You may download a list of all these offerings here.
Many of these courses are already approved as counting toward the Interdisciplinary Major and Minor in Medieval Studies. Those not yet included on that list can be substituted for credit toward those requirements -- please contact Carol Symes (symes@illinois.edu) if you have any questions.
200-level courses
Prof. D. Fairchild Ruggles
ARTH 219/LA 222 Islamic Gardens and Architecture
Study of the formation, history, and meaning of the landscape and architecture of the Islamic world.
Prof. James Pilgrim
ARTH 230 Italian Renaissance Art
An introduction to the architecture, painting, and sculpture of Italy during the Renaissance.
Prof. Daniel Leon Ruiz
CLCV 250 Sports and Society in Ancient Greece and Rome – STUDY ABROAD
This course is short term faculty led program where students will have the opportunity to explore the role of sports in ancient Greek and Roman society. This course explores the integral role of sports in ancient Greek and Roman societies, spanning from approximately 3000 B.C.E. to the sixth century C.E. Through a multidisciplinary approach, students will investigate the diverse social fabric of the ancient Mediterranean, examining how factors such as gender, race, and class influenced athletic participation and spectatorship. The course will cover the foundational elements of Greco-Roman athletics, including the contexts, rules, and notable athletes associated with various competitions. Students will develop critical skills for analyzing archaeological and literary sources to uncover the social significance of sports in the lives of ordinary individuals. By drawing connections between ancient practices and contemporary issues, participants will gain insights into the lasting impact of athletic competition and its imagery in modern society.
Prof. Gian Piero Bersiani
EALC 275 Masterpieces of East Asian Literature
A wide-ranging introduction to the literatures of traditional China, Korea, and Japan. Selections from novels, plays, and poems are studied to gain insight into the cultures that produced them and to hone skills in textual analyses. Explores how influential texts have been repackaged and reinterpreted for modern audiences in media such as film and manga.
Prof. Carson Koepke
ENGL 202 MDVL 201 Medieval Literature and Culture
Have you ever wondered what stories people were reading for fun a thousand years ago? Together, we will explore the literary and cultural diversity of the Middle Ages by reading and analyzing narrative texts from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Mesoamerica that were being told in or around the year 1000. By focusing on a cross section of world literature from turn of the first millennium CE, we will experience how medieval peoples thought about physical and spiritual travel, how they retold epic myths, legends, and origin stories, and how the genre of the medieval romance laid the foundations for the modern novel. Readings in Modern English translation will be sourced from a wide variety of languages, including Old English, Latin, Arabic, Coptic, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, and Mayan, composed by practitioners of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and other prominent religious traditions. As we read, we will work to place narratives like "Beowulf" and "The Tale of Genji" within their wider cultural contexts while also thinking critically about what features and practices unite literature across geographies. The texts will be both weird and wonderful and they will leave you wanting more.
Prof. Mauro Nobili
HIST 213 African Muslim Societies
Less than ten years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 CE, Muslims “overflowed” from the Arabian Peninsula into the African continent. Soon, from North Africa and the Indian Ocean, the new religion entered sub-Saharan Africa. Today, one Muslim out of three is from Africa and one out of two Africans is Muslim. Through the study of secondary sources, in-class reading and discussions of primary sources, as well as documentaries, this course will provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to understand this central phenomenon in modern world history, now an unfortunate and misunderstood staple of contemporary news due to the prominence gained in the past ten years by Jihadist movements such as Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria, AQMI in the Sahara and the Sahel, and Shabab in the Horn and East Africa.
Prof. Walker Horsfall
MDVL 252 Viking Sagas in Translation
An introduction to the Old Norse-Icelandic sagas.
Prof. Mukhtar Ali
REL 214 Introduction to Islam
History of Islamic thought from the time of Muhammad to the present, including the prophethood of Muhammad, the Qur'an, theology and law, mysticism and philosophy, sectarian movements, modernism and legal reform, and contemporary resurgence.
Prof. Adam Newman
REL 286 Introduction to Hinduism
Elements of Hindu thought and practice; selected topics presented in historical order and in the context of Indian cultural history (including the present).
