ARTS006 The Fall of an Empire or the Rise of Europe?

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2022
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Recommended Type of Completion: k (colloquium). Other types of completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
prof. Ivan Foletti, MA, Docteur es Lettres, Docent in Church History (lecturer)
Adrien Palladino, M.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Erin Anna Huták (assistant)
Guaranteed by
prof. Ivan Foletti, MA, Docteur es Lettres, Docent in Church History
Department of Art History – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Art History – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites (in Czech)
! PROGRAM ( B - DU_ )||( PROGRAM ( B - DU_ )&&( ARTS001 Cognitive Sciences || ARTS002 Approaches to language || ARTS003 Contemporary culture || ARTS004 Homer and European literature || ARTS007 Germanic literatureNobel Prize || ARTS008 Argumentation and Logic || ARTS009 Czech 101 || ARTS010 History of Mongolia and steppe empires || ARTS011 Transformations of Christian Europe: Visions, Critical Analysis and Discussions || ARTS012 Cult. Constr. of Other. || ARTS013 Slavonic Areas || ARTS014 How to read World Literature. || ARTS015 Humans as a cultural species || ARTS016 Medieval Literary Life || ARTS017 Life after Death in Arts || ARTS018 || ARTS019 Shakespeare and Marriage || ARTS020 Digital Humanities || ARTS021 Art and Culture in Cent.Europe || ARTS022 Transformations of the stories ))
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
The capacity limit for the course is 150 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 22/150, only registered: 0/150, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/150
Course objectives
In the traditional historiographical narrative, the arrival of the “barbarians” corresponds to the end of the greatest civilization of the antique Mediterranean: the Roman Empire. But was the situation so simple? Who were these “barbarians”? And did the Empire really collapse or was it rather transformed? The goal of this course is to focus on the artistic, visual, material, and performative cultures that coexisted in this extraordinary moment of history. To reach this objective, we will firstly focus on the prejudices constructed from the Renaissance to our days about what was commonly considered as the “Dark Ages”. Secondly, we will be investigating the role of medias in changing history: from sculptures to “bidimensional” images, from roll to codex, from the illusive image to the iconic one. Third, we will analyze the role played by the meeting of cultures – constitutive for the investigated period – in the birth of the “Middle Ages”.
Learning outcomes
The student will be able to orientate himself in the visual and material cultures of the Late Antique to Early Medieval world;
He/She will understand the tools and the importance of visual culture within social and historical phenomena;
He/She will fall in love with art history!
Syllabus
  • - Introduction: The Fall of an Empire or the Rise of Europe?
  • - A Visual World Underground
  • - Christianity or State? The Age of Constantine
  • - The Romanization of Christianity
  • - Rome or Byzantium?
  • - The Art of the Migrants
  • - At the end of the world? "Anglo-Saxon" Art and the Conversion of Englands
  • - The Birth of a new Religion: Understanding Early Islamic Material Culture
Literature
    recommended literature
  • FOLETTI, Ivan and Zuzana FRANTOVÁ. Mediální revoluce. Christianizace Evropy, Ravenna pátého století a jak obrazy mění dějiny (Media Revolution. The Christianization of Europe, Fifth Century Ravenna and How Images Change History). 1st ed. Brno: koedice Masarykova univerzita / Books & Pipes. 166 pp. Parva Convivia 9. ISBN 978-80-210-9854-1. doi:10.5817/CZ.MUNI.M210-9854-2021. 2021. Books & Pipes, z.ú. info
  • Empires of faith in late antiquity : histories of art and religion from India to Ireland. Edited by Jaś Elsner. First published. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. xvi, 515. ISBN 9781108460941. 2020. info
  • Late antiquity : a guide to the postclassical world. Edited by G. W. Bowersock - Peter Brown - Oleg Grabar. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap press of Harvard University press. xiii, 780. ISBN 9780674511736. 1999. info
  • ELSNER, Jaś. Art and the Roman viewer : the transformation of art from the pagan world to christianity. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. xxvi, 375. ISBN 0521453542. 1995. info
  • BROWN, Peter. The world of late antiquity : AD 150-750. First published as a Norton. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 216 stran. ISBN 9780393958034. 1989. info
Teaching methods
The main learning activity is concentrated on a series of online lectures available in the "interactive syllabus" section, focusing on a series of themes exploring all aspects of the transformation of visual and material culture in the Late Antique world (see syllabus). Students are also invited to consult additional readings suggested in Recommended or required reading section.
Assessment methods
The students will be asked to prepare, at the end of the lecture, a short text highlighting if, how, and why the lecture has transformed their way of looking at a period of history often considered as a "dark age".
The argumentation should ideally be supported by examples (taken from the classes or not) and possibly by a short bibliography (if consulted).
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught each semester.
Note related to how often the course is taught: on-line.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses

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Teacher's information
https://is.muni.cz/auth/el/phil/podzim2021/ARTS006/index.qwarp
All videos are available in the section "Interactive syllabus". The students should watch all the videos and submit the final essay to the teachers.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Autumn 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Autumn 2023, Spring 2024, Autumn 2024, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2022, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2022/ARTS006