Call for Papers

Celestial Crossroads: Encounters, Intersections and Influences

April 27-29 2026
Istanbul, Turkey

Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture,
University of Wales Trinity Saint David

and

Yildiz Technical University

Conference Theme and Call for Papers

Keynote speakers

Dr. Ahmad Tunç Şen, Columbia University, Faculty Member, Unversity of Chicago, Near Eastern Languages and Civilisations
Prof. John Steele – Professor of Egyptology and Assyriology, Brown University
Prof. Robert Morrison – Bowdoin University, Professor of Religion and Middle Eastern and North African Studies, Director of Middle Eastern and North African Studies Program

Conference Theme

The sky is central to the history of human culture in a variety of ways: through calendar systems, including religious calendars, astronomy, astrology, mythology, and representations of the heavens in the arts, in architecture, painting and music. Over the past millennia ideas and practices were developed in China, India, West Asia, North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and Europe. These ideas and practices encountered each other and intersected at cultural crossroads. One of these was Istanbul, formerly Constantinople and Byzantium, where this conference will be held.

The conference organisers invite proposals to speak on practices related to the sky and representations of the sky, as detailed above, with an emphasis on their transmission or comparison between cultures.

Topics should have a relevance to the Middle East and east Mediterranean and may include

Proposals to speak:

Please include
1. an abstract of 100-150 words
2. a brief biography of c 100-150 words, written in the third person
3. contact details and current affiliation (if any)

To submit an abstract, please fill out the form below. Text only.