090070 VO Politics, Theology, and Philosophy in Byzantium: Photius's works (2019W)

This course is devoted to the iconic figure of Photius, who was the leading scholar of the second half of the ninth century and twice the Patriarch of Constantinople. A detailed study of the writings by Photius, on the basis of the reading of key texts in translation, will allow us to reconstruct the most interesting and innovative aspects of his philosophical and theological contribution; we will also read ninth and tenth centuries testimonies on him – often critical – to discuss the way in which he was perceived by contemporaries. The course will offer, through the prism of Photius, an introduction to some of the important questions addressed in Byzantine philosophical, political and theological discourse; it will also provide an introduction to the intellectual history of the ninth century and to the big debates of the time.

We will first discuss Photius’s historical and intellectual context, his familial background, his pedagogical activities and circle of students. We will reconstruct his hostile relation to iconoclasm and his view on sacred images and his conception of the respective roles of the Emperor and Patriarch. We will describe his relation to classical Greek literature, philosophy and sciences. We will analyse some significant aspects of his philosophy like his metaphysical views on the problem of universals, his theory of sense perception, his esthetics, or his ethical theses on sins and virtues. Photius also offers a good opportunity to discuss the question of the religious controversies and intellectual exchanges that Byzantines had with their neighbours: so we will discuss his exchange with the Armenians concerning Christology, his dispute with the Franks about the Filioque, and his efforts to spread Byzantine Christianity by means of missionizing the Slavic peoples. We will finally examine the history of his two periods as Patriarch and the circumstances of his deposition. We will conclude our discussion by regarding the way in which Photius is represented in modern times.
The course also has methodological objectives such as giving examples of how to reconstruct and discuss philosophical arguments as well as of how to critically interpret historical sources.