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

Title of the course: Byzantium and the Mediterranean: the space of a paradox.

Even in times of more severe political, military and economic crisis, the Eastern Roman Empire extended along a coastline of more than 20,000 km. Its being a Mediterranean society, however, presents the characters of a paradox. Byzantine mentality fostered strong prejudices against the sea, as stressed by many sources; at the same time, the sea was an important vector of economic activity, as well as cultural and technological transmission. Not much space is reserved, in current narratives on Byzantium, to its maritime and Mediterranean identity, being such characters almost always coinceived as 'ancillary' to its true continental Anatolian and Balkan identity,. The course aims at exploring the social, economic and cultural space of this apparent paradox. It will try to do this by approaching the history of the Mediterranean over a long-durée perspective stretching from the early forms of civilization of the 'Great Sea' to the Byzantine age, which will be the focus of the course. Highlights will be the function of insularity as a cultural, economic and social connector with continental societies and the sea as a space for social, economic and religious interaction.

Readings/Bibliography

Introductory book:

- W. T. Treadgold, Storia di Bisanzio, trad. it. Bologna 2005

Bibliography on the subject:

- D. Abulafia, The Great Sea, Cambridge 2010, I, II, III parts.

- S. Cosentino, Mentality, Technology and Commerce: Shipping amongst the Mediterranean Islands in Late Antiquity and Beyond, in D. Michaelides, Ph. Pergola, E. Zanini (eds.), The Insular System of the Early Byzantine Mediterranean. Archaeology and History, Oxford 2013 (Bar International Series, 2523), pp. 65-76.

- S. Guarracino, Mediterraneo. Immagini, storie e teorie da Omero a Braudel, Milano 2007.

 

Programme for students not attending the class:

In addition to the above mentioned works, the following essay is required:

G. Cavallo (ed.), L'uomo bizantino, Roma - Bari 1992, cap. VI (pp. 211-251).

Teaching methods

Lectures

Assessment methods

Paperwork (15-20 pages) concerning the topic of the course to be discussed with the teacher.

 

Teaching tools

Reading, translation and commentary of written sources. The latter will be integrated with visual sources through powerpoint presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Salvatore Cosentino