Byzantine double headed eagle on a church door in Alassa, Crete.

BYZANTIUM By: Paul Kastenellos

The 10th century Joshua Roll now in the Vatican Library,

WESTERN AND EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE

For several centuries after the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in Roman-occupied Judea, the western world was the Roman world. The frontiers of the Roman empire stretched from Britain in the North to the Sahara Desert in the south, from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to Rome’s old and formidable enemy -- the Persians -- in the east.

Constantine the Great in York, UK, by Philip Jackson.

In the three hundred years after the birth of Jesus the conflict between paganism and Christianity intensified until in 313 of the common era the emperor Constantine I -- called The Great -- legalized the practice of Christianity. He ended the persecution of the new religion and allowed it to flourish openly. Then he, himself, became a Christian.

Very soon Roman paganism declined, At the same time Constantine decided that the empire was too large to be ruled from one center and founded a new city -- a Christian city -- in the eastern part of the empire where Asia meets Europe at the Bosporus. He called it New Rome, today’s Istanbul; but it has always been commonly known as Constantinople.

The common speech of the Roman Empire in its eastern half had always been Greek rather than the Romans’ Latin and soon Greek became the official language of that part of the empire ruled from Byzantium. Little by little the two halves of the Roman world drew apart. Within two hundred years the center of power in the Western part had shifted away from the Mediterranean Sea, to the developing states north of the Alps.

The reconstructed land walls of Constantinople.

In the east, however, Constantinople and the empire flourished. They flourished and prospered for another thousand years. The Byzantine empire survived almost constant war against enemies from the new western states, from attacks by Slavic tribes north of the Black Sea, and from Arab armies under the standard of Mohammed. Not until less than fifty years before Columbus expanded the horizon of all Europeans did it finally succumb to two-hundred years of attacks by Turkish armies coming out of Asia.The triple walls of the city were the marvel of the middle ages. They stood against attack after attack for almost a thousand years. Below the author, his daughter, and shepherds pose near ruined sections of the wall.

The Later Roman -- or Byzantine -- Empire was far and away the highest civilization of the European and Western Asiatic world throughout the middle ages. Its only competitors in cultural achievements were far-off China, and the Islamic states which had themselves founded their architecture on Byzantine designs and much of their science and philosophy on Greek learning which had been passed on by Byzantium. Below is the Church of the Holy Wisdom in Istanbul, later the Ayasofya mosque, and now a museum.

The Hagia Sophia Cathedral, later the Ayasofya Mosque.

Cataphract from the The Vinkhuijzen collection of The Barberini diptych, showing a victorious military uniforms emperor in armor, The Louvre Museum,

Always, the strength of Byzantium were its mighty armies of heavily armored cavalrymen, and the use of “Greek Fire” a combustible mixture which burned even on water and many times preserved Constantinople and the empire when they were attacked.

Greek fire in use, from the 11th century Skylitzes manuscript now in Madrid.

Yet for most of its history the empire was rich and preferred diplomacy to war whatever the cost, buying the services of potential invaders and either enlisting them in its own armies or setting them against other enemies. Barbarian emissaries were astounded by the wealth of the court. Organ music filled the vault of Hagia Sophia and marvelous clockwork beasts decorated the palaces. Imperial eunuchs imitated the angels, and princesses might be married to Russian royalty. Missionaries were sent into the wilderness north of the empire where they would evangelize barbarian tribes pushing west. In the process they would use the Greek alphabet to provide the tribes with the first documents written in their own language.

Diplomacy was funded by luxury trade from the Asian silk road, a dangerous overland passage from China which terminated at the Bosporus; and by the trade in furs and natural resources that were carried by water down the Bosporus from the Black Sea, past Constantinople, and on to the west.

For centuries the Near East was a part of the Eastern Empire. Egypt supplied grain for the populace of Constantinople while Greece and Asia Minor provided cavalrymen and horses to defend it from attacks by Persia. Then in the sixth century Arab armies under the banner of Mohammed conquered Persia, Egypt, and the Holy Land. There was still trade but the empire took a hit from which it never fully recovered.

A Byzantine cavalry force engages retreating Bulgars.

The defining characteristic of the empire was its devout Christianity; the empire was dotted with monasteries and covered with churches. The Byzantines left to the Orthodox churches the heritage of beauty with which they decorated both secular and religious buildings with religious frescoes and gold mosaics. Most of the secular buildings have been destroyed but many churches remain. This strikingly modern wall painting is from the church of St. Saviour in Chora in Istanbul. Christ is seen raising both Adam and Eve from the dead, together at the end of time.

Christ raises Adam and Eve from the grave.A 14th century Fresco in St. Saviour in Chora.

The eastern emperors maintained an outpost in Ravenna, Italy, long after Rome itself had fallen to Gothic invaders. These sixth century mosaics from the Church of San Apollinaire Nuovo show the wise men bringing gifts to the Christ child, and a procession of holy virgins approaching the enthroned Christ.

