Constantinople: From Rome to Istanbul
COL 128
Spring 2019 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
MDST 128, HIST 230 |
| Certificates: International Relations |
| Course Cluster: Urban Studies, Christianity Studies |
Constantinople was founded by a Roman Emperor Constantine the Great in 330. From there the story gets complicated. Should we account for Constantinople from a Western point of view and call it Roman? Or, should we label it by its Eastern religion and call it Christian? Or, should we see Constantinople's true nature in a transnational Hellenic culture and call it Byzantine? Then, once we have chosen a story to explain the city's nature, how should it end? With the pillaging fourth crusade in 1204, or the Ottoman sack in 1453, or is Constantinople yet alive in modern Istanbul? This course diverges from such narrative frameworks by accounting for Constantinople as, first and foremost, a city. Together we will explore the rich, unevenly distributed, textual and material relics of this medieval metropolis and contribute our finds to a collaborative digital database. Students will draw from this database to craft their own histories, applying both imagination and analysis into a believable and reliable story conveying the diversities and paradoxes of life in The City. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA COL |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (HIST-MN)(HIST)(MDST-MN)(MDST)(MDST-Art/Arch)(MDST-History)(MDST-Lang/Lit)(MDST-Phil/Reli) |
Major Readings:
Procopius, BUILDINGS
THE BOOK OF THE EPARCH
PARASTASEIS SYNTOMAI CHRONIKAI
John Malalas, CHRONICLE
Niketas Choniates, O CITY OF BYZANTIUM
Pierre Gilles, TRAVELS
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Examinations and Assignments:
One midterm examination; six micro-research projects; one self-designed final project. If desired, students will have the opportunity to integrate their course work with Traveler's Lab (travelerslab.research.wesleyan.edu) research projects. |
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