Byzantine Studies at Queen�s University, Belfast

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

-- W.B. Yeats, 1927

General Introduction

This is the angle from which most people first come to hear the name 'Byzantium'. Sometimes other people may have heard it used in a conversation or read it in a book - very often as a description for something overly-complicated. More recently, there have been attempts by the media to bring the subject into a new light with television programs such as John Rohmer's Byzantium: The Lost Empire. Not all of these attempts have been terribly successful.

One of the problems we face in Byzantine Studies is that people come into the subject almost by accident. As I have said above, a chance encounter with the name in a book or poem, or they have noticed the stall at one of the university�s Open Days and their curiousity has been piqued. To cut a long story short, we (along with many other small disciplines) suffer from not being a school subject. Unlike, for example, English or Modern History, you do not find very many school-leavers who put Byzantine Studies on their UCAS forms as their main degree. This web-page is an attempt to enlighten people as to what the subject entails, particularly at Queen�s University Belfast, which is the only university in the UK to offer the subject as a single-honours degree.

New Student Introduction

As well as being a sigificant area of Mediterranean history in its own right, Byzantine Studies covers a wide variety of other disciplines, which usually surprises outsiders to the subject. This results in a wide variety of people who have an outside interest in the period ('crypto-Byzantinists' as they are referred to), usually through an associated subject (for example, ancient or mediaeval history). In our course itself, we attempt to deal with as many of these aspects of the Byzantine empire as possible.
However, the best place to begin is at the beginning, and this means the...

Byzantine Studies FAQ

This provides strangers to the subject with as much information as they might need to whet their appetite.

Various Byzantine interest areas

For the more advanced student of the subject, or if you feel brave enough to delve a bit deeper, I have divided the site into a number of different areas, listed below.

A brief history of the empire
Byzantine orthodox religion
The art and architecture of Byzantium
Language and literature in the empire
Byzantine clothing and culture

These are included to give a flavour of what the empire was really like and the type of things that you could conceivably study in this subject. However, for the exact details of what the course entails, then move on to the course information.

Course Information

Finally, the hard-core nitty-gritty. The course itself and the poor fools that have done it previously. This should give you some idea of what experiences you are likely to have and the people you will be working with. It also contains the all-important travel reports, that tell you what you can hope to get up to when you go on your compulsary field-study to the Mediterranean at the end of your second-year. Also interesting to peruse are the photos of the recent joint Byzantine Studies - Archaeology formal, an experience that will hopefully be repeated in the future.

Course Details
Current staff and postgraduate students
Current undergraduate students
Byzantine travel reports
Former students (and what they do now)
Byzantine Formal

Byzantine Studies in Belfast

It is important to remember that the university course is only part of the flourishing Byzantine scene in Belfast. Under the title 'Byzantium in Belfast', a group meets regularly to discuss the subject and new developments or approaches. Usually every Wednesday evening throughout term, there is a guest speaker who visits the group and gives a lecture on a certain topic. Afterwards, in a very relaxed and convivial atmosphere, the audience can question the speaker. The current schedule is coming to an end, but the new one will be published by the start of next semester.

Two other areas of interest to those more familiar with the subject are:
Belfast Byzantine Texts and Translations - the publishing arm of the subject.
Belfast Byzantine International Colloquia - the Belfast Byzantine conference.

Other sites of interest

If you are interested in finding out more about the subject in general or perhaps one of our many related subjects, then go to my links page. If, however, you are thinking 'gosh, what a simply splendid web-site! I must write and tell this fellow exactly what I think of it' or you're thinking 'my dog could write better code than this wretch', then sign my guestbook (below) and tell me what you think.

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Alternately you can mail me at this address with any questions on the subject or tips for the page;
Paul Keenan / Queen's University, Belfast