The Byzantine Empire: History, Culture, Literature 03-F-BE

Medieval Europe can be understood as a history of two separate, although interconnected pillars of civilization, two offshoots of Antiquity: the Latin in the West and the Byzantine in the East, both of which spread its ideas among so-called “barbarians” and both of whom contended with their younger, vigorous and powerful counterpart of Islam. This course is dedicated to the latter – the Byzantine Empire, the only legitimate successor of the Roman Empire, the universal Christian superpower of the Middle Ages, and the direct continuator and promoter of the Greek culture.

1. The Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium): terminology, periodization, territory, spheres of influence.
2. The state, the court, the City: the Byzantine state and its heart.
3. Orthodoxy.
4. Monks, mysticism and hesychasm.
5. Men, women and eunuchs.
6. The Byzantine art.
7. The Byzantine Commonwealth: Byzantium and the cultures that were born under its shadow and care.
8. (Eastern) Romans and the rise of Islam. The Roman and Islam civilizations: rivalry and coexistence.
9. Between Rome and Constantinople: a history of relationships between the two main.
10. Christian patriarchates.
11. The Roman Empire and the West.
12. Day-to-day life of the imperial subjects.