In this seminar Lilia Diamantopoulou (LMU Munich) will explore the life of Markos Abessinios, whose trajectory from enslaved child in Abyssinia to courtier in the Greek Bavarian monarchy and later merchant in Munich offers a rare lens on Black mobility in nineteenth century Europe. At the center is the 1862 anti royal satire Dialogues of the Dethroned Kings, where Markos appears as Queen Amalia’s lover. This fictionalized affair opens up questions about forced migration, racial servitude, and the limits of historical visibility. By reading satire alongside biography, the paper interrogates how Black lives were framed and fantasized within imperial structures. 

Image credit: Lilia Diamantopoulou, based on a photograph from Staatsbibliothek Bamberg V Ad 1m, HVG 20/46