Universität Wien
Warning! The directory is not yet complete and will be amended until the beginning of the term.

090114 UE Saints, Emperors, and Beloved Enemies: Biographical Writing in Byzantium (2026S)

Reading Byzantine Texts

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 9 - Altertumswissenschaften
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 14 participants
Language: German, English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Tuesday 03.03. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 10.03. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 17.03. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 24.03. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 14.04. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 21.04. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 28.04. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 12.05. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 19.05. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 26.05. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 02.06. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 09.06. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 16.06. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 23.06. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock
  • Tuesday 30.06. 09:00 - 10:30 Seminarraum d. Inst. f. Byzantinistik u. Neogräzistik, Postgasse 9, 2.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Biography is one of the most successful genres in modern historiography and sells in the thousands. By focusing on a single person, it promises to make history vivid and accessible and to portray people in their individuality. Biographical writing in Byzantium followed very different rules from modern biographies. Biographies were found in a wide variety of literary genres: in hagiographic lives, in encomia (eulogies), in historical works, but also in letters and satirical poems. What these texts have in common is that they do not seek to paint a ‘neutral’ picture of a person, but always pursue a specific purpose, be it the promotion of a saint cult or the social destruction of a political opponent. The relationship to the individuality of the persons described biographically is also significantly different from that in modern times. In this class, we will read selected biographical texts from different periods of the Byzantine Middle Ages. Among them are the Vita Constantini by Eusebius of Caesarea (about Emperor Constantine the Great), the Vita of Empress Theodora, and the historical work of Ioannes VI Kantakuzenos, in which he explains his own reign. In addition, we will select texts together based on the interests of the students.

In this course, we will read biographical texts from the Byzantine Empire in the original Greek. We will apply and discuss various methods of text analysis: from classical translation to bilingual reading and paraphrasing to AI-assisted reading.

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of ancient Greek grammar. If you are unsure about your prior knowledge, please contact the course instructor.

This course will be held in German and/or English. Written assignments can be submitted in either language. The language of instruction will be decided in the first session depending on the participants' language skills.

Assessment and permitted materials

Students must give a short oral presentation during the semester. The course concludes with a written exam.

The exam consists of two parts: 1) Translation of a Byzantine text into German or English. 2) Answering a question about the contextualization of the translated text.

Permitted aids: Dictionaries (by arrangement)

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Attendance and active participation in the course are mandatory. Two excused absences are permitted.

The partial performances are included in the assessment as follows: 50% exam, 30% presentation, 20% participation.

Examination topics

The exam text will be taken from a work related to those that are covered in the course. All relevant works will be studied together.

Reading list

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Fr 19.06.2026 16:26