93614 - STORIA DEL MEDITERRANEO BIZANTINO E OTTOMANO

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide basic knowledge on the settlement, demography, economy, society, and phenomena of religious interaction and multiculturalism characteristic of the Aegean space between the 13th and 19th centuries. In particular, the course delves into the dynamics that the processes of ethnic and religious coexistence had in the Greek, Latin, Turkish, and Armenian communities living in the Byzantine and Ottoman empires from the Fourth Crusade until the era of the tanzimat (modernisation reforms of the Ottoman Empire). At the end of the course the student is able to know the peculiar model of social organisation provided by the Byzantine and Ottoman world in comparison to the experiences of contemporary Western societies, as well as understand the relevance of the Byzantine and Ottoman legacy to the cultural heritage of Balkan and Mediterranean Europe.

Course contents

Course topic: The nearly decade that changed Europe and the Ottoman Empire: the Greek Epanastasis (Revolution), 1821-1830.

 

Against all expectations, the uprising of the Greek population that erupted in the Peloponnese in 1821 concluded with success for the insurgents, aided by the support of Great Britain, France, and Russia. This resulted, following the London Protocol of February 3, 1830, in the creation of the first territorial nucleus of an independent Greek state. The analysis of the Greek revolutionary movement will be preceded by a general historical overview addressing three fundamental points: 1) the expansion, consolidation, and balance of the Ottoman Empire (14th-18th centuries), with particular attention to the Mediterranean; 2) the organization of religious and linguistic minorities under the Sultan's regime; 3) the population, economy, and demography of the Greek Orthodox community in the Ottoman Empire on the eve of the Revolution. This overview will be followed by a section that will analytically address the revolutionary decade, as well as the main problems that the newly-formed Greek state faced until 1863. It will be seen, therefore, how the aspirations for constitutional reforms and 'modernization' developed under the first sovereign of the Kingdom of Greece, Otto of Bavaria (1832-1863), were not so different from similar trends occurring in the sultanate of Abdülmecid (1839-1861).

Readings/Bibliography

Required reading:

― Mark Mazower, The Greek Revolution: 1821 and the Making of Modern Europe, London 2021.

― Erik J. Zürcher, Turkey: A Modern History,  London 1997, first six chpts (Italian edition, pp. 13-92).

 

For non-attending students is required as additional reading:

― Suraiya Faroqhi, A Short History of the Ottoman Empire, Engl. trans. Toronto 2021 (German ed. München 2000).

 

 

Teaching methods

The course will be conducted in Italian.

The first part of the course is conceived as a series of introductory  lectures in which the teacher will present, with the help of ppt images, the salient developments of the Ottoman Empire from the 13th to the 18th century as far as politics, minorities and Greek orthodox communities are concerned. The second part, on the other hand, is organised in seminar mode; in this part, an attempt will be made to stimulate students to intervene in the discussion of the subject, especially with regard to the use of historical vocabulary, its concepts, and the types of sources for historical analysis.

 

P.S. Foreign students wishing to follow the course are required to have a knowledge of Italian of at least level B 2.

Assessment methods

The passing of the exam requires an oral test. It consists of an assessment of the notions relating to the general part of the course and a discussion of the content relating to the monographic part.

 

The final grade for passing the exam is determined by the following scores: 12/30 for the introductory part; 18/30 for the monographic part.

Teaching tools

- Translations of sources

- distribution of photocopies

- power-point presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Salvatore Cosentino