090077 VO Byzantium and the steppe peoples: an overview from the Huns to the Mongols (4th-15th century) (2022S)

Due to its location at the western terminus of the Eurasian steppe belt, the Byzantine Empire has repeatedly encountered new steppe nomad formations throughout its history: Huns, Avars, Bulgarians, Magyars, Pechenegs and Cumans challenged Byzantine at the Danube border, Seljuk Turks and other Turkish Groups in Asia Minor. Other steppe kingdoms such as the Gök Turks in the 6th-7th century, the Khazars in the 7th-8th century or the Mongols in 13th-14th century, however, proved to be valuable allies. Via the Danube, the Crimea and the Caucasus, Byzantium was also in close economic and cultural contact with the steppe, the effects of which extended to Central Asia and China. These dynamic relations between Constantinople and the steppe peoples are thus not only an essential part of the history of Byzantium, but of entire Eurasia in the Middle Ages.
These developments are considered not only on the basis of written sources, but also through new findings in archeology and climate and environmental history. Similarly, new approaches of anthropology and social theory are discussed to understand the tensions between "nomadic" and "sedentary" societies. The joint reading of original texts (in translation) and research literature as well as rich image and map material is used to give a vivid picture of the role of the Byzantine Empire within the world of the steppe. In addition, the exhibition “Steppe nomads in Europe”, which will take place at the Schallaburg (Lower Austria) from April to November 2022, offers many points of contact and illustrative material.
Within the course, Dr. Ekaterini Mitsiou will teach a unit on the relations between Byzantium and the Mongols.

The course offers an introduction to the history of the relations between Byzantium and Steppe peoples relations in a global perspective as well as into current debates of the Byzantine and medieval history of Europe and Asia.