Options for the MSt and MPhil

Click on each subject title to view a detailed description of the syllabus.

Please note that with effect from October 2007 a substantially revised syllabus will be introduced which will allow students to make even better use of the expertise available at Oxford. The new programme outline is available for preview.

Coin of John III Vatatzes, 1222-1254 (with permission)

Section A: General Byzantine History

1. AD 284-717
2. AD 717-1152

Section B: History Special Subjects

1. The Eastern Roman Empire in the reign of Justinian (AD 527-65)
2. Byzantium in the Age of Constantine Porphyrogenitus (AD 913-959)

Section C: Theology and Church History

1. The Iconoclast Controversy and the Mission to the Slavs, (AD 717-886)

Section D: Art and Archaeology

1. City, country and economy in the Byzantine Empire, AD 284-700
2. City, country and economy in the Byzantine Empire, AD 630-1453
3. Byzantine art and architecture, AD 284-700
4. Byzantine art and architecture, AD 630-1453
5. Byzantium: the transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, AD 500-1100
6. Byzantine Constantinople

Section E: Literature

1. Byzantine hagiography
2. Byzantine historiography
3. Byzantine vernacular literature (in Greek)
4. Byzantine scholarship

Section F: Eastern Areas and Neighbours

1. Armenian history, I c.AD 450-c.800
2. Armenian history, II c.AD 800-1100
3. Armenian literature
4. Syria before and after the Arab conquest c.AD 450-860
5. Syriac literature
6. Byzantium and the Arabs, I c.AD 630-c.500
7. Byzantium and the Arabs, II c.AD 800-c.1100
8. The formation of Islamic Art
9. Early Arabic thought and its classical heritage

Section G: Byzantium and its Northern Neighbours

1. AD 370-800
2. AD 800-1204

Section H: Auxiliary disciplines

Candidates will be required to offer a paper on either (a) Byzantine Papyrology or (b) any two of the following:

1. Greek Palaeography
2. Byzantine Epigraphy
3. Byzantine Numismatics
4. Byzantine Sigillography

For all these subjects, a corpus of primary sources (set in translation except for vernacular literature) or of monuments and artefacts is prescribed in order to provide the necessary definition.

Page Created 10 August 2002
Last Updated 10 August 2002

Byzantine Studies Contact Address:
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Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies
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