DRAFT
History 510:207 — replacing “Byzantium: The Last Centuries”
Byzantine Civilization
Sometime 2013-2013, or 2014-2015
Professor Stephen W. Reinert
Email: sreinert@rci.rutgers.edu
Office phone: (848) 932-8234
Campus Address: Van Dyck Hall, 16 Seminary Place, Room #218
Office hours: < to be added >
URL of Course Sakai Site: < to be added >
Course Description
In his taxonomy of human civilizations — his twelve-volume A Study of
History, completed in 1961 — the great British historian Arnold Toynbee ranked the
Byzantine (or “Orthodox Christian”) tradition as one of the twenty-one major
civilizations in the history of mankind. In the judgment of Georg Ostrogorsky,
arguably the most accomplished Byzantinist of the twentieth century, this
civilization emerged “as the integration of Hellenistic culture and the Christian
religion within the Roman imperial framework,” a synthesis which rendered its
chief elements as “Roman political concepts, Greek culture, and the Christian faith.”1
As one of the three framework cultures of the medieval European and
Mediterranean world (i.e., in addition to the Latin West and Arab Islamicate),
Byzantine civilization experienced remarkable longevity — from the early fourth
through mid-fifteenth centuries —, and its influences and rhythms are felt to this
day from the Antarctica to Ethiopia, and even New Brunswick and Highland Park,
New Jersey.
The objective of this course is to introduce students to the major themes of
Byzantine civilization, in the process exploring an array of representative artifacts
(texts, images, sounds, excavations), and assessing the key ways in which Byzantine
civilization impacted neighboring cultures, and its overall importance in the history
of human civilization.
George Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State, translated by Joan Hussey,
foreword by Peter Charanis (New Brunsick: Rutgers University Press, 1957), p. 25.
1
Course Requirements and Grading
This class is organized as two eighty-minute meeting sessions, extending
over fourteen weeks of the semester. Students are expected to attend every class,
having read assigned reading and prepared for assigned projects, and to participate
in class discussions.
Grading will be based on:
(1) 15% - Attendance and participation.
(2) 30% - In class midterm examination. Information about the contents of this
exam will be provided to students approximately a week beforehand,
affording them the opportunity to prepare well for this test.
(3) 30% - In class final examination, to be given during the regularly scheduled
exam period. Information about the contents of this exam will be provided to
students approximately a week beforehand, affording them the opportunity
to prepare well for this test.
(4) 25% - A paper of 10-15 pages on a choice of topics to be assigned. In
writings their papers students should draw upon the assigned readings,
classroom lectures and discussions, and (if appropriate) other relevant
materials. Papers will be due a week before the final exam.
Required Readings
Required books are available for purchase at the Rutgers University Bookstore
(Barnes & Noble). These are starred (*) in the following list. Other readings on this
list will be provided in PDF form, in the class Sakai website.
* Required Books
 Cavallo, Guglielmo, ed. The Byzantines, translated by Thomas Dunlap, Teresa
Lavender Fagan, & Charles Lambert (Chicago, 1997).
 Haldon, John. Byzantium: A History (Stroud, 2000).
 Hull, Denison B., trans. Digenis Akritas: The Two-Blood Border Lord (Athens,
Ohio, 1972).
 Laiou, Angeliki E. and Haguire, Henry. Byzantium: A World Civilization
(Washington D. C., 1992).
 Mango, Cyril. Byzantium: The Empire of New Rome (New York, 1980).
 ______________, ed. The Oxford History of Byzantium (Oxford, 2002).
 Sewter, R. A., trans. Fourteen Byzantine Rulers: The Chronographia of Michael
Psellus (Harmondsworth, 1979).
Required Readings Available on the Class Sakai Website
 Barber, Charles. “Homo Byzantinus?,” in Liz James ed., Women, Men and
Eunuchs: Gender in Byzantium (London-New York, 1997), pp. 185-99.
 Cameron, Averil. “Sacred and Profane Love: Thoughts on Byzantine Gender,”
in Liz James ed., Women, Men and Eunuchs: Gender in Byzantium (LondonNew York, 1997), pp. 1-23.
 Cheynet, Jean-Claud. “Bureaucracy and Aristocracies,” in Elizabeth Jeffreys et
al. edd., The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies (Oxford, 2008), pp. 518-26.
