75994 - Cultural History of Byzantium

Learning outcomes

The course aims at conveying to the student the political and religious conceptions of the Easter Roman empire empire, as well as its social values and the structure of its economic organization. At the end of the course the student it is able to be acquainted to the main historical features of the Byzantine civilization and its close interplay with the Medieval West, the Slavonic world and the Sasanian and Muslim Near East. Moreover, the student is able to assess the role played by Byzantium in the trasmission of classical, Hellenistic, Slavonic and Ottoman tradition to the cultural heritage of modern Europe.

Course contents

The course is articulated into two parts:

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

B) monographic part dedicated to the theme: Athens and the Last Paganism.

 

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 topics concerning political ideology, army, mentality, social values, and economy.

 

Part B): monographic.

Athens was an important city in the history of late antique Hellenism. Being already a cultural centre of great relevance in the Roman Empire between the second to the fourth century, it revived a season of particular vivacity starting from the formation of the Neoplatonic school, in the first third of the fifth century. The School’s activity through the work of its heads, or diadochi (Plutarch, Syrianus, Proclus, Marinus, Isidorus, Zenodotus, Damascius), profoundly shaped the urban historical memory in the last phases of antiquity. All the Athenian ruling class at least until the early fifth century appears strongly influenced by an adherence to the traditions of Hellenism and to the religious practices to which it was traditionally linked. At the same time, what is known about the Athenian episcopate in Late Antiquity seems to characterize it as a socially weak institution with little cultural impact over the city. The course aims at investigating the social and cultural contents of the last paganism in Athens, also in relation to the urban transformations of the city between the late third century to the mid sixth century.

 

N. B. For students who wish to deepen aspects related to the non-literary texts of the Byzantine world, the course is propaedeutic to the seminar in Byzantine Sigillography (40 h.), to be held in the second half of May 2020.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Part A): general.

Mandatory reading of the following texts is required:

— Entry «Byzantine Empire», 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.

Mandatory reading of at least 3 of  the following texts is required:

— F. Trombley, Hellenic Religion and Christianization, ca. 370-529 (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, 115), Leiden / Boston 1993-1994.

— H. Saradi, «Late Paganism and Christianization in Greece», in L. Lavan, M. Mulryan (eds.), The Archaeology of Late Antique Paganism (Late Antique Archaeology, 7), Leiden / Boston 2011, pp. 263-300.

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

— 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.

— 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.

— S. Cosentino, «Aspetti di storia sociale di Atene nel VI sec. d. C.», ivi, pp. 351-364.

 

P. S. For non-attending students the reading of one the following articles is required:

— H. Saradi-Mendelovici,«Christian attitudes towards pagan monuments in Late Antiquity and their legacy in later Byzantine centuries», Dumbarton Oaks Papers 44 (1990), pp. 47-61.

— Ead., The Christianization of pagan temples in the Greek hagigraphical texts, in J. Hahn, S. Emmel, U. Gotter (eds), From Temple to Church. Destruction and Renewal of Local Cultic Topography in Late Antiquity (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, 63), Leiden-Boston 2008, pp. 113-134.

Teaching methods

Lectures.

Attendance to the course is strongly recommended due to the reading and translation of some sources in Greek that will be done during class hours.

Assessment methods

Passing the exam requires a written 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 sources

— distribution of photocopies

— power-point presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Salvatore Cosentino