The aim of the course is to give essential and precise diachronic and geographic coordinates, along with clear introductory elements of evenemential history, on the long, coherent and manifold civil and cultural life of Byzantium.
teacher profile teaching materials
The Byzantine Civilisation module for the Bachelor of Arts degree, aimed at students of Literature but also of Archaeology and Art History, as well as History, Territory and Global Society, aims first of all to answer the question what is Byzantium? What is the purpose of studying Byzantium? How is the study of Byzantium important? And why is it so not only for those interested in Byzantium as such, but also for those who are training in disciplines such as classical philology or Christianity, archaeology or art history - ancient, medieval and modern - and of course history tout court - ancient, medieval, modern, contemporary - as well as the history of religions or that of philosophical thought?
In the first lessons, the diachronic and geographical coordinates of the Byzantine world will be provided. The course will address the main cornerstones of the eventual history of the Eastern Empire. In particular, two primary elements will be emphasised, namely: (1) the role of Byzantium in the perpetuation of the forms of literature, art, study and thought that constitute what we now consider ‘our’ Western European civilisation; (2) the function of the city of Constantinople, located on the border between Europe and Asia, between ‘warm seas’ and ‘cold seas’, and in general the Byzantine world, as a centre of irradiation, convergence, encounter and exchange between civilisations.
The course will then include a number of monographic lectures on crucial contributions to Byzantine civilisation: (1) Byzantine Platonism, with particular attention to the figures of Hypatia of Alexandria and Synesius of Cyrene and their Nachleben. (2) Iconoclasm, the theory of the image and the philosophical substratum of the theology of the Byzantine icon; its development in the Slavic world, leading, in early 20th century Russia, to the birth of abstractionism. (3) The Polis: the Byzantine monuments of Constantinople and the long stream of literary testimonies that from the 6th to the 21st century never cease to describe them. (4) The culminating event in the history of the millennial empire: the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
To conclude the course, presumably at the end of April, if the political circumstances in the Middle East permit, students will be offered an educational trip to Istanbul, organised in collaboration with Koç University, the Italian Cultural Institute and other official institutions in the Turkish capital. The main purpose of the stay will be to visit the main Byzantine monuments of the Polis and to present on site to the participants various elements illustrated during the lessons, as well as to offer them the opportunity to interact with their Turkish university colleagues.
Some reviews (in alphabetical order):
• Bizantinistica (Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Slavi)
• Bollettino della Badia Greca di Grottaferrata
• Byzantina Symmeikta
• Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies
• Byzantine Review
• Byzantinische Zeitschrift
• Byzantinoslavica
• Byzantion
• Byzantion Nea Hellás
• Dumbarton Oaks Papers
• Estudios Bizantinos
• Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies
• Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik
• Journal of Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies
• Medioevo Greco
• Nea Rhome
• Orientalia Christiana Periodica
• Parekbolai
• Revue des Études Byzantines
• Rivista di Letteratura Comparata Italiana, Bizantina e Neoellenica
• Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neollenici
• Scandinavian Journal of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies
• Vizantijskij Vremennik
• Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta
Some links:
• www.academia.edu
• https://aiebnet.gr/fr/page-daccueil/
• https://biblioteca.orientale.it/
• http://www.byzantium1200.com/
• http://www.doaks.org/
• https://istanbulcitywalls.ku.edu.tr/en/
• http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/
• http://www.scuolavaticanapaleografia.va/content/scuolavaticanapaleografia/it/didattica/corso-annuale-di-paleografia-greca-.html
• http://www.studibizantini.it/
- S. Ronchey, Lo Stato Bizantino, Torino, Einaudi Tascabili, 2002
- S. Ronchey, Bisanzio fino alla quarta crociata, in A. Barbero e S. Carocci (a cura di), Storia d'Europa e del Mediterraneo, vol. VIII, Roma, Salerno, 2006, pp. 215-255
Mutuazione: 20710261 CIVILTA' BIZANTINA I in Lettere L-10 R RONCHEY SILVIA
Programme
Sailing to Byzantium. Introduction to the Byzantine civilisation (“And therefore I have sailed the seas and come / To the holy city of Byzantium”, William Butler Yeats)The Byzantine Civilisation module for the Bachelor of Arts degree, aimed at students of Literature but also of Archaeology and Art History, as well as History, Territory and Global Society, aims first of all to answer the question what is Byzantium? What is the purpose of studying Byzantium? How is the study of Byzantium important? And why is it so not only for those interested in Byzantium as such, but also for those who are training in disciplines such as classical philology or Christianity, archaeology or art history - ancient, medieval and modern - and of course history tout court - ancient, medieval, modern, contemporary - as well as the history of religions or that of philosophical thought?