 Geanakoplos, Deno. “Italian Renaissance Thought and Learning and the Role
of the Byzantine Emigré Scholars in Florence, Rome, and Venice: A
Reassessment,” in his Constantinople and the West: Essays on the Late
Byzantine (Palaeologan) and Italian Renaissances and the Byzantine and
Roman Churches (Madison, 1989), pp. 3-37.
 Harris, Jonathan. Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium (London, 2007):
o “Defense,” pp. 40-58;
o “Palaces and Power,” pp. 59-83;
o “Churches and Monasteries,” pp. 84-107.
 James, Liz. “The Role of Women,” in Elizabeth Jeffreys et al. edd., The Oxford
Handbook of Byzantine Studies (Oxford, 2008), pp. 643-51.
 Kolbaba, Tia M. The Byzantine Lists: Errors of the Latins (Urbana-Chicago,
2000):
o “Greeks, Latins, and Religion in the Middle Ages,” pp. 9-22;
o “Contents,” pp. 32-87.
 Louth, Andrew, “Byzantine Theology,” in Elizabeth Jeffreys et al. edd., The
Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies (Oxford, 2008), pp. 699-710.
 Makrides, Ruth. “Families and Kinship,” in Elizabeth Jeffreys et al. edd., The
Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies (Oxford, 2008), pp. 652-660.
 Mango, Cyril. “Byzantium’s Role in World History,” in Elizabeth Jeffreys et al.
edd., The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies (Oxford, 2008), pp. 957-61.
 Markopoulos, Athanasios. “Education,” in Elizabeth Jeffreys et al. edd., The
Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies (Oxford, 2008), pp. 785-95.
 Meyendorff, Jean. “Byzantine Views of Islam,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 18
(1964), pp. 113-32.
 Sevcenko, Ihor. Three Byzantine Literatures: A Layman’s Guide (Brookline,
Mass., 1985).
 Tougher, Shaun F. “Byzantine Eunuchs: An Overview, with Special Reference
to their Creation and Origin,” in Liz James ed., Women, Men and Eunuchs:
Gender in Byzantium (London-New York, 1997), pp. 168-84.
 Vryonis, Speros. “Byzantine Attitudes Towards Islam during the Late Middle
Ages,” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 12 (1971), 263-86.
 __________________. “The Byzantine Legacy and Ottoman Forms,” Dumbarton
Oaks Papers, 23/24 (1969-70), pp. 251-308.
 Weitzmann, Kurt. “The Contribution of the Princeton University Department
of Art and Archaeology to the Study of Byzantine Art,” in Slobodan Curcic and
Archer St. Clair edd., Byzantium at Princeton: Byzantine Art and Archaeology
at Princeton University (Princeton, 1986), pp. 11-30.
Classroom Etiquette and Other Expectations
Students should be in their seats at the time the class begins and should
remain there until the class is over. Laptop computers are permitted only for the
purpose of taking notes; other electronic devices may not be used in the classroom.
A student who expects to miss a class for a compelling reason should use the
University’s absence reporting website (https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/) to indicate
the date and reason for the absence. Your report will automatically be sent to the
instructor via email.
Cheating on tests or plagiarizing materials in your papers deprives you of the
educational benefits of preparing these materials appropriately. It is also personally
dishonest and unfair because it gives you an undeserved advantage over your fellow
students who are graded on the basis of their own work. In this course cheating and
plagiarism will be treated as the serious offenses they are. Suspected cases will be
referred to the Office of Judicial Affairs and will be punished with penalties that are
appropriate to the gravity of the infraction.
Outline of the Course
Week 1
Overviews: Byzantine History & Byzantine Civilization
01 The Remarkable Life of the Byzantine State: late 3rd century - 1453
02 What Was Byzantine Civilization & What Was Its Importance?
Read: Haldon, Byzantium, pp. 15-52 (“Part I — The Last Ancient State”);
Laiou-Maguire, Byzantium, pp. 19-35 (Vryonis, “Byzantine Civilization, a
World Civilization”); Mango, “Byzantium’s Role”.
Week 2
The Byzantine State & Its Expressions of Power
03 The “Emperor of the Romans” & Imperial Ideology
04 Instruments of Rule & Protection: The Bureaucracy, Army & Diplomatic
Service
Read: Cavallo, Byzantines, pp. 230-54 (McCormick, “Emperors”), pp. 197239 (Guillou, “Functionaries”), & pp. 74-95 (Schreiner, “Soldiers”); Haldon,
Byzantium, pp. 75-9 (#4, “The Byzantine State,” ) & pp. 113-30 (#6,
“Byzantine Political Society”).
