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i
BYZTINTIUM
mo BOOKS ® LIFE
WORLD LIBRARY
LIFE
NATURE LIBRARY
TIME READING PROGRAM
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
THE
LIFE
LIFE
SCIENCE LIBRARY
INTERNATIONAL BOOK SOCIETY
GREAT AGES OF MAN TIME-LIFE LIBRARY
OF ART
TIME-LIFE LIBRARY OF
AMERICA
GREAT AGES OF MAN A
History of the World's Cultures
BYZ7I NTI
UM
by
PHILIP
SHERRARD and
The
Editors of
TIME-LIFE
BOOKS
TIME INCORPORATED, NEW YORK
THE AUTHOR:
on Byzantium, London University in modern Greek literature and held a research fellowship at Oxford University. His major publications include Athos, the Mountain of Silence; Constantinople: Iconography of a Sacred City; and The Greek East and the Latin West. He now lives with his Greek wife in Athens, where he has served as the Assistant Director of the British School of Archaeology. Philip Sherrard, a distinguished English authority
received his doctorate from
THE CONSULTING EDITOR:
Leonard Krieger,
now
University Professor at the
University of Chicago, was formerly Professor of History at Yale; Dr. Krieger
is
The German Idea of Freedom and The Politics of Discretion, and History, written in collaboration with John Higham and Felix Gilbert.
the author of
co-author of
THE COVER:
St.
Demetrios, one of Byzantium's revered warrior saints,
tured in a mosaic from the 11th Century
TIME-LIFE
Church
BOOKS
GREAT AGES OF SERIES EDITOR: Russell
EDITOR
Editorial Staff for
Maitland A. Edey
Martin
Text Editors:
Korn
TEXT DIRECTOR
Designer:
Sheldon Cotler
Bourne
Byzantium:
Ogden Tanner, Betsy
Beatrice T. Dobie
Staff Writers:
Field,
John Stanton, Edmund White
Chief Researcher: Peggy Bushong
Mason
Researchers: Irene Ertugrul, Alice Baker,
Assistant Text Directors:
Harold C.
Frankel
Norman Snyder
Assistant Designer: Ladislav Svatos
PICTURE EDITOR
Assistartt
MAN
CHIEF OF RESEARCH
Robert C.
pic-
Picture Editor: John Paul Porter
ART DIRECTOR
Mann
is
in Greece.
Assistant Editor: Carlotta Kerwin
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Jerry
Loukas
of Hosios
Jacqueline Boel, Carole Isenberg, Frank Kendig,
Ogden Tanner
Kaye
Art Director: Arnold C. Holeywell
Neil,
Theo
Pascal, Jeffrey Tarter,
Arlene Zuckerman
Assistant Chief of Research: Martha Turner
EDITORIAL PRODUCTION PUBLISHER
Color Director: Robert
Rhett Austell
Assistant: James
General Mana<(er: Joseph C. Hazen Circulation Director: Joan D.
Copy
Jr.
Manley
McSweeney
Littles
Traffic:
Douglas Graham, David Wyland
Art Assistants: Anne Landry, Robert
Pellegrini
preparing this book was given by Dmitri Kessel, Life staff photographer; the Chief of the
Life Picture Library, Doris
Chief of the Time-Life is),
Marian Gordon Goldman.
Joan Lynch, Barbara Sullivan
Louis Bronze, James Wendell Forbes
in
Young
Picture Bureau: Margaret K. Goldsmith,
Publishing Board: Nicholas Benton,
Valuable aid
L.
Cox
Barbara Hults, Dolores A.
Marketing Director: Carter Smith Business Manager: John D.
Staff:
J.
ONeil; the Chief
News
Barbara Moir (London),
Service, Richard
Ann Natanson
Byzantium
©
of the
Time
Inc.
Bureau of Editorial Reference, Peter Draz; the
M. Clurman; and Correspondents Maria Vincenza
Aloisi (Par-
(Rome), Elisabeth Kraemer (Bonn), Helga Kohl (Athens).
1966 Time
Published simultaneously
Inc. in
All rights reserved.
Canada. Revised 1967.
Library of Congress catalogue card
number 66-28334.
School and library distribution by Silver Burdett Company.
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION
THE 1
2 3
7
NEW ROME
Picture Essay:
PRESERVING A HERITAGE
Picture Essay:
30
A CAPITAL OBSERVED
41
CHRONICLE OF AN EMPIRE Picture Essay:
BASIL
THE MAGNIFICENT
4 5
THE HOLY ESTABLISHMENT
Picture Essay:
Picture Essay:
fT THE
8
19
CONSTANTINE'S CITY
AN EMPEROR UNDER GOD
7
lo
TECHNIQUES OF
63
74
WAR
83
92
A PICTURE-BOOK CHURCH
ROUND OF BYZANTINE
101
LIFE
ni
A GLITTERING CULTURE Picture Essay:
TRADITIONS OF BEAUTY
145
THE FINAL CENTURIES Picture Essay:
STRONGHOLDS OF BYZANTIUM
Chronologies, 183 Bibliography, credits and art notes, 186
Acknowledgments, 187 Index, 188
171
NTRODUCTION What was
historical unit?
The
what was reader
tions will find that there are
even find
will
a thing as a
that
it
who
made
its it
a
asks these ques-
no simple answers. He never was such
that, in a sense, there
Byzantine empire; that had he
us say in the 10th Century, in
let
What was
empire?
the Byzantine
place in history, and
lived,
some provincial
town of the so-called Byzantine empire and
re-
inhabitants as Byzantines, they would
ferred to
its
not have
known what he was
talking about. For in
was
also a great cuhural unit at a time
was
tellectual activity
without
a
that culture
The
principal ingredients of that culture were
Greek, but blended with them
life,
was, in
mod-
gin.
So
is
of comparatively
to those
the borders of the empire to
who
dwelled within
which
refers.
it
would the inhabitants have understood
Nor
a visitor
if
in the final
many
the great Christian synthesis, were
elements. Christianity
unknown
its
itself,
surrounded by ceremonial.
power from God and
And
Eastern features of
Byzantium's magnificent art— its abstract character,
mentation— are everywhere apparent,
was the Roman Empire and
they were Romans.
phase of the
a
Roman
Empire.
tianity
and Constantine the Great's transfer of
capital
from
It
Rome
began with the triumph of Chris-
Byzantium early
to
Century. Despite the loss of
and it
its
its
in the
his
Fourth
western provinces,
geographical restriction to those of the east,
perpetuated without
a
break the political struc-
ture
which the Romans had fashioned. Although
the
Byzantine
empire
much
that
was Roman
ernment and law. As Empire
it
in
its
character,
continuation of the it
Roman actually
in the world.
impressive political
for over a
it
ideology, gov-
considered itself— and at times
was— the one empire
An
a
underwent
subsequently
changes which substantially altered retained
flatness, its brilliant colors, its elaborate orna-
This synthesis of cultures, dominated by Christo
surrounding bar-
and the Russians,
and so made the
thousand years, the Byzantine empire
civilized
nations out of
same time Byzantium
as inspiration for the
The
aissance.
them. At
preserved the great sec-
ular literature of classical antiquity
which served
emerging Europe of the Ren-
cultural influence of
Byzantium was
worldwide. It
cal
is
with this empire, great both as a
organism and as
of culture,
that
the
a
what general,
that
following pages deal.
is
a
matter dictated
very nature of his assignment.
which he
further study.
does that,
it
If
will
politi-
synthesizer and preserver
the treatment of his subject the author
style in
organism which endured
Byzantium passed on
barians, such as the Balkan Slavs
tianity,
The Byzantine empire was indeed
in ori-
author notes, was the absolutism
too, as the
of the emperor, deriving his
guage they spoke was Greek. For them, the empire lived
Oriental
the core of Byzantine
its
which they
result,
most primitive form. Eastern
he had referred to them as Greeks, though the Ian-
in
of the
first
and then of the Roman Em-
Hellenistic monarchies pire.
continued
It
Alexander the Great, the establishment
site
origin,
minimum.
had evolved following the conquests of
truth the expression "Byzantine empire" (derived
em
at a
in a
units, in-
break the culture of the ancient world as
from Byzantium, the ancient town on whose Constantinople was built)
when,
Europe broken up into numerous feudal
writes,
is
If
in
someby
the
The stimulating
however, should induce
the reading of
have achieved
its
this
book indeed
purpose.
PETER CHARANIS Voorhees Professor of History, Rutgers. The State University.
New
Jersey
tmrm^mmriiiiu
i
iniiiu hi
mmmmm
^.
•>;Jt
.
^'<1"
,
-
-t-
Ctij^^^i'^'^'^"-
For a long time the general view of the history of
Western
civilization relegated to a
most fascinating and
of the
human
record.
lasted
It
remarkable that Byzantium,
is
and
a
more than
a
vast empire
minor place one
influential ages in the
cultural
brilliant
entity
a
that
thousand years, was almost
disregarded by most historians of the West.
According tion
had
its
Western
to this general view,
origins in ancient Greece. Behind the
ancient Greek world
lay
itself
the
impressive
sometimes shadowy forms of several other
1
NEW ROME
if
civiliza-
tions—among them Assyria and Egypt, India and
Minoan
THE
civiliza-
Crete. But
it
was
ancient Greece that
in
the vital elements of these earlier civilizations were
and cultural
fused into a pattern of
civil
we now
specifically
recognize as
that
life
The
Western.
Greeks, however, failed to practice their political
thought on any scale larger than that of the state.
city-
Although Alexander the Great broke through
the confines of the classical
Greek world and
dif-
fused Greek culture across the lands of Anatolia, Syria and Egypt, he failed to create a political or-
ganization capable of uniting the numerous peoples
he had conquered. It
of
was only
three centuries later, with the rise
Roman power and that
rule,
Western
Roman
the consolidation of
the
civilization for
acquired a pattern for political order.
time
first
Rome
ab-
sorbed and preserved Greek culture and education within a political structure that
York
in Britain to
from
stretched
Alexandria in Egypt, from the
Atlantic to the Euphrates. Yet
destined to disintegrate. After
was an Empire
it
some
five centuries,
between the Fourth Century and the early Sixth Century, the great barbarian leaders— Alaric, Attila,
Clovis,
and Theodoric— swept into
other parts of
empire
the
old ruling classes
in
the
Italy
and
West. Rome's
were destroyed and the West
sank into that period of
its
history
known
as the
Dark Ages.
The next Western
great phase in
civilization
is
this
general
view of
represented by the Renais-
sance, and the revival of learning and culture which
took place in Italy and elsewhere from 1400 onward. The BYZANTTUMS IMPERIAL EAGLE, seen here on a 10th Century silk shroud, was a traditional emblem of Roman authority that craftsmen in the East preserved and imitated for centuries after the collapse of the Roman Empire.
"rediscovery
of the ancient
many
"
of the literature
and
Greco-Roman world, hidden
art
for so
centuries under a blanket of ignorance and 11
THE CYRILLIC ALPHABET was one
more im-
of Byzantium's
B
portant cultural legacies to the Eastern European world.
Although letters
their
names
on Greek—some Cyrillic
largely
shown
are
alpha
is
used
The modern adaptation
original 43 letters.
its
in
Russia has been reduced
33
to
letters.
brought the "dark" Middle Ages
illiteracy,
delta
epsilon
zeta
eta
theta
H
e
an
to
H
KE
r
A
6
?
az
buki, vedi
glagol'
dobro
yest'
zemlya
The Orthodox Christian
invention.
Cyrillic alphabet, the very
modern Western world.
ple
of
scheme
of things, there
strange kind
a
is
Roman
gap or hiatus between the decline of the
Empire and the lized
world
Not even
is
Renaissance
rise of
supposed
The
Italy.
have suffered an
to
civi-
eclipse.
the glories of Charlemagne's court and
the brilliance of medieval scholarship are of
any
assumed
1400
consequence.
It is
A.D. the progress of the deed
all
cultural
This version of history simplification:
tween the old
it
is
that
arts
came
life,
from 400
and
to
and
sciences,
in-
to a halt. is
more than an over-
Roman Empire and
may
Most
For be-
the Renaissance
way
striking
brilliant
its
glittering,
same
among Byzantium's unique conand Western Asia are
evident in
skills
principles
in
its
same
these
churches-
areas
today.
the twisted ridges of Yugoslavia, in
open valleys of Romania, or on the Syrian desone sees the
many
majestic vaults and
must
of a stone church, there one a
of these peo-
life
many-faceted structures being built on
Wherever on the
the
religion,
mosaics, and the architectural forms
and engineering
the
of
fita
be traced to Byzantine origins.
tributions to Eastern Europe
erts
misrepresentation.
a
e
gamma
end and prepared the way for the emergence of the
In this
domes
acknowledge
also
debt to the genius of the Byzantine builders
first
developed such
who
hierarchy of forms.
a
Byzantium may be ob-
endured for some
Though indebtedness
eleven centuries, and formed a strategic bridge be-
vious in Eastern Europe,
tween antiquity and the modern world.
grudgingly recognized in the countries of the West.
lay the great age of Byzantium.
It
It
not only
Roman
preserved the two unifying elements of the
Empire— Roman law and
state organization, and the
inherited tradition of Hellenic culture— it added a third
and even more powerful organizing
force:
Indeed, the
wonder
is
not that Byzantium
ing "rediscovered" today but that
remained shrouded ing.
There
is,
to
cultural
Russia.
To
in
it
be-
is
for so long
mystery and misunderstand-
be sure,
that does regard its
The
revival of
tine
scholars
literature.
a sizable part of the
Byzantium
lineage— the
as a
major source of
Balkans
these sections of Europe
any others did Byzantium (which
world
and
western
more than
fell to
the
to
Turks
in 1453) transmit its rich heritage of tradition
and
in
to
it is
more subtle and more
Greek ideas during the Renaissance
would have been
largely impossible
had not Byzan-
and preserved the ancient
studied
Certain cathedrals from
Charlemagne,
Christianity.
12
beta
H
at right (below) with
Creek equivalents (above)— it also drew on Hebrew
their
for three of
that
was modeled
it
and
E
like the
one
still
the
reign
of
standing at Aachen
Germany, use Byzantine decorative
motifs, floor
plans and construction techniques; but these are generally counted as features of Carolingian
And
it is
a
art.
forgotten bit of cultural history that the
fork— that most characteristic implement of Western table service— was society
by
a
Indeed, in
first
introduced to Venetian
Byzantine princess. the eyes
of
many
Westerners,
the
Byzantines have continued to seem either like his-
iota
K
A
M
N
kappa
lambda
mu
nu
M
H
myslete
nash
K kako
lyudi
omicron
on
ksi
n
P
2:
T
T
4>
X
^
n
pi
rho
sigma
tau
upsilon
phi
chi
psi
omega
n
P
G
T
V
O
X
^
GO
pokoi
rlsy
slovo
tvyordo
izhita
fert
kha
psi
omega
or like grotesque figures in a
torical nonentities,
strange and tasteless drama. Perhaps this
because
is
of the Byzantine's great passion for three aspects of
that have always been rather suspect in the
life
West: spectacular popular circuses, courtly intrigue (including royal eye-gougings) and religious mys-
Rome
looked to
watched
upon
for protection
and leadership; some
apprehensively, fearing
it
commanding
position, the
by
moil. Still governed
not an empire,
a
Roman
was
state
system suitable
was wracked by
it
new demands
But despite
their territory or authority.
this
in tur-
to a city,
internal strife.
long
While preserving the governmental forms of the
chronicle of activities in these three spheres, such
Republic, Augustus succeeded in creating a strong
writers as the Englishman William Lecky have con-
authoritarian government that recognized both the
cluded that Byzantium was merely "a monotonous
needs of empire and the age-old
Shocked, puzzled or dismayed by
ticism.
story of
women,
the
intrigues
of
a
eunuchs and
priests,
of poisonings, of conspiracies, of uniform
Byzantine
life
grisly side, but
now beginning
may have had was one
to see,
consistency and, above it
all,
strange and even
we
of
all
are
of surprising beauty,
durability. Furthermore,
power and glory
possessed sufficient
together virtually
its
underlying pattern, as
its
the
bind
to
nonbarbarian world
before the rise of the West, thus demonstrating an
men and
admirable mastery of this
reason
it is
necessary to attempt
penetrating view of Byzantium.
Byzantine civilization,
main forces
it is
that forged
Roman Empire and By
events.
it:
And
a
If
only for
more deeply
to
understand
of the
a
Western world;
sur-
by the Third Century the
empire had been brought close
breaking
the
to
point by a combination of factors— misuse of authority, bureaucratic
omy,
bumbling,
a
scheming of ambitious men. The
was demonstrated
of the times
when
193,
climate
political
as early as the year
popular emperor, Pertinax, was mur-
a
dered by the
elite
Praetorian Guard, which then
proceeded to auction ner
foundering econ-
wars, barbarian raids and the private
civil
was one
off the
emperorship. The win-
Rome was
the
scarcely 300
the focal point
eyes turned to
it.
a
Julianus, a wealthy senator
who, ac-
contemporary account, "was holding
and daughters and fellow feasters urged him
masterpiece. At the time of
ail
Augustan system was
drinking bout late that evening [when] his wife
the second half of the Third Century,
power,
inception, the
the changing form of the
the rise of Christianity.
system had been
its
cording to
years before faced disintegration. Augustus' imperial
At
necessary to examine the
Roman Empire founded by Augustus
his succession to
dislike for
autocracy and kingship.
prisingly farsighted. But
ingratitude, of perpetual fratricide."
Roman
Some
from racks
his
banqueting couch and hasten
... on
the
way
they pressed
it
a
to rise
to the bar-
on him
that
he might get the sovereignty for himself and that he ought not to spare the competitors
" .
.
.
money
to
outbid any
The Roman Empire was
his.
Within months, however, julianus had himself 13
been deposed and murdered, and by 235 A.D.
had
tary anarchy
were 20 legitimate emperors
who
counted usurpers
ment became
un-
to
of central govern-
mockery: power was
a
whose
of the provincial armies their
addition
in
ruled sections of the Empire
The concept
at various times.
mili-
next 50 years there
set in. In the
own commanders,
in the
hands
were
loyalties
to
not to the Empire. In the
named Postumus
seized
Gaul and
some of Spain and ruled these provinces
as a sep-
West,
arate
general
a
kingdom
for nine years. In the East, a
named Zenobia, widow quered the
even
Roman
extended
of a
Palmyran prince, con-
provinces of Asia Minor and
her
influence
breadbasket of the Empire. feated
woman
Though
by Emperor Aurelian,
Egypt,
into
the
eventually de-
contempt
her
for
Rome, which had once held undisputed sway over virtually the
whole known world,
this reply to Aurelian's
demand
ans are on our
it
be
The brigands
side.
O
when we have
which come
Aurelian
The men who came failed,
.
at
.
Armeni-
what
all
sides?
You if
will
of
civil
to
home. The
work
honored government positions became
den which had
idle
once-
these
it;
heavy bur-
a
be forced upon the citizens. The
to
Roman Empire had become a top-heavy
bureaucracy,
always demanding more men, more goods, more taxes
from provinces almost wrung dry. scene
Into this
stepped
Dalmatian
a
soldier,
who openly adpower. He success-
Diocletian, a powerful personality
vocated
a
system of autocratic
fully asserted the concept of the divine right of the
emperor and, armed with ically set
Empire.
power, he systemat-
this
about restoring order to the crumbling he
First,
fortified the frontiers against the
from outlying barbarians and sep-
threat of force
arated civil authority from the military to forestall
from within. He
attempts to
the value of coinage and issued his
fix
famous Price
made
also
Edict,
price for goods
which established
a
maximum
and wages, category by category,
throughout the Empire; though not wholly successful,
momentum
these steps did arrest the
of the
downhill spiral of the economy. Diocletian also recognized the unwieldiness of its
inces into smaller units, almost doubling their
prov-
num-
had
provinces were grouped into dioceses and these in
was 95 per
turn were organized into four prefectures. At the
silver coinage it
attempt
to
meet the
sophisticated
money rising
economy
col-
servants were paid in rations and clothing.
such
a
of the plague de-
degree that large tracts
of land passed from cultivated acreage to wild land. 14
to
governors to contest the Emperor's authority. The
The
to
money
or
the administrative and
in a vain
manpower
men
without
ber and thereby weakening the power of provincial
Repeated wars and repeated waves pleted
their
fulfill
Rome's far-flung bureaucracy and carved
lapsed into a system of payment in kind; soldiers
and
to
quotas to the state even though the land lay
already full
cent copper— and more and more worthless
tide of inflation.
lower
power on the strength
been severely debased— at one point
was minted
will
to surrender."
to
were required
almost without exception, to
find effective solutions
economic chaos
the
town magistrates who were responsible
for collecting taxes
violent military coups will
of Syria have
.
then that tone with which you,— as
conqueror— now bid me
their armies
and we
received the reinforcements
from
to us
us,
The Saracens and
defeated your army,
in
for surrender:
"The Persians do not abandon await their succors.
revealed
is
Provincial
Diocletian split
top,
the
administration between
two emperors, each with the one
in the East
and one
in the
title
of
Augustus-
West. To control the
matter of orderly succession, each emperor had an heir apparent with the
title
of Caesar. Each
was
responsible for a given area of the Empire; but decrees of government had to be issued in the of
all
four
members
of the tetrarchy.
all
name
OLD AND NEW CAPITALS pire are personified
of the
by female
Roman Em-
figures in the
Rome
Fifth
Century ivory plaques at
(left)
wears a military helmet; Constantino-
ple's
right.
crown symbolizes the walls of her
city.
Diocletian himself took the post of emperor in
was another force within the Empire— a force which
the East, choosing as his capital Nicomedia, not
Diocletian failed to utilize or even to cope with—
which was soon
which helped create Byzantium. That force was
far
from the
city
to
become Con-
stantinople. Here, his use of the divine status of
the emperor, in itself an Eastern concept, took
and ceremonies: he put
oriental trappings
on
his head, scarlet
self clad in
a
on
diadem
buskins on his feet and had him-
robes of purple by the eunuchs
who
at-
Christianity.
In Diocletian's time, the religion that
able obstacles.
The moral and
of Christians often brought
Roman
came before him had
seems amazing. Not the
in
adoration.
The
Roman Empire
indirectly
set
the
stage for the rise of Byzantium. For in preserving the Empire, Diocletian also revitalized
new importance
to
the
it
and gave
Eastern dominions.
The
sound new substructure that underlay the Roman state
would become the Byzantine empire. Yet there
law, calling
spiritual
them
standards
into conflict with
down on them
persecutions so
harsh that the persistence of early Christianity often
stacles
steps Diocletian took to check the disinte-
gration of the
was
spreading throughout the Empire despite innumer-
tended him in the inner sanctuary of his court.
prostrate themselves
to play
so important a role in Byzantine civilization
He claimed descent from Jupiter, king of the gods, and when he revealed himself in audience those who to
was
least of Christianity's
was the multitude of
religions
ob-
and philoso-
phies that vied for the loyalties of the peoples of the
Roman
world.
Two
of Christianity's strongest
competitors were the pagan philosophies. Stoicism
and Neoplatonism. Stoicism, with its strictly
its
ideal of
an ordered society and
Roman high among
practical morality, appealed to the
mind, which ranked practical efficiency
15
When, two
the virtues.
Christ, the Emperor,
icism as his guiding philosophy,
it
reached
zenith.
its
Neoplatonism, claiming descent from some of the
more
Roman
through the pire aided
Roman it
began
Christ
common
ways
Alexandria. Unlike Stoicism,
its
were also the languages of
for a mystical experience of
an Absolute beyond the Its
highly speculative
and contemplative nature prevented extensive popular appeal.
It
from having
it
appealed to the few,
capable of mastering
its
complex meta-
Roman network facilitate
make
to
as
Greek and
well.
Roman world, Christianity. And the
languages of the
towns and roads, designed
of
government and
trade, eased the task of
who
abhorred Gentiles and held themselves aloof
from the Gentile world. Christians reached out into that world. Starting as groups of local
municants who gathered
tonism held out anything for the poor in
Supper and who were loosely bound by
bottom of Greek
the
and Roman
who
tians gradually took
labored and
were heavy laden.
patterns of the
For those great masses of the people some leavening of the frustrations and hardships of
Roman
its own much from the
Church developed
mans were
similating
any
cult provided
it
did not run counter to the interests of the state or
promote
civil
disturbance.
the existence within the
merous
Roman system
most ubiquitous of these
cults
unconquered Sun, made soldiers.
it
rites.
particularly
mans
as just
popular
to provide
what Roman law provided on
the plane of civil organization and
Christianity
of
But none of the mystery cults had
a spiritual plane
sical tradition
One
re-
of Apollo, the
an appeal strong and universal enough
on
East,
was Mithraism,
whose masculine nature and worship
among
of the nu-
North Africa and the
with exotic gods and bizarre
ligions
the
cults of
Hence they permitted
what Greek
clas-
provided on the plane of culture.
was
originally regarded
one more mystery
by the Ro-
religion,
a
local
variant of Judaism. Thus, like Judaism, which had a
working agreement with Rome and was per-
mitted to function without hindrance, Christianity, too,
was
tolerated.
and created an
state
new
ritual
Christian
and doctrine,
thinkers and
as-
and philoso-
religions
phies of the varied peoples of the Empire. ing
efficient
own.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the
provided by various "mystery" religions. The Rowilling to tolerate
the Last
a belief in
on some of the administrative
religious organization of their
was
life
commemorate
to
com-
imminent Second Coming of Christ, the Chris-
for the multitude of slaves at the society, or for those
to
spreading the Christian Word. Unlike the Jews,
physical structure. Neither Stoicism nor Neoplaspirit,
way Em-
their
Empire. Unknowingly, the
in other
Latin, the
grasp of rational thought.
16
of
its
appeal was not solely to reason, but to the desire
to those
so in this brief, early period of peace the
teachings
had
spiritual aspects of Plato's doctrines,
origins in
And
centuries after the birth of
Marcus Aurehus, adopted Sto-
Its lead-
Origen,
intellectuals— Irenaeus,
Clement of Alexandria— took over the language and
many its
Greek philosophy.
of the ideas of
Many
of
customs and services were based on the Judaic
forms, but Christians also adopted rituals and even dates from pagan religions. (The date of Christ-
mas, for example, was pegged
compete with
a
was
known.) Thus Christianity added
strengths a universal appeal. tury
it
to
Mithraitic festival day, although
the exact date of Christ's birth not,
December 25
at
was well on
its
way
to
By
not,
and
is
to its other
the Third Cen-
becoming the most
powerful single force within the Empire, capable of infusing
new
life
into
Rome's
failing
govern-
mental structure and the weakening tradition of classical learning.
During the early years of tians
had not been
their existence. Chris-
in actual conflict
with the
state.
When
confronted with the choice of submission or
suffering, they consistently chose the second.
had no desire
when
to
They
thwart imperial authority, but
they were required by Diocletian to accept
the concept of the emperor as a god, and to worship
him, they refused. Diocletian countered by embark-
what was
ing on
be the
to
last
great persecution
of Rome's Christian subjects, thereby missing the
chance
to
harness this dynamic element for the
benefit of the Empire. In 303 he issued the a series of edicts, ordering
churches
first
to be
of
razed,
sacred books to be burned, and Christians themselves to be enslaved,
imprisoned or tortured
if
HARD DAYS FOR CHRISTIANITY
they refused to give up their faith.
made martyrs out
Diocletian's edicts
the victims, and impressed
Roman
some
of
of
more than one pagan
with the extent of Christian courage. The
hour for Christianity's triumph had not yet struck, but
to
Domninus, shown above being clubbed Roman soldier, was one of
death by a
martyred
Christians
countless
Byzantine
times.
Major
pre-
in
phases
the
in
persecutions they endured appear below.
was not
it
St.
to be
delayed for very long. In 305
Diocletian voluntarily abdicated. His re-formed em64-67 pire,
lacking any integrating force such as Chris-
tianity
might have provided, barely survived him.
By 311
there were four rulers claiming the
emperor.
One
title
of them, stationed in the West,
of
in
province which became the
Moesia,
home
Diocletian's governors in the of the
up
the
true
mother
who
reputedly found and dug
sia
Nicomedia and and Egypt.
later
When
tine joined his father in Britain. There, as a
general in the successor,
Roman
young
army, he became his father's
and was acclaimed Augustus by
his
as
the
state
A PERIOD OF RESPITE gives the followworship once more.
RENEWED PUNISHMENTS,
including
and death, are directed
clergy as propagators of
249-251
AN EMPIRE-WIDE DRIVE tians
260-303
is
303-311
faith.
against Chris-
A SECOND RESPITE
under Callienus live
CHURCH-BURNINGS mark
unharmed. the
the great anti-Christian
311-
the
at
the
ordered by Emperor Decius.
permits worshipers to
served in the army in PerDiocletian retired, Constan-
burning stake.
EXECUTIONS INCREASE
exile
Cross of Christ in Palestine. As a
youth, Constantine was sent to Diocletian's court at
235-238
of
later be-
his
at the
ers the right to
Helena, a Christian lady and
later St.
former serving maid
was one
West and
Western co-emperors;
and
and
stigmatizes Christianity as a crime.
Roman
the
of the Serbs
the Bulgars. His father Constantius
was Helena,
110-210
225-235
Constantine was born
came one
the arena
was
Constantine.
ACCUSED BY NERO of burning Rome, Christians are sentenced to death in
last
of
campaigns.
CALERIU5 EDICT gives Christians the right to practice to rebuild their
their
religion
and
churches unmolested.
own
troops on his father's death in 306. 17
Six years later Constantine defeated Maxentius,
co-emperor in the West, after
his
a briUiant
cam-
the Empire confronted
mies—the Germanic
massed along the Dan-
paign that brought him to the outskirts of Rome.
ube and the Persians in Anatolia. There,
After reportedly seeing a heavenly vision during
main trade routes converged; and
campaign, Constantine declared his preference
this
for Christianity.
One
year after his victory over
mum, and
in
323 came his
feated and captured
final
other Eastern Emperor,
the
Licinius, after a struggle into
threw
their strength.
all
triumph; he de-
which both
Constantine was
parties
left sole
now
with the task of arresting the disin-
tegration of the Empire, and of welding
geneous parts into
made two major
its
homo-
durable whole, Constantine
a
Among
were those of other
religions,
Constantine himself,
to
do
and Christian holy
for bricks
who had
festi-
a typically
and mortar,
likewise.
He had
built
become
ci-
if
he did not
or
tral,
commitment. Either he thought
it
ex-
as well be
saved for the
last
moment,
Constantine's other important decision was to the Empire's capital from
birthplace in
what
is
was Naissus, Constantine's
now
Serbia;
was Ni-
there
Anatolian frontier Diocletian had magnified by the construction of several imperial buildings;
was Sardica (Sophia), already
a
there
bustling center of
on the way from central Europe
ited
by
of the
St. Paul,
Empire
and
in
Black vis-
commerce
a city vital to the
the eastern Mediterranean.
these Constantine considered for his city,
to the
and ultimately
new
All
imperial
rejected.
His thoughts also turned to Troy, ancient Ilium, scene of the epic battle between the Greeks and
Trojans immortalized
by Homer. Journeying
Minor he declared
that honored site in Asia
to it
a
Rome,
the scene
walls and ordered
workmen
to
begin construction
at once. But, as the story goes, the
under way, and the gates
in the
work was
well
main wall had
al-
when one night God appeared to the Emperor and commanded that he seek out yet another site for the new Rome. ready been hung,
Whether by divine
intervention, or
simply by
and counterplot, treason and conspiracy.
completing his process of selection, the Emperor
the north and west the Empire's provincial cap-
ultimately passed over Troy and chose Byzantium,
of plot
To
several churches. There
of
legend, he personally laid out the lines of the city
so that he might leave the world with a clean slate.
move
which Constantine authorized the building
in
was apparently not from want
he thought that baptism's remission of
might
of
capital
a Christian himself until just be-
pedient for the Emperor to remain officially neu-
sins
was Jerusalem, scene
proper location for his future capital. According to
fore his death, this
of spiritual
Ro-
many
children in-
his
structed in the Christian faith, and actually
cities
and resurrection, an ancient
Sea; and there was Thessalonica (Salonika),
churches and encouraged bishops and wealthy vilians
these
Christ's death
trade
were allowed the same tax exemption as
man enthusiasm
most important centers of the
the
Christian religion.
he assured Chris-
days were honored as respectfully as pagan vals.
finally,
Empire. Christian
decisions. First,
tianity legal status within the priests
of
the
too,
there,
comedia, whose importance as a citadel on the
Emperor of Rome. Faced
some
lay
Maxentius he defeated the Eastern Emperor, Maxi-
itals
were too remote and uncivilized
suitable nerve centers for the vast
to
serve as
Roman
realm,
but to the east lay an urban civilization older and richer than Rome's. 18
most formidable ene-
its
tribes
It
was
also
to
the east that
a small trading
town on
a magnificently
site jutting into the sea of
the
Marmara.
most momentous decisions
Western
civilization.
in
It
strategic
was one
of
the history of
IN
A DRtAM
told to fight
Cl^
under the Cross; when he did so (below) and won,
Christian nation.
last
direct heir
its
base
a statue of
a
column
Athena and baskets
Throughout
classical heritage
and
to
the
Roman Empire and
the
its
Christianity.
first
dual nature was dramatized by Constantine himself,
Its
founding emperor, when he erected
disciples.
i
.
A HERITAGE
PRESERVING Byzantium was both the
ht
in
its
Constantinople and enclosed
in
have held the bread Christ fed
his
long history, Byzantium remained faithful both to
its
said to
to its Christian precepts.
philosophy and recited Homer, but
it
The
imperial court discussed Greek
also sent missionaries to the Near East
and converted the Russians. The Byzantines systematized
Roman
law
and
patterned their Senate after Rome's, yet supported hundreds of monasteries and
sought the
Ducas
political advice of mystics. Typically, the
styled herself
"Empress of the
11th Century ruler Irene
Romans— faithful
in Christ
our Lord." 19
t^^^O
* ;-'^/
il
-*.#
I
^:*
:^1M
^tP^'
JUSTINIAN THE JURIST stands with churchmen and
officials
of his court during
THE CODIFICATION OF ROMAN LAW
One
'
Communion
service.
Though
a powerful autocrat, Justinian believed that
of the greatest Byzantine contributions to
ilization
of
II'
V' ^n
was the
Roman
a vast
law.
body of
clarification
The Romans had bequeathed to Byzantium opinion that was frequently antiquated
this tangled collection to a
A.D. he appointed
a
Century Emperor,
coherent system. In 528
commission of 10 men who
the constitutions written
classified
by various Roman emperors
single code of 4,652 laws.
20
civ-
legal
or contradictory. Justinian, the great Sixth
reduced
Western
and transmission of the essence
into a
Another commission produced
a
V'
I
'^ L
U/t.V
f^>
^' iV.\
'^*
o|ic\^t\(\|U\iiiuruii'iiMi\^it]rUxm\v>iiciircoubtciu
^ ,
•t
huvVccul iXccuii^uumxHJo ••rfvv' nxowiJroiVibr.fVxoriTXovvcmojxcicV.io-xd.nMUOiiiNUiAiuac^n/vn
^
'
M
boc'cj^Lcitii'Auiacnxpfioiuu
:
»Txu\mnKCiorr»iocriOcHivviur(i^\>w^MiVNOui|iocxOvl,.x/^.Vh'ut|vo^[:p^^
?cXMioV^iv.Jiio^numpo:vumiimupicaHKcumxlaio^ Ml•lU\l»l^.^^^u.Ml\un^aiAuA.•iVlvlnv.va^nvPU•|^J:T,^^o^\IvxOOvVHU'mJ. x.^v»xdv\ohiiCoovPoHa>xiu|Xria» ruK:^'^xMa.>€ircrxi'cauiKfXv\o%'x.^v»\dv\ohiicoovpoHa>\uklxrlu».^^^^ ruK:^'^XMa.>€i[4rxi'cauiKfXv\o%' ^
imperial authority should submit to law.
AN INTRODUCTION
to a Sixth
Century version of Justinian's code summarizes the virtues of the new system.
50-volume digest of major decisions that had been handed
far sterner than its predecessor.
down by
first
time
who
varied from
authoritative jurists in the Second and Third Cen-
turies, the
golden age of
In civil law, the
it
easier, for
law.
new system was more
sive than the ancient
made
Roman
Roman
statutes
it
efficient
example, to free slaves and to
also guaranteed the inheritance rights of
the absolute
power of fathers over the
and progres-
supplanted. Justinian sell
land.
He
widows and reduced
lives of their children.
In the area of criminal law, however, the
new system was
office
made crimes out Orthodox
and denied
was
jurists for the
and seduction. Heretics
of heresy
practice were barred from holding
their inheritance.
cally executed, as if
The Christian
his victim
if
A
seducer was automati-
she willingly submitted;
the girl's chaperone encouraged the alliance, molten lead
was poured
in her
Justinian's code as the
mouth. Despite such barbaric provisions,
was so
model for the
clear
legal
and consistent that
it
later
served
systems of most European nations.
U
AN ARCHITECTURAL PROTOTYPE,
Constantinople's Church of the Holy Apostles
(seen here in a 12th Century illumination) inspired Venice's
Church of
St.
Mark.
THE SWEEPING EFFECT OF BYZANTINE ART In the realm of art,
Byzantium served both
curator and as an innovator.
served
many
sculpture, such as the (right).
As
Naples and virtually an entire Byzantine
pre-
Venice.
Greek and Roman
Greek horses of gilded bronze
innovators, they developed a style of
religious art
and architecture that influenced every
nation they encountered. In
22
The Byzantines
of the glories of
as a
Italy,
which was part
ied
The Bulgarians and Serbians
city in
carefully cop-
well-known Byzantine churches and palaces,
and the Russians
laid
out important towns in imi-
tation of Constantinople.
The
Persians
respected
much that one of their rulers new palace when an envoy from
Byzantine taste so pulled
down
his
emperor remarked of the building, "The up-
of the Eastern empire until the Seventh Century,
the
they built churches in Rome, Milan, Ravenna and
per part will do for birds and the lower for rats."
A MOSAIC shows
FN ST.
MARKS, depicting
obvious debt
its
The churchmen and ics
of
St.
to its
the exterior of the church,
Byzantine model (far
left).
citizens in front are honoring the rel-
Mark, being borne
aloft in the coffin at center.
SCULPTURED HORSES, which once adorned Constantinople's Hippodrome, now stand
in front of St.
Mark's. The horses
were the pride of the Byzantine capital until the IJth Century,
when Crusaders
carried
them
off to
Western Europe.
23
^•^-
h
RELICS OF
A NATION RULED
The Byzantines regarded themselves
as the
chosen
people of God. Their capital of Constantinople was filled
with holy
sion and
relics of the saints
was dedicated
and of the Pas-
to the Virgin,
whom
the peo-
ple revered as the city's spiritual guardian against all
enemies. In the Imperial Palace the Four Gospels
were placed on an empty throne as living presence of rule 24
by divine
right
a
symbol of the
God. The emperor claimed
and
to serve as the
to
spokesman
BY CHRIST
of Heaven's will; at his coronation a chorus sang,
"Glory
to
atize his pit
God who made you emperor." To dramrole,
he occasionally mounted the pul-
and preached
a
sermon
ways portrayed him his head.
But the
in
state,
under the Cross, kept trait
to the court. Artists al-
mosaics with a halo around
its
founded by Constantine perspective: Christ's por-
was engraved on Byzantine coins and stamped
with the motto, "Jesus Christ, King of Rulers."
m
r
1
fthki
..•^
Si
THREE PILGRIMS marvel relics
of Christ's
at
AV l«h^
purported
'
Passion prized by
churches in Constantinople.
In
'
•
'ft'-
'i
1
''ft
*
^m
v>[if
MVA/!n\4l
the
church at the center are two nails and the spear that pierced Christ's side; at the right
is
the
Crown
of Thorns.
^ JJ .^Ml^v
.*-
x\ ^
V
A JEWELED CROSS, which was presented by the Emperor Justin can
in the Sixth
II to
the Vati-
Century, contains
in
center medallion a splinter
that
the Byzantines believed to have
come
its
from the Cross of Christ
in Jerusalem.
25
A COMMUNITY OF MONKS works and meditates
in cave dwellings in Syria.
RIGOROUS TRADITIONS OF MONASTIC
LIFE
HOLY GROTTOES, once
the
home
of Byzantine ascetics,
Monastic orders and Christian mysticism flourished Byzantine world. find
it,
"
"He who
loses his
Christ had taught, and early
faithfully.
The
first
life
for
monks
famous monk was
Century hermit who shut himself up 26
honeycomb
St.
in a
My
in
interpreted
Anthony,
tomb
the
sake will
a
Him
Fourth
for 20 years
the crags
i'^-
*.*-
that rise
up
eerily out of the plain in
in
Egypt (which was part of the empire until 650). His aus-
example was followed by other hermits, who flocked
him
to
form the
first
to
monastic community. Soon monasticism
spread over Asia Minor and Greece, and by the Fifth Century it
had taken root
in
''-*
Cappadocia. The region, part of present-day Turkey, was the
tere
Western
Europ)e. Lives of great
monks
^R^
first
place in Asia
Minor where Orthodox monks
became the most widely read books
in
lived.
Byzantium, and by the
middle of the Sixth Century there were 85 monasteries in Constantinople alone. Living in
cities, in
caves, in deserts and
on
remote islands, these followers of Christ SF>oke out fearlessly for their principles
and served
as the conscience of the empire.
27
UlTElBAmAHAJUIAKfJtcOrl'tllHliAl
A'liHAk'Mt<|>OTMli^rHAaIuiirEf*lin> BYZANTINE MISSIONARIES, witnessed by Bulgaria, baptize a convert in
the
King and Queen of
an illumination from a Slavic
text.
PASSING CIVILIZATION
TO THE WORLD In the view of est
many
historians,
Byzantium's great-
achievement was the civiHzing influence
it
ex-
it encountered. As early as monks from Constantinople
erted over the peoples the Sixth Century,
were seeking
Nubia
in
to
penetrate such distant places as
southern Egypt. But perhaps the Byzan-
tines' greatest success as missionaries of Christiani-
ty
and
civilization
came 300 years
later in the Slavic
regions of Eastern Europe. In 863 the King of Moravia asked the Emperor
Michael
III
for a
who
teacher
could preach the
Christian faith to his subjects in their
guage.
A
Byzantine
monk named
own
lan-
Cyril evolved a
Slavic alphabet and set out to convert the Moravians.
Although
his attempts with
followers succeeded
among
them
failed,
his
By
the
the Bulgarians.
10th Century other countries, including
had joined the Orthodox
fold,
and
Russia,
Cyril's written
language eventually became, in modified forms, the basis for the culture of the entire
Slavic
world. A FRESCO IN NUBIA, from one of 60 churches that were built there by Byzantine
28
architects,
shows the archangel Michael holding a
cross
and spreading
his
peacock wings
to protect
Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in the
fiery furnace.
29
Nearly ed to
thousand years before Constantine decid-
a
make
new
his
in the East, a
northeast from
He
Aegean.
capital a Christian city located
Greek colonizer named Byzas
home
his
passed the
Then he came
between
CONSTANTINE'S CITY
to the
hills to
for
some 17 miles
double range of shrub-covered and rocky
a
emerge, at
Before he set
where
cle
the
then sailed
entrance of the Bosporus,
narrow channel that winds
the
1
of Troy,
and across the Sea of Marma-
into the Dardanelles ra.
Megara across
at
site
sailed
into the Black Sea.
last,
Byzas asked the Delphic Ora-
sail,
new
to establish his
usual ambiguous
colonial city. In
manner, the Oracle
its
him:
told
"Opposite the blind." Only when he reached the Bosporus did Byzas
what
realize
the Oracle meant:
on the Asiatic shore, opposite the
hill-tipped,
tri-
angular peninsula that terminated the European land
mass,
founded
Greek colonists had already
earlier
a city,
Chalcedon.
have been blind not
It
was they who must
have noticed the obvious
to
away
superiority of the site lying half a mile or so
on the opposite shore. founded
his
own
him. Byzantium
Rome, but ple,
city,
was
Great made
tine the
on
it
later
it
it
was here
which took to
The
name from
called
it
New
as Constantino-
name was
modern appellation
to live
of the im-
which Constantine established.
City of Constantine stood on a beautiful
had natural defenses and commercial ad-
site that
vantages.
It
from Russia route,
He
his capital.
City of Constantine. Byzas'
perial civilization
its
Byzas
that
be called until Constan-
became known
in history as the
the
It
dominated the north-south sea route to
the
Mediterranean.
Along
this
from the ports of southern Russia and from
Danube, across the Black Sea, and through the
Bosporus, ships would carry corn and furs, caviar
and
honey and
salt,
gold,
wax and
slaves.
From
the
south, from the rich gardens of Anatolia and granaries of
Egypt would come food
to feed the city's
growing population. Constantinople stood where the land routes from Asia to Eastern Europe found their narrowest sea crossing.
So
to
and through Constantinople, from
places as distant as India, Ceylon and China,
would
be carried ivory and amber, porcelain and precious EMPEROR AND BUILDER, a haloed Constantine holds a symbolic model of the city he dedicated in 330 A.D. He enclosed vast tracts of empty land within its walls,
but by 413 Constantinople's boundaries had to be enlarged.
stones, silks
mon and
and damask; aloes and balsam, cinna-
sugar,
musk and
ginger,
and many other 31
Mercut
Sugar
Iron Silver
^Basra
Ormuz»
'*•••
..•*
PERSIAN
CVLF
Gold Ivory Slaves Spices
Adulis
BYZANTIUM
5
TRADE ROUTES /inked
three corjtinents in a
network
of caravan tracks, rivers, seaways and Roman-style paved roads.
The empire controlled only a part of these merchants imported products from as opia, northern Russia, Ceylon
goods passed through
far
routes, yet Byzantine
away
and China. Even
many hands
as Iceland, Ethi-
in
times of peace,
along the way.
spices from the Indies, for example, required Persian sinian
32
dhows
to transport
it
A
cargo of
and Abys-
across the Indian Ocean, Byzantine
merchantmen caravan take
it
to
to carry
bring it
it
up
the
Red Sea
'
to ]otabe
overland to Alexandria, and
still
and Suez, a
other ships to
across the Mediterranean. The center of almost all com-
merce was Constantinople, which prospered by receiving, refining
and re-exporting the goods tually,
that passed through
however, Moslem invasions disrupted
its
markets. Even-
many of Byzantium's
lifelines—and after the empire fell Portuguese explorers succeeded in charting
an easier all-sea passage around Africa
to the Orient.
r
city lay other
where grapes and grains
fertile districts
flourished,
and the waters of the Bosporus and the Sea of
Marmara, which lapped teemed with
the
at
shoreline,
city's
fish.
The defenses
bestowed on the
that nature
city
were impressive. To the south stretched the Sea of
Marmara, and almost Sandalwood
at the
porus flowed into this sea
a
point where the Bos-
narrow
inlet leads
along
Spices
Herbs
the northern shore of the triangular peninsula
form
landlocked harbor. This
a perfect
en Horn, named for
Spices
shape and the wealth that
As
the Sixth Century Byzantine writer Procopius
Horn
the city's honor. fall
docks.
always calm, being made by
"is
and the surge was shut out
upon
And
in
in
when harsh winds
winter
the sea and the strait (the Bosporus], as
soon as ships reach the bay's entrance, they can proceed without pilot and moor Jaffna
Pepper ,
MALABAR
ARABIAN
Jewels
bay
U T t
about
is
bor, so that rides
SEA
Yet RO
its
•Caliana
Copper
S P
on
of the world deposited
nature never to be stormy, as though limits were
,'
BAY OF BENGAL ^o*;-.
to
the Gold-
commerce
set to the billows Daibul>
its
is
the
observed, the
..-'V ,••*.•'L\ "o
haia
and medicaments. West of the
spices
the to
five miles
when
of
is
it
on
rests
a har-
land, as
if
rivaled each other in their desire
be of greatest service to the city
When
Constantine decided
from Rome, he also decided tal
all
ship anchors there the stern
a
on the sea while the prow
two elements
The whole
easily.
long and
another Rome,
if
"
move the capital make his new capi-
to
to
more magnificent
possible
than the old one. Like Rome, Constantinople was
INDIAN
OCEAN
a
'city of the
was divided
seven
hills,
Troy
to
capital
like
From
the sacred
Rome
the city
Rome
the old
talisman of
the
Empire, the Palladium, the wooden statue
of Pallas the sky
and
into 14 districts.
Constantine brought
Roman
"
Athena believed
and
to
Italy.
to
have dropped from
have been carried by Aeneas from
He
members
senatorial class,
also brought
from the ancient
of noble families to
form
and he established them
a
new
in
fine
houses. 33
The main
imperial buildings were constructed
on Roman models. All the statues and other works hands on he
of ancient art Constantine could lay
Among them
transferred to his city.
were such
masterpieces as the so-called Calydonian boar and
column from Delphi on which had
the serpentine
been inscribed the names of the Greek
which
cities
defeated the Persians at Plateia in 479 B.C. In one vital respect, Constantinople
imitation of old
Rome,
for
it
was
to
Wisdom) and completed Church of the Holy
phia (the Church of Holy
many
others, including the
Apostles.