Two views of San Apollinaire in Classe, Ravenna, Italy, 6th century.

San Vitale, Ravenna, 6th century.

Despite the Roman heritage of the early Byzantine state its culture was as largely Greek and Asiatic. As Christians, representative painting and sculpture of God and the saints were forbidden. This led to a period in the seventh century when only the cross could be displayed. In this Iconoclastic period much early Christian art was destroyed. Eventually images of Christ and the saints were permitted again but sculpture in the round was forbidden. Purely religious paintings and mosaics took on the abstract two dimensional quality that is associated with icons. Icons could be a spiritual bond between heaven and earth but they were not to be worshiped as idols. In the icons above Mary is seen as the Christ bearer. The image on the left emphasized Christ's divinity, that on the right the humanity of both mother and child.

Byzantine dedication to Christ is to be seen in the representations of Christ as ruler of the world which dominated every church. The images below are from the Hagia Sophia cathedral in Istanbul.

The emperor was depicted as Christ's representative. Jesus was the ruler of all. The emperor was the ruler of Christ’s empire on earth, an

absolute authority in civil affairs, and the temporal head of His church. Here he is depicted in the cathedral of Hagia Sophia with an emperor and empress.

A warmer faith depicted the mother of Jesus. The devotion of Byzantines to her was next only to their fear of a forgiving but awe inspiring Christ; for Mary was accessible on a human level, a person like themselves, who, like themselves, had suffered all the tribulations of life in faithfulness to God. Here the emperor Justinian I presents the Hagia Sophia cathedral, and the emperor the city of Constantinople, to Mary to whom the city was dedicated.

Our Lady of Kazan, origin unknown. The Annunciation from the Church of St. Discovered in 1579 in Russia. Clement In Macedonia.

Mary is often depicted at the point of death. Jesus holds his mother's soul.

Only next in regard to the mother of Christ were the saints of the Orthodox church to whom prayers were constantly offered for their intercession before the heavenly throne. Their deliberately stylized representations - icons usually painted on wood and often obscured with silver and jewels - remain models for icons of the Eastern churches today.

St. Michael the Archangel and St. Peter from the St. Catherine Monastery in the Sinai; and St. George from the Christian and Byzantine Museum, Athens.

Less has survived of secular art, partly because even secular buildings were decorated with religious motifs. Yet some, though often damaged, remain. Above is the so-called shroud of Charlemagne made in Constantinople, and a Bishop's vestment with Byzantine embroidery from a collection in the Kremlin Armoury. Below are some late Roman floor mosaics from the Great Palace in Constantinople. These images maintained the Roman tradition of realism in art.

The greatest rulers after Constantine in Byzantium’s early centuries were the Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora. It is to one of his generals, Belisarius, that Justinian owed the reconquest of much of the Roman empire in the early sixth century and its defense against Persia. Belisarius, though little known in the west, was certainly one of the world’s best generals and one of its most honorable. He refused on several occasions to betray Justinian and take the crown himself. He was also deeply devoted to his wife Antonina,

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In these Ravenna mosaics of Justinian and Theodora, Belisarius stands next to the emperor and Antonia next to the empress. Although the empress was a very beautiful woman she died of cancer and her illness is clearly captured in these glass tiles. Such portraiture contrasts with the deliberately abstract symbolism of Byzantine religious art.

It is to Justinian that the world owes the codification of Roman law and also the construction of Hagia Sophia, one of the most impressive buildings in the world. Hagia Sophia, meaning the church of the Holy Wisdom, still stands as a museum in modern Istanbul. The roundels with Arabic writing date from the period when it was a mosque. Some of its mosaic decoration has been uncovered after having been long hidden in accordance with Islamic law. An exterior of the building is shown on page 4.

But it is not for its rulers and generals that the Byzantine world should be most regarded. Monks throughout the empire patiently copied over and over the Roman and Greek authors, preserving the knowledge and wisdom of the ancient world. Much of this knowledge was passed to medieval Europe by way of Islamic scholars who received it from monastic libraries in the Holy land and carried it through North Africa to Spain. Below is a Greek herbal, the Vienna Dioscorides, with Arabic notations.

Much of the art in Constantinople and the Asian parts of the empire is lost -- though not all. Much still remains in modern Greece, the Balkan countries, and elsewhere. Below is the monastery church of Hosias Loukas in Greece, and Rumania's lovely Putna monastery, built just as the Ottoman Turks were conquering Byzantium itself.

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From elsewhere in the empire: a Byzantine fortress on the island of Crete, and from Mt. Nebo in Jordan, a mosaic floor

In Sicily, the twelfth century Montreale Cathedral successfully combined Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic architectural styles even while the two churches were drawing apart.

In 1130, Roger II became king of Sicily. In this mosaic from the Martorana, achurch in Palermo, he is invested by Christ while wearing the emblems of aByzantine emperor. Even the inscription is in Greek.

All Europe looked to Constantinople with regard and envy, mixed with the disdain with which less sophisticated societies may regard cultures which they can perhaps copy but neither surpass nor even match. The rude knights of western Europe often misunderstood literary and social achievement for decadence. Below are modern representations of a Byzantine empress with her retinue, an army officer with a high official, and a domestic scene.

The western knights of the first crusade were welcomed by Byzantium until it became clear that they intended to retake for themselves the Holy land which Byzantium had lost to Arab armies. Thereafter relations continued to deteriorate. There was a split between the Eastern and Western churches which had for a long time been drifting apart. In 1204 knights of the fourth crusade, sometimes called the robber crusade, deviated from their mission to the Holy Land and seized Constantinople. For fifty seven years it was occupied by foreign forces until freed by the emperor Michael VIII. Much was destroyed during the occupation. Much else was stolen and taken to Italy and other parts of western Europe. St. Marcos in Venice is perhaps the finest example of Byzantine art and architecture next to Hagia Sophia for not only did the Venetians closely copy Byzantine models in its construction, many works of art including these ancient Greek horses were moved there.

The city and the empire could not completely recover. Byzantium's power had depended upon controlling trade through and across the Bosporus. But now for defense the weakened empire increasingly had to bestow trade concessions on the emerging Italian city states. Turkish sultans who had displaced Arab emirs conquered the provinces from which Byzantium recruited troops. By the fifteenth century most of the empire outside Constantinople and the Peloponnese in Greece had been occupied. Western Europe tried too late to organize a relief expedition but each western state looked first to its own advantage. The army of Mehmet II carried small ships overland and launched them into the city's principal harbor, the Golden Horn, behind the warships of the defenders. Even with the help of some troops from Genoa who chose to remain defending a hopeless cause, the city could not be held. By now the city faced cannon fire which eventually brought down a part of the great walls. Constantine XI Palaeologos, the last Roman emperor, fell in the breach defending his city against the assault. The date was May 29, 1453, just thirty nine years before Columbus ventured to America and eleven hundred and twenty three years after the city's founding.

Yet a fine example of what a Byzantine city looked like still exists. Near Sparta in Greece the city of Mistra was deserted intact after the conquest.

On the Peloponnese the fortress of Monomvasia towers like Gibraltar.

However the truest heritage of Byzantium are the monasteries, the ceremony, and the decor and vestments of the Eastern Orthodox churches, a living reminder of the thousand-year empire of Constantine's New Rome. Below is a Monastery in Metora, Greece, and a Russian Orthodox Church in Seldovia, Alaska.

Photo Credits:

The first cover illustration is of the Byzantine Double Eagle, a symbol of the Greek Orthodox Church. Copyright: Lakis Fourouklas, Dreamstime.com.The second cover illustration is from the 10th century Joshua Roll in the Vatican Library. The photograph is from the York Project via Wikipedia.The map is the author's.The statue of Constantine the Great was created by Phillip Jackson and photographed by Charles drakew. It is off Wikipedia.The first image of the triple land walls of Constantinople originates from Wikipedia, photographer unknown.The three photos of the ruined walls are the author's.The exterior view of Hagia Sophia is from Wikipedia. The photographer is not identified.The mounted Cataphract is from the the Vinkhuijzen collection of military uniforms by Dr. H. J. Vinkhuijzen, compliments of the New York Public Library.The mounted figure of an armored emperor is from the early sixth Barberini diptych in the Louvre, photographed by Marie-Lan Nguyen, from Wikipedia.The image of Greek fire being employed is from the 12th century Skylitzes manuscript in the Biblioteca Nacional de Espania in Madrid, photographer unknown, Wikipedia. The image of a mounted Byzantine force pursueing Russ is also from the Madrid Skylitzes ms. WikipediaThe remarkable fresco of Christ raising Adam and Eve from their graves is copyright Adrian Fletcher, www.paradoxplace.comThe two mosaics of the three wise men and a procession of virgins are from the church of Sant Apolinare Nuove in Ravenna, Italy. Copyright: Neil Harrison, Dreamstime.com.The next two images of the apse of Sant Apolinare in Classe are copyright Gian Marco Valente, Dreamstime.comThe photographs from the 6th century church of San Vitale in Ravenna are copyright Adrian Fletcher, www.paradoxplace.comThe two Madonna images, one emphasizing the divinity. The other the humanity of Christ are copyright Dmitry Kalinovsky, Dreamstime.com.The first image of Christ Pantocrator (Ruler of all) from the apse of the Hagia Sophia Cathedral museum in Istanbul is copyright Sadikgulec, Dreamstime.com.The second image of Christ Pantocrator is likewise from the Hagia Sophia, Wikipedia.The mosaic of Christ flanked by an emperor and empