Ymchil

Diddordebau ymchwil

Research Interests:

• Late Roman and Byzantine History (4th – 11th Century AD)


• Imperial Identities and Image 


• Byzantine Usurpation 


• Byzantium's Neighbours (Sasanian Persia, Avars, and Pechenegs)


• Warfare, Frontiers, and their Landscapes

Conferences

• Forthcoming: University of Exeter - Annual Meeting of Postgraduates in Ancient History (Postponed to March 2021) - Paper Title: Panegyric and the Perception of Rulership in Early Byzantium

• University of Bristol - Follow the Leader: Medieval Leaders and Leadership (January 2020) - Paper Title: Rulership in Early Byzantium: The Case of Inauguration Speeches 

• Sapienza: Università di Roma - Apprendistato dello Storico -  Dialettiche del Potere: rivendicazione, usurpazione, giustificazione (May 2019) - Paper Title: Nikephoros III Botaneiates and Nikephoros Bryennios: The Means and Ends to Usurp an Imperial Throne and the Precedent it set for Alexios I Komnenos in 1081 AD

• St Anne’s College, Oxford – ‘Lampeter Legacies’, (November 2018) – Event in Honour of Professor Janet Burton - Paper Title: ό διπλωματία των Βυζαντινών: Religious Missionaries and their Role along the Northern Frontier (8th Century – 12th Century AD)

• Lancaster University - HistFest (June 2018) - Paper Title: Realism in Late Roman Warfare: A Military Arms Race between Rome and Sassanid Persia (The Concept of Development Over Time Between the 4th and 6th Century AD)

• UWTSD Lampeter - Undergraduate Humanities Conference (May 2017) - Paper Title: The Role of Emperor Justinian in the Decline of the Byzantine Empire

Publications

Strong, S, ‘Reconstructing the Narrative: The Usurpation of Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder’, SHARE: Studies in History, Archaeology, Religion and Conservation 4.1 (2020), 1-27.

Strong, S, 'The Sword that Became Blunt: The Usurpation of Nikephoros Bryennios', in P. Konieczy (ed.), Medieval Warfare Magazine, 10, 2 (2020), 34-7.

Outreach

• Blog Content Creator - ByzRoma1453: A History of Late Antiquity and Byzantium - https://byzroma1453.com/


• Podcast Guest Speaker: (March 2019) Antiquity in Question – Episode Six: The Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Persia – Were they Natural Rivals? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVDOye0NUCE&t=1475s

Current Call for Papers - IMC Leeds 2021: 

https://www.academia.edu/42866347/Call_for_Papers_Byzantium_and_Sasanian_Persia_The_Climate_of_the_Near_East_in_Late_Antiquity

Member of:

• Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies (SPBS)

• The British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS)

Traethawd ymchwil

Theophylact Simocatta: A Comparative Study into Eastern Leadership during Late Antiquity

The thesis is a comparative study of Roman and Sasanian leadership portrayed by Theophylact Simocatta’s History. Theophylact’s History is famous for its narration of Maurice’s wars; however, the text has a greater relevance to historians and a wider examination needs to be undertaken within the context of royal and military leadership. The research will focus on examining the Roman autokrator and Sasanian Šāhanšāh, but will possibly consider aspects of Avar leadership, and how the Khagan compared to their counterparts within Theophylact’s History. Certain key aspects of late antique leadership will be addressed such as legitimacy and dynasty, alongside offering an analysis into the transforming military role of the late Roman autokrator and the Persian Šāhanšāh. Theophylact hoped his audience would read his History as advice literature and for that part it would be unjustifiable to not examine a key theme Theophylact wanted to disclose to his audience.

Goruchwyliaeth