At
tombs of the
the
latter,
the
12 symbolic
later
his
new
city
emblems such
At another church dedicated belt, a relic that
had produced
At times of great
peril,
Constantine introduced
as crosses
and
relics
of
new Noah was supposed to spikenard with which Mary have anointed the
at the center of a
feet of
at the foot of a
six large
huge
drums
laurel leaves,
magnificent elliptical
forum, paved with marble and surrounded with colonnades. This was the
Over
the years,
Forum
of Constantine.
monuments, memorials and holy
objects connected with the Christian faith multiplied
throughout the
cifically associated
city.
A
great
with the Virgin
many were speMary, who was
considered to be the city's special protectress.
would not ing,
find
"You
any public place or imperial dwell-
no reputable inn or private house of those
in
authority where there was not a church or an oratory of the
Mother
of
God,"
it
was
later said
by
a
student of the period. In a church at the northwest 34
lay her
a host of miracles.
many
sieges the
and icons of the Virgin
when
Russians in 860,
the city
was deprived
of
all
siege.
"Truly," a contemporary witness, the Patriarch
porphyry carved with encircling
up
Mary
and battlements, and the Russians abandoned the
column. This column, made up of
set
dis-
to
emperors were buried,
Christ— Constantine immured
was
it
played a most vital part. During an attack by the
Photius, wrote, "is this most holy garment the robe of God's
Mother!
it
of
miracu-
which,
a veil
to
such as the
city endured, these relics
foes inexplicably
said to
a
at
image beneath.
faith— the adze with which
Magdalen was
by
sometimes mysteriously parted
said,
the saints. Other objects connected with the
have built the ark, the
was
(457-474). Here too
I
lous icon of the Virgin, covered
"the equal of the apostles."
Throughout
which had
Constantinople from Palestine
to
the time of Leo
known
hope, the Virgin's robe was carried round the walls
the Byzantine emperors were regarded as
Christian
the city's relics, the Virgin's robe,
all
was
site
most precious
of the
tomb— his
apostles, he placed a 13th
own. Here also many for all
among
of
been brought
was not an
be a Christian
was kept one
as Blachernae,
close the
Constantine began the building of Hagia So-
city.
extremity of the landward walls, on a
around
itself,
broken up as with
it,
It
embraced the
showed
walls,
and the
their backs; the city
put
and the camp of the enemy was
at a signal;
the city bedecked itself
and the enemy were deprived of the hopes
that bore
them
on. For immediately as the Virgin's
robe went round the walls, the barbarians gave the siege and broke camp, while
we were
up
delivered
from impending capture and were granted unexpected salvation." Relics were brought to the capital
from
They reposed
of the Christian world.
all
parts
in churches,
sanctuaries and shrines, encased in gold and silver,
ornamented with precious stones, often wrapped in a cloth of silk.
reliquary.
The
city
became an enormous
Here was the linen worn by the Infant
Jesus, here
was the blood-covered mantle worn by
Christ on the Cross, the lance that pierced His side, the
Crown
of Thorns,
and the stone of the Tomb;
here reposed the venerated relics of the Apostles St.
Luke and
St.
Andrew, and
of St. Paul's
compan-
A REVERED
men
at
RELIC, contained in a casket held by the
left,
people look on. The scene
thought
itself
ion, St.
The
to
is
on a Sixth Century ivory plaque,
have been part of a Byzantine reliquary casket.
Timothy, and the head of John the Baptist. official
11, 330, the
day
two church-
carried in a procession through the city as the
IS
beginning of
day of the
all this
May
dates from
city's inauguration.
On
that
Apollo— the head of which had been
a statue of
replaced by a head of Constantine— was hoisted to
column
the top of the
in
of Constantine-Apollo, bearing in
scepter and in
hand
its left
The
the Forum. its
right
statue
hand
a
a globe representing the
world, survived until the opening years of the 12th
Century,
by
a
when
it
fell in a
storm and was replaced
of
Using marble brought from islands
Marmara, and wood from
built
later
two
included
A
list
among
theaters, eight
earlier),
compiled
a
a
little
over
century or so
the city's edifices at the time
public and 153 private baths
(including the famous
begun
Sea
Hippodrome, which
by Septimus Severus
a century before.
in the
the forests bordering
the Black Sea, he enlarged the
had been
4,388 houses of sufficient size to be recorded.
Under the pressure
of the
growing populace, the
area of the city swelled to take in another slice of
land stretching between the Golden
Horn and
Sea of Marmara. In the Fifth Century, this
enlargement on the landward
Their remains can
still
huge
side, a
ple line of walls, three miles in length,
Baths of Zeuxippus, also
52 porticoes,
five granaries,
eight
the
defend
to
was
tri-
built.
be seen. Earlier walls had
been built along the shore of the Sea of Marmara
and along the Golden Horn, so that the
golden cross.
Constantine's building activities were formidable.
aqueducts or cisterns, 14 churches, 14 palaces, and
came
virtually
The
an enclosed
city be-
fortress.
greatest change in the physical appearance
of Constantinople took place in the Sixth Century,
when some
of the greatest architectural glories of
the Byzantine world were built under the Justinian.
The opportunity, and
great spate of building riots
followed by a
fire
was provided that
and razed half the original of the
Emperor
necessity,
burned
city to the
in
for
a
532 by
for five
ground.
days
Many
main public buildings erected by Constantine 35
and
his successors— including the central church,
mon
Hagia Sophia— were destroyed. Justinian rapidly had the rubble and charred re-
mains of gutted buildings cleared away.
and Anthemius of Tralles were two of
most important— he
the
seemed
Summon-
find— Isidore
ing the greatest architects he could of Miletus
like
set
to
superhuman energy
work with what to repair the
dam-
age. Justinian set the seal of imperial magnificence
on the
city.
He completely
reconstructed Hagia So-
phia and undertook a vast public building program.
made
Later emperors
such
further contributions,
man— or
to see a
zontal from the
even
waist
strapped to his back. simpler to hire a to
man
job.
The
call
of peddlers offering
house
was
as Justinian left
ture
by the Turks
That the
down
the
The houses
idential quarters.
of the very rich were
homes
raised
by sheer labor
in its
is
travelers.
"O
tain
to ex-
to
broadways and
lared
tell
streets,
of the
it
abundance of
silver,
garments of
relics.
Ships are
putting in at this port, so that there
men want
amount
the wealthy
that
is
not brought hith-
The
court invariably had a foun-
and was often elaborately landscaped. Main-
of these
good things; of gold and of
nothing that
certain
tained by staffs of slaves and servants, the interiors
"how stately, how fair, how many palaces
manifold fashion, and such sacred at all times
interior courtyard.
of art, marvelous to behold;
would be wearisome
A
was achieved by
because their houses presented a largely blank stone
we
monasteries therein,
how many works all
of later
Fulk of Chartres was
claim in the 11th Century,
of privacy, however,
of the middle class
wall to the street while the rooms opened out on an
comments
a splendid city,"
how many
to the time of its cap-
in 1453.
city presented a spectacular sight
know from what
it
and fresh
Constantinople had no distinctly fashionable res-
or even the shelters of the poor.
the city
features,
were
who went from
selling bread, vegetables
other church, embellishing a forum, laying out a
main
streets too
fish.
often flanked by modest
its
something than
to transport
with the singsong
to
heavy load
a
was often cheaper and
various commodities and merchants
house
was com-
It
child— bent over hori-
support
to It
have an animal do the
filled
a
as enlarging the imperial palace, erecting yet an-
public garden. But in
mansions boasted
a
splendor of gold-plated
and ivory-inlaid furniture, gilded
ceilings
and
Moderately well-off citizens
halls.
lived in two-story
wooden
usually
buildings that supported
balconies from which matrons and cloistered girls
could view the bustle of the
crowded
basement rooms or
in
visitor,
Odon
the
city.
young
The poor
street.
in
tenements spread throughout the French
pil-
clumps of
As another
de Deuil, wryly commented,
Golden Horn was the an-
"the rich cover the public ways with their con-
chorage for barks of Dalmatians or Croats, caiques
structions and leave the sewers and dark places to
er."
At
that period, the
from the Greek
islands, the high galleys of
Venice or Amalfi, light feluccas from the the big
dromonds
Genoa,
east,
and
of the imperial Byzantine fleet,
equipped with tubes for projecting the mysterious
"Greek
fire,"
the secret
weapon
of the Byzantines.
Inside the great walls surrounding the city were a
few thoroughfares and
streets.
Many of
a sizable cart
36
camels, mules, or on the backs of men.
a
dense tangle of narrow
these lanes could not
accommodate
and so goods were usually carried by
the poor ders,
and
strangers.
robberies,
obscurity.
and
There are committed murthe crimes
all
which haunt
." .
.
For even the poor, however, the supply of fresh
water— so important
was
plentiful.
in
a
Mediterranean climate-
Channeled into the
aqueducts from the surrounding stored in
these
it
many open and
was piped
to
city
hills,
through
water was
covered cisterns. From
fountains at street corners and
and was available
in the public squares,
to
everyone
without charge. Sewage and waste water were car-
away from
ried
down
the houses and
into the sea
through an intricate system of underground drains.
The
women care
had many public baths, open
city
who
men and
and medical and hospital
at different times,
was provided by the government and
to those
to
the
Church
could not afford to pay. Despite these
But apart from the cosmopolitan background of
and
residents, the city, as a prosperous seaport
its
drew
the capital of the world's largest empire,
manner
of visitors from afar.
From
all
Spain
Britain,
and Gaul, from Scandinavia and Russia, from Persia,
Arabia and Africa came a host of merchants, diplomats and travelers. Mingling
sailors,
in
the
with the more simply garbed Byzantines,
streets
precautions, however, disease spread quickly and
these visitors, with their exotic dress— brightly col-
always took
ored cloaks, furs, strange headdresses— and
The main
a terrible toll.
street of
landward walls
in the
the city, running from the
unfamiliar tongues, would attract considerable at-
west almost
to the gates of
tention.
Mese, or Mid-
slaves, often prisoners taken in war,
the Imperial Palace,
was
dle Street. Bordered
by columned porticoes and
terrupted by
called the
monumental squares containing
statues of emperors and empresses,
it
was the
in-
regal
the Mese. Here too were
many
of the fine shops of
the products of Byzantium's
piled with
luxury industries: silks and brocades, copper and
On
tary in a
their stalls, it,
may
at the
waft upward
.
.
.
and
'the
so that, as a
sweet perfumes
same time perme-
In this street too could best be observed some-
thing of the variety of the city's population, esti-
mated
to
Justinian.
have totaled some 600,000
The
inhabitants
made up
Baths of Zeuxippus, where smart society
the Ninth Century,
boast pure Greek or
Armenians and Goths.
few of the residents could
Roman
lineage;
exchange the
to
new
women
clothes and jewel-
latest gossip.
On
national
holidays and religious celebrations, the whole city
would turn out
to
watch the magnificent procession
of the emperior and his court,
accompanied by the
Many
in the
throng of
spectators could be recognized by the type of clothing they
wore:
philosophers usually wore gray,
of bright scarlet with their hair confined close to
baned Persians, Jews from Palestine and Syrians
By
to
off their
thoroughly
docia and Phrygia, close-cropped Bulgars and tur-
Illyrians,
and
show
to the
physicians wore blue and ascetics dressed in robes
cosmopolitan group. There were natives of Cappa-
from Damascus,
would be on her way
time of
at the
a
likely she
patriarch and his attendants.
ate the vestibule of the Imperial Palace."
would go by on
silk
ing in a brightly decorated carriage pulled by mules.
ry
perfumers had
costume of brocaded
More than convened
ace, the
who performed
horseback, or a well-to-do lady would pass, reclin-
Where
contemporary source had
many
Occasionally, on the main street, a court digni-
goldwork, leather and glass, jewels and reliquaries. the street ended, close to the Imperial Pal-
the streets too could be seen the
the menial tasks in Byzantium.
the
highway. All major imperial processions followed
the city,
their
most
had
their
head by
The
life
a net.
of the city
was centered around three
great structures or groups of buildings— the
Hippo-
drome, the Sacred Imperial Palace, and the Church of Hagia Sophia.
They represented
the three
constituents of the Byzantine world:
main
the people,
sprung from an amalgam of the many peoples the
the imperial authority and the religion. Appropri-
Byzantine empire comprised. The
ately, they
criteria for citi-
were located close together on the cen-
tableland and the southern and eastern slopes
zenship were simply the use of Greek in everyday
tral
speech and membership in the Orthodox Church.
of the
promontory on which the
city stood.
Here 37
they enclosed on three sides the nnain public square, the
Augustaeum, an open rectangular court paved
with slabs of dark marble and encircled by
colon-
a
nade. Here an emperor-to-be was raised aloft on a
and acclaimed by
shield lace
on
his
way
Here stood
Emperor
Hagia Sophia.
to the coronation in
huge bronze equestrian statue of the
a
what was known
Justinian, clothed in
Achilles'
and the popu-
his nobles
armor, wearing
carrying a globe in his
Procopius wrote, that
a
as
the earth and the sea were
as enlarged
by Constantine,
barrier with three cones at each
still
the
at
One
art.
of
these
Hippodrome
in Egypt.
in
Put
390 A.D.,
it
stands on a base with a bas-relief showing the
emperor and
his family in the royal
box
at
the
games.
Also
standing
the
is
so-called
obelisk
with plates of bronze decorated with bas-reliefs,
now only a tall, thin shaft of monument which adorned
third
which something
still
remains
is
of
Once covered
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus.
is
bare masonry. the spina
was entered through
bule. This vestibule
gilded bronze.
a
monumental
was known its
Its ceilings,
as the
Brazen En-
as reconstructed
and further renovated
in the
by Jus-
Ninth Century, Justini-
an's great general, Belisarius, returning victoriously to Constantinople.
with
The
walls and floors were dressed
and white, broken
fine marbles: emerald, red
with undulating lines of blue.
Behind the Chalke lay the
rambling palace
vast,
and southeast down the
itself,
stretching south
woody
slopes of the promontory to the Sea of
mara and the Bosporus.
Mar-
consisted of various
It
groups of buildings interspersed with gardens,
tains, a private
polo ground,
summer
stadium, an indoor riding school,
swimming
pools and
A
quarters, guardrooms, dungeons.
One
of the
ter-
pavilions, churches, foun-
were also storerooms, kitchens,
and of
em-
vesti-
roof and doors were of
it
the bronze ser-
lily
a
ponds. There
stables, servants'
most astonishing of the buildings was
the Chrysotriclinos, the hall of gold. This
was one
pentine column brought from Delphi by Constan-
of the emperor's throne rooms. The throne was
tine the Great. Originally
set in
it
consisted of three en-
twined serpents whose heads supported tripod.
Today only about 18
was probably
At
a
column
of
feet
some 26
the northeast end of the
a
golden
remains of what
Hippodrome, which
stood the imperial box, the kathisma. the
an apse; above
it
was an image
From here
emperor and the high dignitaries of the court
of Christ
it hung a woven with gold and ornamented with
enthroned, and before
stones. Elsewhere in this hall
feet.
ran along one side of the square of the Augustaeum,
38
It
races, isolated still
also
opening out onto the square of the Augustaeum lay
were covered with mosaics, some showing
the
end marking the
Karnak
of
and
the east
to
Down
monolithic obelisk of porphyry, which
Temple
Byzan-
arms on some remote border of the empire.
Flanking the Hippodrome
tinian
turning points of the course. Along the top of the spina rested works of ancient
the
execution of a criminal
was then
it
backbone— a low stone
center ran the spina— the
into position
at the
or at the official celebration of a victory of
peror.
1,300 feet long and about 490 feet wide.
a tall
games, and presided
tine
her
and the public
races
hand, signifying, as
could seat some 60,000 spectators;
came from
Hippodrome) watched the
trance—the Chalke— for
The Hippodrome,
a place of
one of the palace churches overlooking the
the Sacred Imperial Palace, the residence of the
subject to him.
was
in
plumed helmet, and
left
all
who had
(though not the empress,
own
curtain of silk
precious
were other imperial
thrones, a gold and silver banqueting table, couches,
engraved
plates,
crowns, chandeliers, crosses and
imperial vestments.
Another palace was known
as
the
Magnaura.
This contained the famous "throne of Solomon."
Reached by
by golden branches
and
lions
set
The New its
six steps,
colonnade
form of
in
Ninth Century with
a basilica,
had
bedchamber was
of verd
The im-
floored with strips of marble
radiating outward from a central
framed
peacock
a
mag-
a
which eight columns
antique alternated with eight of red onyx. perial
their
with jeweled and enameled birds.
Palace, built in the
chief hall in the
nificent
was flanked
this royal seat
trees of gilded bronze,
in mosaic.
medallion that
Four eagles
in
mosaic
stretched their wings at the foot of the four walls.
The lower halves
of the walls were covered with
plaques of multicolored glass and shimmered like a field
a
Above
of flowers.
the wainscoting and against
background of gold were mosaic
portraits of
mem-
bers of the imperial family, their hands raised to-
ward the
brilliant
Between
all
green cross on the ceiling.
these buildings and the sea wall at
the bottom of the
hill
lay the imperial
gardens.
Here there were shaded walks and fountains; one expelled wine through a golden pineapple into a
silverbound basin
Here
ibis,
full of
almonds and
pistachios.
peacocks and pheasants wandered among
shrubs and flowers. Here stood the porphyry— or
purple— chamber reserved
for the birth of imperial
from which came the
children,
title,
"born
in
the
purple" (Porphyrogenitus), which was conferred on children of the ruling family. Here too
monumental stairway leading down or's private harbor, the
was the
to the
emper-
Boucoleon, where the royal
barges and yachts lay alongside marble quays decorated with sculpture.
But not even palaces,
by the
races or to
carved of ivory, was probably used to start
accompany dancers
in
Constantinople's
glories of the great
as a
church of Hagia Sophia
by Justinian.
museum,
as
It
survives, serving
one of the supreme
artistic
Hippo-
drome. The arena's vigorous amusements are indicated by the figures of charioteers,
now
the manifold splendors of the
none of which has endured, was exceeded
as reconstructed
AN ORNATE HORN,
all
horsemen, jugglers and trained animals.
expressions of the Christian world. "Glory be to
God, who has thought me worthy
to
finish
this
39
work. Solomon, is
have outdone thee!" So Justinian
I
have exclaimed when he
reported to
immense majesty
the
celebrated
first
viewed
of the completed edifice.
dedication in 537 with a banquet at
its
by lamp and candle.
this play of light
hung by
of lamps
long, twisted chains
from the dome and the
of beaten brass
ceilings,
casting their glow on the shimmering gold mosaic
which 6,000 sheep, 1,000 each of oxen, pigs and
of vaults
poultry, and 500 deer were roasted for the delec-
bent surfaces of the colored marble, turning the
and populace
tation of court
No
expense was spared in making this church
and space.
convey
a
No
very limited idea of
tecture.
is
What perhaps most
it.
the fluid nature of the archi-
which make up the
the walls. Each slab has
own
cause of
its
own
floor
and panel
pattern of veining,
tone and shade, and yet each was cut and
cut again to
make
it
merge with
neighbor. Be-
its
the stones appear as fields of alter-
this,
nating color, mobile strips of
green or
more than
This was achieved through the selection of
the marble slabs
its
a
light, color
verbal description can do
strikes the viewer
warm
Rows
red.
and arches, playing gently over the lam-
whole church into
alike.
magnificent interplay of stone, marble,
smoky
blue or darkish
of pillars— porphyry, verd
a
beacon of
brilliant
contemporary poet, Paul the
Silentiary, describes
the splendor of the church at night in a long
which he wrote
for
"Thus through
its
A
light.
poem
dedication:
the spaces of the great church
come
rays of light, expelling clouds of care, and
filling
the
even the
mind with
sailor
ing behind
joy.
The
sacred light cheers
all;
guiding his bark on the waves, leav-
him
the unfriendly billows of the raging
Pontus, and winding a sinuous course amidst creeks
and rocks, with heart fearful
nightly wanderings— perhaps he has
and guides
dangers of his
at the
left
the
Aegean
his ship against adverse currents in the
Hellespont, awaiting with
forestay
taut
the on-
antique— form the nave and carry the small arches
slaught of a storm from Africa— does not guide his
that support the galleries. Larger arches are sur-
laden vessel by the light of Cynosure, or the circling
mounted by half-domes and above them hovers the
Bear, but
great
dome
itself— the
dome
of
domes
all
Byzantine world. Seen from below,
it
the
of
gives the im-
pression of hovering in weightless suspense;
Procopius put
masonry but
it,
it
"seems not
to cover the space
suspended from heaven." This
by
the corona of
nice,
to rest
effect
emphasized
is
its
interior cor-
support Hagia Sophia's dome seem
delicate as they soar
do become more
upward toward
the
crown
of
Light
is
by the divine
not only does
it
light of the
church
guide the merchant
one of the essential elements contribut-
from the corona of windows
from lunettes
in the
dome, flooding
in the half-domes,
central nave in radiance.
down
it
steeps the
At night the Byzantines
itself.
Yet
at night, like
the rays of Pharos on the coast of Africa, but also
shows the way
to the living
Hagia Sophia was the crowning glory of the
which was the tine world,
pound
capital,
that
of Greece
and the
"queen of
it
God."
heart, of the
cities."
city
Byzan-
Restless
com-
and Rome, of Europe and Asia,
metropolis of commerce and fountainhead of culture,
it
Italian,
drew
to itself
Jew and Moslem, Russian and
Spaniard and Egyptian.
Its
architecture in-
fluenced the ecclesiastical architecture of other historic cities— Ravenna, Venice, Kiev,
dome.
ing to the overall effect of the church. Pouring
in
solid
of the powerful in-
less substantial; actually the ribs
the
upon
as
beneath as though
windows above
which makes the bases
terior ribs that
40
He
continued
Thousands
all, it
Moscow. Above
was the center from which Byzantine history
unfolded— that record of splendor and corruption, sophistication and imagery, order and anarchy, of great victories and petty vanities— a history
which
deeply affected the history of the civilized world.
THE TOWER OF GALATA, Constantinople's highest observation point, overlooks the ship-thronged Golden Horn and a skyline dominated hy Hagia Sophia's dome.
A CAPITAL OBSERVED For 11 centuries Byzantium's capital was a showpiece of
and Christian
piety, a city
where squads of
forums chanting "Christ the Conqueror
"
Roman
planning
city
soldiers paraded through classical
and imperial senators worshiped
in
gilded basilicas. Visitors to the city found masses of classical statuary adorning
public buildings and reported seeing angels hovering over Hagia Sophia's altars.
Though Byzantium's
capital
had
most part Constantinople was lighting
and
fire
achievements,
share of poverty,
filth
and
injustice, for the
well-run metropolis with free hospitals, street
brigades. But today only scattered glimpses remain of
now
partly buried beneath the streets of
bul. In this essay, following artist
a
its
a
map
its
modern Turkish
civic
Istan-
reconstructing the Byzantine city, the British
Paul Hogarth has sketched impressions of Constantinople in
its
glory. 41
A RICH AND HOLY FORTRESS
rich in repute, and even richer '^'^,>^foY^^o.^.'^ reality, declared a hrench pilgnrr m who visited Constantinople
1147.
As
the
map above
shows, the
city's
in in
geography contributed gen-
erously to Constantinople's legendary richness. Sprawling across an easily
defended wedge of
hilly
ground
at the
(see inset map), Constantinople prospered
mouth
of the Bosporus
by controlling the major
caravan routes from China, India and Persia, and the narrow that funneled into
its
walled harbors
all
the seaborne
traffic
straits
passing
between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. 42
As
the imperial capital and a center of commerce, Constantinople
jte ot Si
Romanus
Gate of Charjsius Gate of Xvlokerkos Ji^X^'^"'/*"^"""
Gale of the Blachernae
Gate of
angaria
attracted a polyglot population of Greeks, Bulgars, Khazars, Turks,
Armenians, Jews, Russians and habitants at
Rome's
its
Italians.
peak the city rivaled
civic structures
With nearly
classical
Rome
million in-
a
in
size,
remained for centuries the models that
and
buildings, forums, basilicas and city's
commemorative columns
broad avenues, which converged on a
downtown
Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia and the Imperial Palace. As aqueducts insured the populace of clean water
ground sewers carried
off the city's wastes.
lined
the
center at the in
Rome,
BOSPORUS
Tiber River, one of Constantinople's 14 dis-
was placed across the Golden Horn
merchants
later
made
their
in
Pera,
where Genoese
homes.
Built to withstand barbarian hordes
in-
spired Constantinople's architects and engineers. Public baths. Senate
Barbara
lower
districts lay across the tricts
St.
and Moslem armies, Constan-
was the strongest outpost of Christianity in the East. Thirteen miles of walls and 50 fortified gates made the city a self-contained fortress, with enormous grain reserves and cisterns to sustain its inhabitants during sieges. A line of triple walls, watchtowers and tinople
landward
while walled harbors and
and under-
a
moat guarded the
Since one of Rome's 14
a
chain across the Golden Horn protected ships from attacks by sea.
at all times,
city's
side,
The Golden Gate
(left),
reserved for state processior\s, was Constantinople's most
dramatic landward entrance.
Newly crowned emperors and
victorious generals were acclaimed as they passed under
its
triumphal archways. Inside the wall hymn-singing citizens
thronged beneath olive and cypress trees
army
escort
wagons of
treasure and
to
watch the
columns of prisoners
along the flower-strewn Mese, the city
s commercial bouleHippodrome. There captives were sometimes by offers of land and citizenship— rather than exe-
vard, to the startled
cution—but only
they renounced their pagan deities.
if
Constantine's Forum (below), dominated by a shaft of porphyry topped with cross,
was the
a
largest of the city's six public forums.
emperors celebrated
their
gold
Here
triumphs with victory hymns
and waving banners; here lawyers and merchants met talk over business, fortunetellers
crowds, aristocratic
women
to
harangued superstitious
arrived in sedan chairs to gos-
sip in the shade of double-tiered arcades.
Other forums
were centers of commerce. The Atropoleum had
a
bread
market; the Forum of Theodosius served for pig slaughtering;
/
-y"
i
and
flocks of
sheep often thronged the Strategion.
A
Noisy Maze of Tenements (below), often jammed with caravan forums.
Though
streets, true city
traffic,
surrounded Constantinople's
building codes
the poor. Refuse-heaped alleys stables, taverns toll.
demanded 12-foot-wide
planning was a luxury not wasted on
meandered past houses,
and warehouses, and plagues took
But few starved or went homeless. As
many
a
heavy as 80,-
000 loaves of bread were distributed daily to the poor, and monasteries always provided a haven for the hard-pressed.
,M:m '
k.
it
-i>-
ji^^'r_>
Open-air Bazaars, shaded by canopies (above), displayed everything
from
by
figs to icons.
city officials:
Commerce was
regulated
strictly
linen drapers could not
sell
silks,
fishermen had to register their catch and goldsmiths
were fined for hoarding. Yet the
city's
planned econ-
omy
that
of
nople, dela,
prospered. "
"Wealth
like
Constanti-
wrote the widely traveled Benjamin of Tu-
"is
not
to
be
Shoemakers and Leatherworkers,
found
like
in
most
the
of
whole
world.
"
Constantinople's
craftsmen, could set up shops only in streets
and
arcades assigned by the city prefect. Laws regulating trade encouraged specialized skills; leatherworkers, for
example, were forbidden to tan hides. Guilds
set standards, specified
careless.
goods
As
finer
a
result,
materials,
and punished the
the city's craftsmen produced
than most Western visitors had ever seen.
The Hippodrome: A Vast Arena FOR Public Spectacles Constantinople's Hippodrome, alinost in the
shadow
of the
dome
of
Hagia Sophia
(glimpsed at far right), provided the city's Christian populace with virtually spectacle and violence of
Maximus, on which
Though
eled.
drome was races,
it
the
all
Rome's Circus
was
mod-
closely
the 1,300-foot-long
Hippo-
originally designed for chariot
changing fashions put
many uses— mock
its
arena to
hunts, acrobatics, mys-
tery plays. After the 12th Century, spectators
even witnessed the unusual
sight,
pictured here, of Western jousts in a Ro-
man-style stadium studded with classical
monuments and
decorative columns.
At such events the emperor, guarded by soldiers, presided
above the arena in his
kathisma, or royal box.
Sometimes
his
presence could turn the Hippodrome into
an enormous civic forum where the people
might protest oppressive times the
spectators
execution of corrupt of upheaval
the
Emperor
this
Isaac
taxes;
could
officials.
at
other
witness
the
But in times
same populace— which Angelus compared
to
the violent and unpredictable Calydonian
boar— took over the Hippodrome own. Here the Emperor Andronicus
as I
its
was
tortured and executed in 1185, and here
during the Nika rebellion in 532 the army trapped and massacred 30,000 rioting zens
48
who had
tried to elect a
citi-
new emperor.
St.
Theodore Tyro, with ble
and
its
domed
chapels of mar-
drew worshipers from a district Aqueduct of Valens, and its congrega-
brick,
near the
tion shared a typically Byzantine fascination
with theological issues. After Bishop Gregory of
Nyssa
remarked wryly:
visited the city he
"People swarm everywhere talking of incomprehensible matters.
When
I
ask
how many
must pay, they reply with minute distinctions on the Born and the Unborn. I ask coppers
I
the servant
if
plies that the
St.
my
bath
is
ready, and he
re-
Son was created from Nothing."
Mary Panachrantos grew
haphazardly over the
centuries from a small chapel into an irregular cluster of separate churches and galleries, and was ultimately crowned with Turkish cu-
polas. Its architects
lavished
their
skills
on
dramatic interior spaces and mosaics; outside decorations were
who
left
to imaginative
masons,
spaced out valuable building stone with
friezes
and rosettes of brick
in colored mortar.
Hagia Sophia loomed high over Constantinople's other churches, and to the faithful
its immense domes symbolized Christianity's all-embracing heavens. Over 100 feet across
cascade of
and 180
feet high, the
Great Church's vaulted
interior long surpassed in size all the
churches
of Europe, and to the blue,
"from earth soaring upward reached even to the choirs of the
by Justinian in 537, Hagia Sophia remained the nerve center that ruled the Orthodox Christian world for nine centuries. Al-
stars." Built
though
its
patriarchs were appointed by
the
emperor, they often wielded great influence of their
own; the most zealous excommunicat-
ed whole communities of heretics. Missionaries
from the Great Church spread Byzantine
culture throughout Eastern Europe and Russia,
until
the
Turks conquered the
city
in
1453 and converted the church into a mosque.
St.
Savior
in
Chora,
originally in the
built
by Justinian
meadows
I,
stood
outside the city, but
Constantinople's rapid growth soon surround-
ed
it
with houses and shops. Gradually
into decay. But
moved
to the
when
the
nearby Blachernae Palace
mid-12th Century,
St.
it
fell
Comnenus dynasty in the
Savior was restored and
About 150 years later the was embellished with a blaze of moand frescoes. But by then the emperors
lavishly decorated. interior
saics
were too poor to spend money on churches and the work was paid for by a private patron.
w^«%
The Boucoleon Palace (below) overlooked the imperial yacht basin and a wharf decorated with statues of lions and other animals. From this palace, which was one of seven royal residences, stretched a labyrinth of buildings and gardens that comprised the Imperial Palace complex. Blazing mosaics and marbles made it a scene of unmatched beauty. Landscaped with pavilions, fountains and fishponds, the palace had an air of park-like tranquility. But
20,000 citizens worked within
and
priests.
And
in the palace
its
was
it
also a hive of practical activity:
walls as civil servants, entertainers, guards, courtiers
workshops, artisans manufactured
high-grade silks— state monopolies whose profits supported
The Palace of Constantine Porphyrogenitus
(right)
was incorporated
into
an angle of the
city's walls, in the
that the Byzantine court occupied after the 12th Century.
fine
many
As
weapons, dyes, and
imperial bureaucrats.
Blachernae palace district the empire declined, the
court continued to embellish itself with a rich array of ceremonies to underscore the peror's divinity. Processions
marched back and forth
in a cloud of incense
Em-
between palaces
and churches; more than 30 religious ceremonies every month demanded the Emperor's participation.
Meals
in the palace imitated the Last Supper,
decapitated for dropping a plate.
As
ruler of the
New
and clumsy servants could be
Jerusalem, the Emperor
owned
symbolic costumes for every occasion— at Easter, for example, he commemorated Christ's 52
resurrection by wearing a burial shroud and whitening his face to resemble a corpse.
«
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''^>i/-i^''^'
During the 1,123 years of 1453 A.
to
its
D— Byzantium's
existence— from 330
boundaries were con-
tinually in a state of flux. In the age of Justinian, in
the Sixth Century, they extended from Spain in the west to the plains of
Mesopotamia
in the east,
and from the Black Sea and the Danube
the
in
north to the coastal fringe of Mediterranean Africa in the south.
During the
decades of the Pa-
last
laeologus dynasty, Byzantium's final
period,
the
empire's borders had shrunk until they embraced
3
only the city Actually,
and parts of southern Greece.
itself
it is
impossible to specify any one year
Byzantium. Constantine's desig-
as the birth date of
nation of the city as his capital did not
CHRONICLE OF AN EMPIRE
once
at
inaugurate a Byzantine empire as distinct from the
Roman. No doubt
the seeds of transformation were
present in Constantine's conversion to Christianity
new
and
in his
rus;
and no doubt Constantine himself possessed an
founding of
a
capital
on the Bospo-
almost mystical apprehension of the immense change
he was
But
initiating.
in
other respects the
phase of Byzantine history— from 330 of Anastasius
tempt
I
in
518— was
to strengthen
little
to the
first
death
more than an
at-
and defend the old Roman Em-
pire against the forces that threatened
Christianity, meanwhile,
its
was spreading
existence. its
influ-
ence as the state suppressed paganism with increasing harshness. For a brief period, however, under
Emperor Julian (361-363), an attempt was made
to
turn back the sundial and restore the gods of antiquity. Julian,
though brought up as
was exposed from
a Christian,
early youth to the teachings of
the ancient Greeks,
and became
a
fervent adherent
of the ancient Hellenistic rites (thus
immortal sobriquet, "the Apostate").
earning an
On
becoming
emperor he strengthened paganism by reorganizing its
priesthood and by taking part personally in
services, kindling the altar
and inspecting the for
omens
tempted tians
them
to
of the future.
tine plaque.
At the same time he
civil
posts and forbidding
teach the works of Homer, Hesiod and the
When
he closed churches,
violence broke out and anarchy threatened. a soldierly St.
at-
weaken Christianity by removing Chris-
other great pagan writers. PATRON OF ARMIES,
wielding the knife
entrails of the slaughtered birds
from military and to
fire,
its
With
George adorns a 12th Century Byzan-
The virtues of such "warrior saints," sanctity and
greatly admired by a holy empire constantly at
war with
its
valor,
were
neighbors.
his
death his successors reversed his policies until
in the
reign of Theodosius
the Great
(379-395) 55
THE CONQUESTS OF JUSTINIAN over the surrounding barbarians virtually doubled his empire. He defeated the Vandals in North Africa (534), the Ostrogoths in Sicily, Italy
and Dalmatia
(554),
and the
Visigoths in Spain (554), while holding off the Persians and Slavs.
Christianity
During
was designated
as the state religion.
opening period between the Fourth
this
great
his reign that
emperors, Justinian
from the Roman world, began
as distinct
empire largely escaped the disasters that overtook
their definitive form.
the western half as the barbarian invaders swept
and other Roman possessions
West.
in the
Mosaic
was during
It
I.
major aspects of the Byzantine world,
and the early Sixth Centuries, the eastern half of the
into Italy
to
assume
portraits of Justinian reveal a
man who
He was
of average
did not look the part of emperor.
True, in the second half of the Fourth Century the
height and build, with dark hair and ruddy com-
appearance of the Huns in Eastern Europe drove
plexion; his bland face
the
Germanic
tribes that
had
settled there across
the borders of Byzantium. But after they defeated
Byzantine forces tribes
at
Adrianople in 378, the Germanic
were mollified by the great Theodosius, who
them
offered
full
service at high
autonomy, grants of land and
pay
in the imperial forces. In the
seems
have worn
to
telligence
and
and he played affability,
the Franks, the Visigoths held Spain dals
and the Van-
had conquered North Africa. The West had
entered into that period of turmoil and darkness in
which
its
independent destiny was to be forged.
Spared the more devastating consequences of the
the purple.
with
a
up
to the hilt— with
He was born
lately
unlettered uncle Justin, ital
gifted with in-
rulers possessed;
was about 45 years old when he
Justinian
way
of
come up
in the world. His
who had
arrived in the cap-
bag of bread on his back, had fought
to the throne
his
through the ranks of the army.
Justin educated Justinian, and
then earned the throne in his
man
the younger
own
right
by
brilliant
As emperor he regimen. He ate little
service as his uncle's chief aide.
thrived on a strict and taxing
and fasted often; he arose early and worked
Byzantium had been able
on
Greco-Roman civilization and culture. At same time it was during this period that the
as-
family of
a
barbarian migrations which had inundated the West, to preserve intact its heri-
this
few
his imperial role
Balkan peasants
hands of the Ostrogoths, Gaul had been seized by
man was
But
arrogance and enormous vigor.
brought about the downfall of the empire. By the in the
a habitual faint smile.
talents such as
sumed
was
was clean shaven and he
inconspicuous figure of a
West, on the other hand, the barbarian onslaught
early part of the Sixth Century, Italy
affairs of state.
late
After a full day of intense con-
tage of
centration, he usually studied late into the night
the
to enlarge his considerable
basic theological
dogma
of
Orthodox Christianity
had been hammered out and proclaimed
at the great
councils of the Church, particularly at the Council of
Chalcedon
in 451.
The
stage
was now
set for the
knowledge of law,
theol-
ogy, music and architecture. Yet in spite of his
crowded schedule, Justinian was— as
his unfriendly
biographer Procopius admitted—"the most accessible person in the world. For
even
men
of low estate
Con-
and altogether obscure had complete freedom not
stantine the Great's acceptance of Christ as "Ruler
only to come before him but to converse with him."
full
emergence of the
civilization implicit in
Byzantium's emergence was in part accomplished in the period that stretches
the reign of the
from the opening of
Emperor Justin
I
in
518 and closes
with the death of the Emperor Phocas in 610. Straddling the center of this period— the years from 527 to
565— towers
was an equally
Justinian's wife, Theodora,
and Master of the Universe."
56
Roman
the great figure of the last of the
markable person. She
was an
actress
and
re-
a courte-
san, daughter of a bear-keeper at the
Hippodrome.
According
marriage she
to Procopius, before her
had so great
a reputation for
debauchery that peo-
ple avoided her in the streets.
But she possessed
other qualities, including intelligence, compassion.
Septun
ALANS
AVARS
ANTAE FRANKS
LOMBARDS SLAVS Cherson
CEPIDS
LAZIANS
BLACK SEA
^^''^
^-"c.A.
•
1
Varna.
Adrianople*
PERSIANS
Constantinople
/ISICOTHS
'"^^'s
Dara
•
iiip^>raf
R^^e^
Antioch
•
Beirut
•
Jerusalem
ARABS BERBERS
EMPIRE OF JUSTINIAN I
I
^^M
I
Byzantine empire before Jostiniaii Territory conquered
by Justinian
I
I
Miles 100
200
}00
and courage,
was
as she
demonstrate. In any
to
At
case, Justinian fell violently in love v^ith her. first
she was only his mistress, for
torial
actress.
But Justinian succeeded
changed and Theodora became It
was Theodora who was
Justinian from "I
hold that
if it
a
man
of sena-
rank was barred by law from marrying an
flight
now
if
having the law
his wife
during the Nika
light,
and empress.
said to have prevented
ever flight
brings safety," she said.
been born into the
in
inexpedient, even
is
"When
it
is
riots in 532.
man
approved of disappeared forever. More congenial
how she sheltered a deposed patriown apartments for 12 years without anyone knowing of it. Ruthless in her own cause, is
the story of
arch in her
and capable of using any means
way, she
nevertheless equipped Constantinople with hospitals for
bank
the poor, and converted an old palace
of the
Bosporus into
a
home
for
on the
destitute
women.
has once
Justinian
inevitable that he
the original
a
to get her
was obsessed by the dream of restoring
Roman Empire
in all its integrity.
an
"We
should also meet death. But for an emperor to be-
have good hope," he wrote
come
God will allow us to reconquer the lands of the old Roman Empire which have been lost through indo-
If
a fugitive
you wish
be done
.
.
makes
a
a thing not to
to flee to safety. .
But as for me, ty
is
there I
is
be endured.
Emperor,
it
.
.
can easily
the sea; here are the ships.
hold with the old saying that royal-
tractive aspects. Tales
were
in her palace into
told of secret
in
lence." Prudence should have led
on consolidating
him
his eastern borders,
to
less at-
private
which people she
dis-
the beginning of
bought
the
off the Persians
Sixth Century.
by agreeing
sian king a large annual tribute
concentrate
where the pres-
sures of a restored Persian empire had
fine winding-sheet."
Theodora's autocratic behavior also had
dungeons
.
official edict, "that
to
grown
since
Instead
he
pay the Per-
and threw
all
his
57
THRUSTS OF THE BARBARIANS flfferf he
reign of Justinian
I
cost By-
zantium most of its provinces in Spain, Italy and the Balkans; Near Eastern and African areas fell to the Persians and Arabs.
under the
forces,
sarius
brilliant generalship first of Beli-
and then of Narses, into an
ture the western
Germanic
effort to recap-
and African provinces
lost to the
North Africa.
zantines occupied
entered Rome.
By
Two
Van-
Sicily,
Church and
state.
support of
missionary
536 Belisarius
in
other
Italy,
is-
and the Balearics— had been regained and By-
zantine forces had penetrated into southeast Spain.
Spain remained in Visigothic
larger part of
and the province of Gaul was never recap-
control, tured.
Even
so,
may
before he died Justinian
well
have thought that the dream of restoring the ancient unity of the empire
was on the verge of
zation. Indeed, for the last time, the
manum,
as the
reali-
imperium
Byzantine empire was
still
ro-
called,
did include almost the entire Mediterranean world.
Roman Empire To reform the
Justinian set out to restore the internally as well as geographically.
throne— sought
all
dominate both
His interest in the Church, his
monasticism, and his
were
and successors on to
work,
own
promotion of
his
concern for theology
genuine. But for him the state, as a sacred
instrument for forging a Christian
was what
Roman
empire,
really counted.
This meant in practical terms that for Justinian
and
religious unity
same
state unity
were one and the
Although Christianity had been de-
thing.
clared the state religion, remnants of
paganism had
lingered on. Seeking to eradicate them, Justinian
closed last
down
the university at Athens, paganism's
stronghold.
the support of its
time, his desire to re-
empire in the West led him
habilitate the
This in
At the same
its
to seek
one stable element, the papacy.
turn meant aggravation of an already
administration he abolished the sale of offices and
serious
centralized the bureaucracy. His widespread build-
around the doctrine of Monophysitism, which ex-
ing program included
new
fortifications in
Europe
domestic-religious
controversy
centering
alted Christ's divinity at the expense of His
hu-
and in Asia. Justinian's greatest and most lasting
manity—a doctrine condemned under papal pres-
monument
sure by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. In the
to
Byzantine society— indeed,
ern society— was his recodification of
At
his instigation a legal
to
West-
Roman
law.
commission, under the
Byzantine provinces of Egypt and Syria, where
Monophysitism was
strong, Justinian, conscious of
direction of Tribonian, produced a series of books,
the importance of these provinces to his empire
known
and influenced by Theodora, who had Monophysite
as the
Corpus of Justinian,
in
which an
attempt was made to summarize and bring up date the
many components
of the
Roman
to
legal sys-
tem. This great work, preserving the heritage of
Roman
law, formed the basis of the Byzantine
gal system.
When
the 11th Century of Latin legal
and
it it
was received
in the
West
le-
in
helped shape the development
political thought,
and thus passed
into the stream of world history.
In his attitude 58
his predecessors
and
lands in the western Mediterranean— Corsica, Sar-
The
and many of
of the empire, Justinian—
affairs
the Byzantine
Ostrogoths had been conquered in
dinia
Rome. As the pagan emperors had been not only
years after this the By-
the time of Justinian's death, the
of
masters of the government but also chief arbiters in the religious
tribes.
In 533 Belisarius broke the control of the dals in
retained the tradition of the pagan emperors
toward the Church, Justinian
leanings,
first
tried to conciliate
the heretics. But
pressure from the pope soon forced policy of vacillation— with concessions to the pope,
now
to the
cessions as Justinian
him
into
a
made now
Monophysites. Such con-
and
his
immediate succes-
sors granted failed to placate the
Monophysites,
however, and their antagonism toward Constantinople mounted. Approximately a century
later,
the
Egyptians and the Syrians were to greet
first
the
BARBARIAN INVASIONS
ARABS
6th-l0th Centuries I
I
Empire of Justinian
I,
565 Miles 100 200
Persian conquerors and then the forces of Islam as liberators
from the
religious
and
op-
political
pression of Byzantium. In the
after his death in
A
only a dream.
By
565 the work of
this last
Roman
568 the Lombards invaded
Italy.
the early Seventh Century, lands that Justinian
had regained
in
may
produced during his reign;
be seen the
first
Spain were again
in
The
Visigothic
in all this
flowering of Byzantine genius, of
Justinian's
conquests.
territorial
few years
Emperor— the Emperor "who never sleeps"— began to fall apart. In
literature
transcending the ephemeral glory
end Justinian's dream of restoring the Ro-
man Empire remained
tic
300
disintegration
years after Justinian
which beset the empire
in the
was temporarily halted by the
Emperor Heraclius (610-641). Rallying
his
people
and draining the churches and the provinces for funds, he took the offensive against the invaders.
The Avars were bought
money and with
off
with
a considerable
sum
hands; from the north had come invasions from
of
the Avars, and the Persians had conquered parts
the Byzantine court. The Persians were defeated
of Syria, Palestine and Egypt.
was on the verge
The empire
of anarchy
and bankruptcy.
Justinian's religious policy
may have been
itself
a series of
tine
distinguished
hostages from in
campaigns, and Egypt, Syria and Pales-
were returned
to
Byzantine
rule.
The True
dic-
Cross, which the Persians had removed from Jeru-
con-
salem, was triumphantly restored to the Holy Land.
firmed was the triumph of the doctrine of the In-
Heraclius also began the organization of the empire
tated
by reasons of
carnate
Word
in the great
state; nevertheless
it
over the pagan cults of Rome.
church of Hagia Sophia as
by Justinian,
what
in
And
finally built
other contemporary churches
in
Constantinople, Jerusalem, Ravenna and elsewhere, in the intensity
and
spirituality of so
much monas-
into a series of military provinces, or themes, a sys-
tem which was
to
remain the basis of government
for the next five centuries.
Heraclius' successes were only a respite, ever, for
mounted tribesmen from
how-
central Arabia 59
TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS enlarged the empire during the reign of Basil
map shows
"the Bulgar-slayer." The
II,
the extent of the empire that Basil in-
herited in 976, the rebellious territories he conquered in the Balkans
and
Anatolia, and the provinces, or "themes," he set up to administer these areas.
Mohammed— were
—the followers of the Prophet riding out
the
of
Within 10 years
Moslem
these
desert
search of conquest.
in
after the Prophet's death in 632,
had
warriors
poured
unchecked
When
through Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Persia. Heraclius died in 641 the empire had lost
By
southeasterly possessions forever.
to the
end of re-
Anatolian peninsula and the Balkan
when
Constantine VI inherited the throne. Acting as
re-
gent was his mother, the widowed Empress Irene, a
woman whose
dazzling beauty was equaled only
by her cruelty and ambition. For years Irene
easily
controlled her amiable imperial offspring. But as
Constantine reached maturity, he welcomed a plan that
promised
him from
free
to
mother's
his
blesome borders with Byzantium.
was besieged by the Mos-
The
successfully defended. series of attacks
during
time,
first
between 673 and 677, the
saved by the Byzantine
fleet.
city
who came
a
was
The second time
powerful general of some of the troops
Anatolia
(717-741) and founder of the
ty,
he and his son Constantine
inces
begun under Heraclius, and thus completed as a comparative-
geared for defense against the ene-
mies which surrounded
Both spiritually and
territorially
into that of Byzantium.
the worldwide
finally
Having
lost
in
throne to rule in her Irene's tional
however, was not to be
797 Irene
fall a
in
Rome. Pope Leo
glowing opportunity
in
to elevate
papal prestige. Adjudging the throne to be vacant —i.e.,
lacking a male occupant— the Pope in 800
upon Charlemagne
boldly bestowed
of emperor.
coronation was
a
To
all
title
and
good Byzantines,
this
the
criminal arrogation of power,
if
not a sin against the sacred state;
most of
ed relations between the Eastern Church and the
Byzantium had become predominantly Greek
its
in
The
East and the
West
of glory quickly ran out. In 802 she
by
had been shorn from the eastern empire, By-
gered, penetrating even to territories that
lin-
had never
The breach between Byzantium and
a palace revolution
the
West
a long and bitter family struggle
and exiled
was overthrown to the island of
Lesbos. There she spent her last few
miserable isolation.
