Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
(1) apply their knowledge to the discussion of the relations between Byzantine and Venetian culture during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
(2) develop a dialogue with the social sciences, especially history and art history, on issues related to the cultural relations between the Orthodox East and the Latin West.
Course Content (Syllabus)
The course studies the cultural relations between Byzantium and Venice from its foundation and throughout the life of the Byzantine Empire, as well as the dynamic presence and rich activity of Hellenism in the Empire after 1453. Venice, a foundation of the Byzantine Empire, developed into a major naval and economic power and, from a Byzantine province, came to dominate many of the former Byzantine territories. In its millennial history, the Republic of Venice acquired possessions both on the Italian peninsula and in Greece and was able to dominate the entire Mediterranean in terms of trade, occupying a dominant position between the Orthodox East and the Latin West. The course places particular emphasis on the artistic relations and interactions between Byzantium and Venice. Artistic production in Venice and its region from the early Byzantine period to post-Byzantine times and the Italian Renaissance is studied, and the influence of Byzantine cultural heritage and artistic production before and after 1453 on the local Venetian tradition is traced.
The content of the course is structured in the following 13 teaching units:
1. Introduction - Venice: the chronicle of a maritime state - Its origins, foundation and relations with the Byzantine Empire.
2. The Upper Adriatic in the early Byzantine period: the early Christian communities in Aquileia and its region - From the early Christian art of Aquileia and Ravenna to the medieval Byzantine monuments of Torcello and the Venice lagoon.
3. Byzantium and Venice before 1000: the Empire's relations with its province.
4. The influence of the early Christian art of the monuments of Ravenna on the formation of the local artistic tradition in Venice - The monuments of Torcello and their contribution to the medieval Byzantine artistic heritage: architecture, mosaic and sculptural decoration.
5. Venice and the Crusades - The break and reconciliation with the Byzantine Empire in the 12th century - The Fourth Crusade and the role of Venice - The Latin conquest of the Byzantine Empire and the fall and sack of Constantinople in 1204.
6. The turbulent 13th century - The rise of Venice's power and the expansion of its dominance in Greece - Venice's attempt to gain commercial dominance over other Italian cities and naval powers - Venice's military conflicts and the crisis between East and West - The zenith of Venice's commercial and naval power in the 14th century and its relations with Byzantium.
7. The flourishing of the arts in Renaissance Venice - Interaction with Byzantine culture and relations with Byzantine art - The Basilica of St Mark's: architecture, mosaic decoration, ecclesiastical relics and artistic treasures.
8. Venice in the face of the Ottoman threat (15th century) - The Galentine in a changing world (16th century) - Luxury, decadence and decline (17th-18th century).
9. Art in Venice during the Italian Renaissance and its interaction with the Byzantine and post-Byzantine artistic tradition - Post-Byzantine painters in Venice and the relationship with the local school of painting.
10. The Venice of the Greeks - The host society: Venice as 'un quasi alterum Byzantium' and 'alterae Athenae' - The Greeks in Venice before and after 1453. ): intellectual life, printing, trade, shipping, arts and letters - The Grand Duchess Anna Paleologina Notara - Great Greek figures in Venice - Thomas Flanginis and the Flangini School - The decline and end of the Brotherhood.
11. The question of the religious freedom of the Greek Orthodox in Venice - The construction of the church of St. George in Campo dei Greci: architecture, decoration and ecclesiastical relics.
12. The Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies: Foundation and cultural heritage (library, publications, archives, collection of icons, relics, manuscripts and portraits).
13. Course conclusions - Byzantium and Venice: aspects of the Byzantine monumental and artistic heritage from Aquileia and Ravenna to Venice (5th-15th centuries).