Byzantine Empire

1. Chapter Seven:
Byzantium
———
Culture and Values, 6th
Ed.
Cunningham and Reich

3. The Decline of Rome
Constantinople became the “new” Rome
Constantine moved Roman capital from
Rome to Byzantium and changed the
name to Constantinople in C.E. 330
Geographic advantages
Deepwater port with natural shelter
Plentiful forests and water
Neighboring areas were agriculturally rich and
could supply the city’s food needs
Straddled the most prominent land route
between Asia and Europe

4. The Decline of Rome
Ravenna
Emperor Honorius moved capital from
Constantinople to Ravenna in C.E. 402
On the Adriatic coast
476 C.E. – last Roman emperor died there
(in Ravenna)
Goths occupied Ravenna until they were
defeated by imperial forces from
Constantinople

5. The Decline of Rome
Christianity continued to grow and
expand in influence during 4th
and 5th
centuries.
2 writers wrote during the decline of the
West
Augustine (from Roman North Africa) &
Boethius (from Ravenna)

6. Literature and Philosophy:
Augustine of Hippo
Witnessed the decline of Roman power
Born in C.E. 354 in Northern Africa (part of
the Roman provinces), received a Classical
education in Africa and Rome
Converted to Christianity in Milan and
returned to his native country
Named Bishop of Hippo (390 C.E.)
Augustinian Premises or Beliefs
Absolute majesty of God
Immutability of God’s will (unchangeable)
Flawed state of the human condition

7. Literature and Philosophy:
Augustine of Hippo
Until Thomas Aquinas in the 13th
century, all Christian theologians in the
West started from Augustinian
premises.
Visigoths sacked Rome in 410, and the
pagan world blamed the rise in
Christianity.
Augustine wrote The City of God
partially as a response to this charge.

8. Literature and Philosophy:
Augustine of Hippo
Wrote The City of God
An attempt to formulate a coherent and all-
embracing philosophy of history
Most influential philosophies of history written in
Western world
Linear history: history moves in a straight line
Begins and ends with God
Did not believe that history repeats itself
Was convinced that humanity had an origin, played
out its story, and would terminate
The city of man would be judged and the city of
God would be saved

9. Literature and Philosophy:
Augustine of Hippo
Confessions
Invented the genre of self-reflective writing
Autobiography, self-reflection
“I would know myself that I might know Thee,”
Augustine writes of God
Self-scrutiny and inquiry into the significance of
life were new in Western culture
Analysis of his spiritual and intellectual
development from his youth until the time of his
conversion to Christianity

10. Literature and Philosophy:
Augustine of Hippo
Confessions
Title must be understood in a triple sense:
Confession of sin
Act of faith in God
Confession of praise
Reflects on philosophical and theological
questions - linked to his own experience
Began his book as a prayer to God

11. Literature and Philosophy:
Boethius
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethuis
served Goth king Theodoric (522)
Was a highly educated Roman
Bridged gap between classical paganism
and Christianity
The Consolation of Philosophy
Wrote it while in prison awaiting execution
Reasons for imprisonment are not clear

12. Literature and Philosophy:
Boethius
The Consolation of Philosophy
Dialogue between Lady Philosophy and the
author about philosophical and religious
basis for human freedom
Blends spirit of the Book of Job with Roman
Stoicism
Lady demands he avoid self-pity
Face troubles with serenity and hope
Provident God overcomes all evil
Issues of human freedom
Human freedom exists along with an all-knowing
God; good will triumph

13. Literature and Philosophy:
Boethius
The Consolation of Philosophy
No explicit mention of Christian doctrine,
although there are Christian themes
Recasting of Roman thought into Christian
patterns
Reflects elegance of Roman expression,
burgeoning hope of Christianity, and sadness
that afflicted any sensitive Roman (decline of
Rome)
One of the most widely read and influential
works of the Middle Ages
Quoted by Thomas Aquinas and Dante

14. Literature and Philosophy:
Boethius
He sets out a basic problem and provides
an answer:
If God knows what we do before we do it,
how can we be said to be free agents who
must accept responsibility for personal
acts?
Look at the problem from the point of view
of God: God lives in eternity; therefore,
God doesn’t “foresee” the future;
“eternity” means “no time”