To
The climax
months
in
the very end, the fierce old
Empress was kept under her from fomenting
rule.
aggravat-
drifted apart. Irene's days
eastern part of the empire faded. But even in lands
zantium's influence in thought and culture
it
papacy.
speech and civilization, as the Latin element in the
was widened by
saw
III
transformed
conquests in the West and in the Middle East,
been under Byzantine
took the
finally
own name.
triumph produced an even more sensa-
development
Constantine's
crown
it.
Roman Empire had now been
Irene,
and blinded. Thus
(741-775) pushed
continued the reorganization of the prov-
ly small state
from the palace.
mother
his
she succeeded in having Constantine imprisoned
tolia,
Byzantium
The disappointed Constantine, emboldened
by army support, rose up and banished
denied. After seven years of tireless conspiracy,
the Moslems back to the southern fringe of Ana-
the consolidation of
Irene.
was thwarted by
it
Crowned as Leo new Syrian dynas-
V
Eventually, the promising plan
in
to the rescue.
III
that
The
the 10-year-old
Prankish king Charlemagne, whose realm had trou-
Sicily.
lems for the second time, and for the second time
60
in 780,
clutches: marriage to a daughter of the powerful
In 717 Constantinople
a
drama began
And
and the island of
the Bulgars, appeared in the Balkans.
was
lurid
end of the Seventh Century another enemy,
coast, southern Italy at the
the
Byzantium was
the Heraclian dynasty in 711,
duced
most
its
that ultimately destroyed the Syrian dynasty.
still
close guard to
prevent
another revolution.
of the Byzantine achievement, or the
greater part of it— the years
from 867
to
1056—
Cherson
<
BLACK SEA 1045
Trebizond
CHALDIA
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CYPRUS
CRFTf
EMPIRE OF BASIL I
I
^^1 ^^1
II
Byzantine empire before Basil
Conquests of Basil Ref;ions
II's
MEDIT ERRANEAN SEA
reign
II
added soon
after Basil's death in 1025
came under
distinguished as
its
Miles
Macedonian dynasty. This
the great
house included among
whose
its
members emperors
founder,
Basil
military triumphs initiated
as
I
(867-886),
the
new era—
notably Leo VI, called the Wise (886-912); Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (913-959), a patron of the arts
mony and
who compiled manuals on diplomacy; and Basil
II
court cere-
Bulgaroctonus
(the Bulgar-slayer, 976-1025), the austere
and statesman who,
umphed over
as
his
name
soldier
indicates,
tri-
the Bulgars and reduced practically
the whole Balkan peninsula to imperial rule. It
was
<
Tarsus •
Ephesjs
'^
Syracuse
mELIT
-^Or
AECAION
HEa\s
TAf
MESOPOTAMIA
a
the world's wealth
seemed
to
pour through the trade routes of the Levant, overland from India and beyond, or
down
as the great cities of
reconquered.
Cyprus
the great
The
Antioch and Aleppo were
seizure
of
Crete
tine cultural orbit
etration. In
newly founded Russian
Islam
were pushed back into the southern region of Syr-
The
Byzan-
came
state,
Constantinople and was baptized. Her grandson.
Prince Vladimir of Kiev, after assisting Basil
crushing a rebellion, was given Basil's
sister,
and converted himself and
II
in
Anna,
his people
to Christianity.
Basil
II
reigned for nearly half a century as the
Byzantine emperor. His speech was plain, his manner abrupt and direct.
By the sophisticated stand-
unpolished.
of
into the
through trade and religious pen-
nople, there to furnish the queen of cities with even forces
and
957 the Grand Princess Olga, serving
as regent of the to
was drawn
ards of the civil aristocracy, he
The menacing
961
naval power in the eastern Mediterranean. Slavic world of Russia
Russian rivers and the Black Sea into Constanti-
greater splendor.
in
965 marked the revival of Byzantine
in
in marriage,
period of external expansion and inter-
nal prosperity. All
ia
As
the 11th Century
was coarse and chronicler
and
philosopher, Michael Psellus, remarked, he adopted
an almost ascetic simplicity
in his efforts to
keep 61
"He even
control over the diverse aifairs of state.
went so
far as to scorn bodily
was unadorned by
make
refused to
collars, his
ornaments. His neck
back
head by diadems. He
led
himself conspicuous
in
purple-
away superfluous
colored cloaks and he put
On
even clothes of different colors.
rings,
Samuel
to
by
a
first
blinded and then sent
hundred, each group
in batches of a
one-eyed man.
When Samuel
beheld this
sightless cavalcade of his defeated soldiers, he fell senseless,
the other hand,
and died two days
later.
he was there-
Basil, "slayer of the Bulgars," as
had once again raised the Byzantine
he took great pains to ensure that the various de-
after called,
partments of the government should be centered
empire into
on himself, and that they should work, without
ed from the eastern reaches of the Black Sea to the
friction."
From
his people he required not love, but
obedience.
tian
was the Egyp-
dynasty of the Fatimids. In 994, the Fatimids
a great
power whose
Adriatic in the west, from the to the
In the East, Basil's chief adversary
Danube
Euphrates in the south.
triumph by
a
extend-
territories
He
in the north
celebrated his
ceremonial march through Greece as
Athens, where he held a service of solemn
far as
defeated the Byzantine armies on the Orontes, and
thanksgiving in the Parthenon, which had been
they followed this up by besieging Aleppo and
converted into a Christian church dedicated to the
threatening Antioch
Mother
campaign
to
in the field
itself.
Basil in person led the
recover the situation.
other emperors,
when
it
Unlike
many
was necessary he stayed
throughout the winter months, steeling
summer he
himself against the cold as in
plined himself against thirst. However, he
disci-
was well
versed in tactics and understood the combat duties
He was
of individual officers.
thus
formidable
a
opponent. In his Eastern campaigns he had by 999
quo
restored the status rest
of
threats
This in the
his
reign
in Syria,
there
and during the
were no further serious
all
of
Con-
Macedonia except
Dan-
ube and the Balkan range; Thessaly; Epirus; and part of Albania. In 1001 Basil
opened
offensive against the Bulgars.
Once
his armies, in four years of
final defeat
campaigning he reduced
about half
came
his counter-
again leading
in
1014
its
is
zantine possessions in southern
tween the Churches of in
communicated each
other.
growing
publics,
pand
their
Italy.
Rome and
was deepening and
The
be-
rift
Constantinople
1054 the two Churches ex-
The
in strength,
Italian
maritime
were anxious
commerce. Crusader fervor was
re-
to ex-
rising in
the West, directed against the Infidel in the East—
said to
the structure of Byzantine society
itself.
In
the
at a battle in the
have taken some 14,-
was being weak-
ened by the growing independence and greed of
a
privileged landed aristocracy at the expense of small
peasant proprietors and soldiers
who had been
granted farms in return for part-time military service.
Finally, over the eastern borders lay the deep-
ening shadow of the Seljuk Turks.
Although under the Macedonians Byzantine
original size.
Struma region of northern Greece. Samuel himself escaped, but Basil
adventurers were penetrating By-
pouring over the long Danube frontier. At home,
Salonika, the Bulgarian territory between the
Samuel's
were signs of trouble impending. In the
Norman
who now
after revolting against
to
er there
West,
north, the steppe tribes, Patzinaks and Uzes, were
had conquered
Samuel's territory
God.
concentrate on his enemies
West. These were the Bulgarians,
stantinople,
of
Yet in spite of this resurgence of Byzantine pow-
but eventually to covet Byzantium
from the Eastern Arabs. left Basil free to
under King Samuel,
62
000 prisoners. These he
ry
had
risen to
member
of the
new
heights,
house came
of Byzantine history
by the time the
glolast
to the throne the tide
had turned— for the
last time.
cu
-
'
"^
AS EMPEROR (and thus as God's representative
BASIL
*
\.
in earthl\/ affairs), Basil sits
on
his throne dispensing a stern justice
THE MAGNIFICENT
History has few more beguiling tales than that of a self-made
from obscurity
new
glories.
grasp an empire, enlarge
to
its
realm and polish
Such an emperor was Byzantium's
Ninth Century on
a barren, rocky
Basil
I,
farm near Adrianople,
man who it
bright with
who was born
the
young
ventured to Constantinople, where by prodigious feats of valor on hunting
field, in
tion)
in
in the imperial district
of Macedonia. Basil spent his childhood in Bulgarian captivity, then as a
man
rises
banquet
hall
and
in parlor (plus occasional discreet sallies in assassina-
he reached the throne— and, surprisingly, turned out to be
wise and able monarch.
Many
ancient chronicles
tell
his story,
a
wonderfully
none more reveal-
ingly than the one compiled by John Scylitzes, a Byzantine official of the 11th
Century.
One
version of Scylitzes' account was illustrated during the 14th Cen-
tury by hundreds of miniatures painted by pious in Spain's
monks
in Sicily.
It
now
rests
National Library in Madrid, offering a rare— and sometimes wryly
amusing— insight
into the personalities
and
politics of
Byzantine empiresmanship. 63
'AAA
1/
jjt^r^f-ii
Even
DLf
in Basil's infancy, the
legends say,
V^-^fl-ou/JOO*"^
OKC \'yT*^/
B,
'flfay
Basi/ iwas fafcen
by his family
they worked, and placed in a bower.
an eagle, the imperial symbol, came to drive
it
in a
to
to
the wheatfields
where
the hot sun slanted
shade him. His mother
in,
tried
off— until she sensed a divine sign. The small Greek labels
identify characters; the larger script
A
to
When
is
Scylitzes' running account.
portent of young Basil's future greatness came to his mother
dream.
A
grow from
tall,
slim cypress with trunk and leaves of gold seemed
the foot of her bed; standing in
related her vision to a wise clearly
meant
woman, who
it
was her
son.
told her that the
a golden destiny for Basil as
She
dream
Emperor of Byzantium.
Y,oung ,
Basil
and
his family, taken captive
by
in-
vading Bulgarians along with thousands of other
Macedonians, were released some years Bulgarian King Omurtag.
As
out of captivity (above) on their farms, ly
Omurtag
later
by the
marched
the prisoners
way back
to their
noticed the boy "smiling gracious-
and romping around" and reached out
to
grab
him. Basil, unafraid, jumped up on the King's lap (right).
While a nearby
kissed Basil and gave
official protested,
him a
interpreted as yet another
64
big
Omurtag
apple— which was
symbol of future empire.
a series of signs foretold his brilliant future
T
iredof farming, Basil
left
the homestead to his
brothers
and
town
dusk of a Sunday evening and
rest
at
set out for Constantinople.
He entered down to
sat
on the steps of the monastery of St. Diomedes. two successive scenes at right, the
In the first of
Saint himself appears inside the monastery the Superior
and bids welcome the young man who will be
emperor one day. takes
In the second scene the
the adventurer
Basil to a friend of philitzes.
in.
He
later
Emperor Michael
who engaged him
monk
recommended III,
Theo-
as master of his stables.
Basil set all Constantinople buzzing with prodigious deeds of strength
and
skill
and
'
'm^OD'n^T^n^ffflTf'pfi ';\4
T
A. he
Emperor himself
first
heard
banquet, some visiting Bulgarians Theophilitzes
Bulgarian
asked permission
and threw him on
to
a
the
of
boasted
send
table
newcomer the
of for
his
(above,
servant,
left)— to
when,
Constantinople
to
prowess
of
a
Basil,
the
wrestler
who
delight
of
among
easily all
at
lifted
the
a
them. the
guests.
w.
hile
Basil
visiting
met the
rich
gave him dinners
money
to
Greece
with
Theophilitzes,
and lovely widow Danielis, who (left)
buy farms
and presents of slaves and Macedonian relatives.
for his
*&:>
s
won
the Emperor's favor
'^0)^'\immotTTOfyijflx\)i}tii'j;rviSiaf^^
In return she
had him take vows of "spiritual
brotherhood" (right) with her son, John, for a
monk told her Basil would one day be emperor and she hoped he would not forget his friends.
\^>/»
^.
.
a hunting trip back in Constantinople, the Emperor's dappled horse ran
asked Theophilitzes
away and
Basil
he might "jump into the imperial saddle and grasp the purple reins." Granted permission, Basil dashed after the runaway (top right), vaulted from one saddle to the if
other and brought the horse back (bottom). The Emperor appointed him one of his guards.
o.
n another hunting expedition— but
now
with Basil riding ahead and carrying the imperial
mace— the Emperor was
a monstrous wolf that the underbrush.
attacked by
came leaping from
With one deadly throw of head in two.
the
mace
As
cheers arose for Basil, Caesar Bardas, the
Basil split the wolf's
Emperor's uncle and his chief advisor, mur-
mured
prophetically:
"I
believe
that
our
family will be exterminated by this man."
67
On
his
way
to the top, Basil
cjt c|> ""^
married well, murdered
first
and then the Emperor
a rival
•" nr K»
B.'asking
in
Michael's
favor,
was
Basil
made Grand Chamberlain and was presented with a wife, Eudoxia Ingerina,
pened
to be
who
ture they are being married (far
the
also hap-
Michael's mistress. In the picleft),
while
Emperor consults Eudoxia's father (cen-
and Bardas
(right) frets
with a friend.
* H
A
.
larmed by Basil's growing power, Mi-
chael's mother, the
dora, is il
To^T>if>^i'fXJOiiai^^W
'i'o'h^^miwc a^^tt>u£WflL|Vf^F«o;^fa)Wi
being reassured by Michael, loyal to
is
left
the
who
says Bas-
imperial family.
To
the
of the Empress, listening with an inter-
ested
air, is
^J eeking il
Dowager Empress Theo-
warned her son against him. Here she
none other than
to
Basil himself.
consolidate his position, Bas-
persuaded Michael
to
das, Basil's rival, while
do away with Baron a campaign
in
Asia Minor. After the foul deed was done
between
battles,
(far left),
Michael
resumed
led his
army home
his throne (center)
had Basil crowned as
his
co-emperor
and
(right).
himself,
and
at last took over the throne
X
he imperial partnership of Michael and
Basil
ended when Michael found a new
vorite, Basiliskianos, a
drunken
folly
or dressed this
him and
man
in royal robes,
and
In
crowned
officials to bless
Michael also plotted
to
kill
Basil,
out against the Emperor's
excesses.
But one of the plotters
(far left) spilled the story
and
fa-
new "monarch."
loyalty to the
who had spoken drunken
sailor.
one night the haloed Emper-
called in priests
and pledge
N.ow
handsome
Basil decided to strike
into
first.
Basil's
In the
ear
scene
j^. at the right, Basil's
own
Michael's room and
o.
n a
litter
borne
assassin bursts into
kills
him with
in relay
a sword.
by 300 youths,
widow Danielis comes to see her friend, now sole Emperor of Byzantium. Basil enthe
titled
her "Mother of the Emperor," and in-
stalled his "spiritual brother" office.
slaves,
John
in
high
Again, she had gifts for Basil: 500
100 eunuchs, and
silver
and
rugs.
69
»*US^-i«lfc-
iv
.
S**
"I? .
..„^*..
'.
.
•t'
«
F. X
\y
^
d
^ ^ J
The campaigns of Basil were epics of
waged with
their times,
a refined cruelty
that included tortures
and foe
for friend
alike
LJasil warred against the Arabs almost without interruption through his reign, with the help of able—and cruel—generals. Rarely did he have to chide them for failures such as that in the
shown
painting at right. In Italy two of his commanders, Leo and
Procopius, quarreled and in battle failed to support each other.
As
a result, Procopius,
the picture,
was
Leo rallied his
much
shown mortally wounded in the center of Knowing Basil would not be pleased,
defeated.
own and
Procopius' forces, and took Tarentum and
booty. Nevertheless he felt the force of Basil's
ire
(below).
9-i
^
M
B,'rought before the Emperor in battle,
In
two
the
Leo
is
condemned by
later scenes (left)
ground while the
for deserting a fellow
commander
the pointing finger of Basil (right).
Leo suffers his penalty. First he
official torturer
lies
on
burns out his right eye with
a red hot iron. Then, seated, he presents his hand on a piece of
wood while
the torturer prepares to chop
prisingly, Leo recovered
from
old age, although in exile
all
it
off at the wrist. Sur-
of this and lived on to a ripe
and no longer on the imperial
payroll.
KSAjprC^/v^^KTA* ^^^^"HPtt ^T)-"-W9lAA.l^
0*
Oi«'XUv.7*VT»i8' wxfk8r^^pa4/fll
O,
ne of Basil's favorite officers was Admiral Nicetas Oryphas,
who
surprised and captured an
by transporting In this painting,
Arab
his ships over the
fleet in
the Gulf of Corinth
isthmus from the Saronic Gulf.
Oryphas attempts
to dissuade other
Arab
sailors
•
'
T
^^
|
from further invasions by performing various torments on his prisoners.
At
his direction,
post; another target practice
is
one
is
being hanged from a forked
being skinned alive; a third
and a fourth
is
is
being used for
being lowered into boiling
tar.
•ja-^JW^co^of vi
Conspiracies
filled Basil's
declining years.
One
plot aroused the
emperor
against the heir to his throne,
but an odd counterplot
saved the young
man from
the ruler's terrible wrath.
B.
'asil distrusted Leo, officially his
son but some say the son of Eu-
monk
(above)
to carry a knife in his
boot to
doxia and Michael. Hoping to please Basil, a scheming decides to trick Leo.
He
advises
him
protect his father— and then (picture at right) hurries off to
A,J
Basil.
a banquet, senators friendly to Leo launch an
odd but successful appeal grace.
tell
They place above
"Ouch! Ouch!
cally cries,
restore
to
Basil a parrot,
good
him
to
who
patheti-
Sir Leo," at
which the
diners fall silent and refuse to eat until Basil relents.
A. JL.
inally restoring the innocent Leo to
honor, Basil orders
him
take
to
ments of sadness" and have
grown long giving
all,
in prison, cut.
freedom and
off
his hair,
his
"vest-
which had
After this Basil, for-
appointed Leo his heir and successor.
w.
hen Basil died— of a wild boar wound suf-
fered on a hunt— the widow Danielis,
made
still
another
trip to
72
vast fortune to the
now to
very old,
Leo (right),
son—and later added her new Emperor's inheritance.
the son of her spiritual
own
pay homage
i'^^l!^yo^^^ti9vn4tyn/QArj099)ji*a)fi»^* TBp« »^*
X .
he scheming
monk
informs Basil that Leo
him and therefore he can Emperor can prove Leo's off his
*%
in
is
good conscience get
guilt, the
monk
declares,
footwear and seeing whether or not he
is
^i
l^M^iWlfitOp^t^*
iNi4ji>4fftAuActKn&MtAfi
preparing rid of
Leo
to
murder
first.
The
by having him take
armed
for the attempt.
V-^n all
the hunting field Basil announces that he needs a knife,
innocently whips out the one hidden in his boot and offers
Emperor. He jail
is
and Leo it
to the
then stripped of the imperial purple and thrown into
by the angry
ruler,
who
contemplates having Leo's eyes burned out.
al
V^^^i AiCiQlSl^
mr
•:iJ'.^^:j^<:
Constantine's espousal of Christianity brought with it
change
a
in the status of the
emperor who ruled
Byzantium. Although the imperial throne retained
which had surrounded
the magnificence
the
in
it
time of Constantine's predecessors— the ceremonial
who had
perquisites of emperors like Diocletian
ruled the
new
Roman Empire
gods— the
as
Christian empire were
now
rulers of the
regarded not as
divine in themselves but only as the chief represen-
4
and of God Himself.
tatives of Christ
Yet
another sense the Byzantine emperors
in
were identical with
their
The
ble manifestation.
God: they were His
invisible activity of
everyone knew, consisted in bringing
AN EMPEROR UNDER GOD
all
visi-
God,
as
heavenly
an ordered harmony under His
principalities into
absolute rule.
His visible activity, carried out by
the emperor,
was
bring
to
all
mankind
into
an
ordered harmony within a universal state under the absolute rule of the monarchy. In this
was
society
to imitate divine society.
the regulator of the cosmic order,
center around which
human
peror, His
human It
the
immovable
revolved, so must the em-
extension, be the regulator of the
immovable center around which
social order, the all
all
way human As God was
affairs revolved.
followed that
all
the actions of the emperor, as
well as his office, had a sacred and symbolic character.
His
meant
to
ritual
life
was surrounded by
was
a ritual that
copy, as nearly as possible, the invisible
performed
in
heaven by God and the divine
powers. Thus the emperor's status as an individual
was of secondary importance. What was important was
that he
mony
that
fulfill
went with
bound up with palace,
his
the traditional pattern of cere-
court,
his office. his
this:
vestments,
his
pearances, his statues,
Everything was
crown, his throne, his his
images,
his
ap-
public
the
mystical
procession of his days, his imperial service,
pronouncements and
his
his laws.
Although the whole apparatus of elaborate
cere-
monial, derived in large part from the East, was this
by no
the ruler that his offspring
would
used to invest the emperor
means assured succeed
power CCXJ'S
SPOKESMAN, fhe Emperor ]ohn Cantacuzene announces
ma to
bishops and
monks
at a
church council
in
1351.
him— or even
for long.
that
in office,
he himself would hold
There was no absolute law binding
religious dog-
The emperors, who
usually oversaw church affairs, were often challenged by strong patriarchs.
succession to the throne. Legitimate dynastic descent did give a male candidate strong claims, espe75
UNLUCKY EMPERORS
cially
the 11th Century, but there
after
was no
guarantee of succession. Indeed, the whole idea that an
emperor was chosen by divine decree meant
that there could be no fixed constitutional rule in
The
this matter.
divine will might express
many ways. The
only certain method of knowing
was
the divine will
to see
the throne. In other words, Violence ended the reigns of 29 Byzantine emperors, including Nicephorus
II,
whose head was put on
public display (above). Other unfortunate rulers are listed
below with the dates when disaster struck.
who all
actually occupied
means
an emperor were legitimate— so long successful.
An
itself in
becoming
of
as they
were
unsuccessful attempt to reach the
throne, on the other hand,
was unforgivable and
disastrous for the would-be ruler.
God had
Furthermore, what BASILICU5
477
Starved in prison
take away.
ZENO
491
Buried alive
MAURICE
602
Decapitated
from him
PHOCAS
610
Dismembered
as
HERACLEONA5
641
Mutilated
641
Poisoned
II
668
Bludgeoned
LEONTIUS
705
Decapitated
705
Decapitated
CONSTANTINE
III
CONSTANS
TIBERIUS
III
JUSTINIAN
II
711
it
An
in his
bath
if
him
a
manner
in the first
place— and
him were usually
as terrible
to
he had tried to seize power and
failed.
This view of the throne explains the atmosphere of plot
and counterplot that shadows the lengthy
Of the 88 emperors 1453— from Constantine I
Decapitated
history of Byzantine royalty.
713
Blinded
who
VI
797
Blinded
to
LEOV
820
Stabbed, decapitated
other 13 took refuge, temporarily or for the rest of
III
867
Stabbed
CONSTANTINE VII
959
Poisoned
963
Poisoned
PHILIPPUCUS
CONSTANTINE
MICHAEL
reigned from 324 to
ROMANUS
II
NICEPHORUS
II
XI— 29
Constantine
their lives, in
monasteries.
One emperor who
969
Stabbed, decapitated
II
Phocas.
died violent deaths, and an-
The
died violently
was Nicephorus
ascetic old general
was the con-
I
976
Poisoned
queror of Aleppo, Crete and Antioch, and scourge
ROMANUS III
1034
Poisoned, drowned
of the Saracens.
MICHAEL V
1042
Blinded
troops in 963 after the death of the incumbent,
ROMANUS IV
1071
Poisoned, blinded
Romanus
1183
Strangled, decapitated
JOHN
ALEXIUS
ANDRONICUS
II
II,
He was
acclaimed emperor by his
under suspicious circumstances, and
soon afterward he married Romanus' young wid-
I
1185
Mutilated and tortured
II
1193
Blinded
ow, the beautiful Theophano. But Nicephorus was
ALEXIUS IV
1204
Strangled
old and unattractive, and before long
ALEXIUS V
1204
Blinded,
JOHN
IV
1261
Blinded
ANDRONICUS
IV
1374
Blinded
JOHN VII
1374
Blinded
ISAAC
maimed
Theophano
had made herself the mistress of one of Nicephorus' former comrades
in arms,
John Tzimisces, and was
busily plotting the death of the Emperor.
A
party
led by Tzimisces was admitted by Theophano's
women
into the seashore palace
was lying 76
could also
and sudden
in as unpredictable
had been given
the consequences for as
He
given
emperor's throne might be seized
asleep.
He was
where the Emperor
stabbed to death and de-
body was pitched out
capitated. His
into the snow,
attended by eunuchs
known
and without delay Tzimisces placed himself on the
ficers of the
Byzantine throne.
fore the icon of Christ
Possibly the most hideous of
was
that
1185.
meted out
He was
all
imperial deaths
Andronicus
to
I
chained for days in
Comnenus a
He would pray
and then— presumably
be-
after
breakfasting— would enter one of the throne rooms.
in
and
pillory
royal wardrobe.
as cubicularii, or of-
an important event was scheduled— the
If
re-
ception of the envoys of a powerful foreign prince,
example— special arrangements would have been
beaten black and blue; his teeth were broken with
for
hammers and one
made.
We
then tied to the back of a sick camel and paraded
in the
10th Century to the Arab ambassadors from
through the streets of Constantinople. Finally, after
Tarsus.
hands was cut
of his
boiling water had been
thrown
off.
in his face
He was
and an
eye had been plucked out, he was strung up for
Hippodrome. Over and
additional torture in the
over he repeated, "Lord have mercy upon me.
do you strike of his misery
a
broken reed?" He was
by
a
sword plunged
at last
Why
put out
into his entrails.
Until natural or violent death overtook him, the
emperor had
to follow the ritual pattern that
had
developed in Byzantium over the centuries. This ritual
is
perhaps best described
De
procedures, tine VII
in a vast
manual of
ceremoniis, compiled by Constan-
Porphyrogenitus (913-959). The palace was
the stage within which the daily round of solemnities
unfolded. Early in the morning the gate leading
main public square, the Augustaeum, was
to the
opened and the captain the
of the
watch would wake
a purple
and decorated
in
Over
this
he
back and front with embroi-
dered squares of gold cloth, as Justinian in the
shown
Church
of
Ravenna. The imperial diadem was
a
in the por-
San Vitale
at
hemispherical,
cap profusely adorned with pearls and
some
hanging down as let
inserted in the
far as the
crown and some
nape of the neck. Scar-
shoes embroidered with jewels completed his
attire.
candelabra hung from silvered chains of copper.
The
were covered with ivy and
floors
mary and their
as they
roses;
crushed essence
were trampled underfoot
filled
the air with sweet per-
fume. Costly Persian carpets lay
On
the entrance.
at
either side of the throne stood the candidatoi,
imperial guards in
laurel, rose-
drawn from noble
white and carrying scepters.
above
to
families, dressed
A choir was
stationed
chant the acclamations. The Arab envoys
entered the imperial presence wearing robes specially
We
ordered for them by the emperor. also
have an account by Liutprand, future
Bishop of Cremona, of his reception by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in the same sat in the
Constantine
hall.
animated "throne of Solomon." As Liut-
Emperor, the machinery of the throne went into
cape or chlamys, opening on the right
had
other jewels,
Mag-
by great golden
operation: mechanical birds sang and lions roared.
side
close-fitting
lit
occasions the emperor would wear a
long, white, tight-sleeved tunic of silk.
trait of
in the great hall of the
naura Palace. The room was
prand, escorted by two eunuchs, approached the
private apartment. official
was held
It
his
emperor with three knocks on the door of
On
have the record of an audience given
After dressing, the emperor would emerge.
Nothing daunted
(for he
had been forewarned),
Liutprand made his prescribed three prostrations before the throne.
When
he rose to his feet he
found that throne and Emperor had disappeared. Glancing upward, he saw both— the Emperor clad in robes even
now
more magnificent than he had
worn when Liutprand entered— hovering near the ceiling.
It
was with the Emperor
that Liutprand
had
to
in
this
position
continue his audience.
Receptions of this kind took place
in
both morn-
ing and afternoon. In the evening there might be a 77
j^SHHiSmaiBi^Si^
Mf^^^R^^^^jSP
B
1 1
hI LaSHHw^B
•Jt ^u[&V!3^ '"bwTi
BLi iV'^fcr'^^'^^^fc'''y^
y^
Bg s^^3 ^m s^^B^
'<'''
THEODORA
M
*^
''^
/'
JHuBd^BHI^H
THREE FAMOUS EMPRESSES of Byzantium, portrayed in the mosaics above, led vastly different lives. Theodora, an actress and courtesan before marrying Justinian I, be-
came
a trusted adviser to her husband. Zoe, a capricious blonde, inherited the throne,
married three times, and spent ter of
much
of her time beautifying herself. Irene, the daugh-
a sainted Hungarian king, devoted herself to charity and herself became a saint.
banquet. This was sometimes held in
known for
it
as the
was
still
the fashion
on
special occasions for
diners to recline on couches in the
With such
a
a large hall
Tribunal of the Nineteen Couches,
Roman
style.
banquet, and the entertainment that
went with it— perhaps Greek dancing with one course, readings from St. John the next,
Hindu
jugglers to
Chrysostom with
close
the
show— the
emperor's day would end.
The
ruler's
ceremonial
as those of rulers in
life
was
as rich
and varied
any epoch. He had
a
whole
series of public functions to perform, all similarly
cocooned
in brilliant pageantry.
Perhaps the most
a
review of the troops before they
or Persian.
The usual parade ground was near
apex of the Golden Horn,
the palaces and towers
with banners,
many
of
Horn
in his royal galley
and with gold-emblazoned gonfalons borne
under ly
troops would be
drawn up: Dalmatians
their national flags, clothed in their brilliant-
armed
embroidered dress,
the imperial guards,
with
the scholarii,
tunics;
and
swords
some
another body
of
royal guards, the great hetairia, with swords, silver belts, gilded shields
cluster the
occasion for such brilliant display might be
figurehead of an
The
monies connected with
An
its
aloft.
the emperor
were equally solemn.
with
the Golden
eagle
thing of the character of a sacred war, and cereit
them bearing the imperial
The emperor would be rowed up
lances;
had some-
the
termination of the
eagle.
clothed in rose-colored
of the faith, every military expedition
at the
and churches would be hung
military enterprises. Since the monarch, as Christ's
was defender and champion
set
great walls enclosing the city to the northwest. All
spectacular of these were related to the empire's
vice-regent on earth,
78
provided by
out against some invading host, Russian or Bulgar
and double-edged
himself,
as
axes.
Around
he disembarked, would
famous Varangian Guard— in the
earlier
years Russians but in later years chiefly Anglo-
Saxons— great
flaxen-haired, ax-wielding warriors.
An even more impressive scene would
be provided
sen in this way. Justinian's wife Theodora was one notable exception.)
The
by the triumphant return of the emperor from war.
He would
through the Golden
ride his white horse
Then he would
Gate into the
city.
brilliant escort
down
pass with his
the flower-strewn highway, be-
tween houses hung with great Babylonian tapestries and Persian embroideries,
to the
square of the Au-
gustaeum. Here Patriarch and Prefect would wel-
come him.
Later
would come
Forumof Constantineor
the great pageant in the
in the
Hippodrome. All the
war would be paraded before
captives taken in the
emperor and the high dignitaries of the court.
the
The imperial chanters would intone paeans of victory. At the climax the emperor would place his scarboot on the shaved head of the chief prisoner,
let
perhaps
a barbarian
king or Persian emir, while
the other prisoners lay prostrate the
first
In palace
had
a
on the ground and
"Who
out of turn.
own
to
the palace, she
was
occasions, and
official
than
the time
is itself
came
of interest.
for the
emperor
marry, a group of delegates would be dispatched
from the capital
to search
throughout Byzantine
territories for a suitable bride. Candidates a suitable
had not
degree of beauty and de-
corum—wealth and rank were not but they had also to
fulfill
so
important—
specific requirements
regarding such details as the measurements of the bust, waist
and
feet.
also through
women
who
the emperor,
a
nun and
a reputation
a
hastily
for sensitivity
The empress was court in the
Those who passed
liminary examination would then be
and
religious
this pre-
summoned
to
own
had her
court
the
and
empresses, of course, were cho-
own
gave audigifts
princesses.
on
She
private fortune to administer as she
the empress
affairs,
a decisive influence
on occasion even
served as the sole ruler.
Certain empresses were renowned for their piety
Among
for their eccentricity.
Zoe (1028-1050), who scurity
came
to the
after
prime of
woman;
life,
this
Psellus,
these ladies
50 years of
life
in
was ob-
throne upon the death of her
uncle, Constantine VIII.
Though
empress was
who was
rather past still
a
the
striking
never loath to disparage
the qualities of Byzantine rulers, wrote that, like a
well-baked chicken, "every part of her was firm
and
in
good condition."
Zoe determined not only sible use of her
them but
also to preserve
scientific
apartments
into
to
make
charms while she
the best posstill
possessed
them by the most ad-
means. With typically Byzantine
technical ingenuity, she
girl of
fervor.
host of servitors
visiting
would. In addition to exerting
on public
the
of the palace, with
own
dignitaries. Like the emperor, she
Like Paris, he would hand an apple to the all
down
lady, Casia, later be-
women's quarters
vanced
(Not
farther
virtually mistress of her
waiting and her
ladies in
and
moved
startled
poet of high distinction, achieving
Constantinople and paraded before the emperor.
his choice.
Such ready wit
The young
line of aspirants.
came
what was greater
that
had entered the world— the reference be-
evil
ing to the birth of Christ.
—or
empress was selected
only to offer
was
ladies of
emperor on
when
had entered the world. She retorted that
that evil it
hand her
to
was through women
it
miracles."
right.
Traditionally,
was about
the emperor
beauty
in
throne by speaking
lost the
the apple, he lamented that
frequently exercised a great deal of authority in
How the
As
who
supreme
girl,
God who performs
some impenetrable quarter of
her
intelligence,
one
great like
and public ceremonies the empress too
to the
told of
is
part to play. Far from being cloistered in
an adjunct
is
ences and held banquets, and she conferred
imperial chanter sang,
our God? You are the
all
and
story
a
transformed her private
laboratory full of
pipes
and 79
and other apparatus
braziers
Thus she was
of unguents.
free of wrinkles until she
for the preparation
able to keep her face
was well past her
summer. Using her beauty
good
six-
ishment of death. This sanctity also embraced the
God had
emperor's ministers: for just as
act
to
she
through the cohorts of angels, the ranks of the
found herself three personable husbands who ran
superterrestrial powers, so His earthly representa-
tieth
the empire
ties
to
(with the assistance of
superb corps of
civil servants).
would she admit
Only
effect,
Byzantium's
in her late six-
was upon
to herself that age
her and begin to spend as
much
time with her de-
emperor, had
tive, the
ing hierarchy of
numberless ranks of
who had
to
to leave
more prone
a
group seem no
many
that accounts both for
its
proficiency,
these one of the most notable
Comnenus
was
Among
who founded
(1118-1143),
many Byzantine monarchs were all
who
Irene, wife of
the
where
great monastery of St. Savior Pantocrator,
For
later buried.
empire was not an emperor or an empress but It
was His word,
the imperial bureaucracy
from Rome.
as manifested in
Down
used Latin as Latin
official
its
titles for its
dem, was imprinted on coins;
"The Lord Jesus
Christ, our
it
was
in
His name,
Master," that laws
else in
service gradually
assumed
a
new
form.
official.
perial office,
The Greek
titles
of ministers
and high
the protespatharoi,
ficials—the spatharioi,
of-
the
lo-
gothetes, the strategoi.
Though
careers were always
open
difficult
men
to all
of
were recruited,
examinations, from
distinguished families with a tradition of public
everything connected with the im-
service. Officials
from the public appearances down
the royal inkpot,
was regarded
as
having
was dedicated
to
a sacred
to the service
God. Not only was the person of the emperor
sacred, but so too
ments, his
the
Kingdom.
character. Everything of
and
onward
Greek designations
temporal instrument for guiding the people into
why
palatii,
language, which had been taking over since the
after having passed
is
it
language and preserved
talent, generally these functionaries
That
directly
day (610-641)
were promulgated. The emperor was merely His
the fold of His
Byzantium
was inherited
magister militum, quaestor sacri
replaced the Latin
dia-
much
and
backbone of
the
it
so on. But from the Seventh Century
His Cross was carried
at the front of military pro-
centralization
its
senior officials— praetorian pre-
Sixth Century, became
crowned with the imperial
En-
a sacred trust.
to Heraclius'
the Gospels, that provided the ultimate authority;
cessions; His image,
sea.
kind of ordination;
a
which made
the theocratic state. Like
fect,
Byzantines, however, the true ruler of the
Christ Himself.
down
ice
helped maintain the authority of the throne.
II
to lay
the
military,
this hieratic character of the imperial serv-
It is
than other
odora, were strong and effective personages
John
was
was
of them, like Justinian's The-
to folly or self-indulgence
ladies; indeed,
it
through
and
civil
do his bidding on land and
her 72nd year, serene and
beautiful.
correspond-
a
dignitaries,
officials,
trance into public office
still
through
to act
court
votions as she had with her chemicals. She died in
Yet Byzantine empresses as
80
was apostasy, and deserved the pun-
successful,
letters,
was
all
he touched— his gar-
the golden imperial seal.
To
in-
blaspheme. To plot against him
sult
him was
to
was
to invite
excommunication. Rebellion,
if
not
were nominated, promoted and
dismissed by the emperor. atives, responsible to
him
of his personal wishes, state.
The
met with
for the
his represent-
implementation
which were the law
policies they carried out
lated at the imperial
officials
They were
palace,
of the
were formu-
where the emperor
his council of advisors.
High government
were given honorific court
titles
so
that
they would have rank and precedence in the im-
Since the emperor himself was
perial household.
touch with the heads of government
directly in
departments, there was no formal provision for an office
such as that of prime minister.
For
many
at the
centuries, however, the chief minister
court was the magister
He was head
offices.
secret police
or master of
officii,
of the entire civil service, the
and the
system, as well
state postal
and au-
as being responsible for court ceremonies
diences, including the reception of foreign envoys.
The civil service was organized along military lines. Its members wore uniforms, marked with badges
A
indicating their office and rank. belt
was the emblem
the service
was
it
to
military-style
of the civil service: entering
was termed "taking the
belt," leaving
"give up the belt."
After the initiation of the theme system by the
Emperor Heraclius early
the Seventh Century,
in
the administration of the empire's provinces
came increasingly theme, or
At the head
militaristic.
military
was
province,
a
be-
of each
general,
the
who had almost unlimited power in local He was appointed by the emperor and was
strategos, affairs.
responsible to him.
power on
of
civilian RAISED
army
ON A
in a
SHIELD, a Biblical
David
is
crowned
m
Byzantine fashion by his
scene from a 10th Century manuscript. David, a king chosen by
in a
As
a
check against any abuse
the part of the military governor, a
was named
to serve alongside
him, though
subordinate position; he too was in direct com-
munication with the emperor.
divine decree, became a favorite symbol for Byzantium's theocratic emperors.
The Byzantines were It
was the need
to
many enemies who
defend the empire against the coveted
ed Byzantium to mold Its
not by nature militaristic.
wealth that prompt-
its
itself
along military
army was not very large— at
its
peak
numbered only some 120,000 men— but pensive to maintain. fore paid to the in order to
avoid
In Constantine's
ready moving
Much
attention
it it
lines.
probably
was ex-
was
there-
development of military strategy a
waste of
time,
the
away from
lives
and equipment.
Roman army was the
al-
legionary system,
which was proving increasingly dangerous and
in-
81
effective:
dangerous because the legionaries would
were kings and queens in
fantrymen were no match
until
A new
for barbarian cavalry.
form of organization emerged, consisting of
a frontier force of settled soldier-farmers
force
who gave
plus a mobile central
part-time military service,
which could be deployed wherever needed.
Foot soldiers were normally equipped with spears,
swords and
The more important heavy
shields.
cavalry wore steel caps, shirts of mail reaching to the thighs,
and
gauntlets
armed with long
lances, spears
armed
forces, the fleet,
than the army, though
it
was
it
the
of
lower esteem defense
being led from
office
for a diplomatic service it
was well understood by those who served along the
to
office
through the maze of imperial intrigue.
Many
of the highest offices in
Byzantium were
held by eunuchs. Since a eunuch could not be em-
men. As
a
trate their
Romanus
easier for
such
noblemen would often
cas-
sons in order to further their chances of
one emperor,
least
castrated both his legitimate and his
I,
illegitimate sons in order to
high
on hereditary
consequence, the Byzantines attached no
disgrace to castration;
advancement and success. At
attacks.
within the imperial government's structure. But
who
who were
made advancement
was zealously pursued. There
was no formal provision
world
rights— this often
in
known
eyed ambassadors from the ends of the
and broadswords,
Since diplomacy was cheaper than war as a means of self-protection,
by regular emolu-
their thrones (supported
ments from Constantinople, of course), and wide-
not, of course, pass
vital in the
Arab
back on
arranged coup might put them
peror—and could
was held
of Constantinople against
cleverly
a
biding their time
exile,
and were
shoes,
steel
bows and arrows. The other component
fit
them
better for the
he wished them to occupy. Patriarchs
offices
of Constantinople were frequently eunuchs,
commanders
so also were
in the
army
and
or the navy.
otherwise came into contact with
Narses, Justinian's famous general, was a eunuch,
foreigners that Byzantium's international position
and so was Eustathius Cymineanus, the admiral
was
appointed by Alexius
I.
fashionable doctor
was an advantage,
borders or
to
be actively safeguarded by
means. Byzantine diplomacy, as this
it
peaceful
all
developed from
assumption, was, on the one hand, marvelousinvolving the most sumptuous of gifts
ly formal,
and the most lavish of ceremonial receptions;
was on the other hand, perceptive, full of
underhanded skulduggery.
Byzantine maneuver in
was
to
A
realistic,
fairly
state
it
and
standard
kind of subtle warfare to
a
neighboring
good Christian monarch should, but
undermine that its
this
honor treaty obligations
state as a
to
by subsidizing and equipping
enemies and inciting them
weapon: noble
marry and
ladies
civilize
were sent distant
to foreign courts to
monarchs,
eunuchs or It
was
it
women
If
one wanted
to
doctors could treat
in the civil service that
become
women.
eunuchs were par-
ticularly favored; here they took precedence,
many
a
for only
senior posts were reserved
exclusively
and for
them. The presence of eunuchs in the high ranks of the imperial service, operating as a check
tendency for power hereditary nobility, the stability
and
to fall
may have been one
reliability
on any
hands of
the
into
a
cause of
of the Byzantine ad-
ministrative system.
to attack.
Marriage was yet another Byzantine diplomatic
82
spoke the empire's strenuous diplomatic activity
depose an emperor; ineffective because these in-
and
alien
As an
autocratic establishment, this system
expensive,
cumbersome and
liable
But for more than 11 centuries
it
to
corruption.
served the em-
brides were often brought to the imperial throne.
perors well as they sought to hold
Other elements
many
in the life of the court that be-
was
together the
contradictory realities of the empire.
'7Tiffci^''^«»«'i«BA*.Kfir.'T?f'Wf7aATDi^7^W
•
I
CHARGING CAVALRYMEN, their mounts wheeling in a
tightly disciplined
maneuver, bring a fan of spears
Although the Byzantines usually preferred diplomacy
Roman
scientific
legions
warfare
when
they had
to.
As
to bloodshed, they could
the heirs of the invincible
and the defenders of Christendom, the army regarded
rightly so, as the best fighting force in the world. Its officers
geography and strategy, and even emperors wrote manuals on enemies often blundered onto the
field,
on the enemy.
WAR
TECHNIQUES OF wage highly
to bear
the Byzantines
tactics.
moved
itself,
and
were schooled
While
their infantry
in
their
and
cavalry— the fighting edge of the land forces— through complex and orderly maneuvers (above). The
men
in the front lines
were backed by
servants, scouts, guards for the supply train and an
cued the wounded and gathered up the
spoils.
a host of auxiliaries:
ambulance corps which
res-
There was even an intelligence
service, the "Office of Barbarians," that collected information
about the Saracens,
Turks and Bulgars who ringed the empire, and advised generals on
strategy. A3
ARCHERS ON HORSEBACK .'^'A
V-iiC- ''^--
In the Byzantine army, the cavalry
\
was supreme. During
the
empire's height, from the Seventh to the 12th Centuries, cav-
alrymen, like other Byzantine soldiers, were career professionals. <
B^M '^i^A
''gS'-.
1
A HORSE-ARCHER
84
turns in his saddle to take aim.
They were
also the best trained
and most highly paid
fighters in the world. In battle, the first assault
most always
was
a
their task to harry
them came
a
wave was
detachment of archers mounted on horses;
second
alit
and break the enemy's ranks. Behind
line of
armored lancers who rode
closer combat. Shooting accurately with a
bow
in for
while on horse-
back required long training, and most of the mounted bow-
men were recruited from among the tribes of Asia Minor, who were renowned for their horsemanship and fighting skill.
INFIGHTERS Foot soldiers,
who had been
played a secondary but
ON FOOT
the mainstay of the
vital role in the
Roman
land forces,
Byzantine army. Ordinarily,
the infantry did not serve in the front lines because Byzantium's chief enemies, the ever,
when
the Slavs
Turks and Saracens, were
entirely
and the Franks, the infantry came into
its
precedence in battles fought in hilly country or
where horses did not have enough space also
mounted. How-
the Byzantines fought armies of foot soldiers, such as
handled the
less
to
own. in
It
also took
narrow passes
maneuver. Foot soldiers
glamorous tasks: fortifying the camp every
night by digging a deep ditch around
it,
guarding the wagon train
carrying supplies, and holding mountain passes and river fords to
block an SPE.AR IN
HANP
ij"
infantryman
A CAVALRYMAN'S UNIFORM scale armor,
starts
on a march.
consisted of
(left)
under which he wore a linen tu-
nic in
summer and
Over
his shoulders
a woolen tunic in winter.
he draped a
felt
cloak
and a blanket, and
that served as a raincoat
as camouflage to cover his gleaming
armor
during night attacks. His weapons included a
bow and
arrows, a small round shield, a
broadsword, a battle-ax and a lance almost 12 feet long. His saddle was equipped with
stirrups—a revolutionary device the Byzantines started
employing
Century.
in the Sixth
Stirrups gave the rider a firm seat
lowed him
to slash
and
al-
with his sword, or thrust
with his lance, without falling off his mount.
AN FNFANTRYMAN-S WEAPONS (right) includbow than the cavalryman 's and
ed a larger
a shorter broadsword for hand-to-hand fighting, as well as a sling, a
and a long
pike.
mace, a short javelin
The mace's edges were honed
sharp enough to cut through a metal helmet
when brought down The front armored
an overhead swing.
in
line of the infantry
like the cavalry,
extremely expensive,
wore only a helmet. narily carried a
the
An
men sometimes infantryman ordi-
round or oxmI shield larger
than that of the cavalryman. alry,
was usually
hut since armor was
As
in the cav-
each regiment could be identified by
the distinctive colors painted on
its
shields.
enemy
retreating before the hard-riding Byzantine cavalry.
ENGINEERING A SIEGE Byzantium was seldom secure enough that
it
war, but ual
its
enemy
line of
militarily
could afford to stage an all-out offensive armies sometimes laid siege to individ-
strongholds. First the artillery set
mangons
that hurled
heavy stones (and sometimes,
tain the bored besiegers, live
to enter-
When
the missiles
had driven enough of the defenders from posts along the ramparts, in to
a
mules or dead enemy
soldiers) over the fortress walls.
moved
up
(below), medium-sized catapults
hammer
the Byzantine
their
troops
the gates with battering rams
or bore holes through the walls with huge, metal-
tipped
drills.
tive, siege
A
obvious, but often more effec-
less
technique was mining. Soldiers would
dig a tunnel under the city walls, shoring
burrow with timbers
set
them on
fire,
time, the shoring it
would collapse
tine forces
the
in
and scramble back through the
enemy could put
tunnel. Unless the
up
they had
would soak the timbers
finished digging, they oil,
When
as they went.
the
fire
out in
would burn away, the wall above and the Byzan-
into the tunnel,
would stream
through the breach.
in
HEAVY ARTILLERY
of the Byzantines includ-
ed such weapons as the
cock
it,
artillery
men
mangon
first
(below).
