EUH 5394
Graduate Proseminar in Late Antiquity
Fall Semester, 2010
Wednesday, 4:30-7:30 pm; Keene-Flint 011

Prof. Andrea Sterk	Office: 225 Keene-Flint; Phone: 273-3383
E-mail: sterk@ufl.edu	Hours: M, 11:00-12:00, F, 3:00-4:00, or by appointment

Word version of syllabus

Course Description:
This seminar will introduce graduate students to central sources, themes, methodologies and historiographical debates in the field of Late Antiquity. This year's proseminar will focus on three interrelated themes that have been prominent in recent scholarship on the period.
As a proseminar, this course will provide a survey of recent secondary literature in the field and will introduce you to a spectrum of methodologies and approaches. It will also introduce you to important tools and bibliographic resources for research. While becoming acquainted with major problems of late ancient and early medieval history, you will learn to recognize different ways of posing questions; read and discuss the scholarly literature critically; gain skills in independent research; and present and your own work in both oral and written form.

Requirements

Books

Schedule of Seminar Topics and Readings

REQUIREMENTS

Seminar Requirements (slightly revised):

Two commentaries on the week’s readings, one longer commentary (4-6 pages, c.1500 words), and one shorter response (2-3 pages). The longer response will be sent to the whole class by Monday evening for everyone to read before seminar on Wednesday. (25%)

Participation will include co-leading 2 class discussions. In one of these sessions you will read your own 2-page response to the commentary of one of your colleagues. There will also be several short assignments on major authors and resources for late antiquity that you will prepare for class. (25%)

One 2-page translation of a Greek or Latin primary-source text relevant to the class (and preferably relevant to your own final paper) with a 2-3 page commentary (15%)

A 12-15 page final paper on a primary source (3^rd to 7^th century) integrating the work or methodological approach of at least one of the scholars read this semester. There is some flexibility on the nature of this paper, but you must get my approval for the topic by week 9. For those who are ready and would prefer to do a full-fledged research paper (c. 25-30 pages) rather than an extended primary source analysis, only one 4-6 page commentary will be required. A short (10-15 minute) presentation on your research for the final paper during the final weeks of class will constitute part of your grade on the final paper. (35%)

BOOKS

Required Books (You will probably want to purchase most of these – but remember to purchase only inexpensive versions):

Anthony Grafton & Megan Williams, Christianity & the Transformation of the Book: Origen, Eusebius, and the Library of
Caesarea. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap, Harvard, 2006.
Roger S. Bagnall, Early Christian Books in Egypt. Princeton University Press, 2009.
Megan Hale Williams, The Monk and the Book: Jerome & the Making of Christian Scholarship. University of Chicago Press, 2006.
Edward J. Watts, City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria. Berkeley: University of California Press, paperback 2008.
Peter Brown, Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity. Towards a Christian Empire (1992)
Averil Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire (1991; 1994) [e-book at UF]
Michele Salzman, The Making of a Christian Aristocracy: Social and Religious Change in the Western Roman Empire (Harvard, 2001; paperback,
2004).

Fergus Millar, A Greek Roman Empire: Power and Belief under Theodosius II, 408-450. Berkeley: University of California, 2006.

Denise Kimber Buell, Why this New Race? Ethnic Reasoning in Early Christianity (Columbia University Press, 2005; paperback, 2007).

Highly Recommended Books - relevant to seminar
(Purchase if you find used or inexpensive copies)

William E. Klingshirn and Linda Safran, eds., The Early Christian Book. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of

America

Press, 2007.
Raffaella Cribiore. The School of Libanius in Late Antique Antioch. Princeton University Press, 2007.
Jeremy M. Schott. Christianity, Empire, and the Making of Religion in Late Antiquity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2008.
Karla Pollmann and Mark Vessey, eds., Augustine and the Disciplines. From Cassaciacum to Confessions. Oxford University Press, 2005.
Aaron Johnson. Ethnicity and Argument in Eusebius' Praeparatio Evangelica. Oxford University Press, 2006.
Isabella Sandwell, Religious Identity in Late Antiquity: Greeks, Jews, and Christians in Antioch. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Edward J. Watts. Riot in Alexandria. Tradition and Group Dynamics in Late Antique Pagan and Christian Communities. Berkeley: University of
California, 2010.
Thomas Sizgorich. Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity: Militant Devotion in Christianity and Islam. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2008.

