Episode 338 - Get Rid of Byzantium with Leonora Neville

Episode 338 - Get Rid of Byzantium with Leonora Neville

Author: thehistoryofbyzantium@gmail.com January 27, 2026 Duration: 39:57

Professor Leonora Neville joins us to make the case for getting rid of the term Byzantium for good. She wants to replace it with a different term and a different understanding of Roman history.


Professor Neville is the John W and Jeanne M Rowe Chair of Byzantine History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She specialises in the 9-12th centuries of the Empire’s history. And her research has focussed on gender, civic religion, and religious aspects of political culture as well as historical memory and historiography.


She has written several excellent books which have been vital to this podcast. Her guide to Byzantine historians is essential reading for students. Her book on Byzantine gender helped direct my episodes on ‘Women in the Roman world’ and her book on provincial authority was extremely helpful in understanding Kekaumenos. She is also a Senior fellow at Dumbarton Oaks and an editor of several book series. Find out more at the University of Madison-Wisconsin website. 


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