To
turned the geared
winches at the center until the ropes between the
wood
posts were twisted tight. Then the
beam, or throwing arm, was pulled back by
men
operating the windlass at the
nally a stone
^^,
86
mangon was
was put
in
the scoop
rear.
Fi-
and the
released by tripping a slip hook.
'
paujK-j^
TWO TYPES OF
DRILL, apparently designed for
boring straight through
shown
in a
fortress
walls,
are
miniature from an 11th Century
Byzantine treatise on siegecraft. diers rotate the
upper
drill,
Two
which
sol-
held
is
steady in a socket, by turning long handles
attached to artist's
own
it.
The
drill
below, probably the
inventive design, was operated
by men sawing a huge bow back and <^
-^
LU
I
"TTA -r^
"^_iar
nff
>
forth.
'V^
i».
^-
\>"
i^l *
n-'^^^%\i\\\
'^.'tV
SCALING THE WALLS, the soldier
W /A-
mounts a ladder
t
5
^
I
»
-"- ^;,H! |?raw'^juuuri
yt
it-'.
^:^-
to a net
at
far
left
held by grappling
hooks thrown over the battlements. In the picture at right two besiegers climb a similar
hung from a
net
battering ram.
The ram, a
large tree trunk tipped with metal,
is
swung
on ropes from a movable tower, which has a
heavy lower roof
to shield the soldiers
push-
ing it and a small fort to protect archers on top.
SHIPBORNE BRIDGES are maneuvered up walls of a fortress.
The one
at right
is
to the
a bat-
tering ram, fitted with railings so that soldiers can cross
it.
Both bridges have been
hoisted to the height of the ramparts
and are
being shoved forward so that they can
lie
on
top of the walls. The heads on the platforms
may to
be
symbolic decorations,
or
weights
keep the top-heavy structures steady.
87
MANNING A FLAME-GUN,
a soldier stands on a scaling ladder and releases a stream of
on an enemy
Greek
fire
inder,
worked
like
The gun, which was
fortress.
pump
a small hand
or syringe.
essentially a piston in a cyl-
The Byzantines
also used such
flame-throwing weapons for defense; the Emperor Constantine VII ordered them
may
used "against any tower that
GUNS AND
FIERY The most
terrifying single
weapon
"Greek
terious liquid called
thrown
he advanced against the wall of a besieged town."
in clay pots,
burn even on water.
Greek
Its
fire."
the Byzantines had
When
would
fire
SHIPS
main ingredients
was
a
mys-
squirted from tubes or
ignite spontaneously
are thought to
and
have been
naphtha, sulphur and saltpeter, mixed in proportions that were a state secret; the exact
The Byzantines Century and
learned
at first
used
in
plode,
and
it
how
to
make Greek
both on land and
it
conveying Greek
shock
battles.
formula was never written down.
fire
fire in
at sea.
the Seventh
The
overland, however, caused
was eventually reserved almost exclusively
Equipped with the deadly weapon the
fleet
slightest it
to ex-
for naval
controlled the
Mediterranean, and time and again the fiery liquid averted im-
pending defeats. Russia's Prince Igor might have captured Constantinople in 941
if
Greek
fire
had not been turned against
his
10,000 ships— all of which reportedly burst into flames and sank. 88
A SHIP OF THE LINE called a dromon, or "runner," had mounted
in its
bow
a high
which projected three tubes
wooden
turret
for spraying
from
Greek
fire.
]ust aft
were catapults for hurling
fiery
siles
made
wadded
EMch ship
of
cloth soaked in
oil.
mis-
was manned by some 230 oarsmen and 70 marines. 89
^
v\"K '>>
'V
AfORTlflEDPi.NlNSVLA.Constantinoplewasprotectedfrov. .:....
;
THE FORMIDABLE WALLS OF CONSTANTINOPLE
...,..., a
moat on one side and 13 miles of walls.
walls were erected in the Fifth Century to protect the city
who had
captured Rome. They
served their purpose well, holding off invaders for nearly a
thousand years. As shown in the 15th Century a single wall
bounded the
defended by the Byzantine 90
city's fleet.
seaward
On
^
THE CITY WALLS on the landward
The elaborate defense works that surrounded Constantinople made it in its day the best-fortified city in the world. The against the Goths and Huns,
X
sides,
map
above,
which were
the land side, the Byzan-
1 side rose in levels behind the moat.
tines constructed a feet thick.
As
The towers of the middle and inner walls-192
moat and three walls
that
were up
to 25
indicated in the sketch (above right), invaders
were faced first with a moat some 60 feet wide and 22 feet deep that was normally dry but that could be flooded by pipes. Behind the moat was a low wall to shield a line of archers.
Even
fense, they
if
the attackers could
were confronted by
a
overcome
this first de-
second wall, 27
feet high,
which sheltered more troops. Beyond the second wall lay the
in
all-were staggered in alignment
third
to bring
and strongest bulwark.
Its
maximum
towers,
fire
against invader
some 70
feel
high,
housed more archers and missile throwers. Only the force of
gunpowder
finally
demolished the protecting walls, bringing
Constantinople down. The Turkish Sultan ed the city for ing as
much
a
month and
as 1,200
empire— fell
at last
Mehmel
II
pound-
with cannon balls weigh-
pounds. Gradually sections of the huge
ramparts crumbled, and on its
a half
May
29, 1453,
the capital— and
before the onrushing Turkish hordes. 91
> /v
^> 1(A)"6^' V
As Constantine approached Rome Maxentius, the said to have
Emperor
rival
had
in
a revelation.
It
European
crucial for subsequent
in
312 A.D.
to
Milvian Bridge with
fight his decisive battle at the
the West, he
was
is
a revelation
history.
Some
ac-
counts say Constantine saw a luminous cross
in
the sky, others say only that he had a dream, as a
which he was
result of
on
led to inscribe a
new
was elaborated
his banner. Later this
sign
into the
declaration that he had a vision of the Christian
5
Cross inscribed with the words:
con-
"In this sign
quer."
any
In
was
THE HOLY ESTABLISHMENT
case,
what Constantine dreamed or saw
a Christian sign,
and
tion of this sign that he
was under
it
won
the protec-
his decisive victory.
After this battle Constantine counted himself
a
Christian, and in this spirit he began the process of transforming the
pagan empire into
a
Christian
empire, even though he did not himself receive Christian baptism until he was on his deathbed 25 years tian
Imperial favor was granted the Chris-
later.
Church, properties confiscated from
it
during
the time of persecutions were restored, and Christianity's right to legal status
was
affirmed.
In the very nature of Constantine's conversion lay the seeds of later conflict in the religious struc-
ture of
Byzantium. For Constantine had not come
to Christianity in a
it— so
normal way. He had come
he believed— through the direct
and intervention of God Himself. As the text
from the
from man.
hymn sung on
puts
tine's Feast '
it,
the
revelation liturgical
day of Constan-
"Like Paul he received
a call
His conversion, moreover, was not
that of a private citizen:
it
to
not like
was the conversion of
an emperor. This meant that in Constantine's view
—and in the view of others who came to believe like him— both the emperor and the imperial structure of
which he was the head had been
directly chosen
and consecrated by God. The emperor and the ema
divine blessing and from then
on were under the
direct protection of the Cross.
pire
It
had received
soon became
clear,
however, that
being of the state depended on protector, the Cross, then SAINTS. ANCELS
AND EMPERORS were
often depicted together in the art of By-
zantium, where Christianity was the state religion. In the 11th Century
mination at
mons from
left,
St.
the
Emperor Nicephorus
]ohn Chrysostom
(left)
III
(center) receives a
book of
its
its
if
the well-
submission
officials
to its
and citizens
could not very well hold beliefs that were radically
illu-
ser-
while the Archangel Michael looks on.
opposed
to Christianity. In fact, the persecution of
pagans began during Constantine's reign and con93
tinued in the reign of his sons. In 341 pagan sacri-
were forbidden;
had captured
it
Roman
its
most
bitter persecutor,
353 the cults of idols were
the
declared illegal and temples were closed; and in the
less
reign of Theodosius the Great (379-395) Christian-
manifestation of the Divine Will in the affairs of
fices
ity
was declared
in
the official religion of the state and
the faith required of Byzantine citizens.
This adoption of
compulsory
a
in part the result of a
state religion
growing need
was
for a strong
sion from within and by barbarian invasions from
been
to
Rome such
a unifying force had
some extent provided by
emperor worship. Prostration
the practice of
an
in the presence of
emperor and the burning of incense before
head of
state.
Could not Christianity now be used
to foster unity in
Church
somewhat
the
same way? The
readily agreed, rejoicing in
and tempted by the vision of
which men were brought
to
a
new
its
status
Christian society in salvation by law as
In submitting to this temptation, the ministers
Church were
of course forgetting that such
Church and
identification of
a close
be created to define the nature of
siastical advisors,
than
With
state
by Christ Himself. Had He not
"My kingdom
is
was
a
and actions rejected
to its doctrine,
with the
state.
political control
of the faith. In
by Church and
explicitly
not of this world," and had all
worldly status
and authority? Christianity, therefore,
itself
if
it
were
to
could not fully merge
Separation of religion from
was demanded by the very nature
Byzantium, the alliance entered into state
was
to result in a very
com-
The conflict was not immediately apparent. What clear
was
to
to
the needs
of
endure for more
for
state.
prevailing
traditions,
Eusebius wove strands taken from Hellenism and
Roman
practice into a Christian framework.
From
Hellenism came the concept of the emperor as ther, benefactor
and savior of
his people.
From
falate
pagan Rome, where the emperors had ruled gods,
came
the exalted status of
the
ruler,
as
who
divinity.
Now
the Christian a
the Christian emperor could claim
God
that Christianity,
oppressed religion, had
as his source of strength.
bond had been forged
so the theory
a
submis-
in Constantine's
on the eve
Such
of his victory at the
triumph that made manifest-
went— the
designation of Constantine
(and his successors on the throne) as the elect of
God. Eusebius wrote: "Thus the God of
all
.
.
.
appointed Constantine ... to be prince and sovereign, so that while others
distinction is
by the
the only one to
may
have been raised
election of their fellow
to this
men, he
whose elevation no mortal man
boast of having contributed." As God's chosen
instrument, the emperor was to rule on earth as
God's vice-regent and representative. And, since
plex relationship.
was
it
respect
astute
Milvian Bridge,
remain true
was
philosophy of the Byzantine
political
clearly circum-
life
of
millennium, with only minor changes, as the
a
domain had been
not His
was so suited
and society that
state
sion to the Cross
stated,
and
ruler
its
The theory put forward by Eusebius, Bishop
The boundaries
scribed
Roman Empire was now to be new philosophical framework had
the
if
reversion to pre-Christian practice. of the Church's
direct
a
buttressed his power by adopting a favorite pagan
well as by grace.
of the
providential,
Caesarea and one of Constantine's closest eccle-
his
statue were acts of political allegiance to the divine
and
the source of his power.
a diver-
and that was besieged by dissen-
without. In pagan
mankind. But
to
This could hardly seem anything
state.
than miraculous
Christian, then a
unifying force in an empire that embraced sity of peoples
94
Indeed,
for
now emerged
earth
was
a
long an
was
to play
triumphant.
God
in
so
counterpart of Heaven, the emperor
on earth
a role
analogous to that of
Heaven. Just as there was one all-powerful
THE PARALLEL PATHS OF TWO RELIGIONS
ruler in
Heaven, so on earth there would be but one
absolute
monarch— the
Roman
ruler of the
Empire.
This exalted status, however, brought with sponsibilities.
It
was the emperor's duty
them
to
spiritual
was
it.
He was
to be
of
and temporal welfare of
to rule
of God. So
prepare
to
God and answerable to God
Kingdom
his people for the
re-
it
to lead
for the
He
his subjects.
through the guidance and inspiration
was
it
had himself
that Constantine
portrayed on coins: a profile image with eyes di-
upward awaiting guidance from Heaven.
rected
Since the emperor's responsibility in religious affairs
was thus magnified,
certain tension
would
arise
it
was
inevitable that a
between emperor and
Church. In cases where the interests and tion of the
jurisdic-
two overlapped, which authority should
prevail? This vital question remained unresolved
On
through the centuries of Byzantium's existence.
occasion the emperor would assert his claim to su-
Between the Third and Sixth Centuries, while Christianity was spreading through the
Roman and
Byzantine Empires, Bud-
dhism moved out from
its
native India to
Central Asia, China and Korea. Although it
is
doubtful that the two religions
preme authority the
in religious affairs; at other times
Church would
over the emperor and
As
far as the
an ascendancy
try to establish state.
Church was concerned,
velopments had several consequences.
these de-
and
First
it
ernments were
sharp decline:
tianity
began
or
Byzantine— society was
society, the role
Church had
Roman—
to
evolve into a Christian
to
have an active
social
and be the chief instrument through which
this evolution
most
if
was
carried out.
effectively, the
To
play
Church hastened
When, under
new
were appointed diocese,
to
adapt
ops, called metropolitans, in
Roman
adopted the same plan. to administer the
who
as
Chris-
Roman
the
Empire decayed; Buddhism became strong-
China during the four cen-
confusion following the disinte-
gration of the
Han Dynasty
in the
Third
Century— a period during which the gilt bronze Buddha shown above was cast. The early rise of Buddhism and Christianity had something else in common: strength they offered people in a time of
its
chaos.
The aftermath
of this parallel
reli-
gious expansion was, however, quite dif-
Diocletian, the old
churches
and they were responsible
flourish
role
prov-
had been reorganized into dioceses, the early
Christians had
to
the existing gov-
both were widely accepted for the spiritual
its
organization to that of the empire.
inces
in
the
had been driven by the
pagan emperors of Rome. Furthermore,
Both gained strong
when
turies of
catacombs into which
lines.
footholds in a time
ly rooted in
Church emerged from
foremost, the Christian
followed similar
in-
growth
fluenced each other, their rapid
to
Bishops in
each
higher bish-
ferent.
When
the
Roman Empire
stabilized
around Byzantium, Christianity became theofRcial state religion. Buddhism,
on the
other hand, eventually merged with Tao-
ism and Confucianism into the complex
amalgam
of Chinese
religious
thought.
exercised authority
an area larger than the diocese. By Constantine's 95
a
time, the
most important metropolitans
ern part of the empire were those
in the east-
who
presided
over the key areas of Alexandria, Antioch, Ephe-
Heraclea and Caesarea.
sus,
A
place
of
Church was held by the bishop
of
special
honor
in the
Rome,
the successor to Saint Peter, the Prince of
the Apostles.
The town
new
Constantine as his
capital,
was chosen by
it
was no more than
a
minor bishopric under the jurisdiction of the metropolitan of Heraclea.
So humble
a
was
status
clearly unsuitable for the bishops of the administrative center of the
Roman
Empire, the city of the
emperor, Christ's vice-regent on earth. Inevitably,
Constantinople assumed a dominant religious position;
by 381, scarcely 50 years
after the
city's
with the bishop of Constantinople
at the
and
his representatives— the other bishops
—in charge
of the administrative subdivisions. In
center,
make
order to
this centralized
Church workable,
a
government of the
permanent episcopal synod, or
was established
Constantinople, presid-
at
ed over by the patriarch. This completed the model-
Church on
ing of the structure of the Byzantine
As
that of the state.
there
was
a patriarch;
there
and
was an emperor,
as the
so
emperor ruled—
at least theoretically— through a senate, so the patri-
arch ruled through a synod.
Hand
in
hand with Constantinople's transforma-
tion into the religious center of the
empire went
the attempt to transform the city itself into a
"New
dedication in 330, the fathers of the second great
Jerusalem," an image of Heaven. Constantine the
Church council declared
Great had already started this process, not only by
Con-
that the bishop of
up Christian symbols
stantinople should be accorded primacy of honor
setting
among
in the city,
the bishops, second only to the bishop of
Rome, because Constantinople was the "New Rome,
A
the city of the emperor and the Senate." council, held at
Chalcedon
in 451,
later
confirmed
this
Church
of the
little
prominent places
Holy Apostles and laying the foun-
dations for the great
seems
in
but more concretely by building the
Church
of
Hagia Sophia. There
doubt that Constantine had
a sense of
hierarchy and in addition allotted to the see of
the sacred mission of his city; and this mystical vi-
Constantinople the dioceses of Pontus, Asia and
sion of Constantinople as a holy city
Thrace, giving
it
a status equal to other great reli-
gious centers like Antioch and Alexandria.
The peak the
Church
at
Century,
when
its
bishop— or
religious sees title
Justinian
to
er protested,
first to call
but which nonetheless became the
title
is
known
simple: the
Byzantine empire was called the oekumene (the uniit
was natural
that
its
was
monuments,
memorials and various objects connected with the
by which the patriarch of Constantinople
verse), so
tangible expression of this vision
Christian faith. In countless churches, sanctuaries
lat-
is
The most
the multiplying throughout the city of
other
be called— "ecumenical"—
The explanation
and become more compelling through subsequent
all
Rome, Gregory,
to the present day.
deepen
called
patriarch, as the heads of the great
came
to
I
Constantinople "the head of
against which the Pope of
was
centuries.
religious elevation of the capital reached its
in the Sixth
churches." Apparently he was also the
senior patriarch
should be "ecumenical." The administrative struc96
tralized,
council,
Byzantium, when
of
Church gradually became more cen-
ture of the
and shrines, of the tion
new
from
all
magnificently decorated, lay
faith,
all
brought
the possession
of
that
these
now
Through
relics— the earthly
inhabiting
relics
and devo-
the provinces of the empire.
monials of the saints felt
in piety, love
testi-
Heaven— it was
something of Heaven's influence and
radi-
ance might be conferred on Constantinople.
The
fact that Christianity
faith of the empire also
became the required
meant
that the state
had
a
concern
vital
and preserving Church
in defining
dogma. Before the time of
alliance with the state,
its
Church regulations had been formulated by
local
the Fifth Century on, icons or the Virgin
Mary and
images— of Christ,
the saints— became increasing-
and private worship. So
ly prevalent in public
councils that met to deal with general questions of
vent, in fact, did the veneration of icons
Church organization and dogma
that
These itself
worship. But
to
need arose.
were adequate as long as Christianity
rules
remained
peror—and
as the
matter of individual belief and
a
when
later
became the
faith of the
em-
the official religion— answers
had
it
new
be found for a whole host of
questions,
it
fer-
become
The peoples
often did border on idolatry.
of
the eastern provinces, influenced by their close contact
with Moslems and Jews, whose faiths
flatly
prohibited religious imagery, became alarmed.
A
full-scale attack against
images was launched
in
the religious use of
726 when Emperor Leo
III,
varying from the most subtle points of doctrine
himself of eastern birth, ordered
down
from churches and destroyed. He had strong sup-
of
most ordinary practical
to the
details.
This pressure for greater elaboration in matters
port for this destruction, or iconoclasm, from the
Church dogma and
army, largely recruited
discipline resulted in a series
of gatherings— known
ecumenical councils— at
as
which emperor and bishops met at issue
when
to
debate the points
and make the necessary decisions. Generally
these councils
were summoned by the emperor
doctrinal disputes
ened to lead
to serious
among
his subjects threat-
disturbances of the peace and
unity of the state. Thus, the First Ecumenical cil
icons removed
all
met
at
Nicaea
Coun-
325 in order
in the spring of
pronounce judgment on what was known
to
as Arian-
eastern
the
in
provinces,
and from the governmental bureaucracy, which was as anxious
power
as
Emperor
the
of the Church.
to
Ranged
curb the growing
in defense of the icon
were the peoples of the western provinces and most of the clergy, lege
who
regarded iconoclasm as sacri-
and heresy.
The
attack
upon
more than
icons raged for
half a
century. Riots erupted as the factions took their quarrel
into
the
streets;
systematic
persecutions
ism, a set of teachings initiated in Alexandria
by
were visited on the monks, the most vigorous de-
on the nature of the
re-
fenders of the icon. In 780 the Empress Irene, a na-
the learned presbyter Arius
lationship of the
Son
of
God
God
to
the Father.
tive of the
western provinces and an ardent believer
became
and
787 she summoned
Subsequent ecumenical councils— such as the sec-
in icons,
ond held
the Seventh Ecumenical Council. This meeting con-
Ephesus
don
at
Constantinople
in 431, the great fourth council at
in 451, or the
—were
381, the
in
third
similarly
seventh one held
summoned
at
at
Chalce-
Nicaea
in
to deal first of all
787
with
regent,
demned iconoclasm and drew true worship, reserved for tion, or
honor given
theological principles of great complexity concerned
mitted to
with such matters as the Holy Trinity, the meaning
once more permitted
of the two natures in Christ, or the place and func-
ings.
icon
was the focus of
a
particularly long
dispute which nearly tore the empire apart. early Christians, inheriting
from Judaism
a distinction
God
alone,
an icon but
holy subject. in
As
a
nance toward idolatry, had looked askance
The
repugat
any
veneration of pictures of holy persons. But from
between
and venera-
in reality trans-
a result, icons
were
churches and public build-
These events were followed by
tion of the icon in Christian worship.
The
its
to
in
a
quarter of a
century of uneasy peace. Opposition to the restoration of icons
was deep-rooted, and
other eastern Emperor, Leo V, the icons were again
in 813,
came
removed and
a
when
an-
to the throne,
new wave
of
persecution broke out. This time, however, support 97
foriconoclasm was
less enthusiastic
fenders were better organized.
and the icon de-
When
Theodora became regent she managed
monk Methodius, tion, elected
great
Methodius
have the
victim of iconoclast persecu-
Hagia Sophia,
of
proclaimed
the
From
the year
in
843,
restoration
final
the
of
and iconoclasm, which the Eastern Church
icons,
regarded as the ly
Empress
to
the patriarchal throne.
to
Church
a
the
last of the great heresies,
had
final-
been overcome. religious disputes could be-
so important that they could seriously endan-
must remember
ger the security of the empire, one
that religion has rarely played as central a role in daily life as
it
did in Byzantium. Theology
simply a matter for the experts; question of or
life
damnation
or death.
mode
was not
literally a
of salvation
hinged upon correct-
of worship.
the preserve of the clergy, to be
submissive
was
it
The prospect
in the hereafter
ness of belief and
Nor was dogma
propounded
to a
popular consciousness, for which
downward,
overthrow of
felt
responsible.
all,
A
the consciousness of these principles
summoned by them was
their retreats
by an indignant pop-
might enter Constantinople and actually bring an erring emperor. At the end of the Byzan-
in
the
lost
fact
emperor, what emerged from a
crystallization
what was perhaps the great majority
of the empire's clergy
and
laity
preferred facing
which both he and
this truth to
of
the
inner
if
Church and those
of the
between the principles
the clash
of the state
formed by the
tion of a Christian society
there were
still
when
times
firm, refusing to betray or
which
it
fundamental religious the state
in a
It is difficult
belief. It
which
had
interest
state,
compromise the truth
human
life
and
it.
few words
lay behind
all
to give
an idea of
Byzantine religious
would be wrong, however,
to overstress
otherworldly or purely transcendental aspects.
was
man himself— the human personvery much at the center of things.
the contrary, felt to
be
The individual, Byzantines his or her
own
fate,
believed, held the keys to
either
to
become God-like
through the development of innate spiritual potentialities, or to
It
to a
beliefs.
in
Church boldly held
stood or the vision of
destiny that went with
the vision
the
be swept away into outer dark-
however God-like man might become,
destiny was to remain human.
would
was muted
Byzantium by the Church's acceptance of the no-
Roman West,
since they feared that such aid
empire were
with Christ's apostolic ministers and not with the emperor. Even
ness. Yet
be dependent on the surrender of certain of their
his
committed, and whose formulation lay ultimately
conquest by the Turks to accepting help from the
Although
was never
mately, the emperor's absolutism was limited by
On
to heel
many
by the Church; though the councils may have been
tation of a ritual gesture. Gaunt, saintly hermits,
tine period
servili-
over Christian principles. But in the final analysis
its
ulace,
frequent examples of
to be sure,
the leaders of the Church, and on
occasions secular interests triumphed temporarily
incorrect definition of Christ's nature or interpre-
summoned from
was not only the human mind union with God. The
have
his
that could aspire
human body was
also
capacity for experiencing spiritual
in
re-
itself
was
realities.
In fact, everything that existed could par-
willing to cooperate in the building of the sacred
ticipate,
simply by reason of
ligious matters,
empire, 98
among
ty
from the em-
revolution, the
dynasty, might be incited by the
a
There were,
for
laity.
Both theology and dogma were the expression of
peror
subservient tool in the emperor's hands.
a
truth of the Church's faith and experience. Ulti-
To understand how come
simply
it
a
vital
and although the Church
must not be thought
that the
Church was
said to
highest
life
of
a
all.
The
its
existence, in the
divine energies, as they were
ST SIMEON STYLrTES. a Fifth Century Syrian ascetic,
this
escaped his too-ardent followers by years.
From
unusual perch he exerted great
influ-
living
ence,
on top of a
even
pillar for
threatening
the
God's punishment in a
called, it
30
emperor with dispute.
religious
were said
another
to
be present in everything; to put
way— everything had Man
with the spiritual world. be the microcosm of
much bound up with and with
its
point of contact
existing
all
whole creation; and so
its
himself was
his
own
of
things,
to
felt
the
destiny was very
that of the rest of creation
and
struggles
suffering.
"What
is
a
compassionate heart?" asked one of the spiritual masters of the Byzantine world, Isaac of Nineveh.
which burns with compassion
heart
"It
is
the
whole of creation— for men,
for
demons, for
a
creatures.
all
heart cannot call to
mind
for
for birds, for beasts,
He who
has this
or see one creature with-
out his eyes filling with tears because of the im-
mense compassion which
The Byzantine in its
seizes his heart.
vision of
life
was
.
also mirrored
elaborate and intricate church service,
Divine Liturgy. corporate
life
And
it
was
the
in the liturgy that the
of the Byzantine people
found
its
most complete religious expression. All echelons of society participated in this great sacred drama,
which was not simply
a ritual spectacle or a repre-
sentation of past historical events, but a reliving,
through the powerful imagery of language, gesture, chant,
hymn and
invocation, of the central mysteries
of the Christian faith. In the course of this drama,
emperor, clergy and
common
folk alike were re-
that their
honors and even citizen-
titles,
ship depended not merely on
membership
empire but on their commitment
in a ter-
to
God.
In the endless re-enacting of the Christian
mys-
restrial
empire found
teries in the liturgy, the
tion
and savored
its
fulfillment.
its justifica-
Church and
clergy and people here
made manifest
ence as
and
a single social
nation, chosen under
The
service.
political
God and
the Great
dedicated
the envoys sent
on
at
His
services in
Constantinople,
by Vladimir, Prince of Kiev,
"We know
their master:
earth,
not whether
for surely
there
not describe
it
to
you; only
among men, and
passes the worship of
all
told
we were
we know
in
no such
is
We
can-
that
God
splendor or beauty anywhere upon earth.
dwells there
to
celebration of this belief could be awe-
Church of Hagia Sophia
or
state,
their exist-
body, a holy
some indeed. After they had attended
Heaven
." .
minded
that their service sur-
other places. For
we
can-
not forget that beauty." In the Byzantine world, however, those
most concerned with the
spiritual life
who were
were not the
monks and nuns, whose importance cannot be overestimated. The monasteries
official
clergy but the
were not simply refuges
from the hardships of
for those seeking escape
life;
they were the forging
houses of what the Byzantines regarded as the 99
highest types of humanity.
God's
The emperor might be
man— especially
but the saint or holy
elect,
he came from some rocky fastness or desert
if
cave— was something more. He was
a
had broken through the barrier between
God and had restored, of human nature. This filled
is
ranks of society.
devoutly, in search of a
Others saw
itence.
in
life
Many
entered
of humility
it
and pen-
a refuge from disgrace,
it
grinding poverty, or the overwhelming burdens of public
others viewed
office. Still
it
means
as a
attaining high ecclesiastical advancement;
of
By-
in
zantium, most of the bishops were recruited from the monasteries. Monastic tages:
life
offered other advan-
monks were exempt from
and the monasteries had
wealth.
Over
the centuries, the
asteries
grew
to
emperor
as
military service,
disposal
their
at
which formed the core of
tracts of land,
power
vast
their great
of the
mon-
Nicephorus Phocas could not help but 10th Century: "The
of the evangelical virtues;
monks
possess none
they think of nothing
save the acquisition of land, the erecting of huge buildings and the purchase of vast horses, cattle, camels
and every kind of
All their energies are devoted to their
of
livestock.
own
enrich-
no way
differs
from that
of the people living in the world."
"What
a contrast
ment, so that their
.
.
.
between
life
in
this frivolous existence
the holy [men]
who
and the
lives of
past centuries dwelt
in
Egypt, Palestine, and Alexandria, those whose
al-
in
and demoniac.
Hemmed
where
of the esteem
it
held in the eyes of the
people. For them, the
monk was
common
a present source of
by the demons, tempted
man
could a
else
bidding?
to their
sick-
who
turn but to those
disease came, the holy
If
the sick with his healing grace.
landowners attempted
—or even
if
and
the greed
had the
If
to extort or
man
cured
taxgatherers or
oppress the poor
the emperor himself tried to abuse his
office— the ascetic saint
was there
to
defend against
injustice of the powerful. For
what
hands of the mightiest
ascetic to fear at the
of earthly beings?
He had
world and
ways. All that could be taken
all
its
now was
from him
already renounced the
his mortal
through violence
lose that
life,
come
and
if
he were
upon him,
might
crown and so
to be-
an even stronger focus of popular worship.
monas-
In addition to their spiritual gifts, the
provided most of the fine scribes and
teries
who
who
wrote the hymns and composed
somber
the liturgical music, so lyrical even in their
profundity;
who made some
frescoes.
It
of the finest mosaics
was through such people as these
that the springs of inspiration flowed
Byzantium was indebted
for
much
and
that
to
them
was most
achievement. Most of the great monas-
vital in its tic
artists
created Byzantium's magnificent illuminated
manuscripts;
and
to
it
laid
well be but to gain a martyr's
centers of the Byzantine world, at Constanti-
nople or elsewhere, have
haps the greatest of them
whose
earliest existing
this present day.
none
a
through divine power could subject even the demons
963 by
excesses, monasticism lost
in
and overcome, dragged into misfortune or
gels than of men." its
was
life
constant war between myriad unseen forces, divine
most immaterialized existence was more that of an-
But despite
100
numbers
the mediator for
them between earth and Heaven. Mortal
such heights that even so pious an
be forthright in his description of monastic practices in the
among whom he dwelt and
ple
ness,
monks and nuns fulThe cloister held an at-
all
the Christian ideal. all
man and
or remade, the full integrity
not to say that
traction for
who
person
mercy, miracle and guidance, the father of the peo-
St.
Byzantine
works of
now all,
disappeared. But perthat
on Mount Athos,
monastery was founded
Athanasius the Athonite, survives
spirit,
It
and
is
a
living
a treasure
monument
to
in to
the
house of countless
art that testify to the creative fertility of
the Byzantine monastic tradition.
THE HERMIT LUKE,
his
arms raised
in
a blessing, looks
down on
his church.
Above him
is
Saint James.
A PICTURE-BOOK CHURCH Everywhere
in the empire,
Byzantines worshiped in churches that glowed with
the subdued and golden light of mosaics. Often every wall, every niche and curving surface
was covered with pictures of
together by devoted artists and monks.
were prescribed and arranged according lection
still
in existence
is
Biblical events
From to
that of the 11th
an
the
and
official
scheme. The
a
finest
Century monastery church
Greece, dedicated to Hosios Loukas, the holy hermit Luke.
comprise
personalities, pieced
Ninth Century on, these scenes
Its
such colin Phocis,
150-odd mosaics
textbook of the faith and a treasure house of Middle Byzantine
art.
101
A MASTER PLAN FOR MOSAICS It
was Michael
III,
it
is
now believed, who established the official scheme of when he built the Church of Our Lady of the Pharos
Byzantine church decoration
palace in Constantinople. Thereafter worshipers, whether they could read
at his
or not, could
lift
up
their eyes in
any church
in the
empire and see
all
about them
in precisely placed pictures the intricate theology of their faith.
The
general outlines of this hierarchical scheme are indicated in the floor plan
of Hosios
From saints
Loukas below and the cutaway drawing of half the church
at right.
the lower reaches of the church, representing the earthly world, mosaics of
and martyrs, prophets and archangels
rise
in order of
Heaven, represented by the great dome, from which Christ verse looks down. Scenes
from Christ's
life
fill
as
importance into Lord of the Uni-
out the curved corners, or
dome and other areas in the church. The bema, or sanctuary, is covered by a smaller dome which shows the Twelve Apostles at the Pentecost, the founding of the Church on earth. From the vault of the apse,
"squinches," below the
Mary, Mother
of
God, dominates the sanctuary— and the view of the worshipers.
Mother
of
Cod
nip. The Pentecost Fathers of the Church Early bishops and preachers
r
J
Christ Pantocrator
Archangels and prophets Scenes from Christ's early
life
Warrior saints
Hosios Loukas
Monks and
martyrs
Christ's
^^ 102
Death and Resurrection
Virgin martyrs
Apostles
NARTHEX
103
In the entry, niches reveal the
1 o the
doorway saics:
left is
the
drama
of death
and resurrection
of Hosios Loukas' main
one of the church's key moCrucifixion.
He
eyes are closed;
is
In
it
Christ's
already
dead.
Seen mourning below the cross are His Mother, Mary, and
St.
John, His most
Above the cross are sun and moon with human faces.
beloved Apostle. the
,^j
da
^^
in an
act of love
washes the
and humility on the eve of His agony, Jesus
feet of Peter as
Ranged around
another Apostle unties a sandal.
the arch framing the niche are the Apostles
Luke, Simon and Matthew; the two at the sides, as in
many
Byzantine church mosaics, are made narrow and elongated so they will shrink
to
proper proportions
when
seen from below.
THENARTHEX
contains what most art historians
consider the finest mosaics in the church. The area
is
also located in gray on the plan above.
^^^^^^H
J\loof and austere. Christ as Lord of the Universe faces the narthex above the center door-
way, with angels and the Virgin Mary above His head.
He
is
passage in His
calling attention to the Biblical left
hand:
"I
the world; he that followeth in
am
Me
the light of
shall not
darkness but shall have the light of
walk life."
According
to Christian doctrine, fol-
lowing Christ's death.
He descended who had
into Hell to free all the souls
been lingering there since Adam's ginal sin. Above, King
King David (with beard) watch as sus leads
Adam and
ori-
Solomon and Je-
Eve out of con-
finement. Below Christ's feet are the
broken keys, locks and doors of
Hell.
1 he niche at the right end of the narthex contains another scene of the Lord and His Apostles. Christ has pulled back
His robes and at His bidding the doubtful Thomas, refused to believe that the arch
He had
risen,
is
who had
touching His wounds.
above are figures of Thomas. Bartholomew and
On
Philip.
105
Below the main dome
of the church,
curved corner scenes portray the birth, presentation and baptism of Christ
THE NAOS, or main to
hall of the church, rises
support the central dome,
its
square shape
converted into an octagon by arches crossing each corner and forming small half-domes, or squinches. In each of these concave surfaces,
mosaics depict early events in Christ's
life.
^-J
in one squinch Christ
is
shown being immersed by John
the
Baptist in the waters of the Jordan while angels hold His clothes.
The Holy
Spirit descends
a dove bearing an olive branch. at
Him from above
"Thou
106
art
My
represents
upon Jesus
in the
form of
The heavenly Hand pointing
God
the Father,
beloved Son; with Thee
I
am
who
proclaims:
well pleased."
^'-^
J\ mosaic
of the Nativity
shows
Mary busy
caring for the
newborn
who
is
]esus,
singled out by the Star of Bethle-
hem, and
A
a haloed
shown being bathed
is
pensive Joseph
sits at
the
at right.
left.
Behind
Joseph, the hAagi, bearing gifts, approach in
adoration while shepherds
the far right
move
and angels hover
in
from
in the sky.
in grave dignity— heightened by the curve of the squinch
itself,
which bends the
ures reverently toward one is
brought
On
to the
fig-
another— Jesus
temple for presentation.
the right, Joseph bears the tradition-
al offering of
two pigeons. At
left,
Simeon,
a high priest, prepares to take the Child
from Mary as Anna, a prophetess, watches.
In the sanctuary, mosaics honor the Apostles and other holy
men
and, above
all,
Mary, Mother of God AN UPWARD VIEW (right)
into the sanctuary's ceiling
shows the Apostles
and the Virgin
in the
in the
small
dome
half-dome of the apse.
m
1 he smaller of Hosios Loukas' two domes, located
above the the
Holy
altar, depicts the Pentecost,
Spirit on the Apostles.
in a circle, starting ter right)
(center
the descent of
They are assembled
with the white-bearded Peter (cen-
and moving counterclockwise around
left).
Tongues of
them the power
to
fire
to
Paul
are descending, giving
go forth and convert
all nations.
vj«
the half-dome covering the apse, the half-circle
that terminates the sanctuary, as the
Mother of God and
Mary
is
enthroned both
Protectress of the Church.
Here she dominates the view of most worshipers,
though her position
is
al-
theologically second to that of
Christ at the apex of the main dome. In her arms she
108
holds the Infant,
whose hand
is
raised
in
blessing.
m ^
din D
ti
a
J\
medallion of
St.
Eleutherius (top), a Second Century Bishop of
Rome, appears on the high wall
to the right of the sanctuary.
one of some 140 saints whose memories are evoked
whose
portraits appear in the church.
with hands raised above Darius' lously tame. This subject tors; Daniel's
Below him
fierce lions
was beloved of
who
He
in the liturgy
is
is
and
the wise Daniel,
are turned miracu-
the Byzantine church decora-
escape was believed to prefigure the resurrection of Christ.
109
'
>,, (.-
•*.^
.
i,'
'
f
THE ALMIGHTY FIGURE IN THE DOME
„'(»
t
I
At the center of the main dome of every Byzantine church, in the highest place of honor,
is
the figure
of Christ as "Pantocrator," or Lord of the Universe.
What looked
the original Pantocrator in Hosios Loukas like,
no one knows,
stroyed. But the one in the
Daphni
still
exists
early brilliance. its
It
and
is
for
it
was long ago de-
Church
shown
Si'
of the Virgin at
here restored to
its
ranks as the greatest portrait of
kind, and as one of the most powerful surviving
works
of
Middle Byzantine
art.
J\ * ^4wk»
-
to t
down
into the very souls of the worshipers
«
1
».
V \^*n
standing on the church floor below Him. Unhappily, the subtle
achievement of the
artist
who
cre-
ated this exceptional figure cannot be discerned in
other Byzantine mosaics terpiece
must remain,
still
as a
110
in existence. His
famous
said, "lonely in its greatness
i.* 1
Christ's piercing
brown eyes— sad, remote, loving and severe— seem look
^
mas-
art historian
has
and sacred austerity."
../ V
^^ ^ »*
'
I,
i ¥^P\^
i
^
^
'C-
I
*
>
f
\m. A.
Glimpses of the
lives led
Byzantium may
of
women
by the men and
be obtained from various
still
sources: accounts of the various saints, manuals
of private and public law, historians' chronicles, secular and religious literature. In addition, some-
thing of the texture of Byzantine
life
lurks
still
in
unexpected corners of the Greek world today—
in
monastery courtyards on Mount Athos,
the
in
cobbled lanes of the small ruined hillside town of Mistra, on a spur of the Taygetus Mountains near
6
and
the remains of ancient Sparta, in the color
Aegean
of the caiques of remote
lines
fishing ports.
we can extract information about an astonishing number of aspects of the daily From
THE ROUND OF BYZANTINE LIFE
life
the evidence
of the Byzantines and of the social and
mercial structure of their society. deal about the
amusements
We know
of the rich
alike, of their dress, of the place of
we can
zantine society. Moreover,
many
that occurred in
long
of the empire.
life
com-
a
good
and poor
women
By-
in
follow changes
of these things during the
We know
the regulations
that governed construction in Constantinople
we can
and
appreciate the practical demonstration of
the Byzantines' concern for the elderly and the sick
among them. The elaborate commercial of the empire,
which centered around the great
of Constantinople, tail.
We
is
can piece together information about the
that the religious belief
countryside
we
Finally,
around which the cul-
Byzantium revolved was as shot through with
superstition as
rich
a
with gold or silver
The
in the
life
from the commercial hub.
regions, far
ture of
city
spelled out in considerable de-
circumstances of Byzantine
know
organization
life
brocade
shot
is
through
fibers.
was neither tedious
of the Byzantines
nor uniform, as Edward Gibbon dourly described It
abounded with opportunities
and independence. Even
if
for self-expression
the Byzantines
were
taught by their religion— and only too often had
confirmed in bitter experience— that
exposed
to endless
that short of the
expect
little
Heaven man could
of
tranquillity or stability,
prevent them from making
life
in this
scene from an
Uth Century
this
did not
an occasion for col-
orful pageantry or festive gaiety.
DANCERS AND MUSrOANS perform
it
humanity was
and suffering, and
tribulation
Kingdom
it.
They had an un-
illu-
minated manuscript. Their circular dance, musical instruments and headdress recall customs of ancient Greece, a major source of Byzantine culture.
failing instinct for beauty,
and
it
is
inconceivable
that this instinct did not affect their personal
life.
113
too, giving
something of the texture of
it
conscious work of
a
self-
Preoccupied with rehgion and fate though they were, the Byzantines nevertheless found
Much
relax.
of their social
On
of-doors.
every social
easy to
it
level, friends
and neigh-
and
and
talking, often
and restaurants;
available in cafes tables
were moved outside
facilities for
meeting in the
streets
open forums. Refreshments were
in the great
games
some
at
of these
good weather, and
in
dominoes and check-
similar to
were available. For those seeking
Blues later absorbed the other two.
Each of the surviving two factions had
its
own
demarch. Beneath him there served
leader, or
hierarchy of dignitaries and employees: ers, notaries, archivists, heralds, poets,
organists, painters
a
treasur-
musicians,
and sculptors, charioteers,
cir-
cus performers (for the intervals between races), officials (to
keep order
in the
Hippodrome), stable-
hands and others.
to escape the
In addition to staging the chariot races in the
congestion of Constantinople, there were pleasant
Hippodrome, the factions performed other func-
walks along country roads extending beyond the
tions; they
ers
city walls, ter's
gardens to
edge, untouched
stroll
through near the wa-
woods and
fields that
could
be reached by sailing a short distance from the city.
Hunting was popular and the
rich played a
form of polo. For those
preferred city
life,
distractions
strolling niusicians
and itinerant
jugglers. Public baths, like the
rooms
European spas so much
at the
official
in
pump
vogue
in
and to
their hair,
special clothes— cloaks
grow long and hang down
was given
it
ballet
and musical revues. Circuses
and carnivals were held frequently, and jousting in
the Western
leading sport and the great focus of the
life
was the chariot racing
its
was
at the back. It
main
outlet,
er taxes, or the
On
and unwise was the em-
refused to listen to the people's voice as
was expressed by one
astir.
of the Byzantine masses
who
whether the question
manner were some-
times staged.
cropped close in front, was allowed
through them that popular feeling in Byzantium
ting for social gatherings. There were theaters for
The
They wore
and shoes of the barbarian Huns, tunics with wide
peror
tournaments
in his cav-
they proclaimed the
acclamations or pieces of verse prepared for
state occasions.
the 18th and 19th Centuries, also provided a set-
pantomimes,
formed the emperor's escort
alcades and in processions,
billowing sleeves fastened tightly at the wrist—
who
were provided almost daily by
a racing
Above
or another of the factions,
at issue
was cheaper
conduct of an unjust
day the whole
the imperial
box
city at
fluttered the emperor's standard.
into the tiers of stone seats,
oil,
few-
official.
was tense and
the
Hippodrome
Crowds swarmed
and foreign ambassa-
held at the Hippodrome. For these races a special
dors took the places reserved for them. In the seats
bureaucracy developed, one that involved the most
closest to the arena,
important citizen bodies of the empire, the demes
mingled with the pungent dust of cedar and strewn
(from demos, the people) or factions, as they have
with flowers, sat the members of the factions with
since been called.
ported
Roman
its
own
The
factions, each of
entries in the races,
times, but at
which sup-
had existed
in
Byzantium they became so
powerful that they had to be formed into organi114
the lines of local militia.
originally four factions— the
Greens, Blues, Reds and Whites— the Greens and
was conducted out-
life
bors depended on each other for the pleasure of strolling
somewhat on
zations run
Although there were
art.
where fresh yellow sand was
their colors: the Blues to the right of the imperial
box, the Greens to the
left.
Finally,
surrounded by
generals and patricians, the emperor appeared. a
given signal,
At
four doors beneath the royal box
were opened, and four chariots, each drawn by four horses, dashed into the arena.
and the
of hooves
To
the thunder
frantic cries of the factions, the
races began.
They continued
all
during the morning and
ernoon. After the fourth
came an
race
aft-
interval.
Clowns, acrobats or parades of exotic animals
di-
verted the spectators as they ate their frugal meals
—dried meat, salted
fish,
cooked beans, watermel-
ons, lemons, oranges. Frequently hams, fruits and
vegetables were distributed at the emperor's expense. After the interval, the races were resumed,
and once more the roaring populace rocked
in its
sand flew beneath the horses' hooves.
seats as the
power
In later centuries the ed.
But the Hippodrome
til
the capture of the city
though by then
it
was
of the factions fad-
remained
itself
feats of
use un-
in
by the Latins
in
1204,
horsemanship more
than chariot racing that drew the acclamations of the crowd. In the last years of the empire the stadi-
um
was
almost deserted, though young princes
left
and scions of the noble houses
mounts
there, or played polo.
In the
nople,
exercised their
still
Hippodrome,
the
clothes
as elsewhere in Constanti-
worn by Byzantines revealed
By
their place in society.
the time of Justinian the
upper classes had discarded the Roman toga and replaced
Toward dresses ionable. A GOLD NECKLACE, made up of decorative pendants and a cross on a chain of delicate leafy design,
was one of the many exquisite
worn by Byzantine women. The Byzantines lavish costumes,
also were
pieces of jewelry
known
for their
which they decorated with precious stones and
pearls.
it
with a long elaborate coat of brocade.
the end of the empire
turbanlike head-
and fur-trimmed peaked hats became fash-
From
the Seventh Century on, beards were
common, shaving being considered ern practice. Artisans
sleeved, knee-length tunic of at the waist
a
vulgar West-
and slaves wore
a
short-
undyed wool girdled
and topped with
a
hood against the
cold.
Women
used
a scarf as a
headdress, winding
about the head, with the end falling ders.
Over
a tunic they
wore
a
that could completely conceal
it
to the shoul-
cloak with a hood their
heads.
They 115
also
wore jewelry: bracelets of gold with repousse
decoration; necklaces of precious stones of gold or
gold earrings of intricate
silver;
shaped into
a
work
filigree
or
half-moon which was pierced into
a
pattern of aninials or birds separated by a cross.
Cosmetics were used. The one fault that Bertrandon de
Brocquiere, a visitor to Constantinople early
la
in the 15th
whom
Century, could find with the empress
he watched leave Hagia Sophia was that she
had painted her not any need of
The
face,
was
a
more
serene, less austere character.
in her marriage
py
to a
Hap-
handsome husband, she
devoted herself to Psellus' education. She too
them
ceived the poor at her table, serving
and washing
re-
herself
their feet. After Psellus' sister died,
Theodota was so overwhelmed with
grief that she
retired to a convent. There, after a short novitiate in
which she weakened
by abstaining from
herself
even the barest necessities of
woman
in the social struc-
Theoctista and Theodota were, of course, over-
relatively favored one.
shadowed by the philanthropy practiced by the
The
it."
Byzantium was
a
Her dowry was safeguarded by
a
law that required
her husband to settle on her sufficient property to
equal the dowry's value. She could under certain
circumstances control both her
own and
her hus-
life,
she died.
charitable activities of generous
church and prominent
citizens.
that construction of hospitals
The
women
records
and homes
like
show
for the
aged or infirm was a frequent assignment for the builders
and
architects of Byzantium.
The
hospital
band's property, and with regard to her children's
of the monastery of St.
actions she enjoyed equal authority with her hus-
dowed by John
band.
contained 50 beds divided into five wards, with
Woman's
role in society varied according to her
The empress,
Savior Pantocrator, en-
Comnenus
II
in the 12th
women.
was attended by ten male doc-
and
for
opportunities for action and influence independent
tors
and one female doctor, with
of course,
of the emperor; ladies of noble families
own
had
their
staff of
of
and
a professor
the social scale
women
raised their families, suc-
Theoctista, mother of the
famous Abbot Theodore,
of the monastery of Stoudion, was
notable ex-
a
ample. She was abstinent and charitable, sharing her board with the poor and the outcast.
On
feast
days she gave her servants richer food— fish, fresh meat, chicken and better bread, bacon
wine— instead
of the usual
and cheap wine. Occasionally she
would beat her
servants, but then she
on her knees before them, imploring
would
fall
their pardon.
of
new
doctors.
ments made
of
Many
a
herbalist
endow-
support of
insti-
tutions of this sort.
