Since the successful end of the First Colloquium organized by Byzantium Working Group in 2005 and dedicated to the problem of the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ notions of Byzantium and its culture, there has been a period of two years dedicated to studies such as the existence, if any, of the ‘Byzantine’ and the specific features of the ‘Byzantine man/woman’, etc. Also, in 2005–2007, the Group almost doubled its members, including some “Mellon” grant holders (for the ‘Members’ please visit the web-site section ‘Members’ of BWG). All these meetings and fruitful discussions in 2005–2007 culminated in the second Colloquium of BWG held on February 22nd and 23rd, in Hall 1 of St Kliment Ohridski University, Sofia. Not surprisingly, its topic was “Homo Byzantinus?”. It was organized thanks to the help of the Foundation ‘Maison des Sciences de l’Homme’ (Paris) and support of both the ‘Center for Advanced Studies’ (Sofia) ; ‘Maison des Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société (Sofia)’ and St Kliment Ohridski University (Faculty of Philosophy and Center for Slavonic and Byzantine Studies “Ivan Dujchev”).
   From the ‘Program’ of the Second Colloquium it becomes clear that interdisciplinarity is one of the most typical characteristics of BWG – all the theses presented cover a vast perimeter, to start with archaeology and end with philosophical issues. Needless to say, this Colloquium gave, again, chance to young scholars and candidate-doctors to make their appearance on the science’s ‘ground’.
   It is the aim of the BWG to publish all the papers presented at the Second Colloquium not only on paper, e.g. as a book of collective studies, but also on-line, especially the papers’ ‘Summaries’. They will be written in French and/or English; and the deadline is the end of 2008. We all hope that such a book (and on-line version, too) will help us not only to disseminate the results of our study of Byzantium and Byzantine history and culture in general, but also of all those organizations supporting BWG’s activity.
   The next topic of the Group is going to be ‘The Byzantine Memory and the Memory of Byzantium’ with activities scheduled for the period 2008–2010.

In 2004/2005, the Byzantium Working Group’s general topic of research was:
Byzantium as Seen by the Byzantines and the Others.

Issuing from the activities of the Working Group was a Colloquium, held on April 8th and 9th, 2005, with generous support from NHSALC (Sofia) and FMSH (Paris), where the research results of Byzantium WG members were presented. This event provided participants with the opportunity to, for the first time, establish connections with highly-respected organizations such as Modus vivendi – a society for dissemination of medieval culture and archaeological reconstruction. Papers presented at 2005 Colloquium have been published in Bulgarian by Gutenberg Publishing House in a volume entitled Byzantium as Seen by the Byzantines and the Others. Selected papers will be published in English, French and German on this site. The academic promotion of the book was organized on the 4th of June 2007, in Saint Clement of Ohrid University of Sofia (see the Gallery).