Hagia Sophia is back in the news. To understand what is happening, we need to know the complex history of this building as a church, mosque, and museum, and the many parties that have sought to claim it. In this episode, Bob Ousterhout (University of Pennsylvania) illuminates this rich history, with a focus on the last century and a half, the current political forces, and the priority to preserve the history of the monument for all who wish to study and experience it. He is the author of the magisterial survey Eastern Medieval Architecture: The Building Traditions of Byzantium and Neighboring Lands (Oxford 2019), and an article on the topic at hand: 'From Hagia Sophia to Ayasofya: Architecture and the Persistence of Memory,' İstanbul Araştırmaları Yıllığı 2 (2013) 1-8, which is available here. [Sidenote: you may want to check out my recent podcast interviews on The Medieval Podcast and the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Podcast.]
57. A global history of the Greeks, with Roderick Beaton
56. Cyril, Methodios, and the conversion of the Slavs, with Mirela Ivanova
55. If you could meet and interview one person from Byzantine history, who would it be and why? (Part II), with Paroma Chatterjee and Merle Eisenberg
54. The power and journeys of the True Cross and other holy relics, with Lynn Jones
53. What can we know about the life of the Prophet Muhammad?, with Sean Anthony
52. Crowd behavior in imperial Rome and Constantinople, with Daniëlle Slootjes
51. Byzantine poetry on its own terms, with Marc Lauxtermann
50. If you could meet and interview one person from Byzantine history, who would it be and why?, with Fotini Kondyli and Alexander Sarantis
49. Why is there an Egyptian obelisk in the hippodrome of Constantinople?, with Cecily Hilsdale
48. What did Byzantine music sound like? (The answer is more political than you’d expect), with Alexander Lingas
47. The materiality of Byzantine objects, with Elizabeth Dospěl Williams
46. Raiders, marauders, ravagers, and pirates: their impact on Byzantine life, with Alexander Sarantis
45. Neoliberalism in academia and its impact on the humanities, with Tamar Hodos
44. How can historians use new media to disseminate ideas?, with Merle Eisenberg
43. Is it time to abandon the rubric “Byzantium”?, with Leonora Neville
42. Byzantium in video games, with Troy Goodfellow
41. Ravenna, capital of empire between east and west, with Judith Herrin
40. Byzantine tales of horror and the macabre
39. The monastic experience, with Alice-Mary Talbot
38. Manuscripts, databases, and the joys of Byzantine literature, with Dave Jenkins
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