies in Universal and Cultural History), Wiesbaden: Springer 2022, 143-190). The workshop intends to further develop such a critical approach on a broader and more interdisciplinary level. The proceedings will be published in an international series.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Between and beyond empires: from the Seleucids to the Sasanians (3rd c. BC – 7th c. AD)
Wrocław/Breslau, Autumn 2024
The core issue of this conference lies on the so-called “Hellenistic” era of the eastern Mediterranean and Near East and its understanding as transformation epoch in its spatial (east –west) and chronological dimension (“Hellenistic” minor states, Rome, Parthians, and Sassanians). The conference in Wrocław/ Breslau will also be embedded in the project “From the Achaemenid to the Roman Rule: the Empire in the Context – the Processes of ‘Long Lasting՚” (Nawotka/ Rollinger). In addition, a cooperation with the Polish Academy of Sciences is planned.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
The Achaemenid Persian empire and its non-western borderlands: a change of paradigm
Vienna, Spring 2025
The core issue of this conference once again lies on the Achaemenid Empire an those borderlands which have been mainly neglected up until now: the Central Asian East, India and the Indian Ocean in the South East as well as the steppe landscapes in the North and North East. In this context, the topic will be interactions in spatial and chronological dimension and subsequently the systematic assessment of innovations, fractions, and continuities. At the same time, the conference will be embedded in the major project „New Workshops on Achaemenid Persian History“ (Rollinger/ Shayegan).