In addition, many essays, articles, and book chapters that will be available on electronic reserve at the library [ER] or through webct.

SCHEDULE

Part I: BOOKS, SCHOLARS, AND EDUCATION IN LATE ANTIQUITY

Week 1: 8/25 - Introduction to the Seminar
Week 2: 9/1 - Books, Scholarhips, and the Library at Caesarea
Week 3: 9/8 – Negotiating Hellenism: Pagan & Christian Perspectives on Learning (Julian, Libanius, Gregory, Basil, Chrysostom)
Week 4: Thursday, 9/16 – Special seminar session with Roger Bagnall, author of Early Christian Books in Egypt (lunch provided)
Week 5: 9/22 – Scholarship and Learning in the West: Jerome & Augustine
Week 6: 9/29 – Literacy, Education, & Power in Late Antiquity (5th-6th century)

Part II: THE MAKING OF A CHRISTIAN EMPIRE

Week 7: 10/6 – The Role of Paideia and Rhetoric (Discussion of Brown & Cameron books)
Week 8: 10/13 - The Western Roman Empire
Week 9: 10/20 – No Class – Individual meetings with professor
Week 10: 10/27 – The Eastern Roman Empire (5th & 6th Centuries)
Week 11: 11/3 – Processes and Layers of Christianization
Week 12: 11/10 - Defining & Maintaining [Political & Sacred] Boundaries [Transition]

Part III – IDENTITY FORMATION: RELIGION, RACE, ETHNICITY, & VIOLENCE

Week 13: 11/17 – Special Session with Denise Buell (author of Why this New Race? Ethnic Reasoning in Early Christianity)
Week 14: 11/24 – Ethnicity and Identity in the West [session with Dr. Effros]
Week 15: 12/1 – Race, Ethniticy & Religious Identity (continued from Week 13 with Buell)
Week 16: 12/8 – Community, Identity, and Violence in Late Antique Christianity & Islam

Week 1: 8/25 - Introduction to the Seminar

Personal Introductions
Introduction to the seminar
Introduction to a “proseminar”; Introduction to Late Antiquity

Beginning chapters of Grafton & Williams, Christianity & the Transformation of the Book: Origen, Eusebius, and the Library of Caesarea – Preface
through p.85

Week 2: 9/1 - Books, Scholarship, & the Library of Caesarea

Grafton & Williams, Finish Christianity & the Transformation of the Book
Watts, City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria, chapter 6 (pp.143-168)

Primary sources:
Gregory Thaumaturgus, “Address of Thanksgiving to Origen,” in St. Gregory Thaumaturgus: Life and Works. Translated by Michael Slusser. Fathers of the
Church 98. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of

America

Press, 1998, pp. 91-126.
Origen, “Letter to Gregory,” in Joseph W. Trigg, Origen (New York: Routledge, 2002), pp. 210-213. [e-book]; Trigg’s intro chapters on Origen are also
recommended.
The Greek texts of both these works and French translation are edited in: Grégoire le Thaumaturge. Remerciement à Origéne, suivi de la lettre d'Origène à
Grégoire. Greek text, introduction, translation and notes by Henri Crouzel. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1969. (Sources Chrétiennes, 148)
Eusebius, Church History, Book 6 (especially chapter 3, 6-9, 16-19, 23-32) – passages on Origen

Week 3: 9/8 - Negotiating Hellenism: Pagan & Christian Perspectives on Learning
(Julian, Libanius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil, Chrysostom)

[First hour: Introduction to Historiography and Periodization – Discussion led by Dr. Sterk
Cameron, Averil. The “Long” Late Antiquity: A Late twentieth-century model. In Classics in progress: Essays on ancient Greece and Rome. Edited by T.
        P.Wiseman, Oxford:  Oxford University Press, 2002. 165-191.
Glen Bowersock, “Centrifugal Force in Late Antique Historiography: Moving to the Periphery,” in Straw & Lim, The Past Before Us (2004).
        and at least one of the following articles in Journal of Late Antiquity 2008.1.1 (1st issue):
Arnaldo Marcone, “A Long Late Antiquity?: Considerations on a Controversial Periodization,” 4–19; Edward James, “The Rise and Function of the Concept
        Late Antiquity,” 20–30; Clifford Ando, “Decline, Fall, and Transformation,” 31–60.]

