Undergraduate Course: Popular unrest, revolts, and rebellions in the Byzantine world (ANHI10116)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Rebellion can be rightfully described as the motor of Byzantine history. A large number of military rebellions and civil wars, as well as numerous popular uprisings in the empire's major cities have marked the period from the fourth up to the fifteenth centuries. In this course we will study the varying nature of these phenomena and their developing role in the functioning of Byzantine society across the centuries. |
| Course description |
Rebellion can be rightfully described as the motor of Byzantine history. Civil wars were one of the main political tools for regime change in the so-called Byzantine empire, while secessionist rebellions threatened the stability and coherence of the imperial system. On the other hand, social unrest and popular uprisings in the major cities of the empire constantly represented the main way through which people of all social strata sought to influence imperial politics and have a say in decision making that shaped their everyday life and well-being. The study of these phenomena pertains to the way the political system of the empire functioned. What from a modern viewpoint seems to be an extraordinary situation that threatens to destroy social order (in particular civil wars) in Byzantine culture was the norm.
In this course, we will examine the politological, socio-political and socio-ideological aspects of these phenomena, seeking to answer several key questions: Why was usurpation the dominant type of rebellion for centuries, and why did it have a conducive role in the endurance of the Roman system of centralized imperial rule? When and why did rebellions of secession replace usurpation as the dominant type, and how did that contribute to the so-called Byzantine empire's downfall? What was the role of different social groups in rebellions and urban uprisings, respectively? How did popular unrest influence imperial politics in the different periods of the empire's history? And how did internal armed conflict impact the life of those that did not have vested interests in the fight?
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should usually have at least 3 courses in Classics related subject matter (at least 2 of which should be in Ancient History) at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework:
4000 word Essay (50%)
Non written skills:
Participation in class (20%)
Presentation in class (30%) |
| Feedback |
Students will receive feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours for this course or by appointment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the social and political dimensions of the phenomena of popular unrest and civil war in one of the most long-lived imperial orders in history.
- Understand the potential and the limits of different social groups' participation in public affairs in Byzantine society that lacked an institutionalized participatory political culture.
- Understand how to differentiate between different forms of uprisings such as urban unrest, peasant revolts, military unrest, and civil wars.
- Understand what challenges the analysis of Byzantine sources (written and material) pose to the modern historian.
- Understand the problems of a Eurocentric approach to history that seeks to either idealize or demonize the image of past cultures.
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Reading List
- Cameron, A.M., Circus Factions Blues and Greens at Rome and Byzantium (Oxford 1976).
- Charanis, P., "The Role of the People in the Political Life of the Byzantine Empire: The Period of the Comneni and the Palaeologi," Byzantine Studies / Etudes Byzantines 5/1-2 (1978), 69-79.
- Garland, Lynda, "Political Power and the Populace in Byzantium Prior to the Fourth Crusade," Byzantinoslavica 53 (1992), 17-52.
- Greatrex, G., "The Emperor, the People and Urban Violence in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries", in Religious Violence in the Ancient World, edited by Jitse H. F. Dijkstra, Christian R. Raschle (Cambridge, 2020), 389-405.
- Gregory, T. E., "Urban Violence in Late Antiquity", in R.T. Marchese (ed.), Aspects of Graeco-Roman Urbanism. Essays on the classical city (Oxford 1983), 138-61.
- Haldon J., and N. Panou, "Tyrannos basileus. Imperial Legitimacy and Usurpation in Early Byzantium", in Evil Lords: Theories and Representations of Tyranny from Antiquity to the Renaissance, ed. by Nikos Panou and Hester Schadee (Oxford, 2018).
- Kaegi, W. E., Byzantine Military Unrest, 471-843: An Interpretation (Amsterdam, 1981)
- Kaldellis, A., The Byzantine Republic. People and Power in New Rome (Cambridge, Mass. 2015).
- Omissi, A., Emperors and Usurpers in the Later Roman Empire: Civil War Panegyric, and the Construction of Legitimacy (Oxford 2018).
- Stouraitis, Yannis, "Civil War in the Christian Empire," in Yannis Stouraitis (ed.), A Companion to the Byzantine Culture of War, ca 300-1204 (Leiden, 2018), 92-123.
- Whitby, M., "The Violence of the Circus Factions", in K. Hopwood (ed.), Organised Crime in Antiquity (London, 1999), 229-253.
- Wright, C., "Constantinople and the Coup d'État in Palaiologan Byzantium", Dumbarton Oaks Papers 70 (2016), 271-292. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- Ability to critically analyse primary sources, written and material.
- Ability to approach critically modern scholarly debates and synthesize different arguments.
- Ability to hold an oral presentation and communicate a coherent argument effectively.
- Ability to engage in dialogue with peers and exchange constructive arguments.
- Ability to produce a clear and coherent argument in written form, demonstrating independent thinking. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Yannis Stouraitis
Tel: (0131 6)50 9110
Email: Yannis.Stouraitis@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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