300-level courses
Prof. Carol Symes
HIST 345 Medieval Civilization
An introduction to the cultural history of medieval Europe in its wider contexts. This “in-between era,” from the 4th to the 16th centuries, generated many of today’s forms of education, identity, law, government, language, literature, architecture, art, and religious belief. We will study some key texts and artifacts produced in this era, as well as some cutting-edge historical scholarship on crucial developments. There are no prerequisites, but students will be required to
400-level courses
Prof. Hermann von Hesse
ARTH 491 Topics in Art History: Africa and the Museum
This course examines the history of looted and unethically sourced African art kept in Western museums. Displays of such art reinforced imperial ideals of racial difference and thus contributed to perceptions about African cultures as “tribal,” “traditional” and “timeless.” Despite these racialist underpinnings, postcolonial African leaders appropriated museums to showcase African “cultural authenticity.” Finally, we will examine how African artists and activists are campaigning for alternatives to museums.
Dr. Betsy Bevis
CLCV 491/520 Villas and Villa Culture
This course is an advanced survey of villas (large country estates) as physical, economic, and cultural phenomena in the greater Mediterranean. Although the focus will be primarily Roman antiquity, there will also be attention to post-Roman afterlives, permutations, and revivals. Students will explore primary archaeological, visual, and literary evidence around villas and read a selection of key secondary literature.
Prof. Walker Horsfall
GER 470 Middle Ages to Baroque
So You Want To Be A Knight?: If you have ever dreamed of being a knight, princess, minstrel, or dragon(?!) in the Middle Ages, this course is for you. We will examine the realities and fantasies of medieval aristocratic and courtly life, and discuss its history, material culture, ideals, and artistic production. The focus will be on the 12th and 13th centuries in the medieval German context, particular on how ideas of nobility and knighthood reveal themselves in the literature produced during this period. We will be reading texts from across a wide array of genres, including courtly love poetry (Minnesang), Arthurian romance, mirrors of princes, short stories, and religious texts. While the course will be taught in English and does not require a knowledge of German, we will also be incorporating some training in Middle High German, to allow us to directly engage with and dive deeper into this rich body of literature, and access medieval courtly culture in its own terms and expressions. Grab your lances, flower wreaths, and fluffy little lap dogs, and come seek adventure!
Prof. Adam Newman
REL 402 Gods, Demons, and Heroes in Hindu Literature
An exploration of Hindu literature with a focus on representations of gods and goddesses, demons, and heroes in foundational texts such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas. Through close textual analysis, students will examine the philosophical, theological, and sociocultural dimensions of these narratives. Emphasis will be placed on the interplay between myth and history and the influence of these texts on South Asian literary and religious traditions through the modern period.
Prof. Dov Weiss
REL 419 Jesus and Judaism
Examines the ways Jews over the last two thousand years thought about, polemicized against, and celebrated, Jesus of Nazareth. The course will cover numerous types of Jewish literature including, but not limited to, folk stories and Talmudic teachings (from Late Antiquity), published letters, polemical treatises, law codes, philosophical tracts, and mystical writings (from the Middle Ages) and, lastly, works of Reform theology, ecumenical treatises, Zionist literature, and Jewish artistic expressions (in the Modern Period).
Dr. Marc AbouAbdallah
REL 442 History of Early Judaism
The history of Judaism from Ezra to the rise of Islam: Hellenism and Judaism, varieties of Judaism, Palestinian Judaism and its documents, Babylonian Judaism, the rabbis, and popular Jewish culture.nd eschatologies.
500-level courses
Prof. Carol Symes
MDVL 500 Seminar in Medieval Studies
Topic and time to be determined in consultation with interested students.
Dr. Betsy Bevis
CLCV 520 Villas and Villa Culture
This course is an advanced survey of villas (large country estates) as physical, economic, and cultural phenomena in the greater Mediterranean. Although the focus will be primarily Roman antiquity, there will also be attention to post-Roman afterlives, permutations, and revivals. Students will explore primary archaeological, visual, and literary evidence around villas and read a selection of key secondary literature.Prof. Walker Horsfall
GER 571 Medieval German Studies: So You Want to Be a Knight?