In line with the route’s historical significance as a link between various cultures and peoples from East and West, The Sultan’s Trail Foundation seeks to develop an international network of the same designation. A number of scholars from a wide variety of countries has already made a start in this, shedding new light on and thereby boosting the debate on the historical, cultural, political and socio-economic significance of  the Sultan’s Trail. To be involved in this scientific network means taking part in permanent international relations between experts from a wide range of fields, i.e. in the exchange of ideas, the launch of joint scientific projects, the exchange of master and doctoral students, the development of study programmes, and the publication of joint works. The conference brings together scholars (wishing to be) involved in this dense scientific network in order for them to directly exchange ideas.

The aim of the conference is to create a platform for historians, art historians, and literary critics to share their studies on textual and visual representations of the Sultan’s Trail, the Via Militaris between 1,000 BC and present day. By investigating the medieval, early modern and modern Sultan’s Trail in text and images, the conference will serve as an opportunity for an interdisciplinary dialogue among the participants, with the hope of broadening perspectives on the Sultan’s Trail’s cultural and material legacy.

In addition to the anticipated papers relating to art, architecture and history of medieval (Roman and Byzantine) and Ottoman, and modern route, the conference organizers would also be keen to include scholars who can explore the following fields of study: music on the Sultan’s Trail, pilgrims’ accounts, diplomats’ accounts, cartography, prints and paintings, numismatics, tombstones, heraldry, Roman and Ottoman itineraries, historic photographs, archaeological excavations.