HISTORY OF BYZANTINE CHRISTIANISM

The course of History of Byzantine Christianity is a teaching of the master's degree of "Sciences of Religions" and the master's degree in "Sciences of antiquity: literatures, history and archaeology". Teaching is also offered for the master's degree course in "History from the Middle Ages to the Contemporary Age" and "History of the arts and conservation of artistic heritage".

The course of History of Byzantine Christianity offers students the training they need to learn how to identify the central themes in the millenary history of Byzantine Christianity, their cultural, literary and artistic stacks and the links with nearby historical realities, the Islamic world and the Latin West.

At the end of the course the students:
will know how to orient themselves in Byzantine religious and ecclesiastical history;
will know the religious and cultural relations between Byzantium and the surrounding worlds;
will be able to identify the central issues in the history of Byzantine Christianity;
know the fundamental terms and concepts of Byzantine Christianity.

Basic knowledge of Byzantine history.

Monastic life and historical realities in late Byzantine hagiography
The late Byzantine age, and especially the 14th century, is characterized by an intense and rich hagiographic production often devoted to the lives of holy monks. This course is devoted to the Life of Niphon, a monk from Vlora in Albania, then in Epirus and finally on Mount Athos. The study of the Life is on the one hand useful as a presentation and illustration of monasticism in Byzantium, while on the other hand it is a tool for the study of the religious centers of the time (Gheromeri, Mount Athos, etc.). The presentation of Niphon's biographical events also provides important information about life in the different regions on the eve of the Ottoman conquest.

Topics:
1. Introduction to the history of Byzantine Christianity; periods; tools.
2. Monasticism and hagiography of the late Byzantine age (13th-14th century).
3. The text: The Life of Niphon.

General overview: A. Laiou - C. Morrisson (ed.), Il Mondo bizantino, Bisanzio e i suoi vicini (1204-1453), Torino, 2013, p. 203-318. See also the parallel survey by A. Rigo - M. Scarpa La Vita di Romylos da Vidin asceta nei Balcani (1310 ca. - 1376/1380) (Subsidia hagiographica, 99), Bruxelles 2022.
Other materials will be uploaded to the moodle.
The text of the Life of Niphon, ed. F. Halkin, Analecta Bollandiana 58, 1940, p. 5-27 will be made available at the beginning of the course. Also useful is the English translation in R. P. H- Greenfield - A.-M. Talbot, Holy Men of Mount Athos (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval library, 40), Cambridge, Mass. - London 2016, p. 569-611.

Oral examination, or 70 % Oral examination; 30 % Presentation or short essay (in the form of a book review) agreed with the professor.

Lessons and short presentations by the students.

Italian

The presence is strongly recommended. Students who do not attend classes should prepare an alternative programme agreed with the professor.

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