While charitable work was
largely the province
of private benefactors or the Church,
everyday
much
of the
of the healthy and provident was
life
organized by a system of guilds, administered by public
known
officials.
as
of the system. peror:
A
handbook issued about 900 A.D.,
"The Book It
of the Prefect," gives details a preface
by the em-
things and
made order
opens with
"Having created
all
and harmony reign
in the world,
Law with His own
finger
everything and devote themselves to God.
food,
records survive of
specifically for the
abandon
to
supplementary
medicine for the instruction
In the end she persuaded herself, her husband, her three brothers-in-law and her children
a
assistants, special inspec-
the mainly vegetarian
tors
Lower down
cored the poor, and often worried about their souls.
It
male and female
functions in imperial ceremonies correspond-
ing to those of their male counterparts.
Century,
separate wards for surgical cases, for medical cases
had important
station.
116
lus,
though "assuredly she had
legal place of a
ture of
Theodota, mother of the historian Michael Psel-
forth for
all
God engraved
on the Tables, and
to see so that
it
the
set
it
might prevent by
a
A NOMISMA. or bezant, bears the portrait of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. So stable was the value of this gold coin that
it
became a medium of exchange from Western Europe to Central Asia, and was used in such remote lands as Russia and India.
allocated to
though grocers, with
it,
more
their
per-
ishable goods, were allowed to have a shop any-
where. Various unpaid public services, including
were required of the guilds.
police work, also
The happy
members
discipline the
of the
human fam-
from hurling themselves one upon the other
ily
and the stronger from crushing the weaker. ... for this reason that
is
It
has appeared good to our
it
Serenity also to formulate the dispositions which result
from the Law, so that the human race
governed as
is
fitting
its
own
guild.
Some
21 major
guilds— some with subguilds— controlled the
No man
and tradesmen.
the artisans
all
life
of
could be-
long to two. Son generally succeeded father in the
same city
trade.
was
It
the prefect, or eparch, of the
who, among other functions, administered the
system of guilds: though each guild could appoint
own
its
endorsed by the prefect. In
to be fairs
president, the appointment probably
had
fact, all the af-
of the guilds were virtually dependent on the
prefect.
Combining
in his office the roles of chief
justice, chief of police
commercial and
human
and regulator of the traffic,
most important functionary the emperor,
moment
the prefect
in the
city's
was the
city— except for
who nominated him and
could at any
ished by expulsion, and this tirement. Each
own
member
meant compulsory
of a guild
had
re-
to practice
trade: the goldsmith could deal only
with gold, the candlemakers with candles, soap-
makers with soap. Wages and hours were regulated.
The guildsman owned
his
own
capital, tools,
raw
materials and the articles he fabricated. There were
no middlemen,
for each
its
own
were reserved for use It
was
in the
Roman
in
The
best silk
and certain dyes
the imperial household.
law, perhaps, that the state had
on the
greatest impact
its
The
enterprises.
the imperial factory,
of law revised
than Christian in
most people.
of
lives
by Justinian was more the op-
despite
spirit:
position of the Church, divorce and slavery were
both retained;
same time wives, children and
now had more
slaves tled
at the
rights.
Most
cases were set-
lower courts in Constantinople and
in
provinces, but the
taken to
a
more important
the
suits could be
high court of 12 judges, or to the em-
peror himself,
who was
the ultimate judge of ap-
peals. In criminal cases the
punishments were
fines,
the confiscation of property, death, or the loss of
an eye or
a
hand. After the Eighth Century the
death penalty was reserved for murder,
and desertion and was used
less
and
treason
less
Some murderers were even spared on the that they become monks and turn over
guildsman offered
his prod-
In his control of
and commercial public tions,
all
life,
often.
condition half their
works— the
aspects of Byzantine public the
emperor also undertook
building of
palaces,
ture of armaments.
The strict,
building regulations in Constantinople were
though
it
is
impossible to
know how
strin-
gently they were applied. Streets had to be 12 feet wide. Balconies on private houses had to be 15
above the ground and were not
uct directly to the consumer. Each guild could carry
feet
within 10 feet of the opposite wall.
trade only in the particular quarter of the city
fortifica-
aqueducts, roads, as well as the manufac-
on
its
consumer
property to their victim's heirs.
dismiss him.
Any infringement of guild regulations was pun-
only his
imports and
all
imposed other taxes on
had
state also
came from
The body
not oppress another."
Every industry had
and
exports
on
goods, inheritances, land and serf households.
is
and so that one person does
state levied 10 per cent
to
extend to
Owners
of pri117
vate houses with an unobstructed view of the sea (or of
gardens or pubUc monuments) had a right
view— though
to protect that if
anyone claimed had
or Ajax, he
to
tion to appreciate
The
state alone
principal unit
was
of gold. This coin
a
monument
Nicephorus It
was
a
was before the introduction implements. But the
tural
tates
minted the gold coinage, whose
some 65 grains
a coin containing
was known
in
Byzantium
as the
For seven cen-
as the bezant.
to that of
I
handsome,
merchant, trying
to
brilliant coin;
its
one Byzan-
man
a greater
for the
is
it
at least as
it
of mechanical agriculof the landed pro-
life
where
large
es-
developed from the Ninth Century onward,
As
luxury.
Century one
agri-
was not the wealthiest— could
give a dinner party for 36 guests,
around
and
of considerable affluence
early as the Eighth
culturist—and he
a table of ivory
who were
seated
and gold. This same land-
owner could count among
head of
his stock 12,000
sheep, 800 oxen and 900 horses and mules, as well as a large
convince the King of Cey-
monarch was
as
prietor, particularly in Anatolia,
must have been one
lon that the Byzantine
number
of serfs.
Since the entire
of
life
aristocrat, goldsmith,
Byzantines— artisan,
all
seaman, general, mother of
family— was dominated by
than the King of Persia, successfully used the im-
a
pressive bezant as a clincher. In the Eighth Century,
phere was impregnated with a sense of the super-
when
natural.
an,
the Venerable Bede, the great English histori-
wished
to praise a British princess,
her as being "pure as a bezant."
It
he described
was not
until
the 11th Century that the coinage began to lose
its
universal respect and trust.
The empire's complex commercial the
was cen-
life
main routes between Europe and Asia,
unusually well situated for such a points of the compass to
pour
their
came
stition.
Often
it is
and
this deteriorated into arrant super-
Byzantium was seldom
free
from the threat
doom never
far off
hardly surprising that nervous tensions were
times in
and
the atmos-
These expressed themselves
what appears
to
at
some
have been wanton cruelty,
at others in recourse to astrology
and necro-
was
mancy, divination and black magic. Dreams and
all
visions, the Byzantines believed, foretold events to
fleets
come. Inanimate objects might have some crucial
it
From
role.
the caravans
religion,
of invasion; with the specter of
generated.
tered in Constantinople. Strategically located astride
merchandise into the customs houses,
influence on a person's
life
on the
or even
fate of
Books on the significance of numbers or
depots and workshops of the capital. Although
the empire.
many
on the meanings of thunder or earthquakes or the
of these goods were passed on to the West,
a large percentage remained to provide the terials for the capital's
tricts also
had
articles either for
for re-export.
their
raw ma-
own workshops, where
were converted into finished
consumption or
Other
cities
they
home
and
dis-
workshops. By the 11th Cen-
lunar phases, were widely read. trade,
though probably not
than they do in
many
Constantinople
omens, concealed
plied their
any greater extent
places today.
itself
in
to
Mediums
was believed mysterious
to be full of
inscriptions
or
tury Thebes and Corinth, for instance, had their
obscure bas-reliefs carved on statues or columns.
own
Could these have been deciphered,
silk industries,
in the
and carpets were manufactured
Peloponnese.
For the Byzantine peasant and the small land118
must have been much
it.
Botaniatus, the bezant retained
III
of
a statue of Achilles
from the reign of Constantine
turies,
tine
such as
that
life
Turkish or Balkan peasant today— or
prove that he had enough educa-
nomisma, elsewhere
value.
was stipulated
view of
a direct
historical significance,
it
owner
might have predicted
in fact,
they
for the inhabitants the ter-
rifying last days of their city.
A DEVOUT CHURCHGOER, wearing a cowl
like her Byzantitie forebears, returns
from Palm Sunday services.
ISLAND OF THE PAST In the heartland of
exactly as
it
windmills
still
cobblers
Byzantium, villages
exist
still
where
did under the empire. In the Greek island
still
grind grain to flour, housewives
still
life
goes on almost
community
bake bread
in
of
Olympos,
outdoor ovens,
make shoes by hand. Olympos has not been entirely passed over by its men wear factory-made clothes, for example, and gas burn-
the 20th Century, ers are in use.
of
Olympos
But
in agriculture
and
religion, in
are scarcely different from those
customs and outlook, the people
who
lived there a
thousand years ago. 119
THE IMPERIAL EAGLE, which appears
in old
Byzantine
illuminations such as the one pictured at right, can still
be seen decorating the buildings of
right).
The two-headed
bird
was adopted
by the Palaeologus family, the
last
Olympos (far emblem
as an
Byzantine dynasty,
to symbolize an empire that looked both
West and
East.
rjs
>.JN
I.
i:-^?->*; ;^-
"^^ii*
WE^i9»l'S.,'
-..->
f
J
i^
'^-s.'Si*'...
i:.:^
:-i<:i'.
"Tx
ks::^.' »*''/d
W^-i*.^'t.
^^ -''
.^'-y,
'^'r^'
n.>
,.^
"•>'.>
''vr
ECHOES OF EMPIRE IN A RURAL OUTPOST Olympos, clinging of
mountainside on the island
to a
Karpathos between Crete and Rhodes,
community
ably the most isolated
fly
the Byzantines,
prob-
The
church and the airplanes that
electric lights in the
occasionally
is
Greece.
in
overhead would have astounded
most modern conveniences
but
have not reached the
For example, there
village.
is
only one telephone in town, and the mailman ar-
from the town of Pigadia (pop. 1,000) only
rives
once a week (he must travel on foot since no roads connect the two communities). Such isolation has kept
Olympos much
built
on
As
in
C-fi^K'^!^'->
its
it
was when
was
it
first
present site in the Ninth Century A.D.
Byzantine days, some houses are
of sun-dried bricks
of each house
called a "sofa,"
still
made
and roofed with wooden beams
covered with straw,
room
as
dirt
and
a
and
grass; the
one large
contains a raised platform,
still
small family
and
are a courtyard, a barn
altar.
a kitchen
the meals are prepared.
Food
the family or bartered;
many goods
either
is
Outside
wing where
in
grown by
Olympos
are exchanged, rather than bought, since there little
is
currency in the village.
The
villagers
supplement
hunting wild birds, pire,
mend
and by
their
a favorite sport
meager
diet
during the em-
fishing. Before they set sail the
the nets they have
by
woven and
men
the fish traps
they have fashioned out of split cane and twine.
The Byzantines prepared actly the ly
for the
same way, and they
morning hours, the
to the local
day
at sea in ex-
offered up, in the ear-
identical prayers for safety
protector of fishermen, St. Nicholas.
A MOUNTAIN vrUACE of whitewashed buildings and terraced Olympos overlooks the Aegean. The village, originally
farms, built
on the shore, was moved up
after repeated pirate
raids.
121
BAKING BREAD, women work before an outdoor oven that serves several
WINDING YARN,
fl
woman
of
Olympos-like
the Byzantine
woman
families
in
shown above her— holds a crude spindle wool have been drawn and twisted into strands.
the 13th Century miniature
onto which tufts of
^FS^^^-] rvr-j
TENDING THE CROPS, a farm woman strides through fields below the Byzantine the town. Her scarflike headdress dates hack to veriod, as does the
mattock she carries for turning the rocky
soil.
^^'
g^
yf'.,^ _
-
.
.
•
•>&.* .*;.
111 ?**.
_^':*^.
r'':.*>r
'*^^-
-
v>»
n
TIMELESS TASKS OF Farmers were for centuries the backbone of the Byzantine empire, and they are still the main support of local village economies. In former times the crops and livestock they raised fed not only their families but also provided for the aristocracy
and
hundreds of monastic establishments. The heavy taxes they paid financed the large standing armies that guarded Byzantium's frontiers
and supported
the glittering extravagance of the emperor's court.
HOME AND FARM Most ed,
of these burdens have long since been
but the farmers of
same
tasks.
Olympos
When women
chores— baking
in
still
labor at the
are not doing domestic
communal
ovens, embroidering,
weaving cloth on hand looms-they beside their husbands.
lift-
toil in
the fields
hilly Olympos, where plows cannot be used, the villagers must do all their farming by hand, relying on the simple tools of
their
In
ancestors-hoes, mattocks, sickles and scythes.
m^^?^
/ «k«
ORNATE BREAD
^or Easter
is
made with
\Xi^i>^
swirling designs around an egg.
PREPARING FOR EASTER
As
in
The
Byzantine times, the bread
similarities
are never
is
eaten during the Easter
Sunday meal, which
between imperial and present-day Olympos
more marked than during the Easter season.
as their ancestors did, the
women bake
Just
ceremonial loaves of
bread decorated with traditional designs. The day before Eas124
also includes stuffed goat, thick
ter
each family
kills a
will eat after the
COLORING EGGS, housewives dye many of them
cream and wine.
lamb or young
Lenten
fast
goat, the
first
ends on Sunday. The
meat
woman
it
of
the house displays her prized possessions, such as heirloom
dishes and
woven bedspreads, and puts
flowers around the
family
altar.
floor to roof
red to recall the blood Christ shed on the Cross.
She and her husband also scrub
their
house from
and whitewash the walls inside and out. Finally,
early
on Easter day, they welcome
come
to
exchange
gifts, kisses
in their neighbors,
and wishes
for a
happy
who
holiday. 125
IN
SOLEMN CONVOCATION, worshipers surround
the Crucifix on
of Christ, the priest has removed the cross from the altar
Good
Friday.
and has placed
it
To commemorate the death in the center of the
church.
ICONS OF SAINTS, wrapped cloths, are carried
in
bright
from the church
to
the village cemetery for services honor-
ing the dead.
The devout pay
privilege of carrying the icons
step on the
way back
to
for the
up each
the church.
BOY CHORISTERS sing hymns of joy during the "Christ at midnight to Easter.
126
Risen" service held the beginning of
The young singers
simplified tions
is
mark
Byzantine
when they
start to learn
musical
nota-
are only six or seven.
*«r^
THE PAGEANTRY OF HOLY WEEK On Good
Friday the villagers
mourn
the death of
Christ and on Saturday night they celebrate His Resurrection.
The congregation
gathers in church
near midnight in total darkness; as Easter begins, the priest lights candles held
On
Sunday
by the
faith-
Byzantium, they believe the icons can ward drought. Thus,
rain.
to
regular
religious
The congregation's deep personal
ment during Holy Week zantine poet:
carry icons to the cemetery. Like the farmers of
together with
the next Tuesday, the people of
addition
services at the graves, the priest says prayers for
Olympos
ful.
in
off
involve-
recalls the lines of a
"Yesterday,
you! With
Christ,
you
I
By-
was buried
arising,
I
arise." 127
$
m 'fiti--
^ Si
#
/i
-
T**>
.-:*fr
—m:J
'^ to>
f
AN IMPERIAL COUPLE, Romanus and Eudoxia,
are
crowned by
Christ in a carved ivory relief that dates from the 10th Century.
.^ ^^v:
A TRADITIONAL WEDDING
*r
Because the Church forbids weddings during Lent, great
are
i
many
still
by
arranged
parents— almost
the
within the village.
On
groom comes with
band of musicians
a
down by
the Byzantines.
the
to the bride's
hand-
During the ceremony
the priest leads the couple and three times around the altar as
songs, throw rice and slap the
h
always
long-awaited day,
the
home, following an ancient Greek custom ed
a
take place just after Easter. Marriages
their
bridal
party
well-wishers chant
groom on
the back.
t
A VILLAGE COUPLE receives a blessing as they are united
^
^
in marriage.
Their crowns of paper and flowers, traditional since Byzantine times, are joined
by a ribbon signifying the bonds of matrimony.
129
ON A HOMEMADE BAGPIPE,
fashioned from goatskin, a musician plays for the dancers.
AN OLD-STYLE BANQUET
Festivals
IN
AN ANCIENT DANCE,
villagers
and banquets have been
a
move
favorite
during a banquet
diversion of
Greeks since ancient times. During the empire they gave up the classical habit of reclining
on couches, and the Church
insisted that the sexes sit at separate tables.
fashion that feasts and spirited dances are 130
in a circle
It is
now
in this
held in
same
Olym-
.
^B
i-J
'-(
I 'N ^ i^y^y^
X
>
^\ f^
i^'
^>>
>
i
iki A.
{
1^4
\-.
^??5^; <
Men
sif
together at tables; fo eaf in public with their wives would violate tnuiitiun.
pos as the climax to weddings or religious holidays.
If
the
held in the church square of
Olympos on
banquet occurs on
a
the town's memorial day.
memorial day, as
is
the case with the
one shown here, the people eat food which they have placed that
morning
as
an offering on the graves of
such food eaten on memorial occasions
is
their dead.
One
kolyua, a mixture of
wheat, nuts and fruit which the Byzantine Christians adopted from the pagan Greeks in the Fourth Century.
may
Only men
play the musical instruments; they also take turns im-
provising lyrics for songs to suit the occasion—exactly the Byzantines used to invent verses at feasts
and
as
festivals.
131
A WAYSIDE CHAPEL on
the edge of the village, like a score of other small private chapels in
Olympos, was
built
by a pious townsman
in gratitude for
,•
the help of a taint to
whom
;
^ .'
^
•
V-
-
..
;
'
^ \- .----.
he had appealed. In Byzantine timei peaianti often built iuth ihapeli on their property and rededitated then
Vfc
live» to
God.
k
^
//
/
Through nearly eleven
centuries,
Byzantine achievements reflected not only the
the splendor of
in literature
Church, but also the intellectual and of
empire's aristocracy which
the
The upper
and the
arts
dominance of the Christian artistic tastes
supported
it.
Byzantium's society was not
level of
simply the possessor of power and prestige;
it
was
also a highly cultivated class, with an almost pas-
sionate regard for learning and a sensitive eye for
beauty.
7
In education
and
cherished
ously
literature the Byzantines zeal-
Greco-Roman
their
heritage,
studying and preserving for posterity the great
A GLITTERING
writings of the classical past and adding to them
notable contributions of their own. siastical
CULTURE
and
And
in eccle-
works of art— frescoes
architecture and
brilliant mosaics, exquisite carvings
zantines found
A
its fullest,
good education,
in
most original expression.
ambitious to better himself.
tween
Added
By-
the
Byzantium, was considered
one of the major virtues, and
a disgrace.
ivory,
in
illuminated manuscripts— the culture of
to the
a
To
must
for
anyone
be uneducated was
religious distinction be-
a Christian Byzantine and a barbarian was
an essential feeling of superiority: the Byzantine believed he
was an educated man, and was con-
vinced that
all
The a
barbarians were ignorant.
principal requirement of this education
knowledge of
classical
was
culture— the speech and
There was
literature of the ancient Hellenic world.
no break with the tradition of Greco-Roman pagan
become the tian
even among those
civilization,
who were
to
great masters of theology of the Chris-
Church.
Through most
of Byzantine history the course
of studies remained
many changes tions.
more
or less constant, though
took place in educational institu-
Foremost among the disciplines was gram-
mar, that
is,
the
correct
use of classical Greek.
Until the time of Justinian, students were taught the use of both Latin as the
and Greek, but by then Latin
language of the state was dying out. By the
middle of the Seventh Century Greek had completely taken over. But
ern Greek PRESERVING THE PAb
1
two monks restore manuscripts
in
in Italy.
Byzantium— like
where divergence
in
the
mod-
language
is
an abbey near
Hanging behind them are pages from Ceronticum Quodam, a 13th Century Byzantine tract on the lives of the apostles and saints. Padua
state,
still
a
living
issue— had
its
linguistic
problems.
Besides the constantly evolving vernacular Greek 135
closed by Justinian in 529 and
the koine or con\mon tongue of Hellenistic times,
Alexandria, Antioch and Beirut passed into
there fied
was "Atticized" Greek,
form akin
to the classical
a
consciously puri-
Greek of Thucydides
and Demosthenes. This was the spoken and writ-
lem hands. Even the university
seems
to
have suffered an
tirely absent,
per class, and provided a model to which the for-
be found for those
with
This demanded an intimate acquaintance
the major classical authors,
all
particularly
with Homer. After the Bible, Homer's
Odyssey were by
The
who
11th Century emperor
the old
men
at
was revived and reorganized, and
tinople
new
again widespread, although
by the Crusaders
saw
a
passage in which
Helen passing by and
rightly
Many
tellectuals
of the schools
Alex-
at
and Athens, continued
425 Theodosius
school at his II
new
and
capital,
opened the university
to
in
Con-
at
stantinople. Staffing the university were five
began
much
works of great
Many
Greek
short
by wit and
a phi-
Between the Seventh and Ninth Centu-
One
produced orig-
of the fields
in Atticized
was
Greek have
marked
imagery reminiscent of the
Cavalier poets of 17th Century England. In the category of popular romances,
which were
written in a more vernacular language, Byzantium
has to
its
credit
one of the most magnificent of
all
epic poems, Digenes Akrites. This 11th Century
work, which has come
down
in several versions,
has been compared in quality to the Song of RoIt
is
a
dramatic
tale
of the eastern border-
empire (Akrites means "borderer"
in Greek), of a frontier far
from the sophisticated,
dark
formal atmosphere of the Byzantine court. Here,
Athens had already been
where fighting between Moslems and Christians
however, Byzantine learning endured
period: the university at
merit.
poems
a sensitive
land.
ries,
emphasis on the
survived; epigrammatic in style, they are
districts of the
and
in-
themselves "Hellenes" and
secular literature of the Byzantines
and 10 Latin grammarians, two losopher.
to call
result of the continual
a
and three Latin sophists or rhetoricians, 10 Greek jurists
then,
not "Romaioi" (Romans), as they had in the past.
inal
Constantine the Great encouraged education a
was
was the time when many Byzantine
pride. This
tain fields Byzantine secular writers
flourish until well into the Christian era. In addition,
a final flowering of learning. It
tended to imitate these ancient models. Yet in cer-
blame
pagan times, including those
by founding
The 14th and 15th Cen-
looked back on their pagan heritage with special
Great centers of learning were liberally distrib-
in
another
breach of pro-
this
endured so many woes.
andria, Antioch, Beirut
know
slowly but surely succumbing, that the Byzantines
poetry.
famous
in 1204.
to
of Constantinople
im-
in the
so beautiful
uted throughout the empire.
was
even as the Christian empire of Byzantium was
Nor Greeks nor Trojans one can
alike
it
dim period following the sack
classics,
They have
several
schools were established there. Learning was
As
woman's sake
to
could afford them.
by
murmur:
That, for a
who
defied convention
Iliad the
Troy gaze
of
and private teachers were always
turies
is
were placated by hearing
from the
Nevertheless,
an
Shocked by
priety, the spectators
courtier quote
eclipse.
told of
story
having his beautiful mistress take part perial procession.
and
Iliad
known and most
far the best
frequently quoted works.
Mos-
Constantinople
In the 11th Century, the university at Constan-
literature adhered.
Included in grammar was the study of classical literature.
at
the schools at
opportunities for higher learning were never en-
ten language of the court and of the cultured up-
mal secular
136
now
spoken by the Byzantine populace and based on
a
was sporadic and warfare against robber bands was constant, a landowning, militaristic aristocracy had
SINGING BY SYMBOLS
emerged. This self-assertive and strongly individ-
world provides the stage for the heroic ex-
ualistic
ploits in love
Included
and war of the border lord Digenes.
among his deeds
Byzantine hymns were composed according
tem of signs, as
Greek words, give the to
beasts and his merciless warfare against brigands.
ern note
Moslem
father and a Christian
some,
the
ideal
chivalry— hand-
of
the
modern
The symbols, transcription;
buttons.
The
gold,
saddle cloth adorned with turquoise. Di-
bridle of his white horse
genes' wife brings
shown with
are translated at bottom.
MANUSCRIPT
him
a splendid
enameled
is
dowry, and his
paneled with gold and mosaics. After a
is
long and adventurous
comes
or neumes, are
some
broad-chested, clad in a red tunic em-
fair,
house
mod-
"a"—determined by a "signature" preceding hymn (light gray figures at upper right of man-
broidered with pearls and fastened with golden
its
rhythms and accents
intervals,
follow from a starting note— in this case the
uscript).
mother, appears as
to a sys-
famous 12th Century
manuscript (below). These signs, drawn above the
and kid-
are his courtship
naping of the lovely Eudoxia, his battles with wild
Digenes, son of a
illustrated in a
ill,
and as he
life,
dies, his
the
warrior-hero be-
wife Eudoxia, unable TRANSCRIPTION
to bear the separation, falls lifeless beside
History was another secular Byzantines.
Many
of judgment, scope
field
him.
enriched by the
of their historians wrote
and
critical
works
maturity. Procopius
Century, for example, vigorously
in the Sixth
reI
w
h e
o
m
«
n
counted the wars of Justinian. In the 11th Century Michael Psellus wrote age,
women ther.
a celebrated history of that
and Anna Comnena— perhaps the greatest of
=>
historians— described the reign of her fa-
Emperor Alexius
I.
The memoirs
»€-/»i-»«
at? f
peror in 1354, are a valuable source for the troubled
a
I
1
r
n
history of the Balkan regions in the 14th Century.
While Byzantine secular
literature
was generally surpassed
in quality
by
religious
-
crow
tra
many
in
and
verse. St.
Basil,
St.
St.
Gregory of Nyssa,
St.
»
- » i
n
»
ij
.
it
J
lit-
John
«ftt.rnding
nolf
v«luff
«ttond with ftt«CC«IO
(•
Chrysostom,
yv
INTLRV AL^
»c«nding «r
erature, both prose
•»»
WITH ACtlNTS
sometimes
reached heights of distinction and originality,
/
^1^
=H'^T^ nr-f^n^
of John VI
Cantacuzene, written after his abdication as em-
\^
doubled
to h)
Gregory of drtcrnding »nond
Nazianzus,
St.
Maximus
the Confessor— these are
but a few of the writers of lucid and profound theological prose
who have few
equals
among
Chris-
(J
lO
ft)
d««c«ndinft ihird
U
to
1)
«M mding
»*t ond
notr
valu*
ptolons»d by h«)f
tian authors. 137
The tually
poetical
hymns
unmatched
rank with the great
are also vir-
and some
West-
literary treasures of the
ern world.
They combine
matic and
human
beauty with dra-
lyrical
an
intensity, often expressed in
animated dialogue that cient
Byzantium
of
in Christian literature,
recalls the
drama
of the an-
Greeks or the medieval miracle plays of West-
Among
ern Europe.
outstanding hymnodists
the
were Romanus the Melode,
a
Sixth Century dea-
con considered the greatest poet of the Byzantines; St.
John of Damascus, who
some
in the
hymns
mum,
Ephesus, Miletus and other Greek
Aegean coast
the
and that
of Anatolia.
sprang
region
From
the
near
cities
those centuries
basic
architectural
elements of the Byzantine church— multiple vaulting, the
dome and
the centralized plan.
Centralized planning was derived in part from
form of Greek and
the centralized
But
it
was brought about more
common
tom,
Fifth
in
Roman
directly
tombs.
by the cus-
Century Greek
basilicas
(which were oblong churches), of having the Mass
Eighth Century
performed in the whole central nave of the church
of the Byzantine
instead of at one end, while the faithful stood in
Christian Church; Casia, a Ninth Century beauty
the aisles along three sides. But the long, rectangu-
who
lar
created
of the finest
chance to become empress and
forfeited a
devoted her
life
poems, and
St.
nun
as a
to
Simeon the
composing
New
religious
Theologian,
a
who
Constantinopolitan of the early 11th Century
wrote fervent mystical odes.
plan of the basilica was inappropriate for a serv-
ice that
occupied only the central area of the church,
and Byzantine church builders gradually adopted
a
more compact and
suitable scheme, one that usually
took the shape of
a
Greek
cross.
Vaulting, the technique of constructing curved
Not only tecture, too,
secular
little
archi-
in
Byzantium's achievements in the
outshone
ligious field
Very
and music but
in literature
its
creations for secular use.
architecture of
the
Byzantine
empire survives; such buildings as palaces,
and public baths
are
seem
to
and,
have been unusual
Roman
umphs
of engineering skill than of
design.
Thus our understanding
many
Soon
of
which fortunately
after the
empire was founded,
launched themselves on
a
among them
architects
highly inventive course,
tinctive ecclesiastical style that
The
a
changed but
dislittle
roots of the style lay in the
Fourth and Fifth Century architecture of Perga138
in palaces
and
in public build-
but almost never in churches. However, the
idea of a
crowning dome, which
had
tian martyrs,
and
and
is
Persia. It
in the
its
is
kind
a particular
domed
origin in the wide-
Rome
buildings of
a tribute to the genius of
Byzantine
architects that they successfully brought together
these devices— the centralized plan, the vault and the
dome— as
new
the key elements of a wholly
architectural style.
Byzantium's architecture,
like its other arts, falls
into three recognizable periods— Early,
stand.
and before very long they had established
over a millennium.
tri-
architectural
its
ings,
it
spread use of domes over the tombs of early Chris-
on church buildstill
was frequently used
where
not
of Byzantine ar-
chitecture rests almost exclusively
architecture of the Greek coastal cities,
of vault, seems to have
A num-
aqueducts they are more
lar
masonry, was borrowed from the secu-
ar-
and cisterns of ingenious construction,
but like the
ings,
do
general,
in
in their designs.
ber of utilitarian structures remain, city walls
villas
known mainly through
cheological excavations
re-
ceilings of
Late— each
distinct in
Byzantine period,
its
characteristics.
The
from the early Sixth
mid-Ninth Centuries, was an age of
ment
Middle and
in building design
Early
to
the
lively experi-
and the time
standard centralized church type was
in
which
first
a
estab-
lished. The finest churches of the era are from the
monumental Hagia So-
reign of Justinian, and the
between 532 and 537
phia, built is
and sophisticated
enormous
make Hagia Sophia dome on
tine architecture.
it
complex
is
unique plan,
its
extraordinary richness of
its
in its parts. Its
the
size,
basic outline,
its
carved marble— these are
zantine architects to erect a round
Constantinople,
not only the biggest but also one of the finest
examples. Clear in
THE PENDENTTVE was one device used by By-
in
among
the features that
the crowning glory of Byzan-
But
the
at
same time
very
its
uniqueness separates Hagia Sophia from the main-
the square central area of a church. In effect
they put a hemisphere on a square box and cut
away
the hemisphere's
lapping sides. This
left
crown and over-
four spherical
tri-
angles (see shaded area in sketch), on which a smaller
dome
or hemisphere could
stream of architectural development. Typically, the standard Early Byzantine church
was
The
small.
core of
was
cross-
dome over
the in-
the building
shaped. Thick piers supported a
rise.
tersection of the
arms of the
barrel vaults
cross;
spanned each of the four arms. Additional vaulted areas, set in the angles cross,
gave the building
the church itself
was
formed by the arms of the a
rectangular plan.
Though
small, the effect within
was
one of spaciousness and clarity; this was due partly
and arches and partly
to the simplicity of the piers
streaming through large win-
to bright, steady light
dows rior
set in the
was
dome and
The church's
walls.
plain yet impressive,
composed
exte-
of only a
few simple geometric shapes and pierced by
single-
arched, unadorned windows.
This domed-cross type of church spread to Greece
and through most of Anatolia. More distant parts of the empire, however, retained lier
styles
of
styles of their
church
design
own which were
much or
of their ear-
developed
new
largely independent
of Early Byzantine architecture. Thus Sixth and Sev-
enth Century churches in Mesopotamia and Egypt differed but THE SQUINCH was another common architec-
little
from Fourth and Fifth Century plan they were oblong
examples
in those areas; in
function was to convert the square into an
basilicas,
and domes were
octagon by building up each corner with a
Bulgaria and Armenia, on the other hand, far
tural device
series
used
to
of overlapping
dome
the square.
masonry arches
across the angle of the square. ing form
was
The
Its
laid
result-
rarely,
if
ever, used. In
more
sophisticated styles emerged, suffused with a rich-
ness of architectural effects not found in typical
sufficiently close to a circle to
accommodate the round base of the dome.
Early Byzantine churches. These styles depended to 139
some extent on
the basilica plan, but they also were
often based on circular or octagonal plans.
During the Middle Byzantine
Now
basic church type.
a
to
single
four different centralized
domed
types prevailed, each consisting of a
made up
carved out of living rock, faithfully copying larger
Ninth
era (late
mid-13th Centuries) there was no longer
core
of various combinations of the cross, the
octagon and the square. Almost
were very small. The most
all
of these churches
common
type, called the
free-standing buildings. In Greece the exteriors of
churches were lavishly adorned with
in Italy,
on the other hand, was mostly crude and
The exception
chitectural traditions. in Venice; St. Mark's,
however,
Byzantine domed-cross church, which
copy of
resembled
however, the
vaulted areas in the angles of the cross arms were visually united to the cruciform core
by sharply
ducing the size of the dome-supporting
many
it
made
the church appear broader,
an intricacy and subtlety lacking
in
Early Byzantine structures.
had vanished. Where formerly
the earlier churches
window-opening was spanned by
was now generally divided
into
Windows grew fewer and
smaller,
a single arch,
it
two or three arches. and
as a result
became obscure, seem-
the interiors of the churches
ingly bathed in twilight. In addition,
every sur-
face of these small
Middle Byzantine buildings was
A
wealth of carved stone details
finely
wrought.
it
ar-
Mark's
much
not so
Century original— the Church of in
Constantinople,
by
built
Justinian on the site of Constantine's church the
a
an 11th Century
of
same name.
The
four basic church types of the Middle Byzan-
tine era, as well as
most of
their stylistic features,
continued into the Late Byzantine period, which lasted
until
the
fall
of
Constantinople in 1453.
But there were differences. Architects of the Late
and
out,
verticality,
and they achieved
both inside
this effect as
much by
the increased use of such vertical elements as col-
umns,
piers
and buttresses
as
by the actual heighten-
ing of the buildings. Middle Byzantine churches
usually had but one dome; those of the Late period
often had five— a large
dome over
the center and a
smaller one over each corner.
Although
Constantinople
remained
relatively
faithful to the principle of subordinating surface
patterns to overall design. Late Byzantine churches
decorative patterns and a
elsewhere displayed exterior surfaces of unprece-
moldings framed doors and windows and
dented richness; intricate brickwork was more wide-
their interiors;
were frequently
set
in
ran along cornice lines.
on the
The
buildings' profiles be-
came more complex— the dome now high cylindrical drum, there was
ly
used than ever before and moldings, blind arches
a
and other decorative devices abounded. Even the
a variety of roof
rims of domes became scalloped as they followed
rested
upon
windows
levels,
and brick buttresses and half-columns pro-
the curves of arched
jected
from the body of the church.
But seldom were the resulting
A number of al
is
is
St.
is
exteriors bricks
ornamented
series of
a Sixth
Holy Apostles
Byzantine period stressed
In other ways, too, the simplicity and clarity of
a
the
In
between the cross-shaped core and the
four-corner bays
and gave
piers.
became columns. This
cases the piers simply
visual link
re-
by Western
provincial, often heavily modified
Middle Byzantine church as
it
intricately
patterned brickwork. Middle Byzantine architecture
cross-in-square, probably evolved from the Early
in plan. In the cross-in-square church,
distinctly different local architectur-
schools flourished throughout the empire during
the Middle Byzantine period. In Cappadocia in east140
central Anatolia, for instance, tiny churches were
piercing their drums. effects of these
em-
bellishments of the same high quality that had
marked Byzantine architecture during great eras.
its
earlier
Notable as Byzantium's contributions tecture were,
it is
of other arts for
to archi-
administrators, princes and churchmen. In the early
Eighth Century,
it
remembered.
chiefly
is
in architecture— and in literature,
all
other aspects of Byzantine culture— it was the
music and
in
that provided the principal focus for the
who
to decorate their
cus, they sent to Constantinople for mosaicists to
help them.
The
art
produced
in
Constantinople es-
with mosaics and frescoes and beautified
out the empire; local artists in the outlying areas
displayed
glorified
In addition,
their
talent
secular art of an elegance unsur-
itself in
passed in the medieval world. art of the
The
was
fashioned their work according to
ments In
Byzantine empire, while primarily
the art of the Church,
nople.
Moslem rulers of Syria Great Mosque at Damas-
the
tablished the standards for Byzantine taste through-
objects for religious use.
The
wanted
when
church
creativity of the era's artists, interiors
neighboring countries to execute murals for
to
which
As
Church
and
the empire's magnificent heritage
also the art of Constanti-
capital's great artistic
importance was
in the capital.
these arts, a distinctively Byzantine style
all
did not emerge until about the Sixth Century, having
evolved from mixed origins.
was
Its
principal antecedent
early Christian art. In the beginning, in the Sec-
and
ond and Third Centuries,
educated patrons of the arts resided there: the city
of the catacombs at
Rome.
was the
tomb art— frescoes and sarcophagi.
based on the fact that nearly
seat of the
emperor and
shrank
it
their
home;
and the patriarchate were head-
Though
quartered there.
his court; the aris-
made
tocracy and the rich merchants the monastic orders
the wealthy
all
the empire itself slowly
and continuity of
in size, the stability
tural life in the capital
cul-
went on undiminished, cen-
This enormous concentration of power and wealth in
one
city affected First,
A
past; he
12th Century
was never
artist in
far
artists.
Constan-
from his
Undoubtedly he in so
looked deeply into their forms
artistic
tried
to
selves
its
dom
of
movement and
attention
was given
free-
to facial
features and the play of muscles.
of Christianity had
been decreed,
this
art
came
interiors.
upon
The
art
they produced continued to draw
the classical style of
Christians
now began
to
pagan Rome. But the
modify classicism and
gradually created another style of their own. this
new
was Roman imperial portraiture of the
late
Particularly important to the
growth of
style
Third and early Fourth Centuries, which demand-
radiated
out
from
the
capital
in
Illuminated manuscripts, icons,
and metalwork were exported from Con-
beyond
example— were naturalistic; they had depth and
and learned from
stantinople to every quarter of the empire and even far
as a shepherd, for
ed an impersonal, almost symbolic representation
veritable streams. ivories
from contemporary pa-
erally cruder, differed little
gan works. The figures— Christ
doing he naturally
what he saw. art
gen-
Its style, if
churches in great numbers and to decorate their
emulate their greatness, and
Second,
that
out of the catacombs. Christians began to build
art in several
was constantly surrounded by works of
Byzantine
was mainly
was almost exclusively
funda-
tinople, for example,
earlier
It
Constantinople's continuity of
Byzantine
culture in general nourished the growth of a strong artistic tradition.
this art
In the early Fourth Century, after the toleration
tury after century.
mental ways.
develop-
artistic
borders.
were summoned
The to
city's
artists
them-
the imperial provinces
accenting the emperor's divine majesty rather than his true likeness. for their
own
From
this the Christians
adopted
revered personages a more formal,
less naturalistic rendering.
Throughout the Fourth
and Fifth Centuries these two styles— the continuation of classic naturalism
and the new formalism 141
ANIVORY CASKET, used
as a jewel box, reflects a 10th
vival of classical taste
and themes
Century
rosette-framed panels contain scenes from
re-
The
in nonreligious objects.
Greek mythology.
—existed side by side, mixing occasionally, but not
existing great
too successfully.
finest pieces
In the Sixth Century, the age of Justinian, the
The
took
fusion of the styles
successful
first
style that resulted
is
most
place.
clearly seen in Early
classicism or reliance
of Early Byzantine art;
on
pure abstract
a
hand,
is
strikingly visible in the early Sixth
up
na, with
These works
and
its
The
solidity
naturalistic figures
its
general rhythmic balance of composition.
cal figure,
and three-dimensionality of the
classi-
however, generally was subordinated
to
surface patterns in the treatment of drapery and hair,
which were often rendered
in linear, stylized
human
fashion. For the modeled, three-dimensional face of classical art, a
face
was sub-
and with the features indicated
stituted, flat a
more abstract
in only
summary way. Even though
abstract styles ivories
is
found
in
most Early Byzantine
media— including
a
number
of
works
the Barberini ivory plaque
depicting a triumphant emperor (page 152), silver plates
illustrating
David (page I58j— which fined classicism
was
still
scenes from clearly
very
the
show
much
life
and of
that a re-
alive.
These
pieces, because of their exceptional purity of style,
are
among
the greatest treasures of Early Byzantine
David
is
true for the
plates, in fact,
and
Nuovo
fully
Cen-
at
Raven-
rounded
figures,
small but remarkably detailed Seventh
in a
St. Peter,
which
is
the pre-
at
Mount
Sinai in Egypt.
of the abstract style, early Eighth
tiqua at
Among
the best examples
on the other hand,
are the
Century frescoes of Santa Maria An-
Rome. Their powerful,
figures are
static
compactly arranged within the composition; they face directly forward, lines
The main
and are sharply delineated
with most subtleties of features omitted.
great
works of Early Byzantine
are mainly those preserved
stantinople—at Ravenna,
Mount
art that re-
far
Sinai,
elsewhere in Europe. Undoubtedly they style
from Con-
Rome and reflect the
and quality of similar works that must have
once existed in the all
in
capital. Unfortunately,
Early Byzantine art in
almost
Constantinople was de-
stroyed during the iconoclastic controversy that
swept the empire between 726 and 843. This great religious dispute, as we have seen, centered on the icon (Greek for "image"), which in
art still in existence.
What
The
cious possession of the monastery of St. Catherine
dark
and silverwork, there are
in these
and
their lifelike
Century wooden panel of
and the
this fusion of the classical
style.
high quality of the classical strain, on the one
tury mosaics in Sant' Apollinare
until the early Eighth Century.
the
either a continuation of pure
Byzantine ivory carvings and silverwork produced
took over from classical art
142
works
embody
Barberini ivory and
seems
to
the
hold true for most
Byzantine
art
is
any representation, small or
large,
of a holy person that attempts to convey the in-
dividual's sanctity or worthiness. Icons were in
many
made
media; they appear as often in Byzantine
church frescoes and mosaics as they do
form
in the
of small panel paintings.
Early in Byzantine history icons became firmly
Seventh Century to the
practice of icon-worship,
garded as
When
the late
in
militant opposition developed
a
which many
ing
the iconoclasts gained ascendancy in 726,
them from churches and destroying in
Na-
the
as taking place
compositions of more complex scenes
were repeated almost were rendered
in the
for line
line
whether they
Eighth Century or the 12th.
employed certain
In addition, Byzantine artists
compositional devices to concentrate the attention
they enforced their opposition to icons by remov-
books
be recognizable by distinctive
was almost invariably shown
in a cave; the
re-
dangerous form of idolatry.
a
the saints had to
over the years. Each one of
features, such as his hair, cloak or beard; tivity
entrenched in everyday worship. But
much
not change very
religious
which they appeared. Furthermore, they
was
of the viewer. Perspective figures
most
largely ignored.
The
directly involved in the subject of the
scene— for example, Christ and John the Baptist the depiction
the
of
Baptism— were made
in
larger
insisted that only Christian symbolic art (a simple
than the auxiliary figures, such as angels, regard-
representation of the Cross, for example) or purely
less of position.
decorative
art,
such as patterns of
be used
foliage,
Furthermore, the scene was usually
purged of any deep or naturalistic landscape,
for the walls of
churches and the pages of manu-
neutral gold background taking
scripts. In 843,
however, the champions of icons
effect
brought iconoclasm to an end.
an even more prominent role it
calculated:
it
to the picture's surface,
and sanctioned, the icon came
Justified
was
in
Byzantine
to
play
surface,
art
than
place.
its
The
place.
a
total
drew immediate attention and
to the center of that
where the most important event was taking
did before the iconoclastic controversy, particu-
In addition to the iconographic traditions of in-
during the Middle Byzantine period of the
dividual portraits and Biblical scenes, there evolved
larly
late
Ninth
to early
13th Centuries. First of
icon gave Byzantine art that has
become known
Greek word
for "sacred."
its
as
"hieratic,"
The
icon
the
all,
distinctive style,
one
from the
demanded con-
centration on the essential to the exclusion of the
was the sanc-
less
important and the extraneous.
tity
or worthiness of a holy figure that
portant; his
Thus
human
qualities
was im-
were de-emphasized.
iconic portraits ignored the actual physical
characteristics of the
and
It
solidity,
human form such
as
its
mass
and played down human emotions
in
the faces. For this reason the bodies of figures in
Middle Byzantine
art
seem two-dimensional,
al-
still
a
another distinctive feature of Byzantine
interior. Individual
show
resented
was
rigidly prescribed
by
tradition
and did
such
a
way
as to
the hierarchy of
God was
Church
placed in the
doctrine.
dome
of
the church, the highest and most celestial point.
Below Him,
in order
importance,
of
ranked the
angels, scenes of the major events in the Life of Christ, the Apostles, prophets and, finally, in the
lowest places, the saints.
scheme or cycle of
bland, countenances. rep-
in
Thus, the Son of
in
was
in
clearly the relative importance of the figures
and scenes
preserved a subject
mosaics or frescoes were placed
around the walls of the church
most weightless, and they possess calm, almost
Second, the manner in which
art:
system or order of decoration for an entire church
Constantinople in
the
Although no complete
this hierarchical order itself,
a
remains
magnificent example
Church of Hosios Loukas
is
in
Greece (page 101). All the
main developments
of this iconographic 143
emerged and attained
art
full
strength during the
period— works of
art
were fewer and
many
less varied
century following the iconoclastic controversy, but
than in
not simultaneously. Standardized representations
perfection and originality of Middle Byzantine cre-
and scenes, along with the hierar-
of holy figures chical order of
church decoration, appeared
The
the late Ninth Century.
typical
Middle Byzantine
hieratic qualities of
first in
abstract
or
style did not
make their appearance until the mid-lOth Century. The earliest works of Middle Byzantine church seem
art
have been modeled on works of Justin-
to
on those Sixth Century
particularly
ian's reign,
works showing the
strain— for example,
classical
the mosaics in Ravenna's Sant' Apollinare
Nuovo.
In the early 10th Century, during the rule of
Con-
stantine VII Porphyrogenitus, the classical strain
was further duced
purified to the extent that the art pro-
in his time represents a renaissance of an-
tique style. This highly classical art continued
on
into the late years of the 10th Century, but mainly in
such secular works as ivory jewel caskets.
exquisite example
is
the Veroli casket,
Victoria and Albert
Museum,
in
now
An
in the
which the sub-
ations.
earlier ages; in
But the highest
maintained in
fresco
in
reasons of
for
were
standards
artistic
and
mosaics
which— largely
cases they lacked the
paintings
economy— virtually
replaced mosaics in church decoration as the Late
Byzantine period progressed. Unlike the Church art of
earlier periods, that of
Late Byzantine times became infused with a ness of style, and artists
pletely
no longer on the
its
felt
liveli-
subject matter broadened:
constrained to dwell so com-
essentials of a subject; secondary fig-
ures crept into the scenes of the Life of Christ; the
Death of the Virgin began tation of her soul to
to include the transpor-
Heaven amid
a host of attend-
ing angels. Figures in the scenes were no longer Christ, for example,
static.
action, literally pulling
The
was now depicted
Adam
out of Hell.
closing era of Byzantine art
saw
naturalism, but a naturalism of a
new
phasis was
now
in
a return to
kind.
Em-
placed on emotions rather than on
jects—scenes from mythology— as well as the style
mere physical forms— on Christ's Passion,
stem from
ample, and on the sorrow and tenderness of Mary.
From
classical antiquity.
the late 10th Century
greater part of church art
abstract style.
Thus most
manuscripts and works late
was
on,
however, the
in the sophisticated
of the religious ivories,
in precious metals of
the
10th to 12th Centuries display the elongated
figures,
bland features and intricate linearism of the
With
Both the purely naturalistic figures of
the conquest of Constantinople
were replaced by more humane and compel-
ling features.
Throughout
by the Cru-
artists
The production
ries, a
abruptly.
most
art
works seems
Illuminated
ever, continued to be
no interruption
thousand-year history Byzantine
its
art influenced the art of
saders in 1204, Byzantine art suffered a brief hiatus.
ceased
classical art
and the abstract, expressionless faces of the hieratic style
more
of
for ex-
Eastern and Western Eu-
rope, largely through the importation of Byzantine
hieratic convention.
144
tine
manuscripts,
made, and
in the
to
their style
Middle Byzantine
have
howshows
style of
and works of
art.
Never was
significant than in the 12th
this influence
and 13th Centu-
period that witnessed the widest diffusion
of Byzantine art.
To
this era
belong such mosaics
as those in the Cathedrals in Torcello near Venice
and
at
Monreale and Cefalu in
the previous three centuries. In 1261 a Byzantine
rious beginnings of
emperor once more resumed the throne, and from
Cavallini,
then until the mid-15th Century— the Late Byzan-
finest flowering of
the
Sicily.
