Our discussion will revolve around a set of readings from the recently published The Invention of Byzantium in Early Modern Europe, edited by Nathanael Aschenbrenner, an Seeger fellow with us this year, and Jake Ransohoff, who will be joining us for the occasion. Included in the readings is a chapter by our very own Anthony Grafton. The topic of ‘inventing Byzantium’ touches on core questions of this workshop series, including the historiography about Byzantium and its place in the ‘western’ imagination.