History and Culture in Central and Eastern Europe (390-0-1)

Topic

Slavs and Byzantium: Quarreling Families

Instructors

Sergey A. Ivanov

Meeting Info

University Library 3370: Wed 2:00PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

The history of Slavic relations with Byzantium spans a thousand years: in the fifth century CE, the Slavs first appear on the pages of Byzantine history. And in the fifteenth century CE, Byzantium disappears from the pages of history — yet the Slavs continued to remember it dearly. We will attempt to view this more-than-thousand-year history from multiple perspectives: linguistic, ideological, political, religious, military, economic, and literary. Why is the most revered religious icon in Catholic Poland of Byzantine origin? Why were the Greek brothers Cyril and Methodius, creators of the Slavic alphabet, venerated throughout the Slavic world — yet remained virtually unknown in Byzantium itself? How was the Bulgarian tsar Simeon at once Byzantium's fiercest enemy and its most fervent admirer? Why do Serbs still use a Greek loanword for a soft-boiled egg? In what respects the first coin minted by the Kyivan Prince Volodymir resemble Byzantine coinage? Why did Vladimir Putin declare that Byzantium is the spiritual cradle of Russia?

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
Historical Studies Distro Area
Interdisciplinary Distro-rules apply