The
glo-
Renaissance— the age of
Duccio and Giotto— rested largely on Byzantine
art.
this
A CHRIST IN MOSAIC
is
restored by careful hands,
which remove plaster that has hidden
it
for centuries.
TRADITIONS OF BEAUTY Over
the long centuries of Byzantium's
into place the tiny bits of glass
life,
the hands of creative artists pressed
and stone that form mosaics. The hands of others
carved exquisite ivories, painted frescoes, illuminated manuscripts, worked precious metals and to stimulate
wove
silks.
The mood
of their art
was
reverent; their intent
profound religious thought. The traditions they handed down
was
flour-
ished wherever the empire held sway: in Constantinople, Greece, the Balkans, aly, Syria,
Egypt. Today, in the finest of their surviving
only recently rediscovered behind the
dirt
works— some
of
It-
them
and plastered-over walls of venerable
churches— the techniques and achievements of these
artists still
evoke admiration. 145
AT NORMAL VIEWING DISTANCE. Shadrach, Meshach and Ahed-nego, the three holy children of the Bible, are seen in their fiery furnace.
mosaic, with
its
glittering gold
This
background,
is
Church of Hosios Loukas in Greece. Outfor mosaics were first made on the rough
in the
lines
wet
plaster, then the pieces
were pressed into
a layer of fine plaster to hold
IN
A CLOSE-UP VIEW of one
them
in
place.
figure, the indi-
vidual colors used to create overall effects
become separately distinguishable. The outlined in dark stones, bits
of white
is
and pink marble and modeled
with greenish-gray pieces ows. Reds
face,
fleshed out with
and browns
to
suggest shad-
are
used
for
the
cloak and stylized hair. The golden pieces of the halo were leaf to the
made by annealing gold
bottom of clear
glass.
were baked into the glass when
Other colors it
was made.
SEEN CLOSER
STILL, the face
becomes an
intri-
cate pattern of tiny rectangles placed in orderly lines.
To make the
slabs of stone
up 146
pieces,
and colored
into cubes three eighths
side;
odd
sizes
were used
to
called
glass were
of an fill
tesserae,
broken
inch on a
awkward
spots.
GREAT MOSAICS FROM TINY STONES Mosaics, adorning the floors and walls of private villas
and imperial palaces, attaining monumental
imum
impact
the walls
as the curious
were Byzantium's transcendent work. Most of these
to the large
a
quick glance
at
some works might
men— not,
as
suggest, by
primitives baffled by problems in perspective. In-
dividuals and scenes
were designed
to
be clear,
simple and recognizable so they would have max-
seen from
a
and higher vaultings of
magnificence on the vaults and domes of churches,
mosaics were made by sophisticated
when
human
distance, as
on
church. Yet
a
eye comes closer and closer
and impassive mosaic eye,
all
manner
of subtle touches are revealed: a gentle modeling
achieved by curving the lines of the stone;
a gra-
dation of color attained by using stones of different hues; a glittering
background enhanced by
setting the cubes at different angles
to
the light.
EARl\ BYZANTltiE:
A
Sixth Century Christ
is
SUBTLE SHIFTS
rendered as a living, three-dimensional man.
IN
STYLE
MIDDLE BYZANTINE:
Most Byzantine mosaics,
An
11th Century Christ
particularly
centuries, were executed in a
is
those of the middle
manner known
as hieratic,
mean-
ing holy or sacred— a formalized, almost rigid, style designed
not so
much
to picture
men and
events as to inspire reverence
and meditation. One tradition ordained that "a nine heads" (modern proportions 148
make
a
man
man measure about seven
reduced
'H't
to
Hat,
LATE BYZANTINE
almost abstract patterns.
heads
tall);
A
13th Lentury Lhnst
that his hairline rise a nose's length
forehead; and that
"if
the
man
is
above
many for
other rules was as strong on the artist as the priest to
much
the
his
naked, four noses' lengths
are needed for half his width." Pressure to preserve these
on the
15
and
demand
guard unaltered the canon of the Mass, and
same reason: both men were keeping the sacred
natural again, hut
now shows
a
new depth and compassion.
mysteries. Nevertheless,
many
place during the long
of the hieratic school.
life
how
Byzantine
activity,
from the
seen above demonstrate a
thousand years of
Greece and finally to a
subtle changes in style took
artists
The examples
moved, during
classical influences of
Rome through the asceticism of new and more deeply moving kind
the
East,
and
of naturalism. 149
SEVENTH CENTURY WAX
ON WOOD
12TH CENTURY ENAMEL,
NOW
PANEL,
IN VENICE
MT
SINAI
lOTH CENTURY l\ORV
MADE
IN
CONSTAMIXOPLE
13TH CENTURY FRESCO. YUGOSLAVIA
UNCHANGING PRECEPTS FOR PORTRAITURE were required by
Artists
the
Church and
the state— to
instantly recognizable to of this policy
was
human
ardized
their
clients— primarily
make
a portraiture that
pictures
their
One
beholders.
all
used
result
stand-
a
which was applied the
face to
dis-
tinguishing features for each Biblical personality.
Thus, over the centuries
Peter
St.
was always de-
picted wearing a rounded white beard, St. John the
Baptist a scraggly one; St. Paul
and
St.
Demetrios clad
was always bald
in a suit of mail. Color, too,
was prescribed. Christ was
to
wear blue and gold
before the Crucifixion and purple and gold after the Resurrection; the Blessed Virgin in blue
and purple,
St. Peter in
ten these rules were ignored
was
to
be clothed
gold and beige. Of-
by the
they remained, violable only by
artist,
but rules
men who had
established their artistic worth in obeying
When working
for the
Church,
artists
first
them.
were also
re-
quired to base their representations on approved authorities: an earlier
image believed
to
be of heavUTH CENTLR> MObAle CONSTANTINOPLE
enly origin, a description of the scene by a contem-
porary witness, or
a
passage from Holy Scripture.
THE FACE OF ST PETER was represented
many ways
(left),
from
in
and
profiles in glass
mosaic to frescoes. But his distinguishing features remained virtually unchanged: curly hair,
a forelock and a rounded white beard.
ST JOHN THE BAPTIST
IS
the
cetic in three depictions.
shown
same desert
At
the top
he
asis
in his role as baptizer; in the center as
a saint to be venerated. In the bottom scene
he
is
an intercessor at the Last Judgment. UTH CENTURY (RLSCO CONSTANTINOPll
THE BARBERINI PLAQUE,
classical in style,
is
named
for a family that once
owned
it.
ARTISTRY IN IVORY The Byzantines'
love of luxury
many superb objects— altar
is
evident in the
furnishings, jewel boxes,
plaques, triptychs— that they carved from elephant
tusks and walrus teeth. Since the supply of ivory
depended on trade with kings, this
India, Africa
was an expensive
times of great prosperity.
art,
Many
and the Vi-
flourishing only in THE HARBAVILLE TRIPTYCH, also named artistic influences for
played upon
it.
The Sixth Century plaque above,
which celebrates an emperor's triumph,
is
descend-
ed in style from the imperial art of ancient
Rome,
while the equally exquisite 10th Century triptych at
the right, religious in theme,
appropriate 152
and
more
formal
is
executed in the
hieratic
manner.
ter
former owners, shows
in
its
cen-
panel an enthroned Christ, flanked
by Mary and
St.
the Apostles.
The side panels depict
^^T*
warrior saints and other holy figures.
^^^
John, above five of
153
i
^31^1 ^j^J ^^K^^^S^^3 '>a#P^^^^|
"^t
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w"-
^v*"* ,-.v'
..^^^^^^^1
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^HlMlB'
%^^4^^H
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«r^. ^^^^^^T^»_i^rv
^^B
^^HKl
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'^v.
rji^i*—
^.''jk
jMi ^^l^^^nj
lH^' F--
f
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•
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f" )&^ '*
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'
ILLUMINATIONS ROMANTIC The
scribes
who
wrote Byzantium's precious man-
uscripts and the artists
who
practicing a highly developed
illustrated
The manuscripts
art.
were of two general types. In one,
them were
Psalms
now
stricter.
were interspersed with full-page illustrations that had only a casual relation to the
in
more
text.
The
Bible,
artists
could follow their imaginations or
borrow from the
rich stores of pre-Christian art.
In the painting at the
left,
A COMPOSER AT WORK. David Strums
from
a
famous Book of
in Paris, this
freedom
is
reflected in
ures surrounding David as he composes his psalms.
A
from the
SEVERE
the use of an idyllic landscape and allegorical fig-
text pages, usual-
ly
AND
turgical
Church-dictated approach
literal
miniatures from
book used
lesson from the
in the
life
a
is
seen below
synaxarion, a
Mass, which offers
li-
a daily
of that day's saint. Here, in
keeping with the illumination's religious use, the spare, severe style
demands
the viewer's attention.
his
lyre in a fanciful pastoral scene (left)
while Melodia. the personification
Music,
looks
over
his
Echo peeks from behind a Seated below
is
of
shoulder and
column.
a pagan mountain god.
PROCLAIMING THE FAPrH. sacred
figures
are seen in two illuminated miniatures
of hieratic style. In the top one, Christ
reads from the
Book of
Isaiah
before
the synagogue at Nazareth. Below, St
Eumenius, Bishop of Gortyna, barkens to the Lord,
whose commanding hand
enters the picture from the upper
left.
155
V-^
MASTERWORKS N FRESCO The St.
^^^^i
Church of
glorious frescoes of the
Clement, in the Yugoslavian town of
Ohrid, have only recently been restored
through the
to their original brilliance
moval of
six centuries of dirt.
The
re-
figures
and half dome of the sanc-
in the apse
who
tuary are dominated by the Virgin,
stands above a double Connmunion scene
showing Christ giving bread on the and wine on the of fathers
right.
the
of
Below
left
are portraits
Orthodox Church
in
bishops' robes; on the sides of the arch are
heads of Old Testament figures. Fresco painting, in which pigments are applied directly to the wet wall plaster,
was practiced
in
Byzantium mainly
after
the 10th Century, often as a less expensive substitute for mosaics. But frescoes such
Clement are
as those in St.
bargain-rate
far
more than
For one thing, the artists
art.
9^\^
were no longer anonymous servants of the Church, but
names
chael in this these artists vices, they
men who
signed
their
works (Eutychius and Mi-
to their
case).
Moreover, although
some hieratic made good use of
retained also
dethe
spontaneity that fresco painting allowed
and established many best work, such as here,
compares
local
the
in quality
paintings of Pompeii
styles.
frescoes
Their
shown
with the wall
and some of the
mural masterworks of the Renaissance. 156
/
i
^I^S
1
lie ^Mm
1 H
Ik
M¥ 1^ Jm ak^ fi ^i J 1
t
ft.
ri^
^^>>^
V
\
bi-i
\N #;>< f
c v"-*^
••^^j _
\ /
'^
/'
W
'0
.
J'
^1
"'"'w
^f^
f^
m iHl^^v '^mii i.
^''
%j0
\'^P^-'r;'
.'#•'<
':\
-^•_
\*
SMALLER TREASURES Along with
its
major works, Byzan-
brilliance in
tium gleamed with highly polished minor en cups and
embroidered tapestries and jects
gold-
Some
fine enamels.
ob-
were reserved for imperial use. But there was
much lit
arts:
gem-encrusted jewelry,
silver spoons,
for sale to the public
windows
and
at night the taper-
workshops
of the imperial
in
Constan-
tinople glittered with precious things to entice buyers.
The
violence of Byzantine history— including
two thorough spared is
A SOLID SILVER PLATE, made
in
Constantinople
Century, shows David meeting Saul. diers invaded
Cyprus
A SILKEN TAPESTRY time,
in
sol-
648 and was not unearthed again until 1902.
depicts
Mary
of this art.
Constantinople itself—
of
Where
often thanks to the Crusader
it
has survived,
who
it
carried these
the early Seventh
was buried when Arab
listening to the angel
who
tells
treasures off as spoils of war, or to the terrified
Byzantine
who
buried them to prevent their theft.
her
Mother of God. Silk making began in Justinian's with silkworm eggs smuggled from China by ingenious monks.
that she will be the
158
in
It
little
pillages
A JEWELED RELIQUARY
(right)
shows Christ
at
its
center,
surrounded
by Mary, John the Baptist and the Apostles. Taken as war booty from the imperial treasury
in
1204,
it is
now
in a
German
cathedral.
m<'Jii*
•fe^ -J
6lamiHlMiLii Ki'
iii^JMie
W
'f
That
intelligent
Byzantine philosopher and chron-
saw no
the 11th Century, Michael Psellus,
icler of
signs of decline in the nation during his lifetime,
though he found much
He deplored members of
to disparage.
the excessive expenditures of the later the
Macedonian imperial house, who vied with one
another
building increasingly extravagant me-
in
"The
morials to their reign.
was
imperial treasury
opened up and the gold kept there was allowed pour forth
8
like a river,
to
he wrote, and added that
"
uncontrolled spending could be disastrous for the
He
fortunes of the state.
power between
conflict for
THE FINAL CENTURIES
the civil aristocracy of
and the great landed
the capital
dangerous
also described a
nobility.
Although
he did not suggest that forces of disintegration
were
work, Byzantium was already moving
at
ward
downfall. Psellus perceived
its
some
to-
of the
causes, but without realizing that they might be-
come
fatal.
The
doom
chief factors that brought
after
Byzantium
to its
more than 1,000 years were the continu-
power within the empire, and
ing struggles for
gradual alterations in the social structure that had
bound
classes of society to the country.
all
There
were also external forces that helped bring about the downfall.
trade,
tition in
drop
One
was the West's compe-
of these
which
led eventually
to a
severe
Byzantine commerce. Another was the
in
in-
creasingly frequent clashes between the Western
Church
at
Rome and
stantinople,
which
the Eastern
in the
empire's disadvantage.
Moslem Turks.
It
Church
at
Con-
long run worked to the
And
finally, there
was Turkish power
were the
that in the
end erased Constantinople as both an independent and
a
Christian power; even before that, the pres-
ence of the Turks exacerbated the ever-mounting crises of
Byzantium.
In the middle of the 11th Century,
was evident.
Macedonian dynasty
with the leadership of the army, con-
tended for power. At nated. But in 1081 BEStECINC CONSTANTTINOPLE, tents outside the city in 1453.
Mehmet Us Turkish army
ertcamps in gay
in 1056, the
and the large landown-
civil nobility of the capital
allied
this
Inside Byzantium, in the years follow-
ing the end of the
ers,
none of
the civil nobility domi-
first
Alexius
in attaining the throne,
and
Comnenus succeeded
his success
marked the
While some soldiers aim cannons at the walls,
others drag ships overland into the Golden Horn.
The French
artist
who
painted this scene in 1455 gave the city the look of a Gothic fortress.
triumph of the landowners and the army.
The
reigns of Alexius
Comnenus
(1081-1118), 161
son John
his
Manuel was
a
and
(1118-1143),
grandson
his
(1143-1180) spanned a century. Manuel
I
gifted
He dreamed tium
II
man— soldier,
might of Byzan-
of restoring the lost
just as Justinian
Roman
that of the
statesman, theologian.
had dreamed of restoring
Empire, and like Justinian he
launched attacks on Italy
though without
itself,
sustained success. Strongly attracted to the cus-
Robert Guiscard, the energetic leader of the Nor-
the Byzantine court
many
and appointed Latins
positions of influence in the state.
among
stimulating ferment of ideas tines,
Though
West produced
revived contact with the
this
to
a
the Byzan-
Manuel's reckless extravagance and the ex-
pense of his military enterprises brought the state the verge of bankruptcy. As the tax burden on
to
many
the peasantry mounted,
were forced
to sell their
farms
small landholders to the increasingly
powerful semifeudal magnates. reign of the
come from the
power
Comnenus
was during the
It
family,
which
had
itself
the ranks of the landed nobility, that of the
landowning aristocracy grew
the point where, with increasing independence,
could oppose the central authority of the
At the same
time, pressure
the empire increased.
From
ward the West had been
to it
state.
from forces outside
the 10th Century on-
stirred
by the sight of
Byzantine brocades, onyx cups, miniatures,
reli-
quaries studded with jewels, and magnificent works
now planned
Guiscard
adventurers had occupied
possessions to
in
southern
conquer the
Italy.
rest of the
empire and seize the imperial crown for himself.
To counter
Norman
the
nenus, conscious of the weakness of his
and naval
Owing
Com-
aggression, Alexius
own
to the assistance of
Venice and the for-
tuitous death of Guiscard at the height of the
man
Norman advance was
the
attack,
land
sought help from the Venetians.
forces,
checked.
But the price the Venetians demanded for
was the concession
Nor-
their aid
of extensive trading privileges
throughout the empire. This naturally provoked
among the other Italian maritime repubMore important, it meant that a Western pow-
jealousy lics.
er
had obtained
empire
a vital trading foothold within the
As
itself.
Alexius' successors
pend more and more on the use of
came
to
de-
Italian ships for
Byzantium's defense, trading concessions had
to
be granted to the Genoese and the Pisans as well. Constantinople's grip on trade was weakened, and the rich tolls
on which the imperial exchequer had
so heavily relied soon dwindled into insignificance.
The commercial inroads companied by
of the Italians were ac-
worsening of the relations
a steady
between the two Christian Churches. Some of the points of disagreement in this long dispute were
purely theological
(e.g.,
whether the Holy
Spirit
in gold or
enamel; such objects had
been circulated
proceeded only from the Father, as the Orthodox
by
and Jewish merchants through the cas-
Christians maintained, or from both the Father and
tles
Italian
and
of the
cloisters of
France and England, the burgs
Rhine and the palaces of
Italy.
had been added Byzantium's own tural
To
this traffic
political
and
cul-
propaganda, in the form of lavish and mag-
the Son, as creed).
it
was
stated in the
Other disputes were
political.
The crowning
by the Pope
of
in the year
amended Latin
political,
Charlemagne
or as
quasi-
emperor
800 had been taken
at
nificent gifts to foreigners, all providing evidence
Constantinople as a deliberate attack on the uni-
of unlimited wealth and splendor.
versal status
Many
a
Western
ruler
was tempted by the
lure
of Constantinople. In the 11th Century, the most
dangerous of these rulers 162
the Byzantine
all
toms of the West, he introduced chivalric practices to
Norman
mans. By 1071,
to
the Byzantines
was
and authority of the Byzantine em-
peror. In the 11th
press
its
claims
to
Century the papacy began
to
universal spiritual authority,
asserting that the Byzantine
Church too should be
Roman
subject to the
Rome and
See's divinely chosen primacy.
Constantinople also competed for
risdictional rights over various peoples
ju-
newly con-
was
in control of
an empire that stretched from
northeastern Persia to the Punjab. overlordship
among
On
his death,
Turks who had
the
settled in
verted to Christianity. In the Ninth Century they
the realm of the caliph passed into the Seljuk fam-
argued over, and ultimately hindered the missions
ily.
and
Cyril
St.
of,
A
Central Europe.
Methodius
St.
Moravia
in
in
similar dispute concerning Bul-
Ninth Century, was resolved
garia, also in the
favor of Constantinople only
when
in
the Byzantines
The Turks continued
from the caliph but also the
autonomous Bulgarian archbishopric. And
The
was
Byzantine
in
southern Italy that was
territories in
one of the immediate causes of the schism between the
Churches
The
Rome and
of
deterioration of relations between the two
fluence on the final
As
fall
early as the Sixth
been
in contact
Byzantium
of
to the Turks.
Century the Byzantines had
with the empire the Turks had
established in Central Asia. In later centuries, as
Turkish
were forced
tribes
contacts increased. fact married
Two
to
move westward,
Byzantine emperors had
princesses
of
one of
tribes— the cultivated Khazars, to
Judaism
these
who had
in
Turkish
the
converted
city surrendered
caliph bestowed the
Khorezm,
seat
without
a
of
the
struggle,
of sultan
title
caliphate.
and the
and temporal
control over his domains to the Seljuk chieftain,
while he himself retained religious control.
Meanwhile, other Turkish
Constantinople in 1054.
halves of Christendom eventually had a direct in-
territory of
lying east of the Caspian Sea. In 1055 the Seljuks
marched on Baghdad, the
it
ruler
Tugrul had conquered not only the whole of Persia
agreed to allow the Bulgarians to establish a semi-
the question of jurisdictional rights over dioceses
conquests and by
their
Century the Seljuk
the middle of the 11th
warriors
had been
The Byzantines were Romanus IV Diogenes de-
raiding Byzantine territories.
alarmed, and Emperor
cided to advance against them.
Turkish armies,
led
The Byzantine and
by Tugrul's successor. Alp
Arslan, met at Manzikert in August 1071. In a batof far-reaching consequences for
tle
for the world,
Emperor was taken
the
Alp Arslan was vantage.
He
Europe and
the Byzantines were defeated
and
prisoner.
lenient
and did not press
released the
Emperor on
his ad-
fairly
easy
after their migration to the area north
terms and turned back to complete his conquest
had sup-
of Syria. But the southern and eastern borders of
Other Turkish
of the Black Sea.
plied contingents of mercenaries
tribes to
both the By-
who empire from Baghdad. Many of
the Byzantine empire were
now
virtually defense-
zantine emperor and the Arab caliph,
ruled
less,
his theocratic
these
ons had been sharpened. These barons— they bore
mercenaries stayed on to settle within the borders of the Byzantine
Christians or It
and the Arab empires, becoming
Moslems
was the Turks
who
first
central
became
power
of
living in the lands of the caliph
a threat to
Byzantium, for as the
in this area declined, the
power of the Turks increased. The
Turk
to build
up
a
ni.
Moslem
first
powerful state was
legendary prince by the
name
of
title
of ghazi, or warrior for the faith, and ob-
served a semimystical discipline developed in the
10th and 11th Centuries— were professional raiders
accordingly.
Baghdad
the
and the appetites of the Turkish border bar-
Mahmud
By the beginning of the 11th Century
a
of
half-
Ghaz-
Mahmud
and
fighters.
Encountering
little
or no opposition,
they penetrated into Byzantine territory, and settled the areas into
which they advanced. Often the
Christians fled before
and
lands
villages unoccupied.
By ers
them, leaving their
the end of the 11th Century, the ghazi raid-
had overrun the greater part of Anatolia, and 163
^^^4
BLACK SEA
Ani 1065
icomedia
Manzikert
1337
1071
X^icaea
A
1329
J
X Angora
Bruia
1402
X Caesarea 1067
ANATOLIA (Asia Minor)
COLLAPSE OF THE EMPIRE I
Territories lost
I
by 1092
lost
by 1350
^H
Territories lost
by 1402
^^M
Territories lost
by 1453
EB3i Territories
Some important
X
Miles
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
battlefields
only a few coastal districts remained in Byzantine hands.
The Seljuk Turks themselves were alarmed growing independence and power
at the ghazis'
and sought
to organize
When
kingdom.
this
them
into a single Islamic
had been done,
the early
in
Pope Gregory VII
Church
Hugh, Abbot of Cluny. "The
to
of the Orient
is
moving further from
Catholic faith, and the devil, having killed itually,
causes
its
by the sword of
members
the
spir-
to perish in the flesh
henchmen
his
it
lest at
any time
di-
years of the 12th Century, the boundary between
vine grace bring them to a better mind." In this
Byzantine and Turkish lands was fixed along
spirit the
rough
line
districts lia,
which
and the
left
fertile valleys of
and the Turks
One
most
of the
a
the empire with the coastal
western Anato-
in control of the
land, with their capital at
whole hinter-
Konya.
fateful repercussions of the
zantine defeat at Manzikert was that the
West
As
the victorious Seljuks
to the precarious position of
went on
it
By-
aroused
Byzantium.
to capture
ened.
The
idea of a crusade to liberate the holy
places of Palestine began to
papacy, anxious to
Byzantium
to
expand
grow— and its
the
Roman
power, looked also
as a land to be "saved."
In the decades following 1054 the Turkish
umphs as a
in Asia
Minor were interpreted by Rome
form of divine retribution upon the Byzan-
tines for the
schism that became formal that year.
"Great pain and universal sorrow obsess me," wrote
could view the return of territories
jurisdiction as a victory over the
croaching darkness,
while
was seen
key
as the vital
to
to papal
West's secular rulers were no the
itself
dominion over
The
tempted than
less
Pope by the prize of Byzantium.
In 1095 at the Council of Clermont,
Pope Ur-
A
year later
ban a
papal
powers of en-
Constantinople
Eastern Europe, Russia and the Near East.
II
exhorted the West to action.
disorganized rabble of Crusaders led by Peter
the
Hermit managed
were easily later
tri-
Roman Church
any of Byzantium's imperial
the
Holy Land from the Arabs, Western alarm height-
164
100
came
to reach Anatolia,
killed off real
and other stock.
by the Turks.
A
where they few months
armies led by nobles of
A
Norman
few of the leaders were moti-
vated by religious zeal, but more were driven by a spirit of
adventure and a
lust for gain.
The By-
zantines exacted a promise from the Crusaders that
any former Byzantine
cities
recaptured from the
200
X
rADINC PHASES OF THE EMPIRE are shown
shades of green. The disastrous
in
defeat at Manzikert in eastern Anatolia (1071) cost Byzantium most of Asia
Minor and tmarkt'd
left
b\j
the Balkans
and Greece open
to
gradual Turkish adi>ances
other battles and dates). Constantinople
Turks should be returned
itself
tioch after
it
1453.
in
to Constantinople's rule.
The condition was honored other places. But the
fell
for
Nicaea and certain
Norman army
restoration of a deposed
was captured. Bohemund, son of
that
throne.
made him-
master of Antioch and refused to hand set
up other
Jerusalem and Tripoli. But
sa,
and
II,
in
it
in
asserted his rights as
1137 the Emperor, ruler
of Antioch,
1144 the Moslems recaptured Edessa.
In 1147, the
Second Crusade was
Germany and King victories over the
West
signs of the
through more the
Norman
Louis VII of France.
Moslems, but the
against
It
to
emperor
The Emperor Alexius V Ducas Mourtzouphos fled lest, as
Senator Nicetas Choniates
of their fellow Christians the classic fate of losers.
de-
show
midst of the Crusade,
Behind him,
his people suffered at the
Churches, palaces, monasteries and
and
The good women
clerics alike.
tium were hard put
to
save their virtue.
was placed upon the throne
Holy
set forth.
a
It
later the
failed to regain
Jerusalem— but again
was made against Constantinople,
threat
time by the
German
king.
the
Third Crusade
During
a
this
dispute with
the Byzantine Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa ac-
made
tually ordered that preparations be
attack on
the
Frederick's
At
last
city,
for
an
but the Emperor yielded to
demands and
in 1203, the
the threat
was
averted.
Fourth Crusade, originally
dispatched for Egypt and the Holy Land, was actually diverted to Constantinople.
The
was engineered by the Venetians. The
diversion
elderly doge
of Venice, Enrico Dandolo, hated the Byzantines:
30 years
earlier,
while being held as a hostage in
Constantinople, he had been blinded by the Greeks
through exposure
to a
concave mirror which strong-
ly reflected the sun's rays.
Apart from motives of
revenge, Dandolo coveted the economic advantages
where frenzied
the city, destroying
A
prosti-
which the
to
ta-
their loot.
swept
of the accumulated art
city,
subject of narratives over
sol-
of Byzan-
this furious rapine fire
much
as
Hagia Sophia
gambled with
treasure of nine centuries.
"Oh,
by
were turned into dicing
soldiers
Three times during
rose in lament:
in
drunken masses
victors danced. Altars bles
Moslems recaptured Jerusalem,
and two years
City,
seriously considered
itself.
libraries,
of the poor, were indiscriminately sacked diers
hands
and the hovels
well as the fine villas of the rich
set to singing
In 1187 the
he
sert."
tute
moment
us,
tells
into the teeth of the Latins as a tidbit or des-
and
of France at one
was taken
by the Crusaders and pillaged mercilessly.
Corfu and, landing on the Greek,
is
manner
all
of chicanery— was that in 1204 the city
mainland, captured Thebes and Corinth. King Lou-
seizing Constantinople
com-
net result, after a succession of
events— battles, betrayals and
of
contingent suddenly seized the Byzan-
tine island of
was the Byzantine
to the
by
won no
political
Byzantium began
clearly. In the
III
The
plicated
"fall
called forth
Bernard of Clairvaux and led by Conrad
St.
over.
principalities at Edes-
Byzantium's cortquest.
ostensible excuse for the diversion
An-
The Crusaders John
The
from
retained
old anti-Byzantinist, Robert Guiscard, self
Venice would gain
The
voice of
city,
eye of
all
Nicetas
all
cities,
the world, spectacle
above the world, supporter of churches, leader of faith,
guide of orthodoxy, protector of education,
abode of the
cup
good!
all
Thou
hast drunk to the dregs
of the anger of the Lord and hast been
which
visited with fire fiercer than that
in
days of
yore descended upon the five cities."
What was was carted er of the
and
off.
No
fire
or
vandalism
one, wrote Villehardouin, a lead-
Crusaders, could possibly count the gold
silver,
silks,
not destroyed by
the plate and jewels,
the mantles of squirrel
fur,
the
samite and
ermine and mini-
ver found by the Westerners; not since the world
was created was so much contained
The
treasure
was taken
off
in a single city.
and has since
filtered 165
to all corners of
town
scure
of
Europe. Today one goes to the ob-
Limburg on Lahn
in
Germany
to in-
to
Constantinople, the
northwest corner of Anatolia and
a belt stretching
spect a Byzantine reliquary, to Venice to see By-
across the center of the Balkans. Italians, particu-
zantine chalices and gold vessels and to other cities
larly
for other treasures.
As
the Genoese,
trade. Latin lords
members
the empire collapsed,
Byzantine court managed
of the former
to establish
themselves
dominated
still
ern Anatolia; on the southeast shores of the Black
crippled,
Sea and in Epirus, on the western coast of the
machinery
authority of the central government was
and the workings of the administrative
now
largely
depended on the coopera-
Balkan peninsula. The remainder of the empire
tion of the virtually independent
was partitioned among Venice and the Latin
local governors.
them the
entire Eastern trade,
colonies along the coast and
European
lands. In the
number up
proved unable
by
turn).
The Black Death,
empire
were
a
set
Emhow-
of the Latin
Latin conquerers,
to retain their gains.
The
local
population grew increasingly restive as the hated
Roman Church was win and
upon them, and Bald-
forced
his successors
had
difficulty
keeping their
Meanwhile, one of the three Byzantine kingdoms, Nicaea, was becoming more and more powerful. In July 1261, the Nicaean ruler, Michael Palaeologus,
succeeded in capturing Constantinople. sisted
by Genoa, Venice's
trade.
The
Latin-installed
rival
for
He was
its
little
it
the final
history under the founder of
its
last
as events proved, its longest-lived— dynasty,
the Palaeologus.
were
Eastern
the
together with the Venetian trader-colonists.
phase of
pire
as-
emperor and patriarch
The Byzantine empire now entered on —and,
A
crippled and sadly reduced
was; the two
brilliant
off
his father-in-law, son
final
intellectually
more than years
centuries,
and
em-
though they
artistically,
were
of rear-guard actions against
overwhelming odds. The empire Michael Palaeolo-
in
striking in 1347, carried
almost two thirds of Constantinople's popula-
tion.
By
the end of the 14th Century the residents
of the city
numbered only about 100,000— one
population two
its
and grandson
grew
short,
vanished.
centuries
earlier.
the splendor of the Byzantine
"The
court
jewels in the crowns were glass,
not real cloth-of-gold
the robes
sixth
As money
dishes copper, while
but
the
tinsel,
that appeared to be rich
all
brocade was only painted leather," wrote
vassals in check.
fled,
state (John V,
though he reigned for 50 years, was deposed three
territories of the
The
wars and dynas-
times,
is-
Baldwin of Flanders, who with
pire of Constantinople.
civil
weakened the
and they established
pomp was crowned emperor
ever,
Continuing
quarrels further
tic
landowners and
on many of the
of petty, semifeudal dependencies
in vassalage to
great
that insured
to
on the Greek mainland and
the islands.
The
princes.
empire's
the
and Venetian traders managed
retain their holdings
in three separate principalities, at Nicaea, in west-
The Venetians acquired concessions
166
gus regained was confined
a
con-
temporary observer.
Most ominous been built up
in
of
all,
a
new Turkish power had
northwestern Anatolia, ready
to
break into Europe. This was the Ottoman emirate.
Although the
initially
subjects of the Seljuk empire,
Ottoman Turks had won
as the Seljuk
pact of the
mans gained
their
independence
empire disintegrated under the im-
Mongol
invasions. In 1301
a first victory
the Otto-
over the Byzantines
Baphaeum, between Nicaea and Nicomedia.
at
In 1326
Brusa was captured, then Nicaea in 1329 and Ni-
comedia
in 1337. In
the Dardanelles
1356 Ottoman troops crossed
and invaded Europe. By 1362 they
were masters of western Thrace, and established their capital
at
in
1365 they
Adrianople. In
1387
Salonika
Kossovo
The Turks defeated
fell.
in 1389,
and
Peloponnese. By 1397 zantines
was the
area north of
Peloponnese.
it,
was
that
all
city of
Serbs
the
at
1394 they ravaged the
in
left
to the
Constantinople and
some
as well as
a
territory
By-
small
in
the
The Turks then enveloped Constantiits surrender. The city was advance of the Mongols under Tam-
nople and demanded
saved by the
who met and
erlane,
Ankara
at
defeated the
Ottoman
forces
breathing space
a
now
for Constanti-
among
nople. Dynastic quarrels broke out
the Ot-
tomans. They might have provided an opportunity for the Byzantines to recoup
some
of their losses.
But they could not do so without Western ance, and the condition for that
assist-
was submission
Over about
the years attempts had been
a reconciliation
made
to bring
between the two Christian
Churches. Michael VIII Palaeologus had committed his people to
Lyons
by
union with
Rome
at the
Andronicus
II.
In 1369, the Emperor,
John V, had personally submitted
to the
Pope
in
But the majority of the clergy and people
were too loyal of
Council of
only to have the union repudiated
in 1274,
his son,
Italy.
making
to the
Orthodox Church
think
to
theological concessions for political ends,
and memories of the Fourth Crusade had
left
them
understandably suspicious of Latin motives. "Better the Sultan's
turban than the Cardinal's hat "—a
slogan attributed to Lucas Notaras, Byzantium's last
Grand Admiral
of the Fleet— expressed the pop-
and
Ferrara and
first at
at Florence.
After endless debate
union be-
a declaration of
tween the Orthodox and Latin Churches was signed in 1439.
Though some
Orthodox representa-
of the
endorse the declaration, the Pope was
tives did not
encouraged.
And
the failure of a Turkish attempt to
another crusade against the Turks. led
was
It
to
be
by King Vladislav of Poland and Hungary.
Troops recruited by the Pope
commanded by
a
the
in
West were
papal legate. Cardinal Julian Ce-
sarini. In 1444, the
crusading force reached Varna,
on the shores of the Black Sea, and was attacked
In 1413 the dynastic struggles
subsided with the accession of
1422 the Turks were again
stantinople.
A
a
among the Turks new sultan, and
at the walls of
Con-
revolt in Anatolia saved the situa-
tion this time, but the
Turkish army again ravaged
the Peloponnese. The Emperor, John VIII Palaeolo-
gus, decided to
King Vladislav and Cardinal Cesarini were In 1448, another this
last
make one more
effort to enlist
West-
to
It
was
the final
support the dying empire. The
years of Byzantium had come.
new
In 1451, a
Sultan,
Turkish throne and
at
Mehmet
To make
and magnitude of the
the strength
would not thwart the skill of a
inherited the
II,
once began preparation for
the capture of Constantinople.
ices
killed.
Hungarian force was defeated,
time on the plain of Kossovo.
Western attempt
city's
Mehmet
attack,
sure that walls
enlisted the
Hungarian engineer. Urban, whose serv-
had been turned down by the Byzantines be-
cause they could not afford to pay him. The engineer, offered every facility
sive
a
large
caliber,
smash
the mas-
The
largest
of
these
for its time: its barrel
meas-
of the walls.
monster
of
to
enough
to be big
masonry
cannon was
by the Turks, provided
army with cannon
the Sultan's
which were
ular attitude.
in
sentatives of the Latin Church,
then
of bishops
and met with repre-
by the Turks. The Crusaders were routed, and both
Rome.
to
number
theologians, he sailed to Italy
capture Belgrade in 1440 provoked him to preach
in July of 1402.
There was
ern aid. Taking with him a
ured 26 feet in length and
it
fired balls
weighing
1,200 pounds.
Mehmet
diligently trained his Janissaries.
troops were
made up
of
men born
These
to the Sultan's
Christian subjects. Every Christian family in Turk167
ish
dominions was forced
demanded by
child
were brought up
hand over any male
to
the Sultan's officials. schools,
in special
them were destined
and most of guard
for the Sultan's
ments. They had their
own
The boys regi-
barracks, were forbid-
the next six weeks.
at
On
ish troops
April 18 a
was repulsed.
On
military fraternity, with ideals of service
and dedi-
combination of engineering and
The Turkish
cation similar to those of Western orders like the
Mehmet
took two years to complete his prepara-
On March 23, 1453, he set out from AdrianOn the fifth of April he arrived outside the
tions.
ople.
walls of
Constantinople, where the bulk of his
army had already taken up
The logus.
city
its
positions.
He had been crowned
at Mistra, in the Pelo-
at
Constantinople. That
city,
poverished, reduced, was virtually of his empire. There aid,
resi-
weakened, im-
all
that
was
left
was scant prospect of foreign
though toward the end the Pope dispatched
three galleys filled with
arms and food, which
ar-
had previously
boom
a
prodigious
tactical
surprise.
break
tried to
stretched across the en-
trance to the Horn, but had been beaten back by the handful of Christian ships
guarding
defeat had humiliated the Sultan.
an Italian bility of
was ruled by Constantine XI Palaeo-
ponnese, and shortly afterward had taken up
dence
fleet
through the floating
Templars.
Not day,
April 22, however, the
Sultan captured the Golden Horn by
and constituted an
all
by Turk-
assault
first
religious-
to marry,
heroic.
night they succeeded in repairing the breaches
in the walls.
elite,
den
It
was probably
camp who suggested
in his
The
it.
the possi-
hauling the ships overland from the Bos-
porus and insinuating them into the Horn behind its
defenses. In Italy, the Venetians had recently
dragged an entire
fleet
over the
flat
terrain
that
separated the River Po from Lake Garda. But never before had this been done on ground where
all
of
the ridges were at least 200 feet above sea level.
Mehmet was
Nevertheless,
ample men and material
weeks
determined, and he had
command.
at his
more than
took
It
mile of roadway
rived in time to be of use. After prolonged debate,
several
Venice sent two transports, and
between the Bosporus and the Horn. Then, on
15 galleys,
later
but these ships did not leave Venice until after the siege
was well under way, and they never did
reach Constantinople.
Constantine a force
ants.
rallied to the
comprising
all
defense of the capital
the city's able-bodied inhabit-
But of these 5,000 Byzantines and 2,000
military men. tian
The
were professional
the Sultan's
final
prep-
cannon
continuous volleys
fired
Horn and
black
the
at the
smoke
to hide
bil-
the
ac-
tivities there.
At dawn
the following
day
command
sion began.
More than 70
of the Turkish ships in
latter
under the
Giovanni Giustiniani Longo. The
for casting stones, but they
of his can-
into action. Five days later, the great
continued with hardly
fantastic proces-
and
to shore.
Teams
bows and squads
of oxen were harnessed of
men
helped push and
pull along the sides. Slowly the vessels creaked
faced a force at least 80,000 strong.
April 6 the Sultan brought some
a
the Bosporus had been tied to wheeled cradles
to the
It
pace as thou-
divert the attention of the Christians,
lowed up the Bosporus, helping
dragged
ment began.
To
entrance to the
muskets and mangonels
On
a frantic
sands of laborers were drafted into the
defenders were well armed with javelins, arrows,
non
a
foreigners were mostly Vene-
and Genoese, the
of the brilliant
for-
to lay
work assumed
April 21, the
arations.
eigners, only a small proportion
168
The defense was
only did the defenders keep ceaseless watch
a
over the ridges, to the eerie accompaniment of
bombard-
and drums. In each galley the
pause for
hoisted, ready for sea,
sails
and the oarsmen
up
fifes
were fully sat at their
CONQUEROR OF CONSTANTINOPLE, allowed his soldiers
made
then reimposed order,
man empire and
the Turkish Sultan
Mehmet II He
to pillage for the custorrtarx/ three days.
new
the city the
turned a number of
capital of the Otto-
churches into mosques.
its
silver
and gold and precious stones,
dens,
its
fighting for
Paradise.
its
fine gar-
and young men. Those who died
girls
would enter
Faith
the
Those who
lived
into
directly
would have the
tradition-
three days to pillage the city.
al
Inside Constantinople
on that same day
solemn
a
procession was held. Icons, the bones of saints and
golden and jeweled crosses were borne round the city's walls.
Soldiery and populace were blessed.
Afterward, the Emperor addressed his ers
and chief
was upon them,
trial
be ready to
He
citizens.
told
them
It
places and pulled their oars through the air to a
beat given by officers sight of
this
who paced
monstrous
the slopes and
numbed Constantinople's
into
down
lumbering
flotilla
slithering
The
alongside.
Golden Horn
the
The
defenders.
city's
long
and vulnerable stretch of walls lining the Horn was no longer safe from capital
by land and
attack.
Having surrounded the
sea, the
Turks
in early
May
again attacked a section of the landward walls,
still
was now evening. All who could
be spared from the defenses and
move
must
that, like himself, they
and that with God's help they
die,
might triumph.
able to
command-
that the great
who were
still
repaired to the great church of Hagia
Sophia. Patriarch and cardinal. Orthodox and Latin clergy.
Emperor and nobles,
and Catalans— all
Greeks, Italians
what was
be the
to
and
soldiers
citizens,
took
part
Christian service
last
in
be
to
held in the church that for so long had stood as the
symbol and heart of Byzantium's sacred Chris-
tian empire.
When
the service
was over, each man
returned to his post. Giustiniani and his men,
and Greeks,
Italians
only to be repulsed twice by the desperate valor of
took up their positions between the inner and outer
the Byzantines.
walls opposite the
On May
25
the
Sultan made
would spare the
a
proposal
for
head of the
weak spot from which the spearattack was expected. As they passed
on condition that an
through the inner walls, the gates were locked be-
annual tribute be paid; alternatively, the citizens
hind them, making retreat impossible. Later that
peace: he
city
could have free passage to safety
if
they gave up
the city. Both offers were rejected.
tion.
The Turks, discouraged because week to
seven-
their
siege had not yet succeeded, almost decided
withdraw. But after
a
pause the assault was
re-
newed. Toward dusk on the 29th the Sultan addressed his ministers and his
army
leaders.
He
minded them of the sacred prophecies
that
Faithful should take the city; he spoke to
them
its
treasures,
its
palaces,
its
night the Emperor
churches
filled
re-
the of
with
Then he
made
too took
his final tour of inspec-
up
his station.
Shortly before 2 a.m. the assault began. clash of cymbals, the shrill notes of
back.
wave It
of
Turks attacked, only
seemed
But by mistake left
open
To
the
the cries
and the thunder of cannon, wave
of the soldiers after
fifes,
that the city a
to be
beaten
might again be saved.
small gate— a sally-port— had been
in the outer walls.
Some Turks found
it
and entered. Then Giustiniani was wounded, and 169
although the Emperor begged him not
to leave his
down
to a
Genoese troops
left
post he was carried from the field and
Genoese
Many
ship.
of
his
when Constantinople was
poses been terminated
sacked during the Fourth Crusade. But Byzantium
had
set the seal of its civilization
own
whole
the
with him. Outside the walls the Sultan noticed the
Balkan world. In
confusion, and once more he ordered his Janis-
threnes of the Greek ballad-makers, in the
This time they were successful.
saries to charge.
They
way over
forced their
reached the inner wall.
A
the outer wall and
Turkish
flag
was flown
from one of the towers, and the cry went up that the city
was
lost.
Constantine XI Palaeologus, the
Byzantine emperors,
last of the
knew
that the end
from him, he flung himself into
his royal insignia
its
lands
it
survived in the
mem-
ory and ritual of the Orthodox Church, in the pa-
devotion of village priest or
tient
monk from
Holy Mountain of Athos. Some 400 years 1821, the Greeks were to rise once
Turkish overlords and
their
One Orthodox kept
the in
later,
more against
to lay the foundations
modern Greek kingdom.
of the
had come. Dismounting from his horse and casting
Christian
however,
state,
still
independence. The conquering Sultan had
its
many ways
the thick of the advancing Janissaries, never to be
scarcely given a thought to Russia, in
seen again.
the principal heir to the historical mission of By-
That afternoon the Sultan made
his entry, es-
corted by his bodyguard of Janissaries.
day
pillage permitted
ready under way.
The
three-
by Islamic tradition was
When
al-
he reached the gates of
Hagia Sophia the Sultan dismounted, stooped down
which he
let fall
on
his
act of humiliation before the
him
up
threshold and scooped
the
at
earth,
a
turbaned head as an
God who had brought
victory. Later he entered the deserted halls
and
As he
gazed about him he murmured the words of Persian poet:
"The
a
spider weaves the curtains in
the palace of the Caesars; the owl
zantium.
watches
calls the
in Afrasiab's towers."
It
was
Byzantium that Russia owed
to
served.
Though
Emperor had
the sacred
fallen, the
the
fall
tium had ceased heir to
to exist as a
political
Byzan-
entity.
As
and preserver of the cultural tradition of
the ancient
Greco-Roman world, and
Dynastically the claim could be supported by the fact that Ivan
III
of
Moscow had
grew out
of the Renaissance,
filled its historical role. Its
Byzantium had
mission as
ful-
an Orthodox
Christian state, inspired by the vision of uniting all
mankind
into a single
human
protection of the Cross, had to
all
society under the intents
and pur-
married Prin-
cess Sophia of the Palaeologus house. But, as with
Byzantium
what was more important than
itself,
a
dynastic link was the force of the idea, of the mysvision of a sacred Christian society under the
tical
rule of a single semidivine emperor. This led
to
the assumption by the Russian ruler of the impe-
Byzantine
tine
title
of "Autocrat"; to the modeling
ceremony on the Byzan-
example; and to the adoption by the Russians
of the double-headed eagle of the house of Palaeologus.
The
as the bridge
between that world and the modern world that
its
Russia by inheritance.
rial
of the Byzantine capital,
Orthodox empire and
mission of both went to
of the Russian coronation
With
its
conversion to Christianity. This faith Russia pre-
handful of
galleries of the half-ruined imperial palace.
170
on
historical
implementation of the idea of the
theocratic state— inherited
Christian form by 1918.
On
las
and
at
II,
from Rome and given
Byzantium— lasted
until July 16,
that night, the last Russian Czar, his family,
Ekaterinburg— and
tine political heritage
a
Nicho-
were killed by the Bolsheviks after 1,600 years the
had come
to
an end.
Byzan-
THE DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE, emblem of Byzantium,
flies
over a monastery on the Creek island of Patmos.
STRONGHOLDS OF BYZANTIUM The Byzantine
tradition lives
on today
in
Orthodox monasteries scattered
far
and
wide throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Originally these monasteries were built like fortresses
and situated
in
inaccessible places—on islands,
taintops and in the desert— in order to protect pirates.
on moun-
them from the attacks of Arab
Crusaders and marauding Turks. In recent centuries, however,
lation has served to protect the religious
modern world. Immune imperial flag (above), time, in true
Roman
to change,
this iso-
communities from the inroads of the
Orthodox monks
still
remember Byzantine emperors
in
paint icons, display the their prayers,
and
tell
fashion, not by clocks but by the elevation of the sun. 171
^-;-.>,
^fi%0-s
4STV.^^
IV Wi^
^^ -^ .V-.
-»-
-i'-*-
'^
-^^
•^^. i
><^,
^
A
RELIGIOUS OASIS
One
of the world's
the foot of
Mount
first
Sinai
.,
/
monasteries, St. Catherine's,
lies
on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, where
at it
has functioned for 1,400 years as a remote outpost of By172
zantine Orthodoxy. Built by the Emperor Justinian in the Sixth
i
'^rr
^"^
'M/
^>>^
'"*
*^f
r^/:'^"
*^r,
^.^4^^!x'
^ 4A«*
^ P
«'
^ »*
>•'•:
Century,
St.
Catherine's was designed to house pilgrims
came from every corner
of
Christendom
place where Moses, according to the the
Ten Commandments from God.
to
worship
Old Testament, St.
at
who the
received
Catherine's original
walls
still
Justinian
stand. Descendants of the Bedouin servants first
attached to St. Catherine's
still
work
whom for the
monks, and modern scholars study illuminated manuscripts that
were presented centuries ago as
gifts
from the throne.