Break
Watts, City and School, chapters 1-3 and 7 [ending w/Hypatia]; focus on chapter 3

Rafaella Cribiore, “The Value of a Good Education: Libanius and Public Education” in Philip Rousseau, ed., A Companion to Late Antiquity (Blackwell,
        2009), 233-246.
Rafaella Cribiore, The School of Libanius, chapter 3: “The Network,” 83-110. [e-book]
Susanna Elm "Hellenism and Historiography: Gregory of Nazianzus and Julian in Dialogue," Journal of Early Medieval Europe 33:3, special issue honoring
        Elizabeth A. Clark, 2003, 493-515; reprint in The Cultural Turn in Late Ancient Studies: Gender, Asceticism, and Historiography. Ed. Dale Martin,
        Patricia Cox Miller. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005, pp.258-277.
Recommended: Susanna Elm, "Orthodoxy and the True Philosophical Life: Julian and Gregory of Nazianzus." Studia Patristica 37 (2001): 69-85.

Primary Sources: Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 4 & Oration 5 (Invectives Against Julian); Basil, "Address to Young Men on the Right Use of Greek Literature"; Julian's Rescript on Christian Teachers; Julian, Misopogon (skim); Libanius; Chrysostom.

Week 4: Thursday, 9/16 - Special seminar session with Roger Bagnall (lunch provided)
10:45-12:45 [or 4th-5th periods] at 219 Dauer Hall

Roger S. Bagnall, Early Christian Books in

Egypt (hard copy on course reserve; focus on chapter 4)

[Start Williams, The Monk and the Book for the following week]

Week 5: 9/22 - Scholarship and Learning in the West: Jerome & Augustine

1st hour: Meet at the Library with Blake Landor

Megan Hale Williams, The Monk and the Book: Jerome & the Making of Christian Scholarship
Neil McGlynn, “Disciplines of Discipleship in Late Antique Education: Augustine and Gregory Nazianzen,” in Augustine and the Disciplines. From
Cassaciacum to Confessions, ed. Karla Pollmann and Mark Vessey
Chin on Augustine or Jerome?

“De doctrina Christiana”

Week 6: 9/29 – Literacy, Education, & Power in Late Antiquity (5^th-6^th century)

Finish Watts, City and School (chapters 5, 8, 9, & conclusion)
Daniel Sarefield, "Book Burning in the Christian Roman Empire: Transforming a Pagan Rite of Purification" in H.A. Drake, ed., Violence in Late Antiquity:
        Perceptions and Practices (Ashgate, 2006). [webct]
and at least skim (because it deals more extensively with this later period which is our focus this week):
Judith Herrrin, “Book Burning as Purification” in Philip Rousseau, Emmanuel Papoutsakis (ed.), Transformations of Late Antiquity: Essays for Peter
        Brown (Ashgate, 2009). [webct]
Mark Vessey's Introduction in Cassiodorus: Institutions of Divine and Secular Learning and On the Soul. Translated by Introduction by James W.
        Halporn (Liverpool: Liverpool Universeity Press, 2004), 1-37.

Recommended: R. Kaster, Guardians of Language – ch. 2: “Professio Litterarum” [available as an e-book at UF]

James O'Donnell, "Vivarium," Chapter 6 of his book, Cassiodurus [whole book available on-line]

Week 7: 10/6 – The Role of Paideia and Rhetoric

Peter Brown, Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity. Towards a Christian Empire (1992)

Averil Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire (1994) [e-book]

Week 8: 10/13 - The Western Roman Empire

Michele Salzman, The Making of a Christian Aristocracy: Social and Religious Change in the Western Roman Empire [most of the book]

[and perhaps:]
Neil McLynn on Ambrose and/or
Neil McLynn, “Augustine’s Roman Empire” in Mark Vessey, Karla Pollmann, Allan D. Fitzgerald, History, Apocalypse, and the Secular Imagination: New
Essays on Augustine's City of God. Bowling Green, OH: Philosophy Documentation Center, 1999
John Matthews, "Four Funerals and a Wedding: This World and the Next in Fourth-Century Rome" in Rousseau and Papoutsakis [Brown volume]

Week 9: 10/20 – No Class

No class – individual meetings with professor
Final paper topics must be approved by this week.

Start reading Fergus Millar, A Greek Roman Empire

Week 10: 10/27 - The Eastern Roman Empire

Fergus Millar, A Greek Roman Empire: Power and Belief under Theodosius II, 408-450. Berkeley: University of California, 2006.

