Culture and Civilization of Byzantium and the Christian East I [ LGLOR1522 ]

None

An introduction to the main guidelines of Christian civilisation in the Caucasus, Syro-Mesopotamia and Persia.

The course serves to introduce the characteristics of oriental Christian communities: literature, the monasteries and their role in culture and the emergence of Christian literature, the different types of monasticism, pilgrimage, saints, transmission of sciences and of ancient heritage. Particular attention is given to important cultural centres, such as Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Edessa, Baghdad as well as monastic centres in Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia.

At the end of this course the student will be able to better understand the principal characteristics of the oriental Christian communities, in the fields of literature, religion, science and arts. He will be able to present orally the results of a research of limited dimension on a specific cultural subject.

Continuous evaluation during the course with a final exam (oral or written) based on the required readings.

The lectures are given for the most part by means of a Power-point. The students will be required to do small class-work exercises of research and/or prepare short presentations (individually or in group) on specific aspects of the themes that have been exposed in the lectures, with a view to leading a discussion.

The course is composed of several modules, each complete in itself. These modules vary from year to year in function both of the current context and the interests of the students, touching, for example, on the following themes:

- the foundation of the Oriental churches;
- the cultural role of the monasteries;
- the phenomenology of Coptic and Syrian monasticism;
- the Stylites;
- the important sites of Oriental pilgrimages;
- Jerusalem and its importance for Byzantine and oriental Christianity;
- Sinai and its role in the preservation and literary transmission of the oriental communities;
- the Deir Suryan monastery in Egypt;
- centres of knowledge in the Orient and in the Caucasus.

Works of reference
- E. Bianchi, K. Ware et G. Khodr, Les richesses de l'Orient Chrétien, Pully, 2000.
- M. Zibawi, Orients chrétiens: entre Byzance et l'Islam, Paris, 1995.

Other bibliography will be supplied during the course.