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AHIX8230 – City of Constantine

2022 – Session 1, Online-flexible

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Convenor
Bronwen Neil
bronwen.neil@mq.edu.au
Contact via Email
Level 2 Arts
By appointment
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Admission to MAncHist (OUA) or GradCertAncHist (OUA)
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
AHIS 8230
Unit description Unit description

This unit examines the history of Constantinople from its foundation by Constantine the Great in the fourth century to its capture by the Ottoman Turks in the fifteenth century. It focuses on the cultural, ecclesiastical, intellectual, military, art and architectural history of the city, using literary, documentary and archaeological evidence.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Cultivate a deeper appreciation of a range of cultural, social, religious, and political issues when dealing with sources from the past
  • ULO2: Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of primary and secondary texts and images through analysis, expression, and argument
  • ULO3: Participate actively in online discussions

General Assessment Information

Late Assessment Penalty

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – 10 marks out of 100 credit will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted seven days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline.

Marks are indicative until final review/moderation after the exam period is finished.

Annotated Bibliography

Assessment Type: Annotated bibliography Indicative Time on Task: 25 hours Due: Friday 29 April Week 8 Weighting: 30%

Students will submit an annotated bibliography of 15 (fifteen) references that will be used for the Major Essay (Assessment 3). In a maximum of 1000 words, these references should include brief commentaries which summarise the work and its relevance to the major essay question. Primary and secondary sources should be included and grouped separately under "Primary sources" (ancient Byzantine ones, which can be in translation) and "Secondary sources", which are modern historical studies.

On successful completion you will be able to:

  • UL01 Cultivate a deeper appreciation of a range of cultural, social, religious, and political issues when dealing with sources from the past
  • UL02 Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of primary and secondary texts and images through analysis, expression, and argument

Weekly online discussion

Assessment Type 2: Participatory task Indicative Time on Task: 25 hours Due: Friday 4 March Week 2 and weekly Weighting: 15%

Weekly online responses to readings.

On successful completion you will be able to:

  • UL02 Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of primary and secondary texts and images through analysis, expression, and argument
  • UL03 Participate actively in online discussions

 

All students will be expected to post at least one (1) response to the Online Discussion forum each week. This posting should be between 100-300 words and it should be in response to the questions posted for that week. These questions will relate to the primary texts in your Book of Readings each week.

The assessment criteria for this task is based on participation and the quality of your postings. Grading criteria includes clarity of expression and argument, evidence of independent thought, and the relevance of your response to the questions set by the tutor.

These posts are due at midnight of Friday in each tutorial week (i.e. Week 2 is from Monday 28 February - Sunday 6 March 2022, and the online discussion should be made by midnight on Friday 4 March). You are welcome to continue posting to the weekly discussion forum after this due date, but any postings made after midnight on Friday will not be counted for assessment purposes. You are also welcome to start new discussions each week on topics of interest, but these will not be counted towards this assessment task.

The Online Discussion component is worth 15% of your overall assessment. You will need to post a response to at least 9 of the weekly forums from Weeks 2 to 4 and Weeks 6 to 12 (inclusive). Note that any postings that you make for Week 1, 5 and 13 will not count towards these 9 weekly posts.

 

 

 

Essay

Assessment Type: Essay Indicative Time on Task: 25 hours Due: Friday 3 June Week 13 Weighting: 55%

 

On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Cultivate a deeper appreciation of a range of cultural, social, religious, and political issues when dealing with sources from the past
  • ULO2: Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of primary and secondary texts and images through analysis, expression, and argument

 

Major Essay Questions: Choose ONE

 1. Discuss the factors that led to Constantine's foundation of the city of Constantinople. Why are there differing versions of the city's foundation and inauguration in the sources?

2. Analyse the evidence of Justinian's policy of military and territorial reconquest, and discuss the reasons why he would have adopted such a policy.

3. What do you consider to be the main contributing factors to both periods of iconoclasm (726-787CE and 813-843CE)?

4. How did the Fourth Crusaders justify their attack on fellow Christians and their looting of churches in Constantinople? Examine both Western and Byzantine accounts of the Fourth Crusade and compare their responses to the removal of holy relics and works of art from the city.

5. Discuss the strategies employed by the Fourth Crusaders to besiege Constantinople in 1204CE. Why did the Crusaders attack Constantinople, and how and why were they successful?      

6. Discuss the relationship between the church and state in Byzantium with particular reference to the reign of two emperors: Constantine I and Heraclius. How do you think the Byzantines themselves perceived the relationship between the church and emperor?

7. Discuss the distinctive features of Byzantine art and/or architecture. How was Byzantine art and/or architecture different from Western and early Islamic art of the same period?

  8. Dreams and their interpretation were an aspect of everyday life in Byzantium. Consider the extant evidence to determine what dreambooks can tell us about the everyday lives of the Byzantines. Are there any issues with using these sources, and why is the evidence of everyday life less prominent than that of the lives of emperors and saints?  

 

 

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Weekly online discussion 15% No 23:59 Friday weekly
Annotated Bibliography 30% No 23:59 29/04/22
Essay 55% No 23:59 03/06/22

Weekly online discussion

Assessment Type 1: Participatory task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: 23:59 Friday weekly
Weighting: 15%

 

Weekly online responses to readings.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of primary and secondary texts and images through analysis, expression, and argument
  • Participate actively in online discussions

Annotated Bibliography

Assessment Type 1: Annotated bibliography
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: 23:59 29/04/22
Weighting: 30%

 

Students will submit an annotated bibliography of 15 (fifteen) references that will be used for the Essay. In a maximum of 1000 words, these references should include brief commentaries which summarise the work and its relevance to the major essay question. Primary and secondary sources should be included.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Cultivate a deeper appreciation of a range of cultural, social, religious, and political issues when dealing with sources from the past
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of primary and secondary texts and images through analysis, expression, and argument

Essay

Assessment Type 1: Essay
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: 23:59 03/06/22
Weighting: 55%

 

Students are required to submit one (1) 3000 word essay. Students can answer one of the questions provided or devise their own essay question/topic on consultation with the course tutor. The essay topic should be based on one of the lecture/tutorial topics or a combination of both.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Cultivate a deeper appreciation of a range of cultural, social, religious, and political issues when dealing with sources from the past
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of primary and secondary texts and images through analysis, expression, and argument

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

Delivery is fully online.

Weekly readings are available on Leganto.

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via AskMQ, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Changes from Previous Offering

Bibliography has been updated so that resources are generally available online from MQ library with a few exceptions.

Unit information based on version 2022.03 of the Handbook