15. Literature and Philosophy:
Boethius
God does not exercise Praevidentia
(seeing things before they happen) but
exercises Providence (seeing all things
in the simultaneity of their happening)
Life is not the product of blind fate or an
uncaring force in the universe.
Boethius’s writing reflects beliefs
of Plato and Aristotle, stoicism of
Cicero, and theological reflections
of Augustine

16. The Ascendancy of Byzantium
Constantinople – center of imperial life in
early 5th
century
6th
century, reached its highest expression of
power with the ascension to the throne of
Justinian
Justinian and Theodora – King and Queen
His intention was to restore the empire to a
state of grandeur
Aided by Theodora (former dancer and prostitute)
She was tough-minded and capable woman who added
strength and resolve to the grandiose plans of the emperor

17. The Ascendancy of Byzantium
Built up Western silk industry
Emperor encouraged Persian monks residing in
China to bring silkworms out of China
They smuggled silkworm eggs out of the country
in hollow tubes.
Within a decade the industry rivaled that of
China
Revised / Codified Roman Law
Law was a vast jumble of disorganized and
contradictory decisions, decrees, statutes,
opinions, and legal codes

18. The Ascendancy of Byzantium
Tribonian – legal scholar who sorted through
decrees and laws
Code, Pandects, Institutes
Code – summarized all imperial decrees
from the time of Hadrian to Justinian
Pandects (digest) – synthesized a vast
quantity of legal opinion and scholarship
Institutes – legal collection broken down
into four categories
Laws concerning persons, things, actions, and
personal wrongs (criminal law)

19. The Ascendancy of Byzantium
The body of this legal revision became the
basis for the law courts of the empire and,
in later centuries, the basis for the use of
Roman law in the West.

20. The Ascendancy of Byzantium
Christian fanaticism
Justinian and Theodora took a keen interest in
theology and ecclesiastical governance (church
organization)
Justinian shut down the last surviving Platonic
academy on the grounds that its paganism was
inimical (hostile) to the true religion.
Generosity to the church was great
Built 25+ churches and convents
Hagia Sophia

21. Church of Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia – Greek for “Holy Wisdom”
Principle church of Constantinople
Destroyed twice during Justinian’s reign
Once by fire during Justinian’s reign, and during civil
disorders of the Nika revolt in 532 that destroyed
most of the European side of the city
Anthemius and Isidore – two architects
who planned the new church
Work began in 532 and the building was
dedicated 5 years later in the presence of
Justinian and Theodora

22. Church of Hagia Sophia
Unified basilica and dome (had not been done
before)
Architects used pendentives to solve the
architectural problem
Pendentives – triangular masonry devices that
carried the weight of the dome on massive piers
rather than straight down to the drum (see. Fig.
7.1)
Church is 184 feet high, 41 feet higher than the
Pantheon
Has columned side aisles and gallery for female
worshipers

23. Church of Hagia Sophia
Dome is surrounded by forty windows
Seems to hang in space
Light streamed into the church reflecting off the
mosaics
Light was a key element behind the conception of
Hagia Sophia– light is the symbol of divine wisdom
(see Fig. 7.3)
The sun and it’s ray’s represent the eternity of
God and His illumination of mortals
Light was went far beyond simple illumination of
the interior: created spiritual ambience (mood)

24. Church of Hagia Sophia
Liturgy – sequence of various parts of
the worship service
Divine Liturgy was developed from the
inspiration of St. John Chrysostom
Was the patriarch of the city in the century
before Justinian
Official liturgy of Byzantine Christianity
Has been modified and added to over the
centuries
See example on page 162

25. Church of Hagia Sophia
Converted to mosque (after 1453, the
fall of Constantinople) by Turks
Mosaics were whitewashed or plastered
over because the Qur’an (Koran)
prohibited use of images
The mosque was converted to a
museum by the modern Turkish state,
and some of the mosaics were
uncovered

