The open access volume Storyworlds in Short Narratives: Approaches to Late Antique and Early Byzantine Tales is now available. Edited by Stavroula Constantinou and Andria Andreou, it offers a new perspective on ancient Greek and Byzantine tales. Download it here.

The Kick-Off Meeting of the MSCA-DN Project “StoryPharm", Grant Agreement 101169114, was successfully completed during a well-attended two-day event. The event, which was organised by CeMAR, UCY took place at UCY, Nicosia, Cyprus, on October 18-19, 2024

The Inauguration Ceremony of the Centre for Medieval Arts and Rituals (CeMAR) of the University of Cyprus (UCY) was marked with great success. It took place at the Ceremonial Hall of UCY took place on October 19, 2024. The well-attended event was joined by members of CeMAR’s partners and international networks, dignitaries and faculty members of UCY and local universities, students, and the general public.

The director of CeMAR will give a paper at the Byzantine Studies Colloquium at Dumbarton Oaks (Washington, DC) on the 15th of November 2025. Her paper has the title “Narrative Prosthesis: Disability in the Byzantine Greek Lives of Holy Fools”.

CeMAR is pleased to share the new publication co-authored by Stavroula Constantinou and Aspasia-Skouroumouni-Stavrinou. “The Other Mother: Ancient and Early Byzantine Approaches to Wet-Nursing and Mothering”, available in open access from the Journal of Hellenic Studies, published online by Cambridge University Press (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0075426924000053), explores mothering practices from Late Antiquity to the Early Byzantine era. Focusing on the understudied figure of the wet-nurse, the study sheds light into the various discourses that defined, controlled and regulated the behaviour and work of wet-nurses in premodern societies.

CeMAR is excited to share a new publication authored by Stavroula Constantinou, entitled “History in Hagiography: Writing and Rewriting Byzantine Rulership and Imperial Ideology in Miracle Stories”. The chapter is available in open access by V&R Unipress

The Centre for Medieval Arts and Rituals (CeMAR) of the University of Cyprus has secured funding for two projects under the highly competitive call of the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) “Excellence Hubs” (RESTART 2016-2020 – Thalia 2021-2027) which aims to promote scientific excellence that is a fundamental part for the sustainable development of the European Research, Technological Development, and Innovation (RTDI) System, through the funding of pioneering research projects in cutting-edge fields.

The DFG Research Training Group 2304 “Byzantium and the Euro-Mediterranean Cultures of War” and the Centre for Medieval Arts & Rituals (CeMAR) of the University of Cyprus are organising an International Conference entitled “Rituals of War in Byzantium, the Islamic World and the Latin West”.