The Cathedral of St. Sophia (Собор Святої Софії) in Kiev was begun in 1037 by Grand Prince Iaroslav the Wise (978?-1054) to commemorate his victory over the Pechenegs and as a triumph of Christianity, which was rather new to Kievan Rus'.  Kiev was the center of early Russian civilization, and this cathedral was the burial place of the Kievan rulers.  The cathedral fell into disrepair after the Mongol Invasion of 1240, but it was later restored.  It was almost again destroyed under the communist regime in the 1930s.

• Re-read chapter 7 in the textbook, especially the section dealing with The Byzantine Empire.
• Read my HIS 241 remarks on the early Kievan state.
• Read the Russian Primary Chronicle excerpt.
• Read my notes on the Byzantine Empire.
• Study the Questions to Consider and the Key Terms for the Unit.
• Post (or respond) your thoughts/ideas about this unit's reading and assignment in the Blackboard online discussion forum. Do not post your assignment there.
• Take the Midterm exam.

• Listen to some further information about this unit as a mp3 file.  You can also read the information as a txt file.

• Byzantium, the Lost Empire: 1. Building the Dream
• Fall of The Roman Empire...in the 15th Century: Crash Course World History #12
• See the videos dealing with Russia in the HIS 241 course.
• For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a relevant video for this unit of the course. Send the title of the video, the url and a brief explanation of why you find the video interesting and applicable to the material that is being studied in this unit.

• In a one-page paper (maybe two pages), summarize the main issues of the Iconoclasm dispute that took place in the eighth century, using such sources as the Catholic Encyclopedia, John of Damascus, the Decree of the Second Council of Nicea, or any other sources you wish to use, for a maximum of 50 points.  Please be sure to cite your sources.
• Read the short version of the Russkaia pravda (the earliest Russian law code) and write a one-page paper (Compare and contrast this early Russian law code with other law codes such as Hammurabi, the Ten Commandments, etc.) for a maximum of 50 points. 
• For 25 points maximum extra credit, read Grand Prince Vladimir Monomakh's Instruction to His Children and write a paragraph in which you explain the Grand Prince's conception of the political state.
• For a maximum of 25 points extra credit, read Procopius: The Plague, 542, from his History of the Wars, and write a paragraph in which you assess the impact of the plague on Roman/Byzantine society.  If you want a lot of extra credit, you can do some research and compare this account of the plague with accounts of the Black Death that struck Europe in the 1340s.
• For extra credit of a maximum of 10 points, you can submit the answers to the Russian Primary Chronicle study questions.  Please write in formal, complete sentences.
• For extra credit, please suggest 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 unit.