26. Church of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (Istanbul)

27. Church of Hagia Sophia, interior view

28. Ravenna:
Art and Architecture
Roman + Gothic + Byzantine:
monuments reflect the city’s history
The Mausolem of Galla Placidia
Built at the end of the Roman period of
Ravenna’s history
Once thought to be the tomb of Galla Placidia
(Mausoleum - “burial chapel”) who reigned as
regent from 430 to 450
More likely is a votive chapel to St. Lawrence,
originally attached to the nearby Church of the
Holy Cross
Martyrdom of St. Lawrence – lunette mosaic
Holds medieval sarcophogi

29. Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

30. Ravenna:
Art and Architecture
Mosaics of Galla Placidia – mosaics
make the structure important
Outside of the chapel is very plain; built in the
basilica style shape of a cross
Lunettes – small arched shape (see Fig. 7.5);
mosaic depicting Christ as the Good Shepherd in
north niche just above the entrance
Apse – the altar end of the church
Apse and dome are covered with deep blue
mosaic with stylized sunbursts and stars in
gold, symbolized the heavens
Tesserae (cubes that make up the mosaic) are
not flush in the wall, mosaics are irregular
Refract and break up the light

33. Ravenna:
Art and Architecture
Two baptisteries of Ravenna represent
major religious division between
Orthodox and Arian Christians
Orthodox believed in divinity (God-ness) of
Christ
Arians did not
Neonian Baptistery
Built by Orthodox Christians in 5th
century
Octagonal in shape, derived from Roman
bathhouses
Mosaic placed directly over baptismal pool

34. Ravenna:
Art and Architecture
Mosaic of the baptismal pool is
particular striking
Lower register of mosaic shows floral designs
based on common Roman motifs
Just above is circle of empty thrones and altars
with biblical codices open on them
In the band above the apostles are walking in
stately procession around the circle of the dome.
Central disc is baptism of Christ by John the
Baptist in river Jordan
Mosaic was designed to reflect beliefs of
the participants in ceremonies

36. Ravenna:
Art and Architecture
Arian Baptistery, built by the Goths
toward the end of the 5th
century
Severely decorated
Central disc of the dome also depicts Christ’s
baptism
Lower register: 12 Apostles are divided into 2
groups, one led by Peter, the other by Paul
Two groups meet at a throne bearing a jeweled
cross
Mosaics depict Passion (suffering)/Resurrection of
Christ

38. Ravenna:
Art and Architecture
Theodoric was emperor of the Goths
from 493 to 526 C.E.
Was an Arian Christian
He had Boethius executed
Buried in mausoleum
on outskirts of Ravenna

39. Ravenna:
Art and Architecture
Church of Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo
One of the most famous monuments of Theodoric’s
reign, aside from his mausoleum
Theodoric’s palace church, originally called Church
of the Redeemer
Constructed in basilica style
Rich mosaics (two different styles: Roman and
Byzantine)
Processions of male and female saints in spaces
just above the aisle arches (fig.7.9) move
toward an enthroned Christ on one side and
Madonna and Child on the other

40. Ravenna:
Art and Architecture
Processional mosaics were added to the
church when the building passed from the
Goths into Byzantine hands in the reign of
Justinian

41. Ravenna:
Art and Architecture
Depictions of Theodoric’s palace shows
evidence of Orthodox censorship
Can see traces of halos of now-excised Arian
saints (or possible members of Theodoric’s
court) in the arched spaces
Figures are hidden by decorative twisted drapes,
but their hands can still be seen on the columns
(fig. 7.11)
Scenes from New Testament
Miracles of Christ on one side; scenes from His
passion on the other

42. Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo

46. Jesus calls apostles Peter
and Andrew

48. Church of San Vitale,
Ravenna
This church most clearly testifies to
Justinian’s presence in Ravenna
Dedicated by Bishop Maximian in 547
Was begun by Bishop Ecclesius in 526, the
year Justinian came into power
Interior octagon within an octagon is
structural basis for the dome
Interior octagon contained 2nd
story women’s
gallery
Dome is supported by squinches – small
vaults that cut across the angles of each
part of the octagon

50. Church of San Vitale
Most important aspect of building is
the stunning program of mosaics
Christ the Pantocrator – the one who
sustains all things in his hands (fig.
7.16)
Located in the apse

