72438 - Social History of the Byzantine World (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims at conveying to the student the knowledge of mentality and values of the Byzantine society, as well as the evolution of its social structure and features of its economic life (landscape and settlements, money, factors of production, distribution and consumption). At the end of the course the students is able to contextualize critically the acquired notions in the framework of the socio-economic history of late antique and medieval Mediterranean. He is able to read specialised literature in at least one foreign language.

Course contents

The course is  articulated in two parts:

A) a general part devoted to an historical introduction to the Byzantine world (8 hours).

B) a monographic part devoted to: The Parthenon after Antiquity: Society and Culture in Athens during the Dark Centuries (7th-9th century) (22 hours)

 

Part A): general.

This part of the course consists of a brief introduction to the salient aspects of the Byzantine world. Being conceived as a propaedeutic unit to the contents of the monographic part, it will be focusing particularly on themes concerning political ideology, monasticism, social values, and economy.

 

Part B): monographic.

In 131 Emperor Hadrian promoted Athens to the head of Panhellēnion, a league of ancient Greek city-states now under Roman rule. He was, in fact, a fervent admirer of Hellenism of which Athens was in his eyes the homeland. Indeed, it can be said that until the early fifth century the social and cultural life of the city remained strongly marked by the values of Hellenism and the religious cults to which it was traditionally linked. The cultural notoriety of Athens revived with the Neoplatonic School, whose life came to an end in 526. The present course aims to address the topic of the interplay and confrontation between paganism and Christianity in Athens, as well as to analyze the history of the city after the closure of the Neoplatonic School, when even the Parthenon – in a date still debated by historians – from a temple became a church dedicated to the Mother of God. The urban transformation of the city, as well as and the Christian epigraphs of the Parthenon (the most significant written memory of early Byzantine Athens) will be examined.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Part A): general.

Mandatory reading of the following texts is required:

- Entry, "Bizantino impero", by A. Carile, in Grande Dizionario Enciclopedico UTET, III, Torino 1985, pp. 394-405.

- C. Mango, La civiltà bizantina, It. transl., Roma - Bari 1998 (or previous editions).

 

Part B): monographic.

The Christian inscriptions of the Parthenon are edited in the following volume:

— A. K. Orlandos - L. Branoussis, Ta charagmata tou Parthenōnos ētoi epigraphai charachtheisai epi tōn kionōn tou Parthenōnos kata tous palaiochistianikous kai byzantinous chronous (The Graffiti of the Parthenon. Inscribed Inscriptions on the columns of the Parthenon during the  early Christian and Byzantine age), Athenai 1973.

 

Mandatory readings:

— P. Castrèn , «General aspects of life in Post-Herulian Athens» in Id. (ed.), Post Herulian Athens. Aspects of Life and Culture in Athens AD 267-529, Helsinki 1994, 1-14 (introduzione generale ad Atene tardoantica).

—A. Kaldellis, The Christian Parthenon. Classicism and Pilgrimage in Byzantine Athens, Cambridge 2009, pp. 1-80.

 

The reading of at least 3 of the following essays is also required:

— I. Baldini, «Atene: la città cristiana», in L. M. Caliò, E. Lippolis, V. Parisi (a cura), Gli Ateniesi e il loro modello di città (Thiasos Monografie, 5), Roma 2014, pp. 309-322.

— P. Castrèn, «Paganism and Christianity in Athens and vicinity during the fourth to sixth century AD», in G. P. Brogiolo – B. Ward-Perkins (eds.), The Idea and Ideal of the Town between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, (The Transformation of the Roman World, 4), Leiden / Boston 1999, pp. 211-223.

— S. Cosentino, «Aspetti di storia sociale di Atene nel VI sec. d. C.», in L. M. Caliò, E. Lippolis, V. Parisi (a cura), Gli Ateniesi e il loro modello di città (Thiasos Monografie, 5), Roma 2014, pp. 351-364.

— M. Di Branco, «Atene immaginaria. Il mito di Atene nella letteratura bizantina, tra agiografia, teosofia e mirabilia», Atti dell’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filologiche 16 (2005), pp. 65-134.

— M. Di Branco, «La metamorfosi del Partenone: da Atena alla Theométor», Annuario della Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene e delle Missioni in Oriente (2008), pp. 315-323.

— G. Fowden, «The Athenian Agora and the progress of Christianity», Journal of Roman Archaeology 3 (1990), pp. 494-501.

— C. Mango, «The Conversion of the Parthenon into a Church: The Tübingen Theosophy», in Deltion tēs Christianikēs Archaiologikēs Hetaireias 18 (1995), pp. 201-203.

 

N.B. For students not attending the course the integral reading of the following book is mandatory:

— A. Franz, The Athenian Agora, XXIV. Late Antiquity, 300-700(School of Classical Studies in Athens), Princeton 1988.

Teaching methods

Lectures.

Course attendance to the course is strongly recommended due to the reading of sources in original language (translated by the teacher).

Assessment methods

Passing the exam requires a paper and an oral exam.

- paperwork: consists of a paper (12-15 pages long, excluding bibliography: page layout: side margins 2 cm, margins at the top and bottom: 2.5 cm, body font 12, line spacing 2) to be delivered to the teacher as an e-mail attachment one week before the date of the oral exam. Paperwork aims at verifying the skills and concepts learned by the student during part B (monographic) of the course.

- oral exam: it consists in the assessment of the notions related to part A of the course (general) and in a discussion of the contents of the paperwork related to the part B of the course (monographic).

The final evaluation for passing the exam is determined by the following scores: 10/30 for part A; 20/30 for part B.

Teaching tools

- Translation of written sources.

- Distribution of photocopies.

- Powerpoint presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Salvatore Cosentino