Sergey Ivanov (British Academy Fellow; Northwestern University Visiting Scholar) will be presenting "Byzantine Influence On Old Rus': A Reassessment" this Friday, January 6, at 12–2 p.m. in the Classics Seminar Room (Kresge 4-364) of Northwestern's Evanston Campus. Refreshments will be served at 12 to allow mingling, and then the talk will transpire at 12:30–2 p.m.
The details of the talk as follows:
It is broadly believed that the Russian civilization is the inheritor of Byzantium. Those who detest both Byzantium and Russia explain the latter’s defects as the former’s birthmarks. Those who want to extol Russia often attribute its greatness to its Byzantine “genes.” In recent decades, the discourse on Byzantium and the alleged role it has played in “Russian spirituality,” or, to the contrary, “Russian doom,” have frequently come up in Russian public debates. It is time to rethink the very foundations of Russian culture (Rus’), and to do it in a serious, scholarly manner, free of ideological bias and sensationalism.
The exact location is the Classics Seminar Room (Kresge Hall 4-364). Kresge Hall is located at 1880 Campus Dr, Evanston, IL 60208
