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 (10 hours).

B) monographic part dedicated to the theme: Magic in Byzantium: the exorcisms. (20)

 

Part A): Introduction to the Byzantine World.

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): Magic in Byzantium: The Exorcisms.

Magic in its essence is the ability to influence the natural forces or the will of men through words, things, formulas or rituals. A socio-religious practice known to all ancient and pre-modern societies, magic lends itself to being studied from multiple points of view and areas. This course will focus mainly on the religious and cultural content of exorcisms, i.e. the formulas of averting with which a person endowed with sacred power is able to drive away an evil power or resolve a negative situation for a given community

 

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 2021.

 

Readings/Bibliography

A) General Part

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.

— G. Cavallo (a cura), L'uomo bizantino, Roma-Bari 1992.

 

B) Monographic Part

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

 

— C. Cupane, “La magia a Bisanzio nel secolo XIV: azione e reazione. Dal Registro del Patriarcato costantinopolitano (1315–1402),” Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 29 (1980) 237–262.

— A. Karivieri, “Magic and Syncretic Religious Culture in the East”, in D. Gwynn, S. Bangert (eds.) Religious Diversity in Late Antiquity (Late Antique Archaeology, 6), Leiden 2010, pp. 401-434.

— A. Pertusi, “Sopravvivenze pagane e pietà religiosa nella società bizantina dell’Italia meridionale”, in Calabria bizantina. Tradizione di pietà e tradizione scrittoria nella Calabria greca medievale, Reggio Calabria 1983, pp. 17-46 (reprinted in id., Scritti sulla Calabria greca medievale, Soveria Mannelli 1994, pp. 191-221).

— Jacob, A., “Un esorcismo inedito contro la grandine tràdito da due codici salentini”, in M. Spedicato (ed.), Segni del tempo. Studi di storia e cultura salentina in onore di Antonio Caloro (Società di Storia Patria-Sezione di Lecce. Quaderni de L’Idomeneo, 3), Lecce 2008, pp. 23-39.

— Jacob, A., “Le rite du καμπανισμός dans les euchologes italo-grecs”, in Mélanges liturgiques offerts au R.P. Dom Bernard Botte, O.S.B., Louvain 1972, pp. 223-44.

— H. J. Magoulias, “The Lives of Byzantine Saints as Sources for the History of Magic in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries A.D.: Sorcery, Relics and Icons,” Byzantion 37 (1967), pp. 228-269.

 

P. S. Non-attending students are requested to read:

— F. Graf, La magia nel mondo antico, trad. it. Roma-Bari 2009 (ed. orig. 1994).

 

Teaching methods

The course is organized as a seminar; during it, the teacher will translate and comment upon some sources (mainly in Greek). Attendance to it is therefore highly recommended.

 

P.S. Foreign students who wish to enroll in the course must have an Italian knowledge of at least level B 2.

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