Aims

This course gives an outline of the geographical and historical settings of the Byzantine world and of the Christian Orient. The student will become familiar with the principal research tools (dictionaries, works of reference, texts, historical atlases, monographs, etc).

Main themes

This course covers the geographical setting of the world of the Byzantine and Christian Orient in its historical evolution from the fourth century A.D. to the modern period. Within this scheme are studied the main historical stages of the relevant regions (Asia Minor and the countries of the Near East) and also the peoples and religious communities.

Content and teaching methods

The course consists of linked modules:
For Byzantium: the period of Justinian (sixth century), the seventh century and the Arab expansion, the eighth century and the iconoclast crisis, the apogee of Empire (ninth to eleventh centuries), the Empire of the Comnena (eleventh to twelfth centuries), the Palaeologan period (thirteenth to fourteenth centuries).
For the Christian Orient: the beginings of Christianity in Eastern countries (third century), unity and schisms (fourth to sixth centuries), national consolidation and coexistance with Islam (seventh century), the time of new conquests: Seljuks, Crusaders, Mongols (eleventh to fifthteenth centuries), Oriental Christianity in the face of the European world (sixteenth to twentieth centuries).

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Prerequisite : Nil.

Other credits in programs