There are two broad categories of goals for this course. The first consists of general skills you are to sharpen that you will use in this and other art history courses, as well as other kinds of classes. The second category consists of content-specific goals that reflect what I think it valuable for you to learn and understand about Byzantine civilization, its art, its artists and art-consumers, and its history. These are listed in considerable detail on the goals page of the syllabus so that you can understand the aims of the course and use the goals to understand how particular activities and criteria fit in. You should also use these goals from time to time as a yardstick to evaluate your own progress as well..

Generally speaking, when I grade your work, I look for evidence of real learning, of improvement in your level of skills, and of solid effort that attests to your interest in exploring ideas and increasing proficiency rather than just putting in time in order to get by.

Course structure:

We will meet in mixed lecture and discussion format throughout the semester, alternating straight lecture presentations with small-group work, discussion of assigned reading or other work, and in-class writing and problem-solving; in-class work that is missed cannot be made up. Accordingly, I expect all of you to attend and to come prepared to participate regularly; more than two absences (which equals a week's work) for other than University-approved reasons will adversely impact your participation grade. On several occasions we will meet in Special Collections or another site on campus for special instruction; on Orthodox Easter, you will have the option of attending a service in which you can experience icons within the context of the living tradition of the liturgy.

Plan to arrive on time and to stay for the full length of the class in order to benefit fully from this structured time together. On occasions when you must miss class or arrive after initial announcements are made, it is your responsibility to pick up any handouts distributed and to inform yourself of those same announcements. You should also find e-mail helpful for such keeping current.

Outside of class, I expect you to complete assignments and to keep up with reading and individual/team work. Make use of time out of class for individual consultation, supplemented with contact possibilities afforded by e-mail, the class listserve, and our website (information further on) so that you can continue to work and learn independently regardless of weather or other distractions.

Requirements:

E-Mail Account: You must have an e-mail account to use in connection with this course (if you do not already have one, you are entitled to a University account as a UK student; you may also use any other e-mail account, such as aol.com or mci.com). I use e-mail a great deal for individual and group communication and consultation, particularly when real-time contact is not imperative but some type of contact is.

Class Listserv: Once you have an e-mail account, you need to subscribe to the class listserv, AH322CLASS, in order to participate and receive postings. I use the listserv quite a bit to supplement class time, particularly for housekeeping tasks, reminders, follow-ups for things like questions raised in class or clarification, changes, directions, and other types of elaboration that may not have happened during our time together. You can use the listserv to raise your own questions, share your ideas, comments, and views with your classmates, as well as to communicate particular matters that may pertain to your research or group work.

To subscribe to the class listserv from your e-mail account, send the following to LISTSERV@lsv.uky.edu in the message line (body of text): SUB AH322CLASS firstname lastname (insert your own names in those positions). You will then receive a message verifying that this is what you wish to do, and asking for your reply "OK"; then the listserv will automatically take some steps to subscribe you to the list. You will finally receive confirmation that you are subscribed, including some instructions to refer to for various ways to use the list and to deal with typical problems.

PLEASE NOTE: Anytime that you write, or reply, to the list, your message goes to everyone else on the list, so you can think of it as a virtual-time public conversation. Items that you wish to direct to a single individual -- teacher or classmate -- should not be addressed to the list but to that individual's particular e-mail address.

Communication and Effort: Please use e-mail, the listserv, this class Website, and my office hours, as well as other means of communication such as course materials and your classmates, to make this class a successful learning experience for yourself. I can assist you if you make a good-faith effort and take significant responsibility for your own learning. I do not give grades; your work earns them.

Grade distribution for evaluated work will be as follows:

John Lowden, Early Christian and Byzantine Art (Phaidon, 1997)

Cyril Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire, 330-1450: Sources and Documents (Univ. of Toronto, 1986).

Thomas F. Mathews, Byzantium from Antiquity to the Renaissance (Prentice-Hall, 1998)

Other short-term assignments in works held on reserve in the Art Library will be made over the semester (see schedule below).

A-H 322 is paired with HIS 546, Byzantine History, to satisfy the USP Cross-Disciplinary requirement. If you plan to take these two courses to satisfy this requirement, save your notes and basic text books from the first course for the semester in which you take the second course of the pair. Check with me if you plan to fulfill or are currently fulfilling this requirement; I can provide some suggestions on how to make this pairing work for you as USP envisions. Click here for further information on the University Studies Program.

SCHEDULE

Please bring Mango to class each time an assignment is made in it; for other texts, please bring when asterisked.

**For assignments, please note:
Any written assignment this semester can be submitted electronically to me. Formal assignments must be submitted in good form (that is, as finished as they would be were they submitted in hard copy). To avoid software problems across platforms, DO NOT ATTACH documents; rather, cut and paste them into a regular e-mail message and send normally unless you and I have already agreed otherwise in discussion of software compatibility.