{"id":701,"date":"2021-05-20T17:32:42","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T21:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/fcurta\/?page_id=701"},"modified":"2026-03-19T08:55:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T12:55:44","slug":"euh-3930-weekly-topics","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/fcurta\/euh-3930-weekly-topics\/","title":{"rendered":"EUH 3931 – Weekly topics"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\n

EUH 3931 – Weekly topics<\/h1>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Week 1 (August 23-27): Introduction. Concepts and historiography<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
  • \n

    No medieval historiography of the Jews?<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Read: Johannes Heil, \u201cBeyond history and memory: traces of Jewish historiography in the Middle Ages,\u201d Medieval Jewish Studies online<\/em> 1 (2007-2008), 29-71.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
    • \n

      The myth of the Khazars<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Read: Mikhail Kizilov and Diana Mikhailova. “The Khazar khaganate and the Khazars in European nationalist ideologies and scholarship.” Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi <\/em>14 (2005), 31-54.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
      • \n

        The Ashkenazi Jewry and medieval Eastern Europe<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Read: Paul Wexler,\u00a0 “Yiddish evidence for the Khazar component in the Ashkenazic ethnogenesis.”\u00a0 In The World of the Khazars. New Perspectives. Selected Papers from the Jerusalem 1999 International Khazar Colloquium Hosted by the Ben Zvi Institute<\/em>, edited by Peter B. Golden, Haggai Ben-Shammai and Andr\u00e1s R\u00f3na-Tas, Handbook of Oriental Studies, Central Asia, 17 (Leiden\/Boston: Brill, 2007), pp. 387-98.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

        Week 2 (August 30-September 3): Sources<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
        • \n

          Written sources<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          Read: Osman Karatay, “Addressees of the Genizah Khazar letter: who wrote to whom?” In Studia mediaevalia Europaea et orientalia. Miscellanea in honorem professoris emeriti Victor Spinei oblata<\/em>, edited by George Bilavschi and Dan Aparaschivei (Bucharest: Editura Academiei Rom\u00e2ne, 2018), pp. 155-68.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
          • \n

            Inscriptions<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            Read: [Jews in Roman] Pannonia<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
            • \n

              Archaeology<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

              Read: Asher Ovadiah, \u201cAncient Jewish communities in Macedonia, Thrace and Upper Epirus,\u201d Geri<\/em>\u00f3<\/em>n<\/em> 33 (2015), 211-227.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

              Week 3 (September 6-10): Late antique Jews<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
              • \n

                Written sources<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                Read: Martin Goodman, \u201cJews and Judaism in the Mediterranean diaspora in the late-Roman period: the limitations of evidence.\u201d Journal of Mediterranean Studies<\/em> 4 (1994), no. 2, 208-224.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                • \n

                  Archaeology<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                  Read: Aleksand\u0103r Panaiotov, \u201cThe Jews in the Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire: the evidence from the territory of Bulgaria.\u201d In Negotiating Diaspora. Jewish Strategies in the Roman Empire<\/em>, edited by John M. G. Barclay (London: T & T Clark International, 2004), pp. 38-65.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                  • \n

                    Monday, September 6: Labor Day, no classes<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                    Week 4 (September 13-17): Crimea<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                    • \n

                      Crimea within the Empire<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                      Read: Jonathan Shepard, “\u2019Mists and portals\u2019: the Black Sea’s north coast.” In Byzantine Trade, 4th-12th centuries. The Archaeology of Local, Regional and International Exchange. Papers of the 38th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, St John’s College, University of Oxford, March 2004<\/em>, edited by Marlia Mundell Mango (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009), pp. 421-41.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                      • \n

                        Between 500 and 800<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                        Read: Theophanes <\/em>[Confessor, Chronographia<\/em>]<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                        • \n

                          Jews in medieval Crimea<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                          Read: [letter 97 of Patriarch]\u00a0Photius<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

                          Week 5 (September 20-24): Jewish merchants and trade in the early Middle Ages<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                          • \n

                            Monday, September 20: In-class-assignment #1<\/span>.<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
                          • \n

                            Jewish traders in Eastern Europe<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                            Read\u00a0: [Ibn Khurdadbih on the] Radhanites<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                            • \n

                              The slave trade<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                              Read: Michael Toch, \u201cWas there a Jewish slave trade (or commercial monopoly) in the early Middle Ages?\u201d in Mediterranean Slavery Revisited (500-1800)<\/em>, edited by Stefan Hanss, Juliane Schiel and Claudia Schmid (Z\u00fcrich: Chronos, 2014), pp. 421-444.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

                              Week 6 (September 27-October 1): The Khazar conversion to Judaism<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                              • \n

