75994 - Cultural History of Byzantium

Learning outcomes

The course aims at conveying to the student the political and religious conceptions, values and modes of social behaviour, as well as the organisation of material life in the Eastern Roman Empire. By the end of the course the student is able to know the historical constituent features of Byzantine civilisation and its close relationship with the societies of the medieval West, Orthodox Slavia and the Sasanian and Muslim Near East. The student is also able to assess the role played by Byzantium in the process of transmitting the traditions of classical and Hellenistic antiquity, as well as Slavonic and Ottoman traditions, into the cultural heritage of modern Europe.

Course contents

The course is divided into two parts: 1) Introductory part; 2) Monographic part

 

1) Introductory part (12 hrs.): Introduction to Byzantine history.

This part of the course consists of an introduction to the Byzantine world. Being conceived as a preparatory unit to the contents of the monographic part, in it the lecturer will focus on the salient aspects of the political, cultural, and social evolution of the Byzantine Empire from the 4th to the 15th century.

 

2) Monographic part (18 hrs): The Iconoclasts and the obliteration of their memory

The course will address the topic of iconoclasm, or the prohibition of the worship of sacred images imposed by the Byzantine emperors in two different periods of history in the 8th and 9th centuries (726ca.-787; 815-843). The promulgation of the imperial theology raised strong opposition from sectors of Byzantine society, against the backdrop of a Mediterranean world that had changed profoundly due to Muslim expansionism. Although in common opinion 'iconoclast' denotes an attitude of intransigent and fanatical repression of the opinions of other people, it should be noted that the victors in this religious dispute, the 'iconodules' (the supporters of the legitimacy of the cult of sacred images) adopted towards the vanquished (the 'iconoclasts'), a similar propensity to erase their memory. For this reason, the course will focus on the study of the very few written sources that provide us with an insight into the views of those who opposed sacred images, attempting to understand the profound link between past and present that influenced their theology.

 

Readings/Bibliography

1) Introductory part

Reading is required of:

― Warren Treadgold, Storia di Bisanzio, trad. it. Bologna 2005 (ed. orig. 2001).

 

P.S. Non-attending students are also required to read:

― L’uomo bizantino, a cura di Guglielmo Cavallo, Roma -Bari 1992.

 

2) Monographic part:

― Gilbert Dagron, L’iconoclasmo e la nascita dell’Ortodossia (726-847), in Storia del Cristianesimo, 4. Vescovi, monaci e imperatore (610-1054), a cura di G. Cracco, trad. it. Roma 1999 (ed. orig. 1993), pp. 108-181.

― Marie-France Auzépy, Controversia delle immagini e produzione di testi, in Lo spazio letterario del medioevo. 3, Le culture circostanti, I. La cultura bizantina, a cura di G. Cavallo, Roma 2004, pp. 149-182.

― Leslie Brubaker, L’invenzione dell’iconoclasmo bizantino, trad. a cura di Maria Cristina Carile, Roma 2012 (ed. orig. 2012).

Teaching methods

The first part of the course is designed as a series of traditional lectures in which the lecturer will present, with the aid of PowerPoint images, the salient developments of the Byzantine Empire from the foundation of Constantinople to its conquest by the Ottomans. The second part, on the other hand, is organised in seminar mode; in it the lecturer will read and translate documents in the original language, trying to stimulate students towards an understanding (and discussion) of the methodological and terminological aspects of historical research.

 

P.S. Foreign students wishing to follow the course are required to have a knowledge of Italian of at least level B 2.

Assessment methods

An oral test is required to pass the examination.


This consists of an assessment of the knowledge of part A of the course (general) and a discussion of the content of part B (monographic).


The final mark of the exam is determined by the following scores: 12/30 for part A) general of the course; 18/30 for part B) monographic of the course.

Teaching tools

— Translation of sources

— distribution of photocopies

— power-point presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Salvatore Cosentino