In the year AD 300, the Romans ruled a massive Mediterranean empire that stretched from Scotland to Egypt and from Spain to the Black Sea. Seven centuries later, this ancient empire had fragmented into three successor civilizations: the Byzantine Empire, the Islamic World, and early medieval Christendom. This course explores how this momentous transformation occurred. We will investigate such topics as the late Roman empire and its relations with so-called "barbarian" peoples, the origins and spread of Christianity, monasticism and saints cults, Byzantine civilization, the rise of Islam, the foundation of early medieval Germanic and Slavic kingdoms, changes in the family and social hierarchies, relations between church and state, feudalism, economy and trade, and the Vikings. Groups B and D

Hour: GOLDBERG