The interdisciplinary symposium “Contexts of Breastfeeding and Breastfeeding across Contexts” will take place on 09 May 2026 at the University of Nicosia. The event brings together scholars and healthcare professionals to examine breastfeeding across historical, medical, moral, and cultural perspectives, within the framework of the research project “Maternal Milk: Breastfeeding in Middle and Late Byzantium (8th–15th c.)”.

We are delighted to announce that Stavroula Constantinou (CeMAR, University of Cyprus) will present a paper on mothering in Byzantine shrines at the international conference “Beyond Mother Goddesses: Toward an Archaeology of Motherhood and Religion”, hosted by Comenius University Bratislava on 19–20 May 2026.

How is one of the most controversial female figures of Byzantine history embodied on stage today? In what ways do contemporary theatrical representations attempt to “redeem” Theodora from the legends and writings that have long stigmatized her, and to what extent do they ultimately reproduce enduring gender stereotypes? The workshop “Dangerous Women of Byzantium on Stage: Embodying Theodora” invites actors, theatre students, and all those interested to explore, through practical performance exercises, the construction of Theodora as a theatrical figure and the gendered narrative conventions that continue to shape her representation.

You are warmly invited to the Closing Ceremony Lecture of the Tamasos Free University on the topic: “Representations of Breastfeeding in Byzantine Literature and Art”