Time and Location
T 1:55-2:45 PM
R 1:55-3:50 PM
CBD 0220
Description
This course is an overview of about 1100 years of Byzantine history. Since it is impossible to get more than a taste of the subject in a semester, we will concentrate on major problems, such as the search for political, economic and religious stability/power, the interaction of secular and religious forces, Byzantium as a multi-ethnic pre-modern society, the role of Byzantium in medieval Europe. Following a chronological order, we will look, each week, at the questions and problems that occupy historians of Byzantium in their attempts to understand this civilization, and at some of the primary sources from which they draw their analysis.
Textbooks
Required
- Timothy E. Gregory, A History of Byzantium. 2nd edition. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010 [hereafter Gregory].
- Jonathan Shepard (ed.), The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c. 500-1492. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009 [hereafter Shepard]; on two-hour reserve in Library West.
- Byzantium. Church, Society, and Civilization Seen Through Contemporary Eyes, ed. and tr. by Deno John Geanakoplos. Chicago/London: Chicago University Press, 1984 [hereafter Geanakoplos]; on two-hour reserve in Library West.
Optional
- Timothy Venning and Jonathan Harris, Chronology of the Byzantine Empire. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
- The Social History of Byzantium, ed. by John Haldon. Chichester/Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009 [hereafter Haldon]; available in electronic format from Library West.
Assignments and grading policy
There is no attendance policy, but you are responsible for attending all lectures and reading the required texts. The basis for evaluation of performance will be a reading journal and five in-class assignments. Below is a detailed description of these assignments and the corresponding percentages of your final grade. Please review the University’s academic honesty guidelines and the Disability Resource Center checklist. Extra-credit work will be accepted only for students with active participation in class discussions. If necessary, I will explain the format of the extra-credit option during regular office hours. You are otherwise encouraged to keep in touch with me by e-mail, if you have any questions: I check my mailbox regularly, and promise to answer quickly.
Reading journal. A quick glimpse at the list of weekly topics (see below) will no doubt convince you that this is a course with serious readings. You will be expected to digest a substantial amount of information in a fairly short period of time. The best way to do this is to keep a journal. Before every class meeting, you will post an e-mail message on my address (on top of this syllabus), in which you will discuss briefly the readings for the coming meeting, ask questions and/or make comments, raise issues that need clarification, etc. All e-mails should arrive at least 15 hours before class meetings .Be sure to keep your postings to a reasonable length (175 to 250 words long). I do not want you to spend too much time on them, but I expect you to give me an articulate presentation of your thoughts. Needless to say, I also expect you to check on correct grammar and spelling before clicking on “Send.” Because the journal is designed to demonstrate your efforts towards an initial understanding of the readings (especially those from your Gregory and Shepard books), I must have in time one report for each class meeting, every week (except, of course, for the days without classes or otherwise indicated as without readings). The reading journal represents seventy percent of your final grade, 2.69 percent for each entry. I will send written feed-back (via e-mail) on weekly entries midway through the term. Evaluation of your journal entries will take into consideration composition, grammar, and punctuation. Reading reports cannot be made up; you simply need to have a journal entry for every class meeting. Be aware that missed reports may result in a substantially lower grade.
In-class assignments. The remaining thirty percent of your final grade will be based on five short assignments in class. All five will consist of multiple-choice, map, matching, short-essay questions, or a combination thereof. Besides material covered in class lectures, these in-class assignments will focus primarily on primary source readings from your Geanakoplos book. A careful study of these texts is necessary for a good performance at the test. Because in-class assignments are announced, I do not intend to grant any make-ups, except for emergencies (e.g., illness), in which case I may ask for official justification.
Grades. The following scale will be used in determining your final grade
| Points | Grade |
| 97-100 | A |
| 93-96 | A- |
| 88-92 | B+ |
| 81-87 | B |
| 75-80 | B- |
| 68-74 | C+ |
| 61-67 | C |
| 55-60 | C- |
| 48-54 | D+ |
| 41-47 | D |
| 35-40 | D- |
| under 30 | E |