Module Information

The Age of Justinian was the crossroads between the Ancient Roman and early medieval Byzantine, Slavic and Islamic worlds in the eastern Mediterranean. The survival of a flourishing Eastern Roman empire centred on Constantinople, ruled for nearly 40 years by the emperor Justinian, has, nevertheless, been neglected by comparison with the demise of the Western Roman empire in the 5th c. This module will introduce students to a rich tapestry of textual, material and visual sources, especially contemporary histories, which cast light on the endurance of Roman political power in the 6th c.-East. Students will explore a series of bloody conquests and wars, as well as the fusion of Classical and Christian cultures in political and artistic achievements. They will ask whether these developments beyond and within the empire’s frontiers were ultimately sustainable or whether they provoked the final collapse of the ancient world in the 7th c.

Weekly 2-hour seminars
1. Introduction to the Eastern Roman Empire, 284-641.
2. Procopius’s works: approaches and methodologies.
3. Roman-Persian wars and diplomacy.
4. The re-conquest of the West: Gothic and Vandal wars.
5. Barbarian invasions and imperial responses in the Balkans.
6. Imperial ideology, social reforms and court intrigues.
7. An Orthodox Christian Empire? Theology and church politics.
8. Administrative reform and the decline of the Classical city.
9. Boom and bust. Economy, society and the impact of the plague.
10. Circus factions, rioting and aristocratic discontent.

1. To introduce an eastern/Byzantine subject area within the MA in Medieval Britain and Europe.
2. To introduce students to topics that they may want to pursue further in their MA dissertations or doctoral research.
3. To provide students with a good understanding of Late Roman and Early Medieval history in the 6th c.-eastern Mediterranean.
4. To make students aware of the wider historical and historiographical significance of this period.
5. To develop students’ ability to interpret critically primary textual sources using literary analysis and, where possible, comparative material and visual evidence.

This module will explore the international relations and political, cultural and socio-economic history of the Eastern Roman empire in the sixth century. It will seek to explain the causes and outcomes of a range of major wars and political changes: the Roman-Persian struggle for power in the East, the East Roman re-conquest of Italy and Africa, and Avar and Slav invasions of the Balkans. In particular, students will be encouraged to ask how far these conflicts were influenced by Justinian’s imperial political ideology and domestic reforms, social and political reactions to his regime, major economic change and the world’s first bubonic plague. Students will analyse a range of contemporary historical works, especially Procopius’ histories, and how archaeological and visual evidence can cast new light on this textual evidence.