History and Culture: Byzantium, Armenia, Georgia

lglor2521  2024-2025  Louvain-la-Neuve

History and Culture: Byzantium, Armenia, Georgia
5.00 credits
30.0 h
Q2

  This biannual learning unit is not being organized in 2024-2025 !

Language
Prerequisites
None
Main themes
The course presents the history of the Byzantine world, of Armenia and of Georgia. A peculiar attention is devoted to the study of the contacts between these three histories.
The course also presents the main characteristics of the Byzantine, Armenian and Georgian cultures, based on the analysis of some of their major outputs: literature, architecture, sculpture, painting, etc.
A peculiar attention is devoted to the study of the contacts between these three traditions and also to the contacts they have with other worlds, such as the Iranian world and the medieval West.
Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

1 follow the main historical dynamics of the Byzantine, Armenian and Georgian worlds;
 
2 have a clear understanding of the links these three worlds have with eachother;
 
3 identify the main characteristics of the cultural outputs of the Byzantine, Armenian and Georgian worlds, and of their specificity as compared to surrounding cultures, including of the medieval West.
 
Content
This course treats cultural phenomena in the eastern Christian region, an area that is very large geographically, very heterogeneous, multilingual and multi-confessional. In function of the year, the themes studied may be:
- the invention of new alphabets in the Christian Orient, their role in cultural and national  shaping;
- the genesis of oriental Christian literatures, and their connection to the Greek tradition;
- the assimilation and separation of oriental civilisations as regards the Greek heritage;
- the problem of the cultural identity of oriental Christianity;
- the Persian influence in the Caucasus;
- international monasteries and cultural exchange in Palestine and in the Black Mountain (Antioch).
Teaching methods
Large extracts of the texts concerned will be read and commented on in the course.
The students will be expected to read the monographs and articles that accompany the course (in French, in English, or, if necessary, in other languages), and to study a specific theme, to be presented both orally and in a written synthesis.
Evaluation methods
Evaluation is continuous. The students are marked on the work of synthesis and its oral presentation.
Bibliography
 Les éléments bibliographiques et les sources textuelles seront distirbuées au cours.
Faculty or entity


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Learning outcomes
Master [120] in Ancient Languages and Literatures: Oriental Studies

Master [60] in Ancient Languages and Literatures : Oriental Studies