BERGAMO
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
The course aims to provide a critical understanding of the history and culture of the Eastern Roman Empire, or “Byzantine Empire,” from late antiquity to the fall of Constantinople (1453), through a critical reading of the main interpretative categories applied to it by historiography. Particular attention will be paid to the study of Byzantine cultural identity, imperial ideology, the institutions and administrative structure of the Byzantine state, and its relationship with neighboring cultures.
Course Prerequisites
This course is a natural continuation of the Roman History course and complements the Medieval History course, so attendance of these courses is recommended. It is also useful to have taken courses such as “Ancient Traditions in the Mediterranean and European Cultural Space” and “The Greek World: Continuity and Transformation of a Cultural Paradigm.”
Teaching Methods
- Lectures, with projection of textual sources and visual material via PowerPoint presentations. The most significant materials will then be made available on the course “channel.”
- In-depth thematic discussions
Assessment Methods
Final oral exam. During the exam, students will be assessed on their ability to construct clear arguments and to use sources and literature correctly.
The final grade is expressed in thirtieths.
· The achievement of a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter, together with good critical, reasoning, and expressive skills, using appropriate technical terminology, will be assessed with very good or excellent grades (28–30 with honors);
· The mainly rote learning of the course content and a competence in the subject matter that is not always adequate will be assessed with a grade ranging from fair (21–24) to good (25–27).
· A minimum level of knowledge of the course content, combined with inadequate expressive and reasoning skills, will lead to a pass grade (18–20).
· The absence of a minimum level of knowledge of the course content, combined with inadequate expressive and reasoning skills and gaps in training, will result in a grade of unsatisfactory (<18/30).
Contents
The first part of the course will offer an overview of the history of the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, from the founding of Constantinople (330) to the Ottoman conquest (1453). The second part will address fundamental aspects of Byzantine civilization, with particular attention to the evolution of the Empire's institutional and administrative structures, imperial ideology, religious and cultural life, and the role of Byzantium in the Mediterranean and European cultural space.
Introduction: Identity: who were the ‘Byzantines’? Byzantine cultural hybridism (Hellenism and ‘Romanity’, Orthodoxy, Europe and the East); Byzantium: fundamental historiographical approaches; Sources and tools for the study of Byzantine civilization
Times (I): from late antiquity to 1025: The formation of the Byzantine Empire; ‘The empire that did not want to die’: the struggle for survival and the iconoclastic controversy; The ‘Golden Age’ of the Empire: the Macedonian period
Times (II): From 1025 to the fall of the Empire (1453): The Comnenian period, the Latin interlude and the partition of the Empire, the Palaiologian “restoration”; Imperial propaganda at the court of the Comnenians: Anna Comnena's Alexiad; Relations with the West: politics and diplomacy, intellectual and commercial exchanges, doctrinal conflicts
Spaces: urban centers: Towards a definition of the “Byzantine” city. Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria; Constantinople, the seats of imperial power: the Great Palace, the Blachernae Palace; Constantinople, the seats of religious power: the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia and the Patriarchal Palace
Institutions, administration, and imperial resilience: The Byzantine state: administrative hierarchy, regional model, and fiscal cohesion; Fundamental transformations during the Byzantine millennium
Ideology and imperial ceremonial: between liturgy and image: The imperial “liturgy”: the Book of Ceremonies of Constantine Porphyrogenitus; Ideology and communication of power: imperial rhetoric, between text and image; The icon: from devotional image to ‘defender’ of the Empire
Education and intellectual culture: The University of Constantinople; The role of intellectuals in Byzantium and European Humanism.
Orthodoxy, popular devotion, superstition: towards a history of Byzantine religiosity: The role of the Church in Byzantine society. Church and temporal power; Byzantine monasticism Doctrinal controversies and heretical movements: trials for heresy; Popular devotion, superstition, the occult.
Byzantium and the Mediterranean – Byzantium and Europe: Byzantium in the Mediterranean cultural space; The myth of Byzantium between the 18th and 20th centuries in Europe; Byzantium lost, Byzantium found: Byzantine memory in the formation of the modern and contemporary Greek state
Byzantium in contemporary perception: Byzantium, the Balkans, Russia.
(essential bibliography in "OTHER INFORMATION")
Online Resources
More information
Essential bibliography:
Along with the materials uploaded to the “channel” (PowerPoint presentations shown in class) and lecture notes, the texts for exam preparation are listed below:
1. For an essential chronology of Byzantine history, choose one of the following textbooks:]
· G. Ostrogorsky, Storia dell’impero bizantino. Torino: Einaudi, 1993 (o successive ristampe)
· M. Gallina, Bisanzio : storia di un impero (secoli 4.-13.). Roma: Carocci, 2016.
· Ravegnani, Giorgio. Introduzione alla storia bizantina. Nuova ed. Bologna: Il Mulino, 2008.
2. The following texts:
· A. Cameron, I bizantini. Bologna: Il mulino, 2008.
· C. Mango, La civiltà bizantina. Nuova ed. aggiornata a c. di P. Cesaretti. Roma – Bari: GLF editori Laterza, 2014.
3. For an overview of the geography of the Byzantine Empire, see:
· J. F. Haldon, The Palgrave Atlas of Byzantine History. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
For non-attending students, in addition to the above, one reading to be chosen from the following list:
· J. F. Haldon, L’impero che non voleva morire : il paradosso di Bisanzio (640-740 d.C.). Torino: Einaudi, 2019.
· P. Brown, La formazione dell’Europa cristiana : universalismo e diversità 200-1000 d.C. Nuova ed. ampl. a c. di M. Sampaolo. Roma: GLF editori Laterza, 2006.
· C. Wickham, L’eredità di Roma : storia d’Europa dal 400 al 1000 d. C. Roma – Bari: GLF editori Laterza, 2014.