current semester

Fall 2009 Course Listing

ART 100 Introduction to the History of Art: Ancient to Medieval
Nino Zchomelidse
MW 10 – 10:50 am
  P01 12:30 – 1:20 W
  P02 11 – 11:50 T
  P03 12:20 – 1:20 T
  P04 1:30 – 2:20 T
  P05 2:30 – 3:20 T
  P06 3:30 – 4:20 T
An introduction to art and architecture from Antiquity to the late Middle Ages, including non-Western traditions. The course gives an overview about key monuments and works of art from diverse historical periods, regions, and cultures and introduces to the basic interpretative tools of art historical research as well as to the history of the discipline.

ART 206/HLS 205 Byzantine Art and Architecture
Slobodan Curcic
MW  9 – 9:50 MW
  P01 11 – 11:50 T
  P02  2:30 – 3:20 T
Art and Architecture of the Eastern-Mediterranean and Eastern Europe, from ca   600 to ca. 1500.  The course will focus on the art of the Byzantine empire and its capital, Constantinople, but will also consider its broader sphere of cultural influence (Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Sicily, Venice, Serbia, Bulgaria, Rumania).  The course will examine the major factors which shaped the artistic legacy of  Eastern Christendom during the Middle Ages.

CLG 240/HLS 240   
Introduction to Postclassical Greek from the Late Antique to the Byzantine Era
Janet D. Downie
TTh 1:30 – 2:50
This course will introduce students to the world of post-classical Greek literature. Readings will cover pagan and Christian literary sources – from New Testament writings to the satires of Lucian.  The aim of the course is to improve students’  language skills through close study of selections from a range of Greek authors. There will also be some additional readings in English to fill out our picture of the literary landscape.  The course is open to all interested students with a working knowledge of Greek – classical or koine.

LAT 232 Introduction to Medieval Latin
Janet M. Martin
MW 1:30 – 2:50
Selections from Medieval Latin prose and poetry, with emphasis on Late Antiquity and the Twelfth-Century Renaissance. Special attention to the transmission and reception of the literature and values of classical Antiquity.

NES 220/HIS 220/JDS 220 Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the Middle Ages  
Mark Cohen
MW 1:30 – 2:50
An introduction to the history and culture of the Jews in the Middle Ages (under Islam and Christendom) covering, comparatively, such topics as the relationship between Judaism and the other two religions, interreligioius polemics, political (legal) status, economic role, communal self-government, and cultural developments.

POL 301 Ancient and Medieval Political Theory
Staff
MW 9 – 9:50
  P01 10 – 10:50 W
  P02  - TBA
This course focuses on classical political theory in ancient Greece and its appropriation and development in the Roman, medieval, and Renaissance periods.  It examines Greek democracy, drawing on tragedy, rhetoric and history; the ethics and politics of Plato and Aristotle; and the Roman republican thought of Cicero and Livy.  It considers the influence of Plato on Augustine and More, Aristotle on Aquinas and Marsilius, and Cicero and Livy on Machiavelli.  Topics include nature and convention; democracy, oligarchy and tyranny; church and state;  consent and representation; and virtue, property, and law.

REL 270  Christianity in the Medieval Millennium, c. 476-1453
Staff
MW 1:30 – 1:20
PO1 – TBA
A survey of medieval Christianity, beginning roughly with the fall of Rome and ending approximately with the Ottoman capture of Constantinople in 1453.  This course will comprise lectures and primary source discussions, with the overall goal of illuminating the various ways in which “Christendom” was defined and circumscribed in that thousand years.  This focus on the identity of the church, broadly speaking, will be used as a lens through which to observe and analyze the varieties of practices and beliefs that characterized Christian communities in the Middle Ages.

SPA 221  Introduction to Medieval and Early Modern Spanish Cultures
Marina S. Brownlee 
MW 11 – 12:20
Major developments in Spanish literature and civilization from the Muslim             conquest to Spanish empire.  Beliefs and attitudes underlying the rise of the        Spanish empire and the ways in which the interaction (convivencia) of Christians,    Jews, and Muslims brought about the cultural differentiation of Spain within the             European context.

ART 537/MED 500   Seminar in Medieval Art:  Medieval Images of Visionary Experience
Nino Zchomelidse
T 7 – 9 pm
Course discusses iconographical and theoretical preconditions for the  development of a particularly challenging body of medieval images that range from the visions of Old Testament prophets, to John’s Apocalypse, dreams, and  visionary experiences in the context of female monasticism (Hildegard von  Bingen, Gertrud von Helfta).  Issues covered in this course are:  patristic and medieval theories of vision, devotional practices, gender, and the scientific approach towards vision in the later Middle Ages.

ART 542   Art and Society in Renaissance Italy: Polarities in Medieval and Renaissance Venetian Architecture
Staff
W 1:30 – 4:20
The course will be framed around a series of polarities, through which we explore the ways in which apparent opposites were reconciled in the architectural settings of medieval and Renaissance Venice.  These will include:  Republic and Empire;           Church and State; East and West, Gothic and Classical; Military and Civil; Sound and Space; Architect and Proto; Tradition and Reform; Town and Country;  Nobles and Citizens; Utopia and Reality.  The architecture will be studied as a context for human activity, with special attention to its response to the amphibious site and its ideological meanings.

HIS 542/HLS 542  Problems in Byzantine History:  Byzantium and the Crusades 1096-1204
John F. Haldon
W 1:30 – 4:20
The history of relations between the Byzantine empire and western and central Europe and the papacy in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.  The Byzantine and western church, the cultural relations between Greek east and Latin west, the          changing international economic environment, as well as the changing political and military context and the role of the Turks in the waning Abbasid caliphate will all be considered in the light of the relevant sources, both written and non- written, and the modern literature.

HIS 544  Seminar in Medieval History
William C. Jordan
T 1:30 – 4:20
Reading and research seminar on rural society in the High Middle Ages.

MUS 525  Topics in Music from 1400 to 1600:  Renaissance
Rob C. Wegman
M  9 – 11:50
The MS Specialnik (c. 1480-1510) is a tantalizing, though little-studied, choirbook from Bohemia, containing both local and international repertoire.  We  will study it in this seminar, and take the opportunity to explore relevant issues of historical methodology (palaeography, watermarks, handwriting, codiology, measural theory)
           
SPA 534   Seminar in Medieval Spanish Literature:   Women in Early Spanish Literature
Ronald E. Surtz
T 1:30 – 4:20 
An exploration of the literary treatment of women in medieval and Golden Age Spain. We will consider works written by both male and female authors, thus enabling us to compare the ways in which women saw themselves with the ways in which they were seen by men.  A series of oral reports will focus on the position of women in society, thus allowing a comparison between literary images  and actual social roles. 

See Princeton University course pages for full course details.