HAVC 154 Byzantine Visual Culture: Politics and Religion in the Empire of Constantinople, 330-1453 A. C

Centered on the capital city of Constantinople (modern Istanbul), the Hellenized and Christianized Roman Empire of the Easter Mediterranean today known as Byzantium played a major, yet often overlooked, role in European history for more than a millennium. This course examines its visual production and relation to politics and religion in court and church ceremonial, expressions of Christian faith, and cultural interactions with Western Europe, Islam, and the Slavic world.