teacher profile teaching materials
Firstly, this module shall deal with a topographical investigation of Constantinople, based on literary and figurative attestations that Byzantine writers and especially foreign travellers of the 14th and the 15th century offer on the city’s monuments, neighborhoods’ organizations and location and on the defensive structure, which includes but it is not limited to the great Theodosian walls.
Secondly, it shall reconstruct the final phases of the siege as well as the final battle.
Then, it shall unbiasedly analyse what was, contrary to popular belief, a not-so-predictable Turkish victory, which was the consequence of a superiority both numerical and of the military means or, with the words of Braudel, of the voluntary ‘will to fall’ of a politically exhausted Byzantium. On the contrary, the battle outcomes was unpredictable until the end, and what happened at last left speecheless and disoriented political observers from all around the world.
- A. Pertusi (a c. di), La caduta di Costantinopoli, 2 voll., Fondazione Lorenzo Valla / Mondadori, Milano 1976
Programme
This section of the Byzantine Civilization teaching, addressed to graduate students of History and Art, Archaeology, and Religious Sciences, aims to investigate the reasons behind the fall of Constantinople and the way in which it fell in the hands of the Osman Turks, along with the direct and indirect consequences brought by this fall to the history of the Mediterranean civilization.Firstly, this module shall deal with a topographical investigation of Constantinople, based on literary and figurative attestations that Byzantine writers and especially foreign travellers of the 14th and the 15th century offer on the city’s monuments, neighborhoods’ organizations and location and on the defensive structure, which includes but it is not limited to the great Theodosian walls.
Secondly, it shall reconstruct the final phases of the siege as well as the final battle.
Then, it shall unbiasedly analyse what was, contrary to popular belief, a not-so-predictable Turkish victory, which was the consequence of a superiority both numerical and of the military means or, with the words of Braudel, of the voluntary ‘will to fall’ of a politically exhausted Byzantium. On the contrary, the battle outcomes was unpredictable until the end, and what happened at last left speecheless and disoriented political observers from all around the world.
Core Documentation
- S. Ronchey, Lo Stato bizantino, Torino, Einaudi, 2002- A. Pertusi (a c. di), La caduta di Costantinopoli, 2 voll., Fondazione Lorenzo Valla / Mondadori, Milano 1976
Reference Bibliography
- G. Ostrogorsky, Storia dell’impero bizantino, Einaudi Tascabili 2005 - S. Runciman, Gli ultimi giorni di Costantinopoli (trad. it.), Piemme, Casale Monferrato, 1997 - AA.VV., Il mondo bizantino. III: L’Impero greco (1204-1453), a c. di A. Laiou e C. Morrisson, edizione italiana a c. di S. Ronchey e T. Braccini, Torino, Einaudi, 2013 [chapters to be chosen together with the Professor] - P. Schreiner, Costantinopoli, metropoli dai mille volti, Roma, Salerno, 2009 - S. Ronchey – T. Braccini, Il romanzo di Costantinopoli. Guida letteraria alla Roma d’Oriente, Torino, Einaudi, 2010 [chapters to be chosen together with the Professor] - A. Pertusi, Fine di Bisanzio e fine del mondo. Significato e ruolo storico delle profezie sulla caduta di Costantinopoli in Oriente e in Occidente. Edizione postuma a c. di E. Morini, Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, Roma 1988 - S. Ronchey, Malatesta/Paleologhi. Un’alleanza dinastica per rifondare Bisanzio nel quindicesimo secolo, “Byzantinische Zeitschrift” 93 (2000), ii, pp. 521-567Type of delivery of the course
OnlineAttendance
OnlineType of evaluation
Oral exam