Byzantine Italy: Empire, Liturgy and Identity from Ravenna to Sicily

Graduate / Professional

This seminar examines Christian religious practice in medieval Italy as part of the broader Byzantine world, with particular emphasis on sacred institutions and ritual life. From late antique Ravenna and Rome to the medieval Greek monasteries of Salento, Calabria, and Sicily, we explore how liturgy shaped religious identity, social organization, and cultural exchange across the Mediterranean. Our approach to the topic draws on a variety of sources, including hagiography, liturgical manuscripts, and material culture, allowing participants to investigate how Byzantine Christian practices developed in Italy and endured long after the (Eastern) Roman Empire’s political retreat from the peninsula. Particular attention is given to migration, monastic networks, and the lived religious experiences of Christian communities through different political shifts and alongside other communities, including Jewish, Muslim, and Latin Christian. By approaching Italy through the lens of Byzantine religious practice, the course introduces liturgy as a primary historical source for understanding power, community and memory in the medieval Mediterranean, and restores Italy as a dynamic cultural protagonist of early and middle Byzantium. M 1:30pm-3:20pm