                                The Khazars<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                Read: Florin Curta, Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500-1300), <\/em>Brill’s Companions to European History, 19 (Leiden\/Boston: Brill, 2019), pp. 128-144.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                • \n

                                  Why Judaism?<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                  Read: [King] Joseph<\/em>\u00a0[on the conversion of the Khazars to Judaism]<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                  • \n

                                    The conversion<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                    Read: J. T. Olsson, \u00a0“Coup d’\u00e9tat, coronation or conversion: some reflections on the adoption of Judaism by the Khazar khaganate.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society <\/em>23 (2013), no. 4, 495-526.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

                                    Week 7 (October 4-8): The archaeology of early medieval Judaism<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                                    • \n

                                      Jews in the land of the Avars?<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                      Read: Radovan Bunard\u017ei\u0107, “\u010celarevo – necropolis and settlement of the VIIIth-IXth century.” In Khazary. Vtoroi Mezhdunarodnyi kollokvium. Tezisy<\/em>, edited by Vladimir Ia. Petrukhin and Artem M. Fedorchuk (Moscow: Institut slavianovedeniia RAN\/Evreiskii Universitet v Moskve, 2002), pp. 19-21.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                      • \n

                                        Wednesday, October 6: In-class assignment #2<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
                                      • \n

                                        Friday, October 8: Homecoming, no classes<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

                                        Week 8 (October 11-15): Jews in early medieval\u00a0Greece<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                                        • \n

                                          Jews in Sparta<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                          Read: [St.]\u00a0Nikon <\/em>[chases the Jews out of Lakedaimon]<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                          • \n

                                            Refugees from the Fatimid caliphate in Egypt<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                            Read: Nicholas Oikonomides, “The Jews of Chios (1049): a group of excusati<\/em>.” Mediterranean Historical Review <\/em>10 (1995), no. 1-2, 218-25.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                            • \n

                                              The silk industry in 12th-century Greece<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                              Read: David Jacoby, “Silk in western Byzantium before the fourth crusade.” Byzantinische Zeitschrift <\/em>84-85 (1991-1992), 452-500.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

                                              Week 9 (October 18-22): Jews in the Balkans in the High Middle Ages\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                                              • \n

                                                Jews in Byzantium<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                Read: Amnon Linder, \u201cThe legal status of Jews in the Byzantine Empire.\u201d In Jews in Byzantium. Dialectics of Minority and Majority Cultures<\/em>, edited by Robert Bonfil, Oded Irshai, Guy Stroumsa and Rina Talgam (Leiden\/Boston: Brill, 2014), pp. 149-217.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                                • \n

                                                  Jews in Bulgaria<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                  Read: Kazimir Popkonstantinov and Rossina Kostova. “Minorities and foreigners in Bulgarian medieval towns in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries: literary and archaeological fragments.” In Segregation, Integration, Assimilation. Religious and Ethnic Groups in the Medieval Towns of Central and Eastern Europe<\/em>, edited by Derek Keene, Bal\u00e1zs Nagy and Katalin G. Szende (London: Routledge, 2016), pp. 133-49.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                                  • \n

                                                    Jews in the Balkans after 1204<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                    Read: David Jacoby, “The Jewish communities in the social fabric of Latin Greece: between segregation and interaction.” In A Companion to Latin Greece<\/em>, edited by Nickiphoros I. Tsougarakis and Peter Lock (Leiden\/Boston: Brill, 2015), pp. 255-287.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

                                                    Week 10 (October 25-29): Jewish travelers to Eastern Europe<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                                                    • \n

                                                      Monday, October 25: In-class assignment #3<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
                                                    • \n

                                                      Ibrahim ibn Yakub<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                      Read: Dmitrii E. Mishin, “Ibrahim ibn-Ya’qub at-Turtushi’s account of the Slavs from the middle of the tenth century.” Annual of Medieval Studies at the CEU <\/em>(1994-1995), 184-99.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                                      • \n

                                                        Benjamin of Tudela<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                        Read: [the part in]\u00a0Sefer <\/em>[ha-massa\u2019ot <\/em>that covers the Balkans]<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

                                                        Week 11 (November 1-5): Jews in Arpadian Hungary<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                                                        • \n

                                                          Laws<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                          Read: Katalin G. Szende, “Traders, \u2018court Jews\u2019, town Jews: the changing roles of Hungary\u2019s Jewish population in the light of royal policy between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries.” In Intricate Interfaith Networks in the Middle Age. Quotidian Jewish-Christian Contacts<\/em>, edited by Ephraim Shoham-Steiner, Studies in the history of daily life (800-1600), 5 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2016), pp. 119-51.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                                          • \n