51. Church of San Vitale
Mosaics to the left and right of the apse
represent the royal couple
Justinian as Christ on earth (holding paten –
bread basket) with attendants and Bishop
Maximian
Justinian considered himself regent of Christ (fig.
7.17)
This attitude is summed up in the iconographic, or
symbolic, program
Represents Christ on earth, and his power
balances church and state
Theodora with chalice (fig. 7.18-7.19)
Chalice and bread represent Eucharist or Lord’s
supper

52. Church of San Vitale
Theodora and Justinian extended
generosity beyond church building and
decoration
Ivory throne was gift to Bishop Maximian,
ecclesiastical ruler of Ravenna when San
Vitale was dedicated
Portraits of John the Baptist and the four
evangelists on the front of the throne
Scenes from the New Testament on the back
Episodes from Old Testament life of Joseph on
sides
Ivory “Cathedra” – Latin word for throne
Throne bears monogram: Maximian, Bishop

59. Saint Catherine’s Monastery
at Mount Sinai
Monastery built by Justinian in the
Near East
Still in use 1500 years later
Built monastery fortress in the desert at
the foot of Mt. Sinai; pilgrimage chapels
on the slopes
See page 172 for inscription
The Ten Commandments were given to
Moses at Mt. Sinai
This is also the place where God appeared to
Moses in the burning bush

60. Saint Catherine’s Monastery
at Mount Sinai
Repository (place where things are
stored) of ancient Byzantine art and
culture
Extreme isolation and very dry weather
helps preserve architecture, icons, art, and
literature
Monastery is also famous for the
rediscovery of Codex Sinaiticus
Earliest Greek codex of the New Testament

61. Saint Catherine’s Monastery
at Mount Sinai
Monastery is surrounded by heavy,
fortified walls, the main part of which
date from before Justinian’s time
Some modern buildings exist: fireproof
structure that houses the monastery’s
library and icon collection
Katholikon by Stephanos
Monastic church, dates from the time of
Justinian

62. Saint Catherine’s Monastery
at Mount Sinai
Inscriptions carved into the wooden trusses
in the ceiling, including the architect’s name
Signed 6th
century ecclesiastical architecture
Vast collection of religious icons
Almost no pictorial art remains from the
period before the 8th
century due to
iconoclastic controversies (movement
against using icons in worship)
Icon refers to painting of a religious figure or
a religious scene that is used in public
worship (liturgy)

63. Saint Catherine’s Monastery
at Mount Sinai
Many Byzantine icons were preserved due to
Saint Catherine’s isolation
Icons are not primarily decorative
Icon is a window into the sacred
Icon is a “thing” but it permits a glimpse into the
timeless world of religious mystery
Figures “speak” directly and frontally to the
viewer
Christ Pantocrater (fig. 7.22)
Encaustic method – painting with colored molten
wax
Christ looks directly at the viewer, and with right
hand blesses the viewer

66. Persistence of
Byzantine Culture
Very little change in the Byzantine style
throughout time
Until its fall in 1453, Constantinople
exerted an extraordinary cultural
influence over the rest of the Eastern
Christian world

67. Persistence of
Byzantine Culture
Influence on Russian Culture
Russian emissaries sent to Constantinople in
late 10th
century to inquire about religion
brought back favorable reports
Russians accepted Christianity about 150
years after the ban on icons was lifted in
843.
By 11th
century, schools of icon painting were
established

68. Persistence of
Byzantine Culture
Byzantine influence was also strong in
Italy
Italo-Byzantine Style
During iconoclastic controversy many
artists went into exile in Italy and worked
there
Influenced art for many centuries

69. Persistence of
Byzantine Culture
Byzantine art was intimately tied to
theology and liturgical practices of the
Orthodox church
Use of icons was not just a pious practice
but a deep-rooted part of the faith
Ideal of the artist was not to try something
new but to infuse his work with a spirit of
deep spirituality and unwavering reverence

70. Persistence of
Byzantine Culture
Fall of Constantinople brought a
reinfusion of Greek culture (literary,
philosophical, and theological) to the
West
Began to study Greek philosophers again
Learned the Greek language
Greek refugee scholars
Fall of Constantinople brought a flood of émigré
Greek scholars to the West, particularly Italy
These scholars soon held chairs at various
studia (schools)