2024-25

The course forms a basic introduction to the history of medieval Europe. It examines the formation and evolution of the Medieval world throughout the European continent, from the fall of the Roman empire and the foundation of the Germanic (“barbarian”) kingdoms to the Renaissance and the transition to the Early Modern Era.

The course deals with the main artistic trends and tendencies in painting in Orthodox lands of eastern Europe and the Middle East. At the same time, it places particular emphasis on the historical and ideological context in which the painters worked, so as to offer an iconographic interpretation of the painting produced during the Ottoman occupation.

The course covers a significant chapter in the history of medieval Europe and its interaction with the rest of the world. The Crusades both contributed to and were a consequence of the dynamic evolution and expansion of Latin Christendom in various fields, such as politics, military affairs, commercial life and cultural development, and in all directions, from the 11th c. onwards. 

The first half of the course examines in summary form the education of Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman Empire and the nature of the education provided for them. Particular emphasis is laid upon the changes wrought by the Greek Enlightenment on education, resulting in the move from the 'Greek school' of the Church to the Greek school of the ethnos. The second part of the course offers an analysis of the progress of education from the foundation of the independent Greek nation-state to the present.