Course aims:

- identifying the relation of the History of Byzantium with other theological disciplines and its complementarity with the other disciplines of the historical Theology;
- general study of the major milestones in the History of Byzantium;
- analyzing the principles and methods of the discipline.

Course Entry Requirements:

The Medieval History of the World.

Course contents:

1. The Isaurian Emperors and the iconoclastic crisis. The first phase of iconoclasm.
2. The Isaurian Emperors and the iconoclastic crisis. The second phase of iconoclasm.
3. The Macedonian Dynasty - a new period of progress in the history of Byzantium.
4. The decline of the XI-th century. The Great Schism (1054).
5. The Byzantine Empire during the Comnenes (1081-1204).
6. Byzantium and the first Crusades.
7. Byzantium at the end of the XII-th century and the beginning of the XIII-th century.
8. The Latin Empire from Constantinople and the Greek states successors of the Byzantine Empire.
9. Byzantium in the second half of the XIII-th century and the first half of the XIV-th century.
10. The appearance of the Ottoman Turks. The Byzantine civil wars.
11. Byzantium and the Balkan states confronted with the Ottoman offensive.
12. The anti-Ottoman crusades and their failure. Attempts to religious union with Rome.
13. The fall of Constantinopleand its consequences.
14. Final discussions. Course evaluation.

Teaching methods:

lecture, conversation, exemplification.

Learning outcomes:

- knowledge and appropriate use of specific notions Byzantine history;

- understanding and interpretation of the essential phenomena that customizes the Byzantine Empire among his contemporary political creations;

- the interpretation of the Byzantium phenomenon as a source of understanding of our national history.  

Learning outcomes verification and assessment criteria:

Written paper – 70%; continuous assessment – 30%.

Recommended reading:

OSTROGORSKY Georges, Histoire de l’Etat Byzantin, -, Paris, 1969, -.
RUNCIMAN, Steven, Căderea Constantinopolului, -, Bucureşti, 1991, -.
VASILEV, A.A, Istoria Imperiului Bizantin, -, Iasi, 2010, ---.