Universität Wien
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090026 VO Between Heaven and Earth (2024W)

An introduction to the environmental and climate history of the Byzantine Empire

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 9 - Altertumswissenschaften
Moodle

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Details

Language: German

Examination dates

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Friday 04.10. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 32 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Friday 11.10. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 32 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Friday 18.10. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 32 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Friday 25.10. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 32 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Friday 08.11. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 32 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Friday 15.11. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 32 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Friday 22.11. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 32 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Friday 29.11. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 32 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Friday 06.12. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 32 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Friday 13.12. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 32 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Friday 10.01. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 32 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Friday 17.01. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 32 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9
  • Friday 24.01. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 32 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 9

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The ecological and climatic conditions of the eastern Mediterranean determined the living conditions of the people in the Byzantine Empire, wose majority were active in agriculture. Research in recent years has been able to reconstruct how these parameters were often subject to short-term and dramatic changes.
The course not only looks at the results of this research, but also at the Byzantines' perceptions and assumptions about nature, which are often anchored in ancient literature. It becomes clear that Byzantine "meteorology", for example, not only recorded phenomena that we associate with the weather today, but also astronomical and other celestial phenomena, which were also often interpreted in moral or religious terms. The reading of ancient and medieval texts is linked in the course with the discussion of the ever-growing data sets from archaeology and the natural sciences (paleobotany, archaeozoology, archaeogeology, paleoclimatology, paleogenetics) and the methodology underlying them, as well as the theories of environmental history and social ecology.
On this basis, on the one hand, the continuity and dynamics of the Byzantine environment, also with regard to extreme events (droughts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, epidemics), between antiquity and modern times are explored. On the other hand, students are provided with the basics for own work on environmental and climate history issues.

Assessment and permitted materials

Final exam (100%).

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

No previous knowledge is required, but knowledge of Greek and/or Latin is welcome.

Examination topics

The content taught in the course and through the accompanying reading material.

Reading list

Introductory literature
(source texts and relevant studies are continuously made available via Moodle)
Henriette Baron und Falko Daim (eds.), A Most Pleasant Scene and an Inexhaustible Resource. Steps Towards a Byzantine Environmental History. Mainz 2018.
Adam Izdebski, Ein vormoderner Staat als sozio-ökologisches System. Das oströmische Reich 300-1300 n.Chr. Dresden 2022.
Adam Izdebski and Johannes Preiser-Kapeller (eds.), A Companion to the Environmental History of Byzantium. Leiden - Boston 2024.
Johannes Koder, Der Lebensraum der Byzantiner. Historisch-geographischer Abriss ihres mittelalterlichen Staates im östlichen Mittelmeerraum. Vienna 2001.
Henriette Kroll, Tiere im Byzantinischen Reich. Archäozoologische Forschungen im Überblick. Mainz 2010.
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Bodenkunde und Bodenbearbeitung in der griechisch-römischen Antike, in: Handbuch der Bodenkunde (Wiley Online Library, 2024)
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Der Lange Sommer und die Kleine Eiszeit. Klima, Pandemien und der Wandel der Alten Welt von 500 bis 1500 n. Chr. Vienna 2021.
Anna Elena Reuter, Einheit in der Vielfalt? Zur Kulturpflanzennutzung im Byzantinischen Reich unter besonderer Berücksichtigung archäobotanischer Untersuchungen in Caricin Grad (Justiniana Prima). Mainz 2023.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 13.01.2025 17:45