Ef?r r— 'if
I-:.
,«^.-
~
'-'
^.C*?i^
HOLY MOUNTAINS After
its
Third Century beginnings in Egypt, mo-
nasticism spread over
of Byzantium:
all
by the
men lived as began when a her-
Eighth Century tens of thousands of
monks.
A
monastery usually
mit, living in a cave or a a
band of pious
mountain hut, attracted
followers,
who
eventually organ-
ized into formal communities such as those at
Me-
teora in the plains of central Greece (above) or at
Mount Athos la in
(right). Isolated
on
a
narrow peninsu-
the Aegean, the 20 monasteries
mitages of
Mount Athos continue
and 200 her-
to function
un-
der the provisions of ancient imperial charters and the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. 174
AN AERIAL RETREAT,
the
monastery
of
Roussanou
at
Meteora on the Greek mainland.
(left),
crowns a
hilltop
Once such places could be reached when monks lowered ladders or
only
nets;
CLIFF
now
steps
DWELLINGS
lead
to
(rig /if;, the
the peaks.
caves and
huts of hermits, dot the southern tip of Athos peninsula in Greece. mits,
who were
the
Her-
first religious in-
habitants of Athos, started coming to the peninsula in the Ninth Century.
THE GREAT LA VRA. oldest monastery on Mount Athos, was founded in 963 A.D. on the site of a temple to the Greek goddess Athena.
The Great Lavra defended attackers.
Today
its
itself
with cannon more than once against
rambling galleries and
cells
house 80 monks. 175
-(
M.
lA.
A HERITAGE OF WORK AND PRAYER "Think much and Basil, the
the
father of
Orthodox monk
tive ideal
pouse
of
talk
Httle,
"
still
pursues
the
three
even though
(left),
a
brother of
a
vows
the
Greek word
for "holy."
Mount
Almost every
has an assigned job; some are black-
smiths, tailors or artists, while others farm,
fashion religious objects or repair buildings.
A SILENT
MOMENT during monk reads
occurs as a
John's Monastery on
the day's activities his breviary at St.
Patmos
Island.
Emperor Alexius donated the island monastery
400 years
in 1088.
later,
Patmos and
When
is
and of
Constantinople
hundreds of refugees
The
for the fell
fled to
settled close to St. John's xoalls.
all
from the in
sale of their handicrafts, almost
stark cells and eat
Obedience
their walls.
are
daily schedule
profound, for profits
frugal
of
is
and then
To women
fasting,
within
meditating and
pray-
through the night;
never stop praying except
for
ensure
cultivated by a rigorous
ing. In fact, prayers are said all
many men
dwell
all
meals.
chastity, most monasteries forbid
es-
poverty,
few brothers may keep the
Athos carves a wooden vase inscribed with
monk
contempla-
Most monks
chastity and obedience. Poverty
WORK
this
simple, unquestioning faith
a
Saint
Byzantine monasticism, and
16 centuries ago.
pledged to uphold
DEEP IN
instructed
no more than two hours
to at
sleep— a
time.
^
iiiiiiiiinTTiT;]?
%
-'-'
i
'V^/ '
yr^% 1H l-t-, J *.i><^
-
^^
^u
/
^4
\
f
V
ii-
i ^.,1*>
^HtfH
M ^-
/
LIVING
%-^.,
WITH THE PAST
^.J-
Life is
on Mount Athos, the
a total
asteries ical
178
capital of Byzantine n\onasticism,
and intentional anachronism. None of the mon-
was
3
built after the 16th Century; the
habits" date from the imperial age.
monks' "angel-
When
the
members
j:.'
.
-f
M'
b.
V
V
of theDionysiou monastery eat (above), they
zantine murals of saints and martyrs and
er read a traditional lesson against gluttony.
drink traces back to an even more
sit
beneath By-
listen to a broth-
The wine they
remote, mythical time: Di-
onysus himself, the Greek god of wine, supposedly planted the monastery's vineyard. So avidly do the monks hold to their past that
even
now
in
formal letters they
call their estab-
lishments "the Imperial Monasteries of the Holy Mountain.
"
179
.^'iT
-.r
A CONTINUING CALL TO During the
last
50 years the fortunes of
Athos have entered upon 1,500
monks
asteries
a
Mount
steep decline.
inhabit the community's several
now, one-fifth of the number who
thus at the turn of the century. Before World 3,500
monks came from Russia
Moreover, every year fewer recruits come
Only
from Greece, Romania and Bulgaria. But
mon-
of
lived
has experienced lean times before and gone on to
War
I
alone, but today the
Russian monastery numbers only about 30 survi180
vors.
PIETY
Byzantium,"
prosper. ties.
As
as the
monks
call
the world wearies of
Orthodox monks hope the
its
this
"Ark
Mount Athos,
own
complexi-
disillusioned will
return to the simple virtues of their holy faith.
«?^^
A CHARNEL HOUSE at Athos shelters the bones of former mortks. Because burial space
is
scarce, bones are
three years
and
exhumed
after
piled here. Biographies of
some brothers are written on
their skulls.
monk
strikes a
ANNOUNCING PRAYERS,
a
mallet against a long
wooden gong,
or
semantron, as he crosses a monastery courtyard at Athos. Semantrons are holdovers from a time
when
bells did not exist
APPENDIX
AD
CROSSROAD CIVILIZATIONS BETWEEN EAST AND WEST The chart
at right
is
designed to
show
the
duration of the Byzantine empire, and to relate
it
to others in the
"Crossroad" group
of cultures that are considered in one jor
group of volumes of
chart
is
excerpted from
this series. a
maThis
comprehensive
world chronology which appears in the introductory booklet to the series.!
Com-
parison of the chart seen here with the
world chronology will enable the reader to relate the crossroad civilizations to
impor>.
tant cultures in other parts of the world.
On
the following pages
ical listing
is
a
chronolog-
of important events that took
place in the period covered by this book.
183
"
CHRONOLOGY: A
becomes
listing of significant events
emperor of the Roman Empire
during the Byzantine empire
324
Constantine
3Z5
First
330
Constantinople, the
614
Jerusalem
337
Constantine the Great dies
626
Constantinople
361
The Harbor
635
Arab conquest
363
Treaty with Persians results in loss of the empire's Armenian lands and
638
Jerusalem
641
Arabs begin
649
The Arabs'
668
Emperor Constans
668
Constantine IV becomes emperor
1
sole
Ecumenical Council
in the
new capital
of Julian
is
610
called at Nicaea
is
Empire,
is
dedicated
constructed at Constantinople
much
of those
Mesopotamian region
Ambrose becomes Bishop
374
St.
378
The Aqueduct
379
Theodosius
390
The
395
Arcadius becomes emperor
of Valcns
is
of Milan
completed
in the center of
Constantinople
begins his 16-year rule, establishing the Theodosian Dynasty
I
obelisk of Theodosius
is
erected in the
Hippodrome
400
404
St.
John Chrysostom Hagia Sophia
Theodosius
II
is
is
exiled because of his criticism of
captured by the Persians is
their
first
Arabs begin
Carthage, the
attacked by the Avars
of Persia
falls to
673
447
The
sacked by Alaric the Visigoth
walls of Constantinople are
455
Rome
463
The monastery
474
Zeno marries Ariadne, daughter
476
The
last
triple walls is
begun under Theodosius
II
damaged by earthquake
sacked by the Vandals of St. John of Stoudion
is
founded
Leo the Wise, and begins his rule
of
Western Emperor, Romulus Augustulus,
the imperial office in the
Anastasius
I
717
is
begun
the Arabs under Caliph
Omar
I
conquest of Egypt
naval expedition goes to sea against Byzantium II is
murdered
their first attack last
bath at Syracuse by a
in his
member
of his entourage
on Constantinople
Byzantine stronghold in Africa,
falls to
the Arabs
Arabs begin another siege of Constantinople, but are defeated by the emperor -general Leo
Rome
is
in the resulting
C.726
Construction of Constantinople's
is
Empress Eudoxia;
succeeds Arcadius
410
West comes
to
is
an end
III,
The
who
reigns thereafter for 24 years
iconoclastic controversy begins
victorious over the Arabs at Poitiers
732
Charles Martel
750
The Umayyad Caliphate
751
Ravenna
is
captured by the Lombards, and the Byzantine exarchate comes to an end
762
Baghdad
is
founded by the Caliph
780
Constantine VI becomes emperor
787
Seventh and
deposed by Odovar the Ostrogoth, and
797
marries the Empress Ariadne, becomes emperor and reigns for 27 years
is
last
collapses and
el
is
succeeded by the Abbasid Caliphate
Mansur
Ecumenical Council recognized by the Eastern Church meets
and condemns
hostility to icons as heresy
The
ambitious Irene, mother of Constantine VII, blinds her
politically
own son
in
to
Nicaea
become
sole ruler, calling herself "emperor
800
500
son of an lllyrian peasant, lakes the Byzantine throne
518
Justin
525
Antioch
527
Justinian,
I,
destroyed by earthquake
is
nephew
of Justin
I,
becomes emperor and reigns
Theodora; Constantinople reaches 527
The Church
529
The Code
532
Hagia Sophia and other buildings the St.
Nika
of Saints Sergius
of Justinian
riots;
is
its
cultural
and Bacchus
is
for 38 years with his wife,
and economic zenith
erected
adopted as the basis of Byzantine law
construction
is
in
Constantinople are severely damaged by
begun on present Hagia Sophia; underground
fire
during
cistern
Justin
578
Tiberius
II
800
The
802
Palace revolution deposes Irene and proclaims Nicephorus emperor
Constantine, adopted son of Justin
Gregory the Great becomes pope
in
Rome
V
West
is
revived by the coronation of Charlemagne
Armenian ascends the throne
813
Leo
The second phase of
the iconoclast synod takes place in Constantinople
820
Phrygian Michael
succeeds the murdered Leo
829
Reign of Theophilus begins and coincides with period of Muslim culture's greatest
842
The
the
influence
ascends the throne as emperor I
imperial office in the
815
and
Savior in Chora are built
565
590
is
697
burned
413
491
hero in wars
700
riots,
408
a military
against the Persians
Roman
of the
Heraclius begins his rule of 31 years, distinguishes himself as
II
V on Christmas
on Byzantium
iconoclastic controversy
comes
to
an end; Constantinople enjoys a renaissance of
the arts II
and the Empress Sophia, becomes emperor
860
The Russians make
867
Basil
I
their first attack
on the Byzantine
founds the Macedonian Dynasty
capital
and are repulsed
'900
1200
MM
Arabs trin ThfMalonici. ihr Mcond gmtctt city oi thr empirr
1201
The Fourth Crusade begins
913
Th« rmpcTor-tchoiar. Conslantin«
1204
Constantinople
927
Pcacr Ircily achieved between Bulgar5 ami Byiantium
941
Russians
944
Threatening battle forces of Russia's Prince Igor leads to commercial treaty
make surpnse
VII Pof phyragmilu*. b«gin» his rvign
attack and lay waste to Asiatic shore of Bosporus tviih ihe
1204
Theodore
1222
lohn
Russians
94>
Romanus
Russian Princess Olga
one of Byzantium
I.
Nicephorus
John
97e
The
I
s greatest rulers, dies in exile as a
monk
1261
III
becomes the
Lascaris
I
Dukas Vatazrs marries
first
of the
Irene,
Creek emperors
daughter of Theodore
Empress Theophano.
to the
1274
Tzimisces becomes emperor by marrying Theodora, sister of
last great ruler in the
Macedonian Dynasty.
Basil
conquers the Bulgarian kingdom and annexes
Basil
1025
Basil dies
11,
Romanus
C.I290
II
ascends the throne
St.
Savior in Chora
Ihe
Church
is
Roman
of the Blessed Virgin in
1^46
Cenoese take the important trading center of Chios
1064
Hungarians occupy Belgrade
1349
The Tower
1067
Turks storm Caesarea
1354
The Ottoman Turks
1071
Byzantium
St.
the
and the heroic age of Byzantium
Savior Panlrpopte
is
overcome by the 5el|uk Turks
is
Normans and
in
Hagia Sophia
at the Battle of
Manzikert: Bari
is
is lost
Comnenus becomes emperor, establishing the Comneni Dynasty
1061
The imperial court moves
1096
The
1099
The Kingdom
First
concluded
the last Byzantine stroi\ghold in southern Italy
Alexius
I
is
and mosaics are restored
built
1091
Crusade
is
newly enlarged Blachemae Palace
to the
captured by
of Jerusalem
is
of Calata
is
added to
is
1359
Ottoman Turks invade
The Serbian empire
1391
Manuel
1393
begin, diminishing the Byzantine empire
other cities to become masters of Asia Minor
built in Constantinople
lo the walls of
falls to
the
Turks
Constantinople at Ihe Battle of
Kossovo
begins his 34-year reign
II
Bulgarian Empire subjugated by the Ottomans
who
hold thai country for Ihe subsequent
500 years
estabbshed by the Crusaders
1397
Constantinople
is
attacked by the
Ottoman Sultan Bayazid
1400
by Timur
Ankara
11 II
Byzantines grant important trading rights lo Pisans
1402
The Turks
1120
The monastery
1422
Constantinople
1425
lohn VIII becomes emperor and rules for 23 years
1430
Ottoman
I43S
The Council
of Si Savior Panioiraior
is
founded
Th* Second Crusade begins
1
149
Byzantines, aided by Vertetians. retake Corfu from
I
ISO
The walls
of
Manuel
I
Vcnetijm throughout the empire
IM
The Serbian mortarchy
1
lt5
AndroniiuM
I
is
is
is
are arrested
and
established by Stephen
tortured to death
The second Bulgarian empire Jerusalem
Normans
are built lo enclose the Blacherrue Palace
I
197
Chapel
takeCallipoli
13S9
launched
^1100
1199
12
its territories
The Byzantine Church breaks with Rome
1
for
Pammakaristo*
The Turks capture Nicaea and
IIM
and rules
faith
Ottoman Turkish conquests
1171
Lascaris,
restored and mosaics installed, the Parecclesion
1329
47
I
Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII comrs to terms with Pope Cregory X. acknowledging
1300
1 1
Nlcaea
1300
1017
1054
of
of Nicaea
Michael VIII Palaeoktgus takes Constantinople from Lalin control and establishes the
papal primacy and the
II
1000
C.102S
Comnenus founds
Creek empire
dynasty of the Palaeologi
feted at imperial court
is
Phocas gains the throne through his marriage
II
widow of Romanus 969
captured by troop* of the Fourth Crusade. Alemus
years
957
9U
is
the stale of Trebirond. and Theodore Lascaris establishes the
IS
founded
captured by Saladin
The Third Crasaden launched
is
attacked by
at the Battle of
Ottoman Sultan Murad
II
forces capture Salonika of Ferrara attempts to
end the
religious
schism between East and West in
hopes that Christian union might save Ihe empire
their properties confiscated
Nemania
are defeated
unsuccessfully besieged by the Turks
1440
Belgrade
1449
Constanlme XI Dtagaset.
1452
The Turks
1453
Constantinople
is
last of
the Byzantine emperors, begins his four year reign
build the fortress Remeli Hisar. closing the Bosporus lo Christian invaders is
By/..nl,r,r,mpn,
besieged by
Mehmel
II
and
at last falls lo the
Turks, ending the
These books were selected during the preparation of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ume
for their interest
and authority, and
An
asterisk (*) marks works available in both hard-cover and paperback editions; a dagger (f) indicates availability only in
this vol-
for their usefulness
paperback.
readers seeking additional information on specific points.
to
ART AND ARCHITECTURE
Downey,
Glanville, Constantinople in the
Age
of Justinian.
University
of
Oklahoma
Press, 1960.
Ainalov, D. V., The Hellenistic Origins of Rutgers University Press, 1961.
Byzantium.
Transl.
by
S.
X.
B.
Hartley.
Beckwith, John, The Art of Constantinople. Phaidon, 1961. Bihalji-Merin, Oto, Byzantine Frescoes and Icons in Yugoslavia. Abrams, 1958.
Modern
Ravenna Mosaics. New York Graphic Society, 1956. tChatzidakis, Manolis and Andre Grabar, Byzantine and Early Medieval Painting. Compass, 1966. tConstable, W. G., The Painters' Workshop. Beacon Paperbacks, 1963. Demus, Otto, Byzantine Mosaic Decoration. Kegan Paul Trench Trubner, London, 1947. Demus, Otto, and Ernst Diez, Byzantine Mosaics in Greece. Harvard University Press, Bovini, Giuseppe,
1931.
ed.,
G.
P.
Putnam,
An Aesthetic Approach
Byzantine Art. Batsford, 1964. Morey, C. R., Christian Art. W. W. Norton, 1958. Rice, David Talbot, v4rf of the Byzantine Era. Frederick A. Praeger, 1963. Rice, David Talbot, The Art of Byzantium. Henry N. Abrams, 1959. Rice, David Talbot, Masterpieces of Byzantine Art. Aldine, 1958. Simpson's History of Early Christian, Byzantine and Romanesque Architecture, Vol. Michelis, P. A.,
tHitti, Philip K.,
J.
H., History of
Western Civilization. Macmillan, 1962.
The History of the Arabs.
St. Martin's, 1963.
tHussey, John M., The Byzantine World. Harper Torchbooks, 1961. tLemerle, Paul, A History of Byzantium. Walker, 1964. Liddell, Robert, Byzantium and Istanbul. Lawrence Verry, 1958. Lindsay, Jack, Byzantium into Europe. Humanities, 1952. Ostrogorsky, George, History of the Byzantine State. Transl. by Joan Hussey. Rutgers B.
Dewing. Loeb Classical Library,
1961.
'Procopius, Secret History. Transl. by Richard Atwater. University of 1961.
1963. to
vols.
Library, 1966.
Hayes, Carleton
University Press, 1957. Procopius, History of the Wars. 7 vols. Transl. by H.
Grabar, Andre, Byzantine Painting. Skira, 1953. Krautheimer, Richard, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture. Penguin, 1965.
Larousse Encyclopedia of Byzantine and Medieval Art. Rene Huyghe,
Dvornick, Frances, The Slavs in European History. Rutgers University Press, 1962. Every, George, The Byzantine Patriarchate. Seabury, 1962. Gibbon, Edward, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: 80 A.D.-395 A.D. 3
Michigan
Press,
David Talbot, The Byzantines. Thames & Hudson, 1962. David Talbot, and W. Swaan, Constantinople, from Byzantium to Istanbul. Stein Day, 1965. Rice, David Talbot, Dark Ages. Thames & Hudson, 1965. *Runciman, Steven, A History of the Crusades. 3 vols. Cambridge University Press, Rice,
Rice,
&
II.
Longmans, 1962. tThompson, Daniel V., The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting. Dover, 1957. Volbach, W. F., and Max Hirmer, Early Christian Art: The Late Roman and Byzantine Empires from the Third to the Seventh Century. Henry N. Abrams, 1962. Weitzmann, Kurt, Greek Mythology in Byzantine Art. Princeton University Press, 1951. Cecil Stewart, ed.,
1954.
'Runciman, Steven, Byzantine Civilization. St. Martin's, 1966. Runciman, Steven, The Fall of Constantinople, 1453. Cambridge 1965. Stewart, Cecil, Byzantine Legacy. G. Allen
History the A. A., of University of Wisconsin Press, 1964.
tVasiliev,
GEOGRAPHY
*White, Lynn,
Jr.,
&
University
Press,
Unwin, London, 1949. Byzantine
Empire:
324-1453.
Medieval Technology and Social Change. Oxford
at
the
2
vols.
Clarendon
Press, 1962.
Edward Whiting, ed.. Atlas of European History. Oxford University tMcEvedy, Colin, The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History. Penguin, 1961. *Fox,
Press,
1964.
Shepherd, William R., Historical Atlas. Barnes & Noble, 1964. Van Der Meer, F., and Christine Mohrmann, Atlas of the Early Christian World. Thomas Nelson, 1959.
GENERAL HISTORY Norman H., Byzantine Studies and Other Essays. Oxford University Press, 1960. Norman H., The Byzantine Empire. Oxford University Press, 1958. Norman H.,and Henry St. L. B. Moss, eds., Byzantium: An Introduction to East Roman Civilization. Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1962. fBury, ]. B., History of the Later Roman Empire, 1 vols. Dover, 1958. Baynes, Baynes,
tBaynes,
&
The Cambridge Medieval History, Vol.
Byzantine Empire.
University Press, 1957.
by Harold
Bell.
AND PHILOSOPHY
Cambridge University
Choukas, Michael, Black Angels of Athos. Stephen Daye, 1934. Diehl, Charles, Byzantine Empresses. Transl. by Harold Bell and Theresa de Kerpely. Alfred A. Knopf, 1963. Diehl, Charles, Byzantium, Greatness and Decline. Transl. by Naomi Walford. Rutgers Transl.
Publishing Company, 1940. Montross, Lynn, War through the Ages. Harper & Brothers, 1960. •Oman, Charles, A History of War in the Middle Ages. 2 vols. Burt Franklin, 1924. Payne-Gallway, Sir Ralph, The Crossbow. The Holland Press, London, 1964. Toy, Sidney, y4 History of Fortification from 3000 B.C. to A.D. 1700. William Heinemann, Ltd., London, 1955.
Russell, 1964.
Press, 1966.
Diehl, Charles, Byzantine Portraits.
Anderson, R. C, Oared Fighting Ships. Percival Marshall, London, 1962. Mitchell, Colonel William A., Outlines of the World's Military History. Military Service
RELIGION
Byron, Robert, Byzantine Achievement. Russell IV,
MILITARY HISTORY
Alfred
A.
Knopf, 1927.
Diehl, Charles, History of the Byzantine Empire. Transl. by George B. Ives. Princeton University Press, 1945.
tBenz, Ernst, The Eastern Orthodox Church: Its Thought and Life. Transl. by Richard and Clara Winston. Anchor, 1963. French, R. M., The Eastern Orthodox Church. Hutchinson's University Library, 1951. Sherrard, Philip, Constantinople: Iconography of a Sacred City. Oxford University Press, 1965.
Sherrard, Philip, /If/ios, the Mountain of Silence. Oxford University Press, 1960. fWare, Timothy, The Orthodox Church. Penguin, 1963. Zernov, Nicolas, Eastern Christendom: A Study and Development of the Orthodox Church. G. P. Putnam, 1961.
Eastern
ART INFORMATION AND PICTURE CREDITS The sources for the illustrations in this book are set forth below. Descriptive notes on the works of art are included. Credits for pictures positioned from left to right are separated
Cover— St. Demetrios, mosaic
mid— 11th
c.
detail
(Erich Lessing from
from the Church of Hosios Loukas, Phocis, Greece,
Magnum).
CHAPTER 1: 10— Shroud of St. Germain I'Auxerrois, silk, 9th c. Church of St. Eusebius, Auxerre, France (Eric Schaal). 15— Personifications of Rotne and Constantinople, ivory diptych, 5th c, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (Photo Emile). 17— Martyrdom of St. Domninus, manuscript illumination from the Menologion of Basil II, Vatican Ms. Grec. 1613, page 78, 979-984, Vatican Library, Rome (Dmitri Kessel). 19— Dream of Constantine and Battle of Milvian Bridge, detail of manuscript illumination from the Homilies of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Ms. grec. 510, folio 440, 867-886, Bibliotheque Nationale,
186
by semicolons, from top
names which follow a
to
bottom by dashes. Photographers'
descriptive note appear in parentheses.
Abbreviations include "c." for century and "ca." for
circa.
21— Justinian and his Court, mosaic from the Church of San Vitale, Ravenna, 526-547 (Dmitri Kessel): Manuscript page from introduction to the Code of fus(inian, Pandette c. 16, late 6th c, Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Florence, Italy. 22, 23 —Assumption of the Virgin Mary, manuscript illumination from the Sermons of James of Kokkinobaphos, Ms. grec. 1208, folio 3 verso, 12lh c, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (Courtesy Thames and Hudson, Ltd., London); Old fagade of St. Mark's, lunette mosaic from the Duomo di San Marco, Venice, Italy, 1260-1270 (Dmitri Kessel)— Bronze horses from the Duomo di San Marco, Venice, Italy, 4th-3rd c. B.C (Dmitri Kessel). 24, 25— Relics of the Passion in Constantinople's Churches, manuscript illumination from Le Paris. 20, Italy,
Livre des Merveilles,
Ms.
fran. 2810, folio 144, ca. 1410, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris;
II. tilver gill on l«trr gold bate. 5o5-578. Tetoro di S«n Pirlto. Vjlicjn, (Dmitri KmscI) 26. 27— Detail Irom the Death of St Ephraim the Syrian, panel painting by Emmanuel Tzanphoumaris of Crete, loth c Pinarotrca Valicana. Rome (Emmett Bright). Coreme. Turkey (Farrell Crehan from Photo Researchers) 28. 20— BapBulgarians, manuscript illumination of the from Bulgarian tism copy of the Chronicle of Constantme Manasses. Vatican Codex Slav 2. folio loJ verso. 1345. Vatican Library Rome (Courtesy Thames and Hudson Ltd London). Three Holy Children in the Fiery Furnace, fresco from Faras. Sudan. lOth-Ilth c Courtesy Prof. K Michalo%vsLi. Warsaw. Director of Polish Excavations at Faras (Dr Ceorg Cerster from Rapho Cuillumette)
Cro»sof lutlin
Rome
.
.
.
Pierponi Morgan 1917 117-Bezant of Emperor Constantine VII PorphyrogeniI tus.945. British Museum (IVrek Bayes) 119.I33-PhotO(|iaph* of Olympos. Greece (Constantine Mano* from Magnum) 120-Byzantine Imperial Eagle, manuscript illumination Gift of
from Sinai Codex Gr. 2123. folio 133 recto. lSth-l6th c Monastery of St Catherine Sinai. Egypt. Courtesy of the Mount Sinai Expeditions sponsored by the UniverMichigan. Princeton University and ihr Univritily of Alexandria (Fred Andeiegg) 122— Woman with Spindle manuscript illumination from the Buoik of loh, Ms giec 134. folio 184 verso. 13th c Bibliolh^ue Nationale. Paris (Eric Schaal) 129-Chrisl crowning Romanus and Eudoxia. ivory relief, ca 950, Cabinet de» MMailles. Biblioth^ue Nationale. .
Mount sity ol
.
Paris.
CHAmi
2: 30— Constantine presenting Constantinople to the Virgin, mosaic detail from Hagia Sophia. <)$o-<><>4 (Dmitri Kessel) 35— ReUquary casket (7). ivory rehef. ©th7th c. Cathedral Treasury of Trier. Germany (Foto. Museum of the Bishopric of Trier) 39— Clephane Horn, ivory, lOth-llth c Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. London. 41. 44-53— Drawings by Paul Hogarth. .
CHArnK
7: 134-Praglia Abbey. Padua. Italy (Emmett Bright) 137-Hymn of Casia from Codex Dalassenos. Codex Vindobensis Theologicus Grecus 181. folio 232 verso. 12lh c. Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek. Vienna, Austria-Art work by Nicholas Fasciano after Egon Wellesz. A History^ of Byzantine Music and Hymnography. Oxford Clarendon Press. 19e2 and H Tillyard. Handbook of the Middle Byranline Notation." Monumenia Musicae Byzantinae Suhndia,Vo\ \. itic I.Copenhagen. Levin and Munksgaard. 1935-Neume system by Edward Roesner after Wellesz and Tillyard 139-Drawings by Nicholas Fasciano after Cecil Stewart. Byzantine Legacy, London. George Allen & Unwin. Ltd 1947 142-Veroli Casket, gilded ivory panels. 10th c Victoria and Albert Museum. London 145— Pantocrator. Church of St Savior in Chora. Istanbul. 13001320 (Dmitri Kessel). 146-147— Three Holy Children in the Fiery Furnace, mosaic from the Church of Hosios Loukas. Phocis, Greece, mid-llth c. (Erich Lessing from Magnum) 148, 149— Christ Enthroned, mosaic detail from the Basilica of Sant Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna. Italy, early 6th c (Aldo Durazzi), Christ Enthroned, mosaic detail from the Zoe Panel in Hagia Sophia. 1028-42 (Dmitri Kessel): Christ Enthroned, mosaic detail from the Deesis Panel in Hagia Sophia, ca 1280 (Dmitri Kessel). 150— Detail of gold cemetery glass from the Catacombs. 4th c Vatican Library. Rome (Dmitri Kessel). Detail of mosaic from the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. Ravenna. Italy, early 5th c (Dmitri Kessel)— Detail of encaustic wax panel painting. 7th c Monastery of St. Catherine. Mount Sinai. Egypt |
CMAPTTR 3: 54— St. Georgc. steatite relief. 12th c. Treasury of Vatopedi. Mount Alhos. Greece (Dmitri Kessel) 63-73— Manuscript illuminations from the Chronicle of lohn Scylitzes. Matritensis graecus. Vitr 2e-2 (63— folio 156. 64. 65— folio 82 verso, folio 82— folio 84. folio 83 66. 67— folio 85 verso, folio 85: folio 86— folio 86 68— folio 87 verso— folio 87— folio 80 60— folio 80 verso— folio 80 verso— folio 102 70. 71— folio 99 verso— folio 100: folio 98 verso 72— folio 104 verso— folio 105 verso— folio 105 verso 73— Biblioteca Nacional. Madrid (Augusto folio 104 verso: folio 105—folio 102.) 14th c .
Mmnti)
CHArm
4: 74— Emperor John Cantacuzene and the Council of 1351. manuscript illumiiutton from the "Manuscript of Cantacuzene." Ms. grec. 1242. folio 5 verso, 1370-75 Bibliotheque Nationale. Paris (Eric Schaal) 76— Head of Nicephoras Phocas. manuscript illumination from the Chronicle of |ohn Scylitzes. Matritensis graecus. Vitr. 26-2. foUo 157 verso. 14th c. Biblioteca Nacional. Madrid (Augusto Meneses). 78— Empress Theodora, mosaic detail from the Church of San Vitale. Ravenna. Italy. 526-547 (Dmitri Kessel): Empress Zoe. mosaic detail from Hagia Sophia, 1028-1042 (Dmitri Kessel): Empress Irene, mosaic detail from Hagia Sophia, ca. 1118-1122 (Dmitri Kessel). 81— Crowning of David, manuscript illumination from the Paris Psalter, Ms grec. 139. folio 6 verso, early 10th c. Bibliotheque Nationale. Paris 83— Imperial cavalry, detail of manuscript illumination from the Chronicle of John Scylitzes. Matritensis graecus. Vitr. 26-2. folio 54 verso. 14th c. Biblioteca Nacional. Madrid (Augusto Meneses) 84— Cathedral Treasury of Troyes. France Mounted hunter, detail from ivory casket. 11th (Eddy Van der Veen)— Drawings by David Klein. 85— St. Demetrios. steatite relief. 12th c. Courtesy Marquis Hubert de Ganay. Paris (Sabine Weiss from Rapho Guillumette) —Drawings by David Klein 86— Drawings by David Klein. 87— Manuscript illuminations from the Book of Machines of War of Heron of Byzantium. Vatican Codex Grec. 1605 [folio 8 verso— folio 9 verso: folio 20 recto— folio 40 recto], mid-llth c. Vatican Library.
c
Rome. 88. 89— Manuscript illumination from the Book of Machines of War of Heron of Vatican Library. Byzantium. Vatican Codex Grec. 1605. folio 36 recto, mid-llth Rome: Drawing by David Klein based on a model in The Naval Museum, Piraeus, Greece. illumination from the Liber insuConstantinople. Florentine manuscript Map of 90-91— larum archipelafi of Cristoforo Buondelmonti. Ms. Cotton Vespasian A XIII. folio 36 verso, ca. 1422. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum, London: Drawing by Da-
c
vid Klein
CHATTEi 5: 92— Emperor Nicephoras Botaniates between St. John Chrysostom and the Archangel Michael, manuscript illumination from the Homilies of St. John Chrysostom. Ms grec. Coislin 79. folio 2 verso, ca. 1078. Bibliotheque Nationale. Paris. 95— Maitreya Buddha. Chinese bronze gilt statue. 477. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, Kennedy Fund, 1926 99— St Simeon Stylites. manuscript illumination from the Menolo$ion of Basil II, Vatican Ms Grec. 1613, page 2, 979-984, Vatican Library. Rome (Dmitri Kessel) 101, 104-109— Mosaics from the Church of Hosios Loukas, Phocis, Greece, midlllh c. (Erich Lessing from Magnum). 102. 103— Floor plan and elevation by Lowell Hess after R. W. Schultz and S. H Barnsley, The Monastery of St. Luke of Sliris in Phocis, London, Macmillan & Co. 110, 111— Pantocrator, mosaic detail from the dome of the Church of the Virgin, Daphni, Greece, late 11th c. (Erich Lessing from Magnum).
CHAmi ican lace
6: 112— Canticle of Moses, manuscript illumination from the Septuagint, VatCodex Grec. 752, folio 449 verso, 11th c, Vatican Library. Rome 115—Gold neckfrom the Cyprus Treasure, 6th-7th c. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
W
,
.
.
.
(Roger
Wood
Studio). Detail of ivory triptych, 10th c
,
Museo
Cristiano Vaticano,
Rome
(Emmett Bright)- Detail of the Pala d'Oro, cloisonne enamel plaque, 12th c, Duomo di San Marco. Venice. Italy (Emmett Bright). Detail of fresco by Eutychius and Michael, from the Church of St Clement. Ohrid. Yugoslavia, ca 1205 (Sonja Bullaty and Angelo Lomeo) 151 -Detail of mosaic from the Church of the Virgin, Daphni, Greece, late 11th c (Eric Schaal)— Portable icon, mosaic of miniature tesserae set in wax. from the Church of St. Mary Pammakaristos, Istanbul. 12th c. Collection of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Ara Guler)— Detail of fresco in the Pareccleseion of the Church of St Savior in Chora, Istanbul, ca 1303 (Ara Guler) 152. 153— Barberini Ivory, ivory lelief, early 6th c, Mus^edu Louvre, Paris (Giraudon, Paris). Harbaville Triptych, ivory relief, late 10th c, Mus^edu Louvre, Paris (Service Photographique de la Reunion des Musses Nalionaux). 154— David Composing the Psalms, manuscript illumination from the Paris Psalter, Ms. grec. 139, folio 1 verso, early 10th c, Bibliotheque Nationale. Paris 155— Christ Teaching, manuscript illumination from the Menologion of Basil II. Vatican Codex Grec 1613. page 1. 979-984, Vatican Library, Rome (Dmitri Kessel)— St Eumenius, manuscript illumination from the Menologion of Basil II, Vatican Codex Grec. 1613, page 47. 979-984. Vatican Library, Rome (Dmitri Kessel). 156. 157- Apse and Semi-dome, fresco by Eutychius and Michael, from the Church of St Clement. Ohrid, Yugoslavia, ca 1295 (Sonja Bullaty and Angelo Lomeo). 158— David Presented to Saul, silver plate from the Cyprus Treasure, early 7th c. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York. Gift of J Pierponi Morgan. 1917— The Annunciation, silk twill, 7th-8lh c, Vatican Library, Rome (Dmitri Kessel) 159— Outer container for reliquary of the True Cross, enameled gold inlaid with (ewels, ca. 955-960, Cathedral Treasury of Limburg on the Lahn. Germany (Hirmer-Fotoarchiv Mijnchen).
CHAmR
8: 160— Siege of Constantinople, manuscript illumination from the Voyage d'Outremer of Berlrandon de la Brocquiere. Ms. fran. 9087, folio 207 verso, 1455, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. 169— Sultan Mehmel II, oil painting by Gentile Bellini of Venice, 1480, The National Gallery, London, Reproduced by courtesy of the Trustees (Culver Pictures). 171— Monastery of St John the Evangelist. Patmos. Greece (Dmitri Kessel) 172, 173— Monastery of St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt (Dr Ceorg Cerster from Rapho Guillumette). 174. 175— Convent of Roussanou. Meteora. Greece (Dmitri Kessel). Mount Athos, Greece (Dmitri Kessel)— Great Lavra, Mount Athos, Greece (Dmitri Kessel) 176Photograph by Dmitri Kessel. 177— Monastery of St John the Evangelist. Patmos. Greece (Dmitri Kessel). 178. 179— Dionysiou Monastery. Mount Alhos, Greece (Dmitri Kessel). 180. 181- Mount Athos. Greece (John Marmaras from Black Star of London)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The
editors of this
book
are particularly indebted to Peter Charanis. Voorhees Professor of
New
Ronald E Malmstrom. Evangelos Savvopoulos, Minister to the Prime Minister's Office, Athens, John Kondis, General Dirermr of Arrharoloftv Athens: Manolis Chalzidakis, Director of Byzan'' Curator of Byzantine Antiquities. Athens. tine and Ben <• ih. Byzantine Museum. Athens. Paul MyStella Papadj* .'orge Cavounides. Director General of the lofus. Nation.! PreM Division of tfte Prime Miniticf > Office. Athens. Nicolas Linardatot. Director. Foreign PreM Division. Athens. Francis R Wallon. E>ireclor. Gennadeion Library. Athens. Harry Hkmides. Athens College. Athens. Simon Karas. Director of Ethnic Music of the Creek Radio. Vatican Library. Rome Tullia (.asparrini Leporace. Director. Gian Albino Ravalli Modoni. Mario (avaretio Biblioteta Marciana. Venice. Giuseppe Tamburniw. Abba/ia di Praglia. Padua. Ferdinando Rodrique/. Biblioteca Universilaria, Bologna, Irma MeroUe-Tondi, Director, Biblioteca Medirea-Laurenziana, Florence, Hirmer VerUg. Munich, Paul Gichtel, History. Rutgers.
The
Slate University.
Jersey, Josepha Weilzmann-Fiedler,
'
BayerischeStaatsbibliolhek,Handschriften-Abteilung, Munich, Bildarchiv Foto Marburg. Ru-
Museum, Vienna, Paul Lemerle, L'Institut d'Hisloire et Civilization Byzantines, Pans, Fran^oise Le Monnier, Conservaleur du D^partement de la Pholographie.Biblioth^qurNationale. Paris. Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities. Brit-
dolf Noll, Kunslhistorisches
Museum. London. Manuscript Department. British Museum. London. Department of Western Manuscripts. The Bodleian Library. Oxford. Col John R Elting. US Army. Fred Anderegg, Director of Photographic Services. University of Michigan. Ben Lieberman. Communications Consultant. New York, F E Peters, Department of Classics, New York University, Alexander Dunkel, Instructor of Russian Language and Literature. New York University. Edward Roesner. New York University, Kenneth Levy, Woolworth Center of Musical Studies. Princeton University, the Rev Leonidas C Conlos. Dean, and the Rev Demetrios ( onstantelos of the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Theological School. Brooklme. Massachusetts, the Rev John Mahera*, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North aiul South America, New York ish
187
INDEX *
This symbol
front of a page
in
number
indicates a
photograph or painting of the subject mentioned.
Ascetics, 26-27, 37, »99, 100
MAPS All
Asia Minor (Anatolia): holy grottoes, '26-27; maps 9, 42, 164; monasticism
VOLUME
IN THIS
in,
maps by David Greenspan
The Byzantine World
8-9
Trade Routes
32-33
Constantinople
42-43
Empire of Justinian
27; under Zenobia's rule, 14. See
also Anatolia
57
I
Barbarian Invasions, 6th-10th Centuries
59
Empire of Basil
61
II
Collapse of the Empire
164
Acropolis,
map
Bucellarion,
Athena, goddess, 175; Palladium statue
Buda,
of, in Constantinople, 19, 33 Athens: Basil II in, 62; maps 9, 61; university of, 58, 136 Athos, Mount: map 9; monasteries, 100, 113, 170, '174-176, '178-181 Atlantic Ocean, mops 8, 32 Atlas Mountains, map 8 Atropoleum, forum, Constantinople, 45
Buddha, '95 Buddhism, 95
38, 77, 79;
of landed aristocracy, 162; limited
61;
maps
Adulis, map 32 Aegaion Pelagos,
8, 57, 61,
61
Aeneas, 33
map
Aetius, Cistern of,
maps
8-9, 32,
43
59
Agriculture, 33, *122-123; Anatolia, 31, 118; tools, 123
map
Alans,
57
King of Visigoths, 11 Albania, Bulgarian conquest of, 62 Aleppo: Byzantine recapture of, 61, 62, 76; maps 9, 32, 61 Alexander the Great, 11 Alexandria, Egypt, 11, 97; center of
Alaric,
learning, 136;
maps
9, 32, 57, 59; a
metropolitanate, 96; monasticism
in,
100; Neoplatonism in, 16; trade center,
map 32
Alexius
I
Comnenus, Emperor,
82, 137,
161, 162,177
Alexius II, Emperor, death of, table 76 Alexius IV, Emperor, death of, table 76 Alexius V Ducas Mourtzouphlos, Emperor, 165; blinding of, table 76
Alps,
map
ruler,
163
map
8; trade,
36
Amastrianum, map 43 Anastasius I, Emperor, 55
ucts, 31; landed aristocracy of, 118; 9, 42,
164;
Moslems
in, 60;
Turkish expansion in, 163-164, 166. See also Asia Minor Anatolikon,
map
Andronicus
I
61
Comnenus, Emperor, death
of, 48, table 7b, 77 Andronicus II, Emperor, 167 Andronicus IV, Emperor, table 76 Anemas, Tower of, map 43 Anglo-Saxons, in Varangian Guard, 78-79 Angora, maps 32, 164 Ani, maps 9, 61, 164 Ankara, battle of, 167 Anna, Princess (sister of Basil II), 61 Anna Comnena, 137 Antae, location of, map 57 Anthemius of Tralles, 36
188
of Valens,
by
Church, 98; Russian, 170 Avars, invasions by, 59; maps 57, 59
165
map
map
9
ecclesiastical (see
Church
architecture);
Greek influence, 138; materials, 139, 140;
Roman
35, 51,
influence, 34, 43, 138;
secular, '44-45, *52-53, 138
Arianism, 97 Aristocracy, 135. See
Upper
classes
Armenia: church architecture, 139-140; 9,
61
peasant soldiers, 62, 82; power, late Empire, 161;
Baghdad, Arab caUphate of, 163; map 32 Baldwin of Flanders, Latin Emperor, 166 Balearic Islands, 58; maps 8, 57, 59 Balkans: Bulgars in, 60, 61, 62; Byzantine
137; Ballet,
map
fusion of styles (6th Century), 142; hieratic style, 143, 144, '148-149,
'152-153, '155, 156; iconoclast destructions of, 142-143: iconographic, 142-144; Late period, 138, 144, '149;
Middle period, 138, 143-144, '148-149; minor, '158-159; new naturalism, 144, '149, '156-157; portraiture, rules of, '150-151; preservation of Greco-
Roman,
11-12, 22, *23, 135; religious
(see Religious art); Renaissance, 11-12,
144, 156; secular, 141, '142, 144, '152,
Baltic Sea,
map
9
Banquets: court, 78; rural, '130-131 Baphaeum, battle of, 166
Baptism of Christ, depictions of, '106, 143 Barbarian invasions, 11, 56. 59 Barberini ivory plaque, 142, *152 Bardas, Caesar, '67, *68 Bari,
maps
8,
61
Emperor, 61, '63; account of his by Scylitzes, 63, '64-73 Basil II Bulgaroctonus, Emperor, 61-62 Basilicas, 138,139-140 Basilicus, Emperor, death of, table 76 Basil
I,
Basiliskianos, '69
map 32
Bede, the Venerable, 118 Beirut: center of learning, 136; maps 9, 57 Belgrade, map 9; Turkish attack on, 167 Belisarius, 38, 58
Bema
(sanctuary), church of Hosios Loukas, 102, '108-109 Bengal, Bay of, map 33 Benjamin of Tudela, quoted, 47 Berbers, map 57 Bezant, coin, '117, 118. See also Nomisma Bible, 136 Bishops, in
Church organization, 95-96,
100 Blachernae, 34, 52
Blachernae Palace, 51; map 43 Black Death of 1347, 166 Black Sea, 35, 55, 62, 166; maps 9, 32, 42, 57, 59,61, 164; trade, 31 Blinding, punishment by, '70, 73; of Bulgar prisoners-of-war, 62; of
emperors, 13, 60, table 7b
'158; style comparisons, '148-149,
Blues, faction, 114
'152-153. See also Architecture; Frescoes; Ivory carvings; Manuscript
Bohemund, Norman leader, 165 Bokhara, map 32 Book of Psalms (Paris), '154, 155 The Book of the Prefect," 116-117 Bosporus, 31, 33; map 42-43
illuminations; Mosaics Artillery: Byzantine, '86;
Turkish, 167
Ottoman
Building code, Constantinople, 46,
117-118 Bulgaria, church architecture, 22,
139-140;
map
61
Bulgar(ian)s, 60; conversion to Christianity, '28, 163; invasions of, map 59;
victory of Basil II over, 61, 62 Bureaucracy, 58, 80-81; demes (factions), 114; and iconoclasm, 97; late Roman
Empire, 14 Burgundians,
map 57
Business: government monopolies, 52, 117; government regulation of, 47, 116-117; markets, Constantinople, 45, *47 Buttress, architectural element, 140
99, 100; vision of life, 98-99 Byzantine empire. See Empire Byzantium, town, 18, 31, 96. See also Constantinople Byzas, 31
Caesarea, maps 9, 57, 59, 61, 164; a metropohtanate, 96
164
114
Baths, public and private, 35, 37, 114, 138 Battering rams, 86, '87
141, 158; early Christian (catacomb), 141, *150; Early period, 138, 142, *148;
32
'156-157, 170; in Byzantine Empire,
Basra,
144; Carolingian, 12; classical naturalism, 141, *142, 144, *148, *152; Constantinople as center of,
9,
61
55, 60, 61, 62, 166; historical source on,
political
in, 22,
map
map
cultural heritage in, 12, 22, 145,
tion, 81-82;
wages, 84. See also Warfare; Weapons Army, Ottoman Turkish, 167-168 Art, 135, 136-144, »145-159; abstract formalism, 141-142, 143, 144, *148-149;
maps
113-114, 118; role of religion, 80, 98,
B
life,
Armeniakon, map 61 Armor, 78, 82, *84-85 Army, Byzantine, 78-79, 81-82, 83, *84-87; and iconoclasm, 97; organiza-
of, 166;
Byzantine character and values, 13,
43
Arabian Sea, map 33 Arabs: caliphate of Baghdad, 163; expansion of, 59-60; maps 57, 59. See also Saracens Aral Sea, map 32 Arcadius, Forum of, map 42 Arch, architectural use of, 40, *44-45, *102-103, *106, *139, 140 Architecture, 138-140; blending of Eastern and Western styles, 40, 138;
Byzantine role
Anatolia (Asia Minor), 11, 18, 60, 166; architecture, 138, 139, 140; Byzantine kingdom of Nicaea, 166; farm prod-
maps
in,
professional, 82, *84-8S; size, 81;
8
Alphabet: Cyrillic, 12-13, 29; Greek, 12-13 Amalfi,
Aqueduct
maps
Alp Arslan, Seljuk
Normans
Aqueducts, 35, 36, 43, 138
164
61
9, 42,
in, 61;
*108, 143, *150, 151, '152-153, *159
Arabia,
map
Aegean Sea, maps
Africa,
Moslems
9, 32, 59,
Apollo, Mithraistic worship of, 16 Apostles, depictions of, 102, '104-105,
43
Adrianople: battle of, 56; maps 9, 57, 61, 164; Ottoman capital, 166, 168 Adriatic Sea,
maps
Ottoman capture
164
Augustus, Emperor (Octavian), 13 Aurelian, Emperor, 14 Autocracy, 82, 170; diminished by power
metropolitanate, 96;
Bruges,
Aspar, Cistern of, map 43 Assyrian civilization, 11
map 43
Aachen, Cathedral of, 12 Abed-nego, *28-29, »146 Abydos, map 61
map 42 map 32
Bovi, Forum,
Brusa:
Attila, King of Huns, 11 Augustaeum, Constantinople,
Antioch: center of learning, 136; Byzantines in, 61, 52, 76, 165; a
Boucoleon, emperors harbor, 39, *52; map 42-43
Caiques, 36, 113
map 32 map 33 Calydonian boar, 34, 48 Cappadocia: holy grottoes
Cairo,
Caliana,
maps
9,
in,
'26-27;
61; rock-cut churches, 140
art, 12 Carpathian Mtns., map 9 Carpet manufacture, 118 Cartagena, maps 8, 57
Carolingian
Carthage,
maps
8, 57,
59
Casia, poetess, 79, 138
Caspian Sea, maps Castration, 82
Catacomb
art,
9,
32
141, '150
Caucasus Mtns., map 9 Cavallini, Pietro, 144
Cavalry, 82, '83-84, 85 Cefalu, Sicily, Cathedral of, 144; Cephalonia, map 61 Ceremoniis, De, 77 Cesarini. Cardinal Julian, 167 Ceylon, trade with, 31, 32
map
8
Chain, map 43 Chalcedon, 31; map 9 Chalcedon, Council of (451), 56, 58, 96, 97
map 61 Chariot races, in Hippodrome, 48, 114-115 Chaldia,
Charlemagne, 12, 60, 162 Charnel House, Mount Athos, '180-181 Charsianon, map 61 Cherson, maps 9, 32. 57, 61 Children, legal provisions for, 21, 116, 117 China: Buddhism, 95; trade with, 31, 32 Chios, map 9 Christ. See Jesus Christ Christ Akataleptos, Monastery of, map 43
and Buddhism, compared, 95; compulsory for citizens, 37 94, 99; Constantine's conversion to, 18. 55, 56, 75, 93; dogma, 56, 58, 97-98,
Christianity, 12, 13, 19;
,
162; early history of, 15, 16-18, 97;
East-West alienation, 60, 161, 162-163; East-West reconciliation attempts, 167;
E*st-VSr>I Mhir.m
t>l
le3
lc>4.
