93614 - STORIA DEL MEDITERRANEO BIZANTINO E OTTOMANO

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide basic knowledge on the settlement, demography, economy, society, and phenomena of religious interaction and multiculturalism characteristic of the Aegean space between the 13th and 19th centuries. In particular, the course delves into the dynamics that the processes of ethnic and religious coexistence had in the Greek, Latin, Turkish, and Armenian communities living in the Byzantine and Ottoman empires from the Fourth Crusade until the era of the tanzimat (modernisation reforms of the Ottoman Empire). At the end of the course the student is able to know the peculiar model of social organisation provided by the Byzantine and Ottoman world in comparison to the experiences of contemporary Western societies, as well as understand the relevance of the Byzantine and Ottoman legacy to the cultural heritage of Balkan and Mediterranean Europe.

Course contents

The course is divided into two parts: 1) introductory part; 2) monographic part

 

1) Introductory Part (12 hrs.). It aims to provide the student with the basics of the political development of the Ottoman Empire from the end of the 13th century until the abolition of the sultanate (1922). Particular attention will be paid to the analysis of the sultan ideology and the internal organisation of the empire, whose salient feature was the presence of a pronounced multicultural structure of society, generally devoid - until the second half of the 19th century - of strong ethnic-religious conflicts. The links between the Ottoman civilisation and the Mediterranean as well as its relationship to the Western concept of 'modernity' will also be particularly explored.

 

2) Monographic part (18 h): The transformation of a capital city: Constantinople - Kostantiniyye from the 15th to the 16th century. One of the aspects of continuity between the Byzantine and Ottoman worlds can be seen in the privileged role that Constantinople played in both civilisations, the seat of emperors and sultans, the true centre of the world. This section will analyse how the Ottomans adapted the previous urban layout of the capital to their political-religious culture, the populating of the city's districts, demography, as well as the characters of its daily life in the age of Suleiman the Magnificent (1522-1566).

Readings/Bibliography

Introductory Part:

― S. Faroqhi, L’impero ottomano, trad. it. Bologna 2018³ (o edizioni italiane precedenti)

 

Monographic Part:

― R. Mantran, La vita quotidiana a Costantinopoli ai tempi di Solimano il Magnifico, trad. it. Milano 1985.

― S. J. Shaw, L’impero ottomano dopo il 1453, in A. Bombaci, S. J. Shaw, L’impero ottomano, Torino 1981, pp. 369-421.

 

Non-attending students are required to read:

A. Clot, Solimano il Magnifico, trad. it. Milano1986

 

 

Teaching methods

The first part of the course is conceived as a series of traditional lectures in which the teacher will present, with the help of ppt images, the salient developments of the Ottoman Empire from the 13th to the 20th century. The second part, on the other hand, is organised in seminar mode; in this part, an attempt will be made to stimulate students to intervene in the discussion of the subject, especially with regard to the use of historical vocabulary, its concepts, and the types of sources for historical analysis.

 

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

Passing the examination requires an oral test. It consists of an assessment of the notions relating to the introductory part of the course and a discussion of the content relating to the monographic part.

 

The final mark for the examination is determined by the following scores: 12/30 for the introductory part; 18/30 for the monographic one.

Teaching tools

- Translations of sources

- distribution of photocopies

- power-point presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Salvatore Cosentino