Staff profile

Profile

I am Associate Professor of Late Antique, Early Medieval and Byzantine History. In my research I focus on political decision making and political communication, especially in the Eastern Roman monarchy of the 6th and 7th centuries. Furthermore I am interested in sacred space and religious connectivity in the Late Antique Mediterranean.

I have studied Ancient History, Classical Archaeology and Byzantine Archaeology at Heidelberg University, and completed my PhD at Konstanz University in 2020. Before coming to Durham in September 2021, I held the positions of Visiting Assistant Professor at Heidelberg and was a research fellow at the German Archaeological Institute in Istanbul. 

My first monograph (Herakleios, der schwitzende Kaiser. Die oströmische Monarchie in der ausgehenden Spätantike, Berlin/Boston 2020) is a structural analysis of the reign of the emperor Heraclius, focussing on how internal instability and external pressures affected the political hierarchy and led to transformations in the political system of the Eastern Roman monarchy. Together with Christian Rollinger, I have co-edited a volume on Empresses-in-waiting. Power, Performance, and the ‘Female Court’ of Late Antiquity for Liverpool University Press. 

Simultaneously I am interested in the phenomenon of ‘relics in translation’ in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. This project analyses the creation of a specifically Christian sacred topography for Constantinople and the role that the translation of relics played in this process. 

Research Supervision

I am happy to supervise students with interests in political and religious history of the Mediterranean World, especially the East, in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.

• Political communication
• Political decision making
• Sacred Space
• Structural History
• Urbanism

Authored book

• Herakleios, der schwitzende Kaiser. Die oströmische Monarchie in der ausgehenden Spätantike
  
  Viermann, N. (2021). Herakleios, der schwitzende Kaiser. Die oströmische Monarchie in der ausgehenden Spätantike. De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110711356

Chapter in book

• Dynasty, Endogamy and Civil Strife. Martina Augusta and the Role of Imperial Women in the Early Seventh Century
  
  Viermann, N. (2024). Dynasty, Endogamy and Civil Strife. Martina Augusta and the Role of Imperial Women in the Early Seventh Century. In C. Rollinger & N. Viermann (Eds.), Empresses-in-waiting: Female Power and Performance at the Late Roman Court. Liverpool University Press.
• Surpassing Solomon: Church-building and Political Discourse in Late Antique Constantinople
  
  Viermann, N. (2022). Surpassing Solomon: Church-building and Political Discourse in Late Antique Constantinople. In K. Klein & J. Wienand (Eds.), City of Caesar, City of God: Constantinople and Jerusalem in Late Antiquity (pp. 217-241). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110718447-009
• Transformation erzählen. Oströmische Monarchie im frühen 7. Jahrhundert und das Problem der Epochengrenze
  
  Viermann, N. (2021). Transformation erzählen. Oströmische Monarchie im frühen 7. Jahrhundert und das Problem der Epochengrenze. In C. Bachmann, J. Leithoff, & K. Waldner (Eds.), Liminalisierung: Konfigurationen des Übergangs in antiken Kulturen. Franz Steiner Verlag.
• Die Inschriften-Neufunde der Kampagne 2010
  
  Viermann, N. (2020). Die Inschriften-Neufunde der Kampagne 2010. In F. Schlimbach (Ed.), Neue Forschungen in al-Andarīn: Das Ensemble der Hauptkirche von Androna. Propylaeum. https://doi.org/10.11588/propylaeum.626
• Holy Objects on the Move. Relics in Constantinople between City Centre and Urban Periphery
  
  Viermann, N. (n.d.). Holy Objects on the Move. Relics in Constantinople between City Centre and Urban Periphery. In R. Sweetman & C. Machado (Eds.), Lived Spaces in Late Antiquity [Contracted by publisher]. Routledge.

Edited book

• Empresses-in-Waiting Female Power and Performance at the Late Roman Court
  
  Rollinger, C., & Viermann, N. (Eds.). (2024). Empresses-in-Waiting Female Power and Performance at the Late Roman Court. Liverpool University Press.

Journal Article

• Reliquientranslationen und die Konstruktion einer christlichen Sakraltopographie für Konstantinopel, 4. bis 7. Jahrhundert
  
  Viermann, N. (2022). Reliquientranslationen und die Konstruktion einer christlichen Sakraltopographie für Konstantinopel, 4. bis 7. Jahrhundert. DAI EForschungsberichte, 2022(2), 53-58. https://doi.org/10.34780/e3c3-9e93
• The Battle of Yarmouk, a Bridge of Boats, and Heraclius’ Alleged Fear of Water: Assessing the Consequences of Roman Military Defeat
  
  Viermann, N. (2021). The Battle of Yarmouk, a Bridge of Boats, and Heraclius’ Alleged Fear of Water: Assessing the Consequences of Roman Military Defeat. Studies in Late Antiquity, 5(2), 241-266. https://doi.org/10.1525/sla.2021.5.2.241
• Merging Supreme Commander and Holy Man: George of Pisidia’s Poetic Response to Heraclius’ Military Campaigns
  
  Viermann, N. (2020). Merging Supreme Commander and Holy Man: George of Pisidia’s Poetic Response to Heraclius’ Military Campaigns. Jahrbuch Der Österreichischen Byzantinistik, 70.