Recommended:
Averil Cameron, "Old and New Rome: Roman Studies in Sixth-Century Constantinople" (will try to get scanned)

Week 11: 11/3 - Processes and Layers of Christianization (East & West)

Peter Brown, “Conversion and Christianization in Late Antiquity: The Case of Augustine,” in Carole Straw et Richard Lim, eds, The Past Before Us: The
        Challenge of Historiographies of Late Antiquity. Turnhout: Brepols, 2004. pp. 103-117 [webct]
Christopher Haas, "Mountain Constantines: The Christianization of Aksum and Iberia:," Journal of Late Antiquity 1.1 (2008): 101-126.
[Before reading my main article for this week, at least skim what is really the first part of this 2-part article in the preceding issue. (At least look at the first section of this article, which gives some of the historiography of mission.) Then focus on the June article 2010 article.]
Andrea Sterk “Mission from Below: Captive Women and Conversion on the East Roman Frontiers” Church History 79:1 (2010), 1-39. *skim only
Andrea Sterk, “‘Representing’ Mission from Below: Church Historians as Interpreters and Agents of Christianization,” Church History 79:2 (June, 2010),
        1-34.
Scott Fitzgerald Johnson, “Reviving the Memory of the Apostles: Apocryphal Tradition and Travel Literature in Late Antiquity.” In Revival and Resurgence in
        Christian History, edited by Kate Cooper and Jeremy Gregory, 1–26. Studies in Church History 44. Woodbridge: Ecclesiastical History Society and         Boydell Press, 2008.
[The link takes you to Scott Fitzgerald Johnson’s webpage. Scroll down to articles, where several of his recent essays and articles are linked. I’ve chosen this most recent one to introduce you to his work and because of its relevance to the theme of Christianization, but his 2006 and 2007 articles are also relevent.]

Ralph W. Mathisen "Barbarian Bishops and the Churches ‘in Barbaricis Gentibus’ During Late Antiquity" Speculum 72.3 (July 1997): 665-697. [JSTOR]
Michael Maas, “‘Delivered from their Ancient Customs’” Christianity and the Question of Cultural Change in Early Byzantine Ethnography,” in Mills & Grafton,
        eds., Conversion in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, 2003. [webct]
Averil Cameron, “Images of Authority: Elites and Icons in Late Sixth-Century Byzantium,” Past and Present No. 84 (Aug., 1979): 3-35. [JSTOR]

Recommended:
(I will try to get this on reserve at the library; I also have my own copy):
Robin M. Jensen, “Baptismal Rites and Architecture,” A People’s History of Christianity, Vol. 2: Late Ancient Christianity, ed. Virginia Burrus. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005. pp. 117-144.
[Jensen is a historian of early Christian art. Here she focuses on texts related to baptism from North Africa (Cyprian & Tertullian through Augustine) as well as the physical environment of baptism through an examination of art, architecture, baptismal fonts, etc.]
Ian Wood, “The Missionary Life,” article that preceded book by the same title. [webct]

Week 12: 11/10 - Defining & Maintaining [Political & Sacred] Boundaries

Ralph W. Mathisen "Barbarian Bishops and the Churches ‘in Barbaricis Gentibus’ During Late Antiquity" Speculum 72.3 (July 1997): 665-697. [JSTOR]
Florin Curta, "Before Cyril and Methodius: Christianity and Barbarians beyond the Sixth-Century Danube Frontier," in Curta, ed., East Central and Eastern
Europe in the Early Middle Ages, 181-208. [webct]
Sebastian Brock, "Christians in the Sassanian Empire: A Case of Divided Loyalties," ... [webct]
Christine Shepardson, “Syria, Syriac, Syrian: Negotiating East and West, ” in Philip Rousseau, ed. A Companion to Late Antiquity, 455-466. [webct]

3 other short recent essays from Section V, “The Sacred,” in A Companion to Late Antiquity (2009) [all on webct]:
Richard Lim, Intro to Section V, “The Sacred,” and “Christianization, Secularization, and theTransformation of Public Life” 494-511.
Naomi Koltun-Fromm, “Defining Sacred Boundaries: Jewish-Christian Relations,” 556-571.
Neil McLynn, “Pagans in a Christian Empire,” 572-587.

Recommended:
Two essays from Heresy and Identity in Late Antiquity, ed. by Eduard Iricinschi and Holger M. Zellentin. Tübingen: Mohr, 2008: [also Week 16]:
Averil Cameron, “The Violence of Orthodoxy,” 102-114 [or week 16]
Caroline Humfress, “Citizens and Heretics: Late Roman Lawyers on Christian Heresy,” 128-142.

