Teaching Tuesday: Byzantium

Next semester, alongside my new version of my historical methods class, I’m going to teach Medieval History. Instead of teaching a generic Medieval History class, though, I’ve decided to focus on the Byzantine World. This will allow me to build on a class that I’ve already partly developed and keep closer to my research interest and training.

I’m loosely modeling the class on my Roman History class from last spring. The class will share its lecture/discussion structure and use a series of four to six lectures to scaffold a week- long discussion of a longer primary source. In my Roman History class, this allowed for students to feel more confident reading a primary source and provided the foundation for a more expansive and intensive discussion. The primary source readings will also provide the foundation for three of the major assignments in the class: an outline for a paper (15%), a primary source paper (25%), and a final exam (20%).

The four main primary sources will be:

Eusebius’s Life of ConstantineProcopius, The Secret History Digenes Akritas Anna Komena, The Alexiad, books 1-11.   George Sphrantzes, Chronikon.

The other major assignment will be based on Anthony Kaldellis’s new book: The New Roman Empire (Oxford 2023). Because the book is quite long, students will read and review three of its ten parts (25%). Everyone will read Part 1: A New Empire.

There’s be a paper due at the beginning of the class on the “Fall of the Roman Empire” (15%) that is mainly a diagnostic exercise.

Here’s the basic outline of the class:

Week 1:

Tuesday: Introduction Thursday: City, Empire, and Christianity

Week 2:

Tuesday: Diocletian, Constantine, and Late Antiquity Thursday: Eusebius and the Constantinean System

Week 3:

Tuesday: Kaldellis, Part 1: A New Empire Thursday: Eusebius, Life of Constantine

Week 4:

Tuesday: The Family of Theodosius Thursday: Pagans and Christians

Week 5:

Tuesday: Christology and Early Byzantine Spirituality Thursday: Justinian

Week 6: Procopius, The Secret History.

Week 7:

Tuesday: Heraclius and the Loss of the East Thusday: The Dynasty of Heraclius

Week 8:

Tuesday: Icons and Iconoclasm Thursday: Iconoclasm and the Sources  

Week 9

Tuesday: The Macedonian Dynasty Thursday: Byzantine Culture and Literature 

Week 10: Digenes Akritas

Week 11

Tuesday: The Height of Byzantine Power Thursday: Middle Byzantine Spirituality and Monasticism

Week 12

Tuesday: The Byzantium in Age of the Komnenians Thursday: Byzantium and the West

Week 13

Tuesday: The First Crusade Thursday: The Fourth Crusade

Week 14: Anna Komnena, Books 1-11.

Week 15

Tuesday: The Late Byzantine Revival Thursday: The Intellectual Life of Late Byzantium

Week 16

Tuesday: The Fall of Constantinople Thursday: George Sphrantzes