41.'
kgaliijlion and «prr«d of. IS. 5S-54. 9J; organiialion ot Church. 95-*6: persecution of. 15. *17: sl«lr religion. 56. 58. *92. 94-95. 97: stimulus to arts,
Ul
I45(srf dlioRehgiousart; Religious lilerjturr) suppression under lulian the Aposute 55 See *Uo Church and state. Conversion. Councils. Church. Eastern Church. Missionary work. Monasticism. Papacy. Relics, 135.
Roman Catholic Church Christmas, date of. lo Chrysotriclinos. in Imperial Palace. J8 Church Set Christianity. Eastern Church. Roman Catholic Church Church and state. 58. 93-100; administrative structure. 95-9e. conflicts. 95.
98. separation
demanded by
early
doctrine. 94. state s involvement in dogma. *74. 97-98. unifying theory of
Eusebius, 94-95 See also Theocracy Church architecture. 12. '22. 40. •50-51.
"ur
<- 43 •50-51. 96. 102. 139,
140. collection of artifacts
and
relics in.
•24-25 32, 34 '35 96. Constantine s choice of, IS, cosmopolitan atmosphere, 37, 43, as cultural center, 136. 141.
daily life in, 36-37, 114. entertainment
MS. fall of Moslem siege of
^39. ^48-49. 114
in. 38,
(1453). 91. 170:
first
(673-677), 60, forums, 34. 35. map 4243, '45, harbor, 33, 36, ^41. map 42-
mapi
43. housing, 35, 36, '46,
9. 57.
61. 164. monasteries in, 27. 100. origin of, 31, palaces. 35. 37. 38-39.
map
43,
•52-53, 77: population, 32. 37. 43, l66;
recapture by Byzantines (1261), 166.
Rome,
replica of
and
fire
33, 34. 43. 48. riots
of (532). 35-36. 48. 57; Russian
attacks on (860. 941), 34, 88; sack of.
by Crusaders (1204).
Moslem
165-166.
115. 136, 144.
sieges. eO. see of. 96:
strategic location. 31. 32. streets
and
traffic.
map
center. 31.
map
42-43;
36. 46. 117; as trade
32, 36, 42. 61, 118:
135. 138 140. basic elements 138; Byzantine influences abroad. 12. *22-23,
Turkish siege
40; centralized plan. 138; cross-in-
map 42-43, ^90-91. water supply and sewers. 35, 36-37, 43
square type. 140, dome. *50-51. •102-103. 138, '139. 140; domed-cross type. 139. 140 Early period. 138-140; Late period. 138 140. Middle period. 138. 140. rock-cut churches, 140, schematic plans, ^102-103, ^139; stylistic roots of, 138. vaulting. 138. 139 Churches in Constantinople. ^22, 34, 35. 37. 39-40. map 42-43 •50-51. 96, 102, 139, 140, decoration of, '101. schematic plan. 102-103. ^104-111. 140. 141. 142. 143-144. ^145-151. ^156-157 Cibraeots.
map
61
Circus Maximus. Rome. 48 Circuses. 13.48. 114
map
42-43 Citizenship requirements. 37, 94, 99 Civil aristocracy. 61 80, 161 Cisterns, 35, 36, 43. 138;
.
Civil law, 21 Civil service, 80-81, eunuchs Clement of Alexandria, 16
in,
82
Clergy, 99; Vi. iconoclasts. 97. and
Rome,
in 1453, 91, ^160, 167-
170; university of, 136: walls of, 35,
Constantinople, Council of (381). 96. 97 Constantinople, Latin Empire of. 166 Constantius. Co-Emperor (father of Constantine). 17 Contoscalion: Gate of. map 42; Harbor of. map 42
Corfu: map 8: Norman seizure of. 165 Corinth: map 32, Norman capture of. 165: silk industry. 118 Corpus of Justinian. 20-21, 58. 117
maps
Corsica. 58.
8,
57
Cosmetics, 116 Councils, Church, 56, '74, 97, 98; of
Chalcedon (451), 56, 58. 96, 97; of Clermont (1095), 164, of Constantinople (381). 96. 97; of Ephesus (431). 97; of Lyons (1274). 167; of Nicaea (325. 787). 97
Court ceremonial, 15, 52, 75, 77-78, 79
Clothing. 37, of demes (factions). 114; emperors 77. lower classes. 115. '119.
Craft guilds. 47. 116-117 Crafts. 37, ^39. ^47. •158-159; imperial
women. 115-
•122. upper classes. 115;
116
King of Franks. 11 Coins: image of Christ on, 24. 80; image
Clovis. of
emperors on. 95. '\\7 nomisma :
(bezant). ^117, 118
Cologne, Colonea,
map 8 map 61
Commerce See Business: Trade Comnenus dynasty, 51. 161-162 Confucianism. 95
Conrad III. King of Germany, 165 Constans II. Emperor, death, table 76 Constantine the Great, Emperor, 17-18, •30, 81. 94. 136. and Constantinople, 18. 19, 31. 32, 34, 35, 38, 55. 96. conversion to Christianity of. 18. 55. 56. 75, 93, image 18,
on
coins, 95; vision of.
*19 93 mentioned, 76, 95. 118. 140
Constantine.
Forum
of. 34, 35. '45. 79;
rriiip 43 Wall of map 42-43 Constantine-Apollo. statue of. 35
Constantine 111. Emperor, death, (able 76 Constantine V. Emperor, 60 Constantine VI. Emperor, 60. blinding of. 60. fable 76 Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, Emperor, 61, 77, 88, 144, death of, table 76; image on coin. ^117. obelisk of. 38, palace of, '53 C unst jntine VIII.
Emperor. 79
C ontiantine XI, PaUcoiogus. Emperor, 76. 168-170 Constantinople. 19, 91-40, *4I, map 4243. *44-53. administration. 117; Arab and Persian attack on map 59. baths,
becomes capital. IS. 31. 33. 35. BUck Oeath (1347). 166, building cod*, 46. 1 17-118, business and crafts. 35. 37. 114.
37, 45. '47. capital of pire. 169.
Ottoman em
churches. ^22. 34. 35. 37. 39
lonial signihianir ol,
Dardanelles, 31,
Dark Ages,
map
8
170. interruption
179 Dionysus, god, 179 Diplomacy, 82, 83 Disease, 37, 46, 166 Divorce. 117 Dogma, orthodox, 56. 97-98, f!lio4ue dispute, 162; and iconoclasm, 97-98: and Monophysilism. 58 Dome, in Byzantine architecture, 40, •SO51. ^102-103, •lOe. 138. 139. 140, pendentive vs. squinch device, '139
Domed-cross type of church, 139,
monopolies, 52, 117 Crete: Byzantine reconquest of (961), 61, 76;
maps
9, 61;
Minoan
civilization, 11
Crimea, map 9 Criminal law, 21, 117 Croatian trade, 36 Cross-in-square type of church, 140 Crown of Thorns. ^25. 34 Crucifixion. ^104 Crusades. 23. 62. 164; First. 164-165, Second, 165; Third. 165. Fourth, diversion to Constantinople. 165. 167. 170; Fifth. 167 Ctesiphon, map 9 Cuhicularii, 77 Currency: late Roman Empire, 14, stability of Byzantine. 117, 118 Cyprus: Byzantine reconquest of, 61,
maps
9,
61
map
Cyrene,
Duccio di Buoninsegna, 144 Dyrrachium, maps 8, 61
under lustinian 57 58. 59. restora under Heraclius. 59 60, resurgence under Macedonian dynasty, 61-62, symbol of, •lO, ^120 121. 170. ^171; tiun
territorial
extension of, 55,
map
57, 58,
60, 62. 166. 167. theocratic character of, 75. SO. •SI
Western European
.
atli
tudes toward, time of Crusades. 165
1
64
Empresses, ^78, 79, 116 Enamel art, •ISO. 158 Engineering. 12. 138. armaments. •86-89 England, map 8 Enterlainmenl. 114-115. court, 78; f-iippodrome, 38. '39. ^48-49, 114-115; rural, '130 131 Eparch, office of. 117 Ephesus: architecture, 138, maps 9, 57, 61. a melropolitanate, 96 Ephesus, Council of (431), 97 Epic poetry, 136-137
kingdom
of, 166,
map
8
Eudoxia Ingerina, Empress, Eunuchs, 82 Euphrates, 11, 62, Europe, map 42
maps
't>i.
72
9. 32. 57. 61,
164
Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, 94 Eustalhius Cymineanus, 82 Eagle, Byzantine Imperial, •lO, ^120-121.
Eve, freeing of soul of. *105
*171: adopted by Czarist Russia, 170 Easter holiday celebrations, ^124-127
Executions, 21, 38, 48, 52, 117, of emperors, 48, table 76
Eastern Church: Byzantine legacy, 28, 170; dogma, 56, 97-98, 162; and iconoclasm, 97-98, 142-143: liturgy, 99, 109; and Monophysitism, 58; philanthropy, 37,
1
popular loyalty
16;
to,
98, 167;
and Rome, growing alienation, 60, 161, 162-163; and Rome, reconciliation attempts, 167; and Rome, schism, 62, 163, 164 See also Church and state; Missionary work; Monasticism Eastern Europe. See Slavic world Economy: Byzantine wealth, 36, 61
ment regulation
,
de-
116-117, late
of, 47,
Roman
Empire, 14, monetary stability, 117. 118; taxation. 117. 123, 162. See also Business,
Trade
Ecumenical councils, 97. See also Councils,
Church
Ferrara,
map
maps
9.
61
mids, 62; Islam
monasticism
in,
in, 27,
civili-
under
zation, 11, basilicas, 139;
Fati-
58-59, 60. map 9. 100, '172-173, 174,
Monophysitism
in, 58, Persian conquest of. 58-59. regained by Byzanti-
59, trade with, 31.
map
map
32
reli-
gious, ^124-127, 131, rural banquet,
•130-131 Fez,
map 32
Fishing, 33, 121
map 8 Food, 115, 121,^124-125 Florence,
Fortifications: border, 14, 58, Constanti-
map
42-43. ^90-91
map
^45, 79,
43
Forum Tauri, map 43 Forum of Theodosius, 45. map 43 Franks: seizure of Gaul by. 56, map warfare against, 85 Frederick Barbarossa, Holy peror, 165
57;
Roman Em-
Frescoes, ^28-29, 100, 135, 141, 142, 143.
32
map
42
Emperor: audiences with, 77, ceremonial, 15, 52, 75, 77-79; coronation of, 24, 38,
deification of
8
Festivals: in Constantinople, 37 (see also
nople, 35.
Education, 135-136 Egypt: Alexander in, 11, ancient,
um.
Family law, 21, 116, 117 Fatimid dynasty of Egypt, 62
Forum Bovi. map 42 Forum of Arcadius. map 42 Forum of Constantine, 34, 35.
Ecumenical patriarch, 96 Edessa, 165:
Factions (demes;, 114-115
Processions), court banquets, 78,
cline of, 161, 162, 163, 166: govern-
Eleutherius. hiarbor of,
Cyrillic alphabet, 12-13. 29
num
Episcopal synod, 96 Ethiopia, trade with, 32 Eudoxia, Empress, ^129
Dromonds, 36
Elbe River,
8
of
treatment, II. 1213. under Palaeologus dynasty. 166170. restoration uf Imperium Kuma-
lect of. in historical
zantine
map 9
River,
13. 19. 28.
2.
Epirus: Bulgarian conquest of, 62: By-
140
Don
I
by Latin Lmpiir
Constantinople (1204 1261). 166. neg-
56
11, 12,
David, King, depictions of, *81, *I05, •154, 155 silver plates, 142, *158 Decius, Emperor. 17 Delphic Oral le. 31 Demarch, 114 Demes (factions). 114-115 Demosthenes. 136 Oigenes Akrilet. epic poem. 136-137 Dioceses in Church, 95-96, Roman provinces grouped in, 95 Diocletian, Emperor, 14-15, 17, 18, 75, 95 Dionysiou monastery, Mt Athos, •178-
Conversion to Christianity: of Bulgars. •28. 163. Cyril's attempt in Moravia, 28, 163 of Russians, 19, 28, 61, 170 Cordoba, maps 8, 32. 57
98 Clermont, Council of (1095). 164
.
map 57
Data,
Roman,
144, 145. •ISO-lSl. •156-157 Fulk of Chartres, quoted. 36
Furniture. 36
15, 17, 75, 94,
divinity status modified in Byzantium,
D
75, 78, 80, 94-95, doctrine of divine
rights of, 14, 24, 76, 94-95, dress, 77,
map 33
Daibul.
and government hierarchy, 80-81,
Dalmatia: conquered by Justinian, maps 57,61, trade. 36 Dalmatians, in Byzantine army. 78 Damascus Great Mosque, mosaics. 141,
maps
Dance, •lU, Dandolo. Enrico 165 Daniel
iV.
DanuK pire
.
inr)
of
•10
Byzantine Em-
nanic tribes on, 18,
mapt
9. 32,
57,61, 164
Danzig, map 32 Daphni, Church of the Virgin. '110-111.
map
9
map
43, *52-S3, 77,
and the people.
48. 114, in religious disputes, 58, *74,
95, 97-98, succession, 75.
tombs
of. 34,
table 76. 77 Empire, Byzantine: administration, BO-
<>n
I'
39,
80, violent ends of, 13, 48, 60, ^69.
61 '130-13]
9, 32. 59,
'
96, 117; marriages of, 79; palaces of, 38-
SI,
82
(see also
Church
(see
Government), and
Church and
state), citizen
ship requirements. 37. 94, 99, consolidation under Syrian dynasty, 60. decline of. 161-163, emergence of, 15, 5556, fall of. 91. 170.
growth of Turkish
threat to. 161, 163-164, 166-167. his-
Galala;
Wall
map 43, Tower map 43
of, ^41,
map
43,
of,
Gallienus, Emperor, 17 Gallipoli,
map
164
Games, 114 Gardens, 114, imperial, 39 Gates, map: of the Blachernae, 43; of Charisius. 43. Contoscalion. 42, of the
Diungarii. 43. uf Lugenius. 43. Golden. 42. Iron, 42.
2nd Military, 42 3rd
Military, 42 4th Military. 42, 5lh Military, 43,
Old Golden,
42: of the
Pege, 42, Phanar, 43, Plaleia. 43.
Psamathia. 42. of Rhegium. 42, of St
189
Aemilianus, 42; of St. Barbara, 43; of John de Cornibus, 43; of St. Romanus, 43; of Theodosia, 43; of Xylokerkos, 43
Holy Apostles, Church of
Constan43
John
Gaul, 14; seizure by Franks, 56, 58 Genoa: maps 8, 32; role in re-establishment
Holy Spirit: dove symbol of, *106; filioque dispute, 162 Homer, 18, 19, 55: study of, 136 Hosios Loukas, monastery church, 101,
John
Empire (1261), 166; trade, and Turkish siege of Constantinople, 168, 169-170 Gepids, location of, map 57 Germanic tribes: on Danube, 18; invasions of Byzantium by, 56, map 59; invasions of Western Roman Empire by, of Byzantine
map
59; Justinian's victories over,
map
map
*102-103; mosaics in, *101, 102, *104109, 110, 143, *146-147
36, 162, 166;
56, 59,
the,
tinople. *22, 34, 96, 140;
St.
Hospitals, 37, 41, 57, 116 Housing: in Constantinople, 35, 36, *46; rural,
121
Hugh, Abbot Huns, 56, 90
of Cluny, 164
Hunting, 114, 121 Hymns, 137, 138
57, 58 Ceronticum Quodam, *134 Ghazis (Turk warriors), 163-164 Gibbon, Edward, 113
II
Comnenus, Emperor,
Macedonia, Bulgarian conquest
80, 116,
162, 165
John John John John
Giustiniani Longo, Giovanni, 168, 169-
64;
Emperor, blinding of, table 7b V, Emperor, 166, 167 VI Cantacuzene, Emperor, *74, 137 VII, Emperor, blinding of, table IV,
7b
170
map
Justin
I,
Justin
II,
142, 144, 172, 173; characterization of, 56;
of, 52, 117; Justinian's
Roman
reform, 58; late
Empire, 14; municipal, 117;
provincial, 14, 59, 60, 81;
theme sys-
tem, 59, 60, 81 Great Lavra, The, monastery, *174-175 Greece: Byzantine architecture in, 139, 140; independence of (1821), 170; map 8-9; monasticism in, 27, *171, *174181; surviving Byzantine influences in, 113, *119-133, 170
Greece, ancient, 11; preservation of cultural heritage of, 11-12, 19, 22, 135136; as source of Byzantine culture, 94,
»H2, 135-136, 138
Russian Prince, 88 Iliad (Homer), 136 Illuminations. See Manuscript illuminaIgor,
38 India: ancient civilization, 11;
map
95;
Kaffa,
Industry, 117, 118. See also Crafts
Khorezm, 163
map
Empress (780-802), 60, 97 Empress (wife of John II Comne-
Irene,
nus), *78, 80
Irene Ducas, Empress, 19
II,
Emperor, blinding
Isaac of
nean, 59, 60; rejection of icons by, 97;
back by Byzantium (9606), See also Arabs; Moslems; Turks rolled
37, 38, 39-40, *41,
map
Cru-
saders' desecration of (1204), 165; de-
scription of, 40, 139; 532 destruction
Christian service
in,
169;
39-40, *51, 139
Harbors, 42-43; Boucoleon, map 42-43; of Contoscalion, map 42; of Eleutherius, map 42; of Julian, map 42; Phosphorion, m.ap 43 Headdress, *112, 115, '122
61.
chitecture, *22-23, 40, 140; Byzantine
possessions
in, 22,
maps
61, 164;
Lom-
maritime republics of, 62, 162, 166: Normans in, 62, 162; Ostrogoths in, 56, 58; Renaissance, 11-12 Ivan III, Czar, 170 bards
in, 59;
Ivory carvings, *15, *35, *39, *129, 135, 141, 142, 144, 145, *150; Barberini plaque, 142, *152; Harbaville triptych,
*152-153; jewelry caskets, *142, 144,
152 Ivory trade, 31, 152
61
Heracica, a metropolitanate, 96;
9
Heracleonas, Emperor, torture of, table 7b Heraclian dynasty, 60 Heraclius, Emperor, 59-60, 80, 81 Heresy: Arianism, 97; iconoclasm, 9798, 142-143; Monophysitism, 58; punfor, 21
Hermits, 26-27, 98, '101, 174, 175 Hesiod, 55 Hetairia (imperial guards), 78 Hierarchical order, in church decoration, Hieratic style of art, 143, 144, *148-149,
•152-153, *155, 156 43, 45,
*48-49, 79, 115; chariot racing, 48, 114-115; description of, 38; horses
from, *23 History, writing of, 137
Jaffna,
map
33
170 Jerusalem, 18, 59; Crusaders Janissaries, 167-168,
in,
165,
maps
9,32,57,59,61 Jesus Christ: depictions of, 102, *104107, *109-ni, »129, 141, 143, 144, *145, *148-149, 151, '153, '155, '157,
human
'159; divine vs. 97; expected
8, 32, 57,
on coins,
nature
Second Coming
of, 58,
of, 16;
59, 61, 164; portrayed
24, 80; quotations, 26, 94;
rejection of secular authority by, 94;
map
La Brocquiere, Bertrandon de, 116
Landed aristocracy,
62, 118, 137, 161,
162, 166 Language, 135-136:
official, 37,
80
map
164 Latin Empire of Constantinople, 166 Latin language, 80, 135 Latins, capture of Constantinople by (1204), 115, 165-166 Law: civil, 21; courts, 117; criminal, 21, 117; family, 21, 116, 117; guild system, Larissa,
116-117; Justinian's recodification of,
20-21,58, 117 Lazians, location of,
map 57
Lecky, William, quoted, 13 Leo I, Emperor, 34
Leo III, Emperor, 60, 97 Leo III, Pope, 60 Leo V, Emperor, 97; death of, table 7b Leo VI, the Wise, Emperor, 61, *72-73 Leontius, Emperor, death of, table 7b Licinius, Co-Emperor, 18 Lighthouse, map 43 Literature, 113, 135, 136-138; preserva-
maps
102, 143, 144
relics of, in
34;
maps
8-9, 32, 57, 59,
61, 164; western, re-establishment of ar-
Nineveh, quoted, 99
162; Byzantine influence on church ar-
35, 37, 38,
trol (960s), 61;
Khotan, map 33 Kiev, Byzantine influence on church chitecture, 40; maps 9, 32 Kolyva, 131 Konya, 164 Kossovo, battle of, 167; maps 9, 164
Isidore of Miletus, 36
43, 48, *49, *51, 59, 96, 99, 139;
map 32 Mary. See Virgin Mary Mary Magdalen, 34 Maurice, Emperor, death of, table 7b Maxentius, Co-Emperor, 18, 93 Maximum, Co-Emperor, 18 Mecca, map 32 Medicine, 37, 116 Marseilles,
Mediterranean: Byzantine naval control of, 88; eastern, expansion of Islam, 59, 60; eastern, revival of Byzantine con-
9
Islam: expansion in Eastern Mediterra-
H
Marriage, '128-129; emperors' selection of wives, 79; use in diplomacy, 82
Byzantine control (530s), 58 Megara, map 9
Mehmet
II,
Sultan: 167-168, '169; siege
and capture of Constantinople by, 91, '160, 167-170
map
61
Memphis, map 57
barbarian invasions, 11, 56, 59; Byzantine expeditions in 12th Century,
Hippodrome,
map
map
I, Emperor, 162 Manuscript illuminations, '22, '92, 100, '112, 141, 143, 144, 145, '154-155 Manuscript restoration, '134 Manzikert, battle of, 163, 164; maps 9, 164 Marble, use of, 35, 38, 40, 51, 139 Marble Tower, map 43 Marcian, Column of, map 43 Marcus Aurelius, Emperor, 16 Maritsa, map 164 Marmara, Sea of, 18, 31, 33, 35; map 42
Melitene,
Italy:
ishment
of, 121;
9
of, table
Istanbul, 41
map
map
76
Guadalquivir River, map 8 Guards, imperial, 78-79 Guilds, craft, 47, 116-117 Guiscard, Robert, 162, 165
map
Au-
Khazars, 163
61
Isaac
Hellas,
57; foreign
map 32
Kars,
Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, 51 Gregory VII, Pope, 96, 164 Grottoes, holy, *26-27
of, 36; last
map
K
Indian Ocean, map 33 Indus River, map 33
Isaac Angelus, Emperor, 48
rebuilt by Justinian, Hamburg, map 32
55,
frontispiece, *21
Karpathos, island
Greens, faction, 114
Hagia Sophia, 34,
Empire under,
policy of, 57-58, 162; statue of, in
gustaeum, 38 Justinian II, Emperor, death of, table 76 Justinian's Code of Law, 20-21, 58, 117;
Buddhism,
32; trade with, 31, 32, 61,
152
Irene,
official
mestic policies of, 58; extent of Byzan-
tions
Imperial Palace, Constantinople, 24, 37, 38-39, map 43, *52-53; description of,
Ionian Sea,
Greek alphabet, 12-13 Greek fire, 36, *88 Greek language, 135-136; as language, 37, 80
and Constan-
tinople, 35-36, 38, 39-40, 139, 140; do-
tine
43; Tower,
Manuel
map 42 Golden Horn, harbor of Constantinople, 32, 35, 36, »41, map 43, 78; Turkish
58, 96;
map
Palace,
Mangon, *86
77, 78, 79, 80, 82, 115, 135, 136, 137,
and Church,
Ghazni. 163 33
map
43
Iceland, trade with, 32
Goths, 90. See also Ostrogoths; Visigoths Government, 80-81, 82; craft monopolies
Palace, Constantinople, 38-39,
Mangana:
Iconium, map 61 Iconoclasm, 97-98, 142-143 Iconographic art, 142-144 Icons, 97, *127, 141, 142-143, 171; veneration of, 97-98 Idolatry,94, 97, 143
(1453), *160, 168-169
Magnaura
Malabar,
Iberia,
fleet in
Magister militum, office of, 80 Magister officii, office of, 81 77
Glass portrait of St. Peter, *150 Golden Gate, Constantinople, *44-45, 79;
61
of, 62,
maps 8-9,61
Macedonian dynasty, 61-62, 161
Mahmud of
John VIII Palaeologus, Emperor, 167 Jotabe, map 32 Judaism: rejection of icons by, 97; in Roman Empire, 16 Julian, Harbor of, map 42 Julian the Apostate, Emperor, 55 Julianus, Emperor, 13-14
Emperor, 56 Emperor, 25 Justinian I, Emperor, '20, 50, 51, 56-59,
I
M
76
Jupiter, 15
Giotto, 144
190
Tzimisces, Emperor, 76-77; death
I
of, table
Constantinople, '24-25,
True Cross
ruler of
of, 17, 25, 59; true
Byzantium, 80
Jewelry, '115, 116, 158 Jewelry caskets, '142, 144, 152
Mese, Constantinople, 37, 45; map 42-43 Meshach, '28-29, '146 Mesopotamia: basilicas, 139; extent of Byzantine Empire to, 55, 62; map 61 Messina, map 32 Metal works of art, 141, 142, 144, 145, '158 Meteora: map 9; monastery of Roussanou, '174-175 Methodius, Patriarch, 98 Metropolitans, in Church organization, 95-96 Michael, Archangel, '28-29, '92 III, Emperor, 28, 65, '66-69, 72, 102; murder of, '69, table 7b Michael V, Emperor, blinding of, table 76 Michael VIII Palaeologus, Emperor, 166, 167 Middle Ages, 12 Milan: Byzantine influence on church
Michael
architecture, 22;
map
8
Miletus, architecture, 138
Milion Arch,
map
43
Military processions, '44-45, 78-79, 80
Milvian Bridge, battle
at the, 93, 94;
tion of Greco- Roman, 11-12, 135-136:
Minoan
religious, 59, 137-138; secular,
Missionary work, 19, '28, 58, 163
136-137
Mistra, 113, 168;
civilization, 11
Liturgical music, 100
Mithraism, 16
Liturgy, 99, 109
Mohammed,
Liutprand, Bishop of Cremona, 77 Logothetes, office of, 80
Lombards, in Italy, 59; maps 57, 59 London, map 8 Louis VII, King of France, 165 Lower classes: clothing, 115, *119, '122; Constantinople, 36, 37, 46; peasant 118, '119-133; women, 116 Luke, hermit (Hosios Loukas), '101 in
life,
Lycandus, map 61 Lycus River, map 43 Lyons, Council of (1274), 167
map
8
map
9
Prophet, 60 Monasteries, 19, 99-100, '171-181; in Constantinople, 27, 100; on Mount Athos, 100, 113, 170, '174-176, '178181; in Phocis, '101-109; Roussanou, Meteora, '174-175; St. Catherine's, Mount Sinai, 142, '172-173; St. John's, Patmos Island, '177; St. Savior Pantoc-
wealth and power of, 100 Monastic literature, 59 Monasticism, 26-27, 58, 99-100, 174, 177, 180 rator, 80, 116;
Mongol inv««ion». loo. lo7 Monk«. •2* 27. 2a. 9<»-100 174
Ormuz. map 32 Orontes. battle on the. 62
icono-
Orthodox Christianity. Eastern Church Orvphas Nicetas. '71
cIjsi p«rs«culionsoi. ^7-98. Iifrot
pre4
Monophv-ilism 58
Monmir
Sicily Cathedrjl oi. 144,
map
8
Morjvij St Cvril's convmioo mission. 2*, ItvJ. map 9
US.
12, '30,
oration by. '22-23
147. church dec-
MOO-lll 141 142
Prilep.
28 Sit also
12.
map
57. 58
Ottoman Turks emergence and expansion of. 166-167. siege and capture of Constantinople by. 91. '160. 167-170
Our Lady Outdoor
Church
ot Pharos.
of.
102
114
life.
map
version to Christianity, 19. 28, 6l, 170. trade with 31 map 32-33
61
,
Pri>oners-of -war. 37. 45. 79
Russians, in Varangian Guard. 78
Processions, state and religious. In Constantinople, '35, 37, •44-45, 52, 78-79.
Ostrogoths, 56, defeat of
MoTt* map 104 Mosaics
Prefeit office of. 117
80 115 Procoplus. 137. quoted. 33. 40 56 P'otespatharos, office of. 80 Provinces, administration of
Roman
late
1*3. 144. '145-151; secular. 38. 39. 147: styles, •148-140. techniques.
Si
61-62.79. l6l
St
Public welfare. 34, 46. 57. Public works. 117
•146-147
Moscow. Byrantine influence on church
Pyrenees,
map
1
13.
Io7.
first
St Bernard of Clairvaux, l65 St Catherine s Monastery,
Paganism persecution under Constan-
against. 164-105
Con-
stantinople (717). oO Set alio Arabs. Islam. Turks Mosul, map 61 Music liturgical. 100. 137 138 Musical instruments. '39, '112. '130. 131 Musical revues. 114 Myrelaion Church, map 42 Mysticism, 13, 19. 26. 9o
map 43 Blachemae. 51:
Constantinople. 35. 37,
map A3, 38-39, map
60:
in.
9.
Naples: Byzantine influence on church architecture. 22:
maps
8. 32.
57
Narses. 58. 82 Nativity, depictions of. '107. 143
Naval power, ol. 88 Navy. 36, 82, '88-80 Neoplalonism, 15. I6 Nero. Emperor, 17 New Palace. Constantinople. 39 Nicaea, 165; Byzantine kingdom of. leo. rtuips 9. 6l. 164: Ottoman capture of, 166 Nicaea. Councils of (325 and 787). 97 Nicephorus II Phocas. Emperor, 76. 100: death of. '76 77 Nicephorus III Botaniatus, Emperor, '92. 118 Nicetas Choniates, quoted, 165 Nicholas II Czar. 170 Nicomedia. 15. 17. 18: maps 9. 164:
Ottoman capture
map
Nicopolis.
61
Diomedes, '65
Domninus, martyred. ^17
map
9.
monasti-
100, Persian conquest of, 59,
Papacy; aid to Constantinople against Turks, 168: assumption of right of coronation of emperors, 60, Io2; claim of divine primacy, 162-163: Justinian and, 58 See also Rome, Bishop of Paphlagonia, Paris, map 8
Patmos
Nishapur. map Noah adze of, 34
service of, 62, 82: ruined
plan to conquer Byzantium, lo2, lead
Crusade, 164-165, in southern
maps
in
Byzantine Empire, 55,
57, 58; trade with,
map
map
43 architecture. 138
conquest of Syria, Egypt
Roman
Empire, 18: vic-
47. 116-117.
nicir
>ple
OhriJ
47 117
urchofSt
Clen,!,..
Olgj, Grand
..- ...maps9.b\ PnnceM oi Kiev, 61
Olvmpot 119. '120-133. map 9 Omurlag Kmgof Bulgjrt. *64-6S Opsikion map 6l Oplimaton mar 6l Origen
:
mu-
Roman in
Empire, 15Byzantine life,
map
57: invasions
map 59
'106 143. '151. '159
'24-25, '35, '92, '99,
art, 22,
St John of Damascus, 138
lohn In Petra, Church of, map 43 John of Sloudlon, map 42 St John s Monastery, Patmos Island, •177 St. St.
order in church decoration, 102, 143. 144: hieratic, 143, 144, '148-149, icon-
151. See also
Church
architecture
Religious festivals, 131; Easter week,
•124-127
Joseph, depiction of. •lO? Luke: depiction of, ^104, relics of, 34 St Marks, Venice, 22, ^23, 140 St. Mary in Blachernae, Church of, map 43 St. Mary Panachrantos. Constantinople. St
St.
Church
reconciliation attempts, 167: schism,
Empire,
Papacy
11, 12, 19, 55, 94: col-
13-15, 17, establishment of, 13,
map
59; tetrarchy of Diocletian. 14-15
map 33 map 32
Roman
76 Phocas. Emperor. 56. death of. table 76
Romanus
164
In.
156
Population figures. Constantinople. 37, 43, 166 Pprphyroftriiius. imperial till*, 39 tuber. Imperial Palace 39 r :luralion and trade, 32
man
general, 14
Praetorian prefect, office of. SO
map
of. •SI.
43 St, Savior Pantepopte. Church of. map 43 St Savior Panlocrator. monastery. 80.
map
43
Simeon Stylltes, ^99 Simeon the New Theologian, 138
St St
Simon, depiction of, ^104 Theodore. Church ot. map 43 St, Theodore Tyro. Constantinople. •50 St.
Church of, map 43 Thomas, depiction of. •lOS Timothy, relics of. 34-35
St
•134: depictions of ^54. ^92 ^102. '109. relicsof 34-35, 96
blinding and death of, table 76 Romanus the Melode. 138
Sts Serglus and Bacchus,
Rome, ancient preservation
Salonika, 18:
of cultural
map
59;
138, 141
Rome, Bishop of 96 Rome, city of Belisarius in. 58, Byzantine Influence on church architecture 22, mapt 9, 32, 57, 59, Santa Maria Antiqua, 142, superseded
by Consianlinople,
18,33 Roussanou, monastery of Meteora, '174175 Russia attacks on Constantinople by (860,941). 34.88. By/antium
t
Church
of,
map
42
,
at.
depiction of. •lOS
Savior in Chora, Church
St.
•143. •152-153
as source of Byzantine culture, 94, 135,
Pompeii, murals
42
142, •ISO, 151 St. Philip,
163:
heritage of, 11-12, 19-22, 135:
Police. 81. 117
map
St Peter, 96. depictions of, ^104, •lOS,
76
Romanus IV Diogenes, Emperor,
Plato. 16
Polo. 144
of,
Saints. 100. accounts of lives of, 113,
of, table
Plague. 14. 46. 166
137
^104
St Paul, 18, 34 depictions of. '108. 151
St.
Emperor, death
of,
St Theodosia, of.
table 76 III.
'SO
St
law. preservation of. 12. 19, 20-
Philanthropy. Il6 Philippucus. Emperor, blinding of. table
map
43,
the Confessor, 137
Moclus, Cistern
St
116:
map
under Justinian, 57-58,
of,
Si Nicholas, 121
lapse In West, 11, 56, 59; decline of,
21,58 Romania, Byzantine Influences. 12 Romanus I. Emperor. 82 Romanus II. Emperor. 76. '129. death
\
John Chrysoslom. 78, '92, 137
Si
100, 141-144, '145-153, '155-159.
57: restoration
Pertinax. Emperor, 13
I
St John ihe Baptist. 35; depictions of,
frescoes, '28-29, 100, 141, 142, 143,
Roman
map 32
Persians: location of,
43
St John, depletions of. '104. '153
80,98,99. 118 Sre a/so Buddhism; Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Paganism
62, 163, 164 See also
59
Poetry; religious, 137. 138. secular. 136-
eunuchs >2 guild
dominant factor
St Methodius, l63
Persian Gulf,
114;
map
Rhine River, maps 8, 32 Rhodes, maps 9. 61 Rhone River, maps 8. 32 Riga, map 32 Rock-cut churches, 140 Roland, Song of, 136 Roman Catholic Church, relations with Orthodox Church, 60, 161, 162-164,
'101-109 Phosphorlon Harbor, map 43 Photius Patriarch, quoted. 34 Pisa, trade. 162
Officials. 80-81. of
of.
Maximus
Philadelphia,
Deuil, quoted. 36
Church
St James, depiction of. '101
Religion: culls of late 16:
St Irenaeus, 16
96
34, '35,
Matthew, depiction
Peter the Hermit. l64
Odyssey. Homer, 136 Oeicumrne, 96 Office of Barbarians. 83
St Irene.
St Helena. 17
St,
Phocis: map, 9. monastery church
Odon de
Relics, holy. In Constantinople. '24-25,
St,
Pest,
o
St.
Renaissance. 11-12. 144, 15e, 170
Peshawar,
32:
San Vitale, 77: Sant' Apollinare Nuovo, 142. 144 Red Sea. maps 9, 32 57;
Reliquary, jeweled. '159
of,
Vandals in, 56. 58 North Sea, maps 8, 32 Notaras, Lucas, 167 Novgorod, maps 9, 32 Nubia, Christianity in, '28-29 Nuns, 99-100
George of Mangana, Church of, map 43 Gregory of Nazianzus, 137 Gregory of Nyssa, 137, quoted. 50
St.
162
tories of Heraclius over.
162
tion of. '54
St
Religious literature, 59, 137-138
threat to late
Antioch, 165; Cuiscard's
North Africa:
by landed
and Palestine by, 58-59; Islam in, 60: map 9. under Moslem Turks, 163:
Bezant
Raphenea, map 61 Ravenna. 59. Byzantine Influence on church architecture, 22, 40: maps 8,
aristocracy. 62. 162: taxation of. 123.
Persia. 22. 57;
coin, '117, 118. See also
St George
ographlc, 142-144, mosaics, '22-23, 100, '101-111, 141, 142, 143, 144, '145-
Paul the Silentiary, quoted. 40 Peasants: life of, 118, '119-133; military
Pergamum.
Italy, 62,
monastery, '171,
Patzinaks, 62
Pera,
57 32
in
9.
Eumenlus of Gortyna. ^155 Church of. map 43. depic-
St,
144, '150-151, '156-157; hierarchical
Patriarch, office of, 50, 75, 82, 96
rebellion (532). 35. 48. 57
First
map
Island:
R
Religious
'177
maps
Normans
61
map 6l Parthenon, as Christian church, 62
Nile,
Nomisma.
map
Paristrion,
Nika
9, 32,
St Demetrios, depictions of, 151 St.
Peloponnese; carpel manufacture. 118: maps 8-9, 61: Ottoman Turks in, 167 Pendentive method of doming, '139 Pentecost. 102. '108
166
of.
80
St Eleutherlus, depiction of. ^109
Palladium statue of Athena, 33 Panlocralor, 110
164
palatii. office of,
St.
regained by Byzantium, 59, in Turkish hands, 164
N
Ohrid, Yugo-
in
•52-53, 77
Islam
of,
43.
Palaeologus dynasty, 55, 120, 166. 170 Palermo, map 8 in.
Sinai,
St Cyril. 12.28, 163
Quaeslot sacri
script illuminations
cism
Mount
9
slavia.
Manu-
Palace Cistern, Palaces. 138.
map
Clement, Church '156-157
St
under Justinian. 58 Painting. 143 See also Frescoes.
Palestine
maps
142. '172-173,
tine. 93-94. revival of. 55. suppression
siege oi Constantinople
(073-077). oO: second siege oi
Naissus: 18:
Anthony, 26-27 Athanasius the Athonite. 100 Bartholomew, depiction of. '105
St Basil. 137. 177
8
architecture, 40
Moslems Crusades
42 relics
rriap
0I.34
Si
16
1
Andrew Ctiurihol
Si
Empire 14 theme ••vslem. 50, 60 81 Michael lie, 137, l6l, quoted.
Psellus,
cullut
al heritage In. 12, 22, 40, 6l, 170,
<.<
maps
9, 32, S7. 59, 61.
164:
Ottoman Turks in. 167 Samosala map 6l Samuel. King of Bulgars. 62 San Vitale. Ravenna. 77 Sant Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna. 142, 144
Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome, 142 Saracens (Arabs), warfare against, 76,
83,85 Sardica (Sophia), 18: map* S..r .(..8.57 '
S..
N
9. 37,
-
61. 164
.»
I
62. 163. 164
holaiii (impciial guards),
7S
191
Schools, 136
Superstition, 113, 118
Scribes, 100, 155
Synaxarion illuminations, *155 Synod, 96
Sculpture, preservation of Greco-Romati, 22, *23
Syracuse,
Scylitzes, John, account of Hfe of Basil
I
by, 63, *64-73
Sea of Marmara, 18, 31, 33, 35; Sebastea, map 61 Seduction, punishment for, 21 Seljuk Turks, 62, 163-164, 166 Selucia, map 61 Semantron, *181 Senate, 19, 96,
map
Septum, maps
8,
map
42
maps
8,
Tools and utensils: artistry 123
in,
158; farm,
Torcello, Italy, Cathedral of, 144
Torture, 21, *70-71; of emperors, 48, ta-
57, 59, 61
77 Tournaments, jousting, *48-49, 114 Towers, map 42-43; Marble, 42; of Ga-
Syria, 11; Byzantine influences in, 12,
ble 76,
145; Islam in, 58-59, 60, 61; map 9; monks, *26; Monophysitism in, 58;
under Moslem Turks, 163; Persian conquest of, 58-59; regained by Byzantium, 59, 61, 62 Syrian dynasty, 60
lata, 43;
Mangana,
43; of
Anemas, 43
Trade: Constantinople as center
map
32, 36, 42, 61, 118; decline of By-
zantine, 161, 162, 166;
government
ulation of, 47, 116-117;
43
of, 31,
map
159; guardian of Constantinople, 24;
Shipping, 36, *41: Byzantine navy, 36, *88-89; trade routes, 31, map 32-33
Taron, map 61 Tarsus, map 61
Tripoli (Syria), 165
Byzantine Empire, maps 58, 60, 61 Siegecraft in warfare, 86, *87-88
Taxation, 117, 123, 162
Troy, Constantine's
Silk:
government monopoly,
57,
52, 117; in-
dustry, 118; tapestries, *10, 145, *1S8; trade, 31 Silver work, 142, *158
Sinai,
Mount:
map
map
9
Slaves, 31, 36, 37, 115, 117; freeing of,
21,45 Slavic world, influence of
map
Byzantium on,
170
map
Slavs: invasions of,
59; location of,
57
Social structure: distinctive clothing, 37,
115; guild system, 116-117; role of 116;
weakened by power of
landed aristocracy, 62, 161. See also
Lower
Upper
classes;
Soldiers, professional, 82, *84-85
Solomon, King, *105 Solomon, throne of, 39, 77 Sophia Palaeologa, Czarina, 170 Spain, 14;
map 57;
partly in By-
zantine Empire, 55; Visigoths
map
in, 56;
59
Spatharios, office of, 80
Spice trade, 31-33; Sports, 114-115
map 33
Strategion, Constantinople, 45 Strategos, office of, 80, 81
62 Struma River, map 61
Strymon,
map
of,
61
Sueves, location
Sugar
trade, 31
Norman
Tunis,
capture
units, 59, 60, 81;
116 Theodora, Empress (wife of Justinian),
of,
map
map
57
Vladislav,
Volga, choice for
17, 59; relic, '25
map
w
43;
Thucydides, 136 Tiberius III, Emperor, death, table 76 Tigris, maps 9, 32, 57, 61, 164 Tomb of Christ, stone of, 34
42-43
Warfare, '83-91; naval, '88-89; sacred, as defense of the faith, 78; siegecraft, 86, '87-88; tactics, 84, 85. See also
Upper
Welfare, public, 37, 46, 57, 113, 116 Western Europe: attitudes toward By-
classes: civil aristocracy, 61, 80,
II,
37, 45,
116
Valencia,
Greek
zantium, 162, 164-166; belated aid to
Byzantium, 167, 168; monasticism in, 27; trade with, 36, map 32 Women: dress and makeup of, 115-116; 116; rights of, 21, 116, 117; role of, 116; society, 37, 45, 116
panel of St. Peter, 142, '150
map 32
map 43 Van, Lake, maps 9, 164 Vandals, in North Africa, 56; defeat by Justinian, 58, map 57 Varangian Guard, 78-79 Varna, battle
in,
82, '84-87, 168;
36, '88
empresses, *78, 79, 116; lower classes,
Pope, 164
Valens, Aqueduct of,
Thrace: mops 9, 61; Ottoman Turks 166 Thracesion, map 61 Throne of Solomon, 39, 77
of Galata, 43; of Theodosius,
Wood
Salonika Thessaly, Bulgarian conquest of, 62; maps 8-9
Rome,
42-43: of Constantine, 42-43;
Wedding, '128-129, 131
Urban, engineer, 167 Uzes, 62
See also
map
Universities, 136
women,
Wall
controls: Byzantium, 117;
14
Army; Weapons
137, 161, 162, 166; sports, 114, 115;
map
Wage Walls,
Weapons, 78-79,
of, 167,
maps
139. See also
Yugoslavia, Byzantine influences, 12,
'156-157
9, 61,
164 Vaspurkan, map 61 Vaulting, in church architecture, 138,
Dome
Venice: aid to Byzantium against Guis-
on church architecture, *22-23, 40; maps card, 162; Byzantine influence
zz PRODUCTION STAFF FOR TIME INCORPORATED Hallenbeck (Vice President and Director of Production), Robert £, foy, Caroline Ferri and Robert E. Fraser Text photocomposed under the direction of Albert /. Dunn and Arthur ].
192
32
32
36, 147; landed aristocracy, 62, 118,
Theophilitzes, 65, *66-67
]ohn
map
new
36, 37; education of, 135-136; housing,
Theodosius the Great, Emperor, 55-56, 94 Theodosius II, Emperor, 136 Theodota (mother of Michael Psellus), 116 Theology, 51, 5.8, 97-98, 162; literature, 137. See also Dogma Theophano, Empress, 76 61.
initial
u
Urban
map
King of Poland and Hungary,
167
161; clothing, 115; in Constantinople,
61
of, 45,
57,
Vladimir, Prince of Kiev, 61, 99
59
fire,
Theodora, Empress (mother of Michael III), *68, 98 Theodore, Abbot of Stoudion, 116 Theodoric, King of Ostrogoths, 11 Theodosiopolis,
maps
59
Turks: ascendancy of, 161, 163-164, 166167; Khazars, 163; map 164; Ottoman, 166-170; Seljuk, 62, 163-164; siege and capture of Constantinople by, 91, '160, 167-170; warfare against, 83, 85 Tyrrhenian Sea, map 8
of,
map 61 Theocracy, 75, 80, 170; King David as symbol of, *81; Russian, 170 Theoctista (mother of Abbot Theodore),
Thessalonika, 18;
Squinch method of doming, *139 Squinches, church of Hosios Loukas, 102, »106-107 Stoicism, 15-16
Struma, battle
32;
Theodosius, Forum of, map 42-43
classes
Soldier-farmers, 62, 82
Visigoths, in Spain, 56, 58, 59;
Tugrul, Seljuk ruler, 163
56-57, 58, *78, 79, 80
Smyrna, map 9
women,
True Cross,
165; silk industry, 118
Slave trade, 31
85;
map
Themes, administrative
61
12, 22, 28, 61,
Thebes:
8, 57,
34
43
capital, 18
Teluch, map 61 Tesserae (mosaic stones), 146 Tetrarchy, Roman Empire, 14-15 Theater, in Constantinople, 35, 114
Monastery,
maps
relics of,
Virgin Pammakaristos, Monastery of,
map
Triumphal Way, map 42
Textiles trade, 31
St. Catherine's
142, »172-173;
Sirmium,
Tripoli (Africa),
Taygetus Mountains, 113
Villehardouin, Geoffrey de, quoted, 165 Virgin, Church of the, Daphni, '110-111 Virgin Mary: depictions of, 102, '104105, '107, '109, 144, 151, '153, '157-
Trebizond, maps 9, 32, 57, 61 Tribonian, 58 Tribunal of the Nineteen Couches, 78 Trinity, 97
8,
map 61 Vienna, maps 8, 32 Village life, '119-133 Vidin,
Western competition and concessions, 161, 162, 166 Trade guilds, 47, 116-117 Tamerlane, 167 Tana, map 32 Taoism, 95 Taormina, map 61 Tapestry, silk, *158
Sicily, in
Turkish siege of Constantinople, 168 Veroli casket, '142, 144
routes, 31; various products, 31-33;
59 Serbia, influence of Byzantine architecture, 22 Serbs, in battle of Kossovo, 167 Serres, map 164 Severus (Septimus), Emperor, 35 Sewers, 37, 43 Shadrach, '28-29, '146 32, 57,
reg-
32-33;
32; role in Crusaders' capture of Constantinople (1204), 165-166; St. Mark's, 22, '23, 140; trade, 36, 162, 166; and 8,
L.
Dunn
Zeno, Emperor, death of, table 76 Zenobia, 14 Zeuxippus, Baths of, Constantinople, 35, 37 Zhaia, map 33 Zoe, Empress, '78, 79-80
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