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HU Credits:
2
Degree/Cycle:
1st degree (Bachelor)
Responsible Department:
History
Semester:
1st Semester
Teaching Languages:
Hebrew
Campus:
Mt. Scopus
Course/Module Coordinator:
Dr. Lee Mordechai
Coordinator Office Hours:
Monday, 14:30-15:30
Tuesday, 14:00-15:00
Teaching Staff:
Dr. Lee Mordechai
Course/Module description:
This course examines the Eastern Roman Empire (a.k.a Byzantium) in the Middle East and the Balkans over the period 300-1204. Between these dates, a great deal will happen. The empire will transform several times while other empires will appear and crumble. Christianity and Islam will dominate the area and fragment. We will enter and leave the Dark Ages and experience a renaissance or two. The Crusades will crash onto the scene. At the same time, locals and foreigners will be attracted to the Eastern Roman Empire’s riches, prestige and longevity. Scandinavian immigrants, Muslim rulers and Western European pilgrims will all gape in awe at Constantinople’s wealth and splendor, while East Roman luxury items will reach as far as Spain and India.
Throughout the course we will investigate the Eastern Roman Empire’s social, cultural and political history in light of the current academic debates in the field, and will touch upon religious and economic issues as well. We will examine the empire’s relations with its neighbors in the Latin, Islamic and Slavic worlds. The seminar will also discuss why such a major world empire is so little known outside a small group of specialists.
No former knowledge of the Eastern Roman Empire is required. While some background knowledge of pre-modern European/Middle Eastern history will obviously help, it is not required either.
Course/Module aims:
Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. Identify the major processes, events and figures in East Roman history;
2. Analyze the Eastern Roman Empire in its broad historical context;
3. Recognize some of the main types of written and non-written sources for East Roman history;
4. Develop your ability to write persuasively and communicate effectively;
5. Synthesize primary and secondary sources in independent historical research;
6. Formulate an argument based on source evidence.
Attendance requirements(%):
100
Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:
Lectures and discussion
Course/Module Content:
1. Introduction: Rome, Byzantium and the modern context
2. From Rome to Constantinople
3. An Old-New Empire
4. Justinian
5. The End of Antiquity
6. The Seventh Century
7. The Iconoclast Controversy
8. Expansion and Warfare
9. Court Life in Constantinople
10. Michael Psellos and the Eleventh Century
11. Voices from the Periphery
12. Alexios Komnenos and the First Crusade
13. The Komnenoi and 1204
Required Reading:
Gregory, Timothy E. 2010. A History of Byzantium (2nd edition). Wiley-Blackwell.
Additional primary and secondary sources will be given throughout the course.
Additional Reading Material:
Angold, Michael. 1997. The Byzantine Empire, 1025-1204: A Political History. Longman.
Brown, Peter. 1971. The World of Late Antiquity: From Marcus Aurelius to Muhammad. Thames and Hudson.
Brubaker, Leslie, and John Haldon. 2011. Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, C. 680-850: A History. Cambridge University Press.
Cameron, Averil. 2012. The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity: AD 395-700. Routledge.
Curta, Florin. 2006. Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250. Cambridge University Press.
Haldon, John F. 1990. Byzantium in the Seventh Century: The Transformation of a Culture. Cambridge University Press.
———. 2005a. Byzantium: A History. The History Press.
———. 2005b. The Palgrave Atlas of Byzantine History. Palgrave Macmillan.
———. 2009. The Social History of Byzantium. Chichester, UK; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Kazhdan, Aleksandr P., and Giles Constable. 1982. People and Power in Byzantium : An Introduction to Modern Byzantine Studies. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, Center for Byzantine Studies, Trustees for Harvard University.
Kennedy, Hugh N. 2004. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century. Longman.
Lenski, Noel, ed. 2012. The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine. Cambridge University Press.
Maas, Michael, ed. 2005. The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian. Cambridge University Press.
Magdalino, Paul. 2002. The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180. Cambridge University Press.
Mango, Cyril, ed. 2002. The Oxford History of Byzantium. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mitchell, Stephen. 2014. A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284-641. 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons.
Nicol, Donald M. 1993. The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453. Cambridge University Press.
Stephenson, Paul, ed. 2010. The Byzantine World. Routledge.
Whittow, Mark. 1996. The Making of Byzantium, 600-1025. University of California Press.
Wickham, Chris. 2005. Framing the Early Middle Ages : Europe and the Mediterranean 400-800. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.
———. 2009. The Inheritance of Rome : A History of Europe from 400 to 1000. London: Allen Lane ; New York.
General reference books:
Kazhdan, Aleksandr P., Alice-Mary Talbot, Timothy E. Gregory, and Nancy Patterson Ševčenko, eds. 1991. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. New York: Oxford University Press.
Jeffreys, Elizabeth, John F. Haldon, and Robin Cormack, eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford Handbooks. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.
Shepard, Jonathan, ed. 2008. The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c.500-1492. Cambridge University Press.
Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 20 %
Project work 60 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 15 %
Other 5 %
Office hour visit
Additional information:
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