Week 13: 11/17 – Special Session with Denise Buell

Week 13: 11/17 – Special Session with Denise Buell

Mon. 11/15 – Translation must be done!

Denise Kimber Buell, Why this New Race? Ethnic Reasoning in Early Christianity (Columbia University Press, 2005; paperback, 2007).

Aaron Johnson, "Identity, Descent, and Polemic: Ethnic Argumentation in Eusebius' Praeparatio Evangelica," JECS 12 (2004): 23-56. [discuss week 15]

Week 14: 11/24 – Ethnicity and Identity in the West
(session with Dr. Bonnie Effros)

Walter Pohl, "Telling the Difference: Signs of Ethnic Identity," in Strategies of Distinction: The Construction of Ethnic Communities, 300-800, edited by
        Walter Pohl and Helmut Reimitz (Leiden: Brill, 1998), pp. 17-69.
Sebastian Brather, "Ethnic Identities as Constructions of Archaeology: the Case of the Alamanni," in On Barbarian Identity: Critical Approaches to
        Ethnicity in the Early Middle Ages, edited by Andrew Gillett (Turnhout: Brepols, 2002), pp. 149-176.
Frans Theuws, "Grave Goods, Ethnicity, and the Rhetoric of Burial Rites in Late Antique Northern Gaul," in Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity: The Role of
        Power and Tradition, edited by Ton Derks and Nico Roymans (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009), pp. 283-319.
Mark Thomas, Michael P.H. Stumpf, and Heinrich Haerke, "Evidence for an Apartheid-Like Social Structure in Early Anglo-Saxon England," Proceedings of         the Royal Society of London, series B, biological sciences 273 (2006): 2651-2657.

Recommended:
Andrew Merrills, "Bede," in his History and Geography in Late Antiquity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 229-309.

Week 15: 11/10 - Race, Ethnicity, and Religious Identity

Aaron Johnson, "Identity, Descent, and Polemic: Ethnic Argumentation in Eusebius' Praeparatio Evangelica," JECS 12 (2004): 23-56.

Jeremy M. Schott, “Porphyry on Christians and Others: "Barbarian Wisdom," Identity Politics, and Anti-Christian Polemics on the Eve of the Great

Persectuion," JECS 13/3 (2005), 277-313.

Jeremy Schott, Christianity, Empire, and the Making of Religion in Late Antiquity (2008), chapter 5 & epilogue

Later period:

Geoffrey Greatrex, “Roman Identity in the Sixth Century” in Stephen Mitchell and Geoffrey Greatrex, eds., Ethnicity and Culture in Late Antiquity.
Classical Press of Wales, 2001.

Carole Straw, “Martyrdom and Christian Identity: Gregory the Great, Augustine, and Tradition,” in The Limits of Ancient Christianity. Essays on Late
Antique Thought and Culture in Honor of R.A. Markus. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1999.

Recommended:

Isabella Sandwell, Religious identity in late antiquity: Greeks, Jews, and Christians in Antioch (2007); (chapter 1?): “Understanding religious identity
in fourth-century Antioch,"

Week 16: 12/8 – Community, Identity, and Violence in Late Antique Christianity & Islam

Michele Renee Salzman, “Rethinking Pagan-Christian Violence,” in Violence in Late Antiquity. Perceptions and Practices,” ed. H.A. Drake ( Burlington,
    VT: Ashgate, 2006), 265-285.
Carlos R. Galvao-Sobrinho, “Embodied Theologies: Christian Identity and Violence in Alexandria in the Early Arian Controversy,” in Drake, ed. Violence in      Late Antiquity, 321-331.
Averil Cameron, “The Violence of Orthodoxy,” in Heresy and Identity in Late Antiquity, ed. by Eduard Iricinschi and Holger M. Zellentin. Tübingen: Mohr,     2008. pp. 102-114.

Thomas Sizgorich, "Not Easily Were Stones Joined by the Strongest Bonds Pulled Asunder: Religious Violence and Imperial Order in the Later Roman World" JECS 15.1 (2007): 75-101.
Thomas Sizgorich, “Narrative and Community in Islamic Late Antiquity,” Past & Present 185 (Nov. 2004): 9-42.

To situate these two articles of Sizgorich, which formed part of his later book (Penn, 2008), I suggest you read the BMCR review: http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2010/2010-08-36.html for an overview.