                                                            The economic and administrative role of the Jews<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                            Read: Nora Berend, “Hungary: the Jews between integration and exclusion.” In The Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages (Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries). Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Speyer, 20-25 October 2002<\/em>, edited by Christoph Cluse, Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 4 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2004), pp. 261-70.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                                            • \n

                                                              Life in Jewish communities<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                              Read: [rabbinical decisions concerning]\u00a0Jews <\/em>[in medieval East Central Europe]<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

                                                              Week 12 (November 8-12): Jews in Rus\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                                                              • \n

                                                                The Jews of Rus\u2019<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                                Read: Isaiah Gruber, “‘The journeys of my soul in this land of Canaan’ by Yitshak ben Sirota.” In Portraits of Medieval Eastern Europe, 900-1400<\/em>, edited by Donald Ostrowski and Christian Raffensperger (Abingdon\/New York: Routledge, 2017), pp. 166-77.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                                                • \n

                                                                  The Jews of the Rus\u2019 literature<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                                  Read: Alexander Pereswetoff-Morath, “A shadow of good spell: on Jews and anti-Judaism in the world and work of Kirill of Turov.” In Kirill of Turov, Bishop, Preacher, and Hymnographer<\/em>, edited by Ingunn Lunde (Bergen: Department of Russian Studies, University of Bergen, 2000), pp. 33-75.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                                                  • \n

                                                                    Friday, November 12: Rus\u2019 translations from Hebrew<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                                    Read: Horace G. Lunt and Moshe Taube. “Early East Slavic translations from Hebrew?” Russian linguistics <\/em>12 (1988), 147-87.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

                                                                    Week 13 (November 15-17): Jews in Poland<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                                                                    • \n

                                                                      Origins of Jews in Poland<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                                      Read: Aleksander Gieysztor, “The beginnings of Jewish settlement in the Polish lands.” In The Jews in Poland<\/em>, edited by Chimen Abramsky, Maciej Jachimczyk and Antony Polonsky (Oxford\/New York: Blackwell, 1986), pp. 15-21.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                                                      • \n

                                                                        Organization of Jewish communities<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                                        Read: Jerzy Wyrozumski, “Jews in medieval Poland.” In The Jews in Old Poland, 1000-1795<\/em>, edited by Antony Polonsky, Jakub Basista and Andrzej Link-Lenczowski (London: Tauris, 1993), pp. 13-22.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                                                        • \n

                                                                          Privileges<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                                          Read: [the Statute of]\u00a0Kalisz<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

                                                                          Week 14 (November 22-24): Jewish migration into East Central Europe\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                                                                          • \n

                                                                            Migrations<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                                            Read:\u00a0Michael Toch, \u201cDemography and migrations,\u201d in The Middle Ages: the Christian World<\/em>, edited by Robert Chazan, The Cambridge History of Judaism, 6 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), pp. 335-356<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                                                            • \n

                                                                              Wednesday, November 24: Thanksgiving break \u2013 no classes<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
                                                                            • \n

                                                                              Friday, November 26: Thanksgiving break \u2013 no classes<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

                                                                              Week 15 (November 29- December 3): Jews in Bohemia<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                                                                              • \n

                                                                                Monday, November 29:\u00a0In-class assignment #4<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
                                                                              • \n

                                                                                The Jews of Bohemia and the First Crusade<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                                                Read: Salomo <\/em>[bar Simson on the Jewish community of Prague]<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                                                                • \n

                                                                                  Organization and privileges<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                                                  Read: Cosmas <\/em>[of Prague on the Jews of Prague]<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

                                                                                  Week 16 (December 6-8): Medieval Jewish culture<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                                                                                  • \n

                                                                                    Manuscripts and written culture<\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                                                    Read: Ji\u0159ina Sedinov\u00e1, “Life and language in Bohemia as reflected in the works of the Prague Jewish school in the 12th and 13th centuries.” In Ibrahim ibn Ya’kub at-Turtushi: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism Meet in East-Central Europe, c. 800-1300 A.D. Proceedings of the International Colloquy, 25-29 April 1994<\/em>, edited by Petr Charv\u00e1t and Ji\u0159\u00ed Proseck\u00fd (Prague: Oriental Institute, 1996), pp. 207-16.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                                                                                    • \n

                                                                                      Art and architecture.\u00a0In-class assignment #5<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                                                                      Read\u00a0: Vivian Mann, \u201cThe artistic culture of Prague Jewry.\u201d In Prague. The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437<\/em>, edited by Barbara Drake Boehm and Ji\u0159\u00ed Fayt (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005), pp. 82-89.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/section>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1133,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"featured_post":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-701","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/fcurta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/fcurta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/fcurta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/fcurta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/fcurta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/fcurta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1911,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/fcurta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/701\/revisions\/1911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/fcurta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}