HIS 101 WEEK 7: BYZANTIUM
AND EASTERN EUROPE
Reading Assignment for the week:
- Read the appropriate pages in the
textbook (pages 198-204 in chapter 9 in the 7th or 6th ed. of Perry).
- Read the Primary
Chronicle excerpt (You may wish to participate
in an Online Discussion of this reading.).
-
Listen to some further information about Byzantium and
Eastern Europe as a Realaudio file
or as a wav file. You can also read the information as
a txt file.
Questions to
Consider while studying this week's material:
- Why was the Roman empire
able to continue to exist in the East?
- What were the distinctive
features of Byzantine civilization?
Key Terms to study
while reading the textbook:
- Justinian
- Byzantine Empire
- Rus'
Suggested Websites for further study:
- Explore Byzantium is a
well-designed site with some very
good information about the Byzantine Empire.
- For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a
relevant website for this unit of the course. Send the title of the site, the url and a
brief explanation why you find the information interesting and applicable to
the material being studied this week.
Submit the Midterm Exam:
Please review the
ELI rules and
regulations for examinations and my
exam general information.
The following is a
summary of the exam process: prepare for the exam;
call the closest Testing Center for its hours;
take a photo ID and
the appropriate MIDTERM EXAM PASS
(for Professor Evans,
Professor Blois, Professor Borgiasz, Professor Burson,
Professor DelGallo or
Professor Munsick) to the
Testing Center; allow yourself plenty of time; and take (and pass) the exam.
If you live outside metropolitan
Washington or are incarcerated or handicapped, see the information in the
ELI rules and
regulations. Please do not let fear of the exams stop you from completing
the course. If you have great difficulty getting to a Testing Center or are
concerned about taking exams, please contact your instructor.
There is no specific time
limit, but allow about 75 minutes to complete the exam. YOU CANNOT USE
YOUR TEXT, NOTES OR A COMPUTER TO TAKE THIS EXAM.
The midterm will
consist of four parts: map quiz
(25 points); five identification questions (25 points); surprise
question (25 points) and essay (75 points).
You already have a copy of the
Western Civilization Blank Map
and the list of His 101 Map Items to be located
on the map. For the exam,
you will receive another blank map and be asked to locate twenty-five items. The
identification items will be taken from the Key Terms listed in the
weekly assignments. In a few sentences you will be asked to completely
identify a historical term and note its importance. See the
Sample Test Items. The
surprise question will be taken from the Questions
to Consider listed in the weekly assignments. The surprise question
will require only a long paragraph to complete.
The essay question, approximately two-three
pages in length, that you will write in the testing lab, is as follows:
What information can one discover
about early Russian society from the Primary
Chronicle excerpt? (A copy of the text will be provided for you.)
Please take the time to organize your thoughts
in a logical manner and cite evidence to support your analysis. Please
be sure to read the short background information and study questions accompanying
the Russian Primary Chronicle before you take your exam.
You may also wish to post or respond in the
Blackboard online discussion forum
for this assignment. Please review the instructions for
Using the Blackboard
Discussion Forums, if necessary.
NOTE that midterm exams will not be
returned to students. Your exam grade and instructor comments will be sent
by e-mail to you. Please be sure to write your email address
on the cover sheet of your exam.
The Midterm Exam is worth a maximum of
150 points.
Notes:
As the Western Roman empire disintegrated
in the fifth century ce, Roman civilization continued to flourish, lasting in the Eastern
Mediterranean for another thousand years. Centered on Constantinople, or New Rome,
the Eastern Roman Empire existed as a unique mix of Roman law and urban life,
Christianity, Greek culture and language, and a cosmopolitan population. As the dominant culture of the
Eastern Mediterranean, Byzantine Rome distinctly shaped the politics, economies,
religions and cultures
of newly-emerging societies in Eastern Europe, Russia and
Anatolia. As such, Eastern Europe inherited the characteristics of
a civilization much more directly linked to the Greek-speaking world than
to the Latin-speaking West.
The Byzantine empire developed very effective
military and diplomatic techniques that helped to ensure its long survival. In
fact, the adjective "Byzantine" is often used to connote complexity,
as in "Byzantine" diplomacy. It refers to the complexities of constant
palace revolutions, coups and murders over the centuries that made dealing
with Byzantine officials an extremely difficult matter.
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