- EN
- TR
Money and Power: spices, specie and social transformation in the first-millennium Western Indian Ocean
Thursday, February 12, 2026 - 17:00
Location:
Boğaziçi University, South Campus, Anderson Hall (Temel Bilimler Binası), Room 310
Host:
Boğaziçi University Byzantine Studies Research Center
Boğaziçi University Byzantine Studies Research Center cordially invites you to a lecture by Rebecca Darley: "Money and Power: spices, specie and social transformation in the first-millennium Western Indian Ocean" as part of the lecture series "Foodways in the Mediterranean".
The lecture will be held at Boğaziçi University, South Campus, Anderson Hall (Temel Bilimler Binası), Room 310 on February 12, 2026 at 5:00 pm.
To register, if you are not affiliated with Boğaziçi University, please contact byzantinestudies@bogazici.edu.tr
Abstract
Between the 4th and 7th centuries CE, coin finds testify to connections between the Byzantine Empire and South India. They also whisper about other connections, between people and places, and hint at the fascination of the exotic and the power of beautiful things. Around a third are imitations made within South India. Around the same proportion are pierced for use as pendants. Many carry intentional scratch marks. Archaeological and written evidence points to the importance of foreign and valuable objects in religious rituals and royal courts. They also hint at changes taking place across the Western Indian Ocean, in the way that power was perceived and deployed and the way that societies saw themselves and others.
Bio
Rebecca Darley is a scholar of the Western Indian Ocean and Eastern Mediterranean in the first millennium CE. Following studies at the University of Cambridge (BA History) and the University of Birmingham (MA Greek Archaeology, PhD Byzantine Studies), she was a research associate at the Warburg Institute, University of London, before joining Birkbeck, University of London, in 2015 to teach and research in the field of Medieval History. In 2021, she moved to the University of Leeds to take up a newly created post in Global History, 500-1500 CE. Currently, 2025-2026, she is a Senior Research Fellow at the Koç University Center for Anatolian Studies, ANAMED, in Istanbul. From 2026 she will join Krea University, Andhra Pradesh.
Son Güncelleme: 13:31:54 - 12.02.2026