Week 3
The Imperial Capital — “Queen of Cities”
05 The Secular Fabric
06 The Ecclesiastical Fabric
Read: Harris, “Defence,” “Palaces and Power,” and “Churches and
Monasteries”.
Week 4
Religious Belief
07 The Orthodox Creed & Its Development
08 The World of Byzantine Saints and their Veneration
Read: Cavallo, Byzantines, pp. 255-80 (Mango, “Saints”); Louth, “Byzantine
Theology”; Mango, Oxford History, pp. 96-120 (#3, “New Religion, Old
Culture”).
Week 5
Organized Expression of Religion
09 The Secular Church & Its Calendaring of Life
10 Monks & Monasteries
Read: Cavallo, Byzantines, pp. 172-96 (Von Falkenahusen, “Bishops”);
Haldon, Byzantium, pp. 131-52 (#7, “Church, state and belief”); Mango,
Byzantium: The Empire, pp. 105-24 (#5, “Monasticism”).
Week 6
Structuring of Secular Society
11 “Aristocracy” and “Aristocratic Life”
12 Peasants & Townsfolk
Read: Cavallo, Byzantines, pp. 43-73 (Kazhdan, “The Peasantry”) & pp. 14471 (Oikonomides, “Entrepreneurs”); Cheynet, “Bureaucracy and
Aristocracies”; Haldon, Byzantium, pp. 95-112 (#5, “Life in Town and
Countryside”); Mango, Oxford History, pp. 71-95 (#2, “Life in City and
Country”).
Week 7
Conceptions of Gender & Gender Relations
13 Men and Women
14 The Ungendered (?) – The Eunuchs
Read: Barber, “Homo Byzantinus”; Cameron, “Sacred and Profane Love”;
Cavallo, Byzantines, pp. 117-43 (Talbot, “Women”); James, “Role of Women”;
Tougher, “Byzantine Eunuchs”.
Week 8-9
15
16
17
18
Education & Literature
Hellenistic Pedagogy & Its Byzantine Perpetuation
Patterns and Layers of Byzantine Literature
Focus: Digenes Akritas
Focus: Michael Psellos’ Chonographia & Imperial Portraiture
Read: Cavallo, Byzantines, pp. 95-116 (Browning, “Teachers”); Mango,
Byzantium: The Empire, pp. 125-48 (#6, “Education”) & pp. 233-55 (#13,
“Literature”); Sevcenko, Three Byzantine Literatures; Digenes Akritas, trans.
Hull; Psellos, Chronographia, trans. Sewter.
Week 10
Byzantine Art & Architecture
19 The Place and Functions of Art in Byzantine Life & Culture
20 Field trip to Princeton: The Princeton Art Museum’s Byzantine Collection
Read: Haldon, Byzantium, pp. 153-68 (#8, “Power, art and tradition in
Byzantium”); Laiou-Maguire, Byzantium, pp. 81-118 (Vikan, “Byzantine Art”);
Mango, Byzantium: The Empire, pp. 256-81 (#14, “Art and Architecture”);
Weitzmann, “Contribution of Princeton”.
Week 11
Byzantine Views of “[Some of] The Others”
21 Conceptions of Latins & Latin Christianity
22 Conceptions of Arabs & Islam
Read: Kolbaba, “Greeks, Latins, and Religion,” and “Contents”; Meyendorff,
“Byzantine Views of Islam”; Vryonis, “Byzantine Attitudes Towards Islam”.
Week 12-13 The Diffusion of Byzantine Culture: Four Case Studies
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24
25
26
The Slavs
The “Latins in the Levant”
Renaisssance Italy
The Ottoman Turks
Read: Geanakoplos, “Italian Renaissance Thought”; Laiou-Maguire,
Byzantium, pp. 37-48 (Obolensky, “Byzantium and the Slavic World”); Mango,
Oxford History, pp. 230-47 (#9, “Spreading the Word: Byzantine Missions”)
and pp. 294-305 (#12, “Towards a Franco-Greek Culture”); Vryonis, “The
Byzantine Legacy”.
Week 14
27
28
Byzance après Byzance in New Jersey
The Greek Diaspora & its Culture in Highland Park
The Orthodox Churches of Old Trenton
Read: Field trip itineraries with notes as posted on the class Sakai site.