Università Roma Tre

1453: Notes from Underground (“La chute de Constantinople est un malheur personnel qui nous est arrivé la semaine dernière”, Antoine Bibesco)

The Byzantine Philology LM module, which is designed for students of Philology, Literature and History of Antiquity, will be devoted to a careful reading of the most relevant sources - from both a historical and a specifically poliorcetic point of view - of the fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453.
The course will provide a topographical overview of the Eastern capital before attempting a reconstruction of the phases of the long siege that brought an end, at least politically, to the eleven centuries of 'Byzantine life' in Constantinople. The analysis of the events will be carried out, first of all, through a comparative reading of 'official' sources of both sides in the field, i.e. the Byzantine (George Sphrantzes, Doukas, Critoboulus, Laonikos Chalkokondyles) and the Western ones (Isidore of Kiev, Leonardo di Chio, Niccolò Barbaro, Angelo Giovanni Lomellino, Ubertino Pusculo), but also the Ottoman ones (Tursun Beg and Ibn Kemâl). At a later stage, however, the exegesis of this first group of sources will be supplemented by the examination of lesser-known testimonies whose origins can more likely be traced to intelligence circles. Aside from being extremely valuable for reconstructing the last, decisive hours of the siege, they are also extremely useful for understanding how such an event influenced the entire Mediterranean geopolitical environment. By participating in such an exegetical work, which is partially interactive, students have direct access to the research activity carried out by the chair of Byzantinistics at Roma Tre on the fall of Constantinople.
For the conclusion of the course, students will have the opportunity to attend an educational trip to Patmos (May 1-6, 2024), organized in collaboration with the Byzantine Chair of the Saras Department at the Sapienza University of Rome. The main purpose of the event will be to present on site to the participants various elements illustrated during the course of the lectures, with special emphasis on the celebration of the Orthodox Easter (η Μεγάλη Εβδομάδα).

MANDATORY TEXTS:

- S. Ronchey, Lo Stato bizantino, Torino, Einaudi, 2002
- A. Pertusi (a c. di), La caduta di Costantinopoli, 2 voll., Fondazione Lorenzo Valla / Mondadori, Milano 1976