Przemysław Marciniak is Professor of Byzantine Literature at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. In the academic year 2022/2023, he held the position of Visiting Professor of Ancient Cultural History at the Munich Center for Ancient Worlds (LMU). He has previously been a guest professor in Freiburg (FRIAS) and Paris (EHESS). He has received numerous awards for his research projects from institutions such as Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, DAAD, the British Academy, and Dumbarton Oaks. In 2007/08, he worked as a temporary lecturer at the Queen’s University Belfast.

Przemysław Marciniak’s research focuses on Byzantine literature and culture, with a particular emphasis on satirical literature and the performative elements of culture. He also investigates the reception of Byzantine culture and literature following the Fall of the City in 1453. Currently, his research interests are directed towards the field of cultural animal studies in Byzantium.

During his research stay at HIAS Przemysław Marciniak intends to finish a monograph that explores Byzantine cultural entomology and seeks to investigate the role of insects (and arthropods in general) in Byzantine culture. The book will cover the following topics: a) the zoological knowledge about insects; b) “literary” insects and their semiotic-cultural role; c) a change in the metaphorical meanings of insects as the Greek world shifted from a classical to a Christian worldview; and finally d) the emotions provoked by insects.

His tandem partner is Ulrich Moennig, professor for Byzantine Studies and Modern Greek Philology at Universität Hamburg.

Przemysław Marciniak’s HIAS fellowship is provided by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the federal and state funds acquired by Universität Hamburg in the framework of its Excellence Strategy.