Exploring Byzantine Anthropogeography in ERC Advanced Grant

The Cyprus Institute is a key partner in the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant project “Byz-GOVAG - Agents of Cohesion in the Governance of an Empire: The Anthropogeography of Byzantium, 7th to 12th Centuries.” APAC Labs / STARC spearheads CyI's participation in the project, which is led by Dr. Olga Karagiorgou, Director of Research in the Research Centre for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art of the Academy of Athens. 

Drawing on sigillographic evidence from Greece, Cyprus and Turkey, Byz-GOVAG will investigate how cohesion was maintained across the vast and diverse Byzantine Empire by examining the individuals, institutions, and infrastructures that shaped its governance between the 7th and 12th centuries. Through an anthropogeographic perspective, the project aims to map the administrative landscape of Byzantium and identify key “agents of cohesion” that supported imperial continuity over time. Besides the Academy of Athens and the Cyprus Institute, the project's consortium includes the Numismatic Museum and the Benaki Museum in Athens and Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey.

The APAC Labs/STARC team, led by Prof. Nikolas Bakirtzis, will contribute its expertise in Byzantine Archaeology, spatial analysis, digital documentation and visualization thus engaging in interdisciplinary research that bridges material evidence, historical inquiry, and geographic analysis. Participation in Byz-GOVAG further recognizes as well as strengthens APAC Lab's expertise in interdisciplinary collaborative archaeological research in the study of the human past at the highest European and international levels.