In the first lessons, the diachronic and geographical coordinates of the Byzantine world will be provided. The course will address the main cornerstones of the eventual history of the Eastern Empire. In particular, two primary elements will be emphasised, namely: (1) the role of Byzantium in the perpetuation of the forms of literature, art, study and thought that constitute what we now consider ‘our’ Western European civilisation; (2) the function of the city of Constantinople, located on the border between Europe and Asia, between ‘warm seas’ and ‘cold seas’, and in general the Byzantine world, as a centre of irradiation, convergence, encounter and exchange between civilisations.
The course will then include a number of monographic lectures on crucial contributions to Byzantine civilisation: (1) Byzantine Platonism, with particular attention to the figures of Hypatia of Alexandria and Synesius of Cyrene and their Nachleben. (2) Iconoclasm, the theory of the image and the philosophical substratum of the theology of the Byzantine icon; its development in the Slavic world, leading, in early 20th century Russia, to the birth of abstractionism. (3) The Polis: the Byzantine monuments of Constantinople and the long stream of literary testimonies that from the 6th to the 21st century never cease to describe them. (4) The culminating event in the history of the millennial empire: the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
To conclude the course, presumably at the end of April, if the political circumstances in the Middle East permit, students will be offered an educational trip to Istanbul, organised in collaboration with Koç University, the Italian Cultural Institute and other official institutions in the Turkish capital. The main purpose of the stay will be to visit the main Byzantine monuments of the Polis and to present on site to the participants various elements illustrated during the lessons, as well as to offer them the opportunity to interact with their Turkish university colleagues.
Some reviews (in alphabetical order):
• Bizantinistica (Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Slavi)
• Bollettino della Badia Greca di Grottaferrata
• Byzantina Symmeikta
• Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies
• Byzantine Review
• Byzantinische Zeitschrift
• Byzantinoslavica
• Byzantion
• Byzantion Nea Hellás
• Dumbarton Oaks Papers
• Estudios Bizantinos
• Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies
• Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik
• Journal of Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies
• Medioevo Greco
• Nea Rhome
• Orientalia Christiana Periodica
• Parekbolai
• Revue des Études Byzantines
• Rivista di Letteratura Comparata Italiana, Bizantina e Neoellenica
• Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neollenici
• Scandinavian Journal of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies
• Vizantijskij Vremennik
• Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta
Some links:
• www.academia.edu
• https://aiebnet.gr/fr/page-daccueil/
• https://biblioteca.orientale.it/
• http://www.byzantium1200.com/
• http://www.doaks.org/
• https://istanbulcitywalls.ku.edu.tr/en/
• http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/
• http://www.scuolavaticanapaleografia.va/content/scuolavaticanapaleografia/it/didattica/corso-annuale-di-paleografia-greca-.html
• http://www.studibizantini.it/
Core Documentation
MANDATORY TEXTS- S. Ronchey, Lo Stato Bizantino, Torino, Einaudi Tascabili, 2002
- S. Ronchey, Bisanzio fino alla quarta crociata, in A. Barbero e S. Carocci (a cura di), Storia d'Europa e del Mediterraneo, vol. VIII, Roma, Salerno, 2006, pp. 215-255
Attendance
OptionalType of evaluation
Oral exam