INTRODUCTION TO BYZANTINE HISTORY

This Course offers an introduction to Byzantine history from the foundation of Constantinople (324 CE) to the Ottoman conquest (1453 CE). We will explore the political, social, institutional, economic and spiritual dimensions of Byzantium, as well as the construction of the imperial Orthodoxy, and the alliance and the collision with the empires and the peoples of the East, and the Western Christians.

The students will:

• acquire a perspective on history of Byzantine empire
• appreciate the impact of the byzantine culture on modern Western world and the societies of east Mediterranean.
• Think critically about the relation between political and ecclesiastical authority and their impact on everyday life
• Read critically the sources of Byzantine history

Week #1: Introduction to Byzantine studies

Week #2: Sources of Byzantine history

Week #3: Constantine the Great and the 4^th c.

Week #4: Theodosius - Justinian

Week #5: The 7^th century Crisis and Revival

Week #6: Iconoclasm

Week #7: The apogee

Week #8: Administrative Disruption

Week #9:  The Komnenian era 

Week #10: Byzantium and the Crusades

Week #11: Nicaea, Epirus, Latinocracy

Week #12: The Palaeologean era

Week #13: Final remarks 

Cameron, Οι Βυζαντινοί, μτφρ. Γ. Τζήμας, επ. επιμ. Η. Γιαρένης, Αθήνα 2009

E. Gregory, A History of Byzantium. Chichester 2010

Ι. Ε. Καραγιαννόπουλος, Το Βυζαντινό Κράτος. Θεσσαλονίκη 2001

Mango, Βυζάντιο. Η αυτοκρατορία της Νέας Ρώμης, μτφρ. Δ. Τσουγκαράκης, Αθήνα 1991

G. Ostrogorsky, Ιστορία του Βυζαντινού κράτους, τ. Α΄ - Γ΄, Αθήνα1993

G.K. Savvidis, B. Hendrickx, Εισαγωγή στη βυζαντινή ιστορία (284-1461), Αθήνα 2011

Treadgold, Βυζάντιο. Επίτομη ιστορία, Θεσσαλονίκη 2008

Αικ. Χριστοφιλοπούλου, Βυζαντινή Ιστορία τ. Α΄-Γ΄. Θεσσαλονίκη 1996-2001

Open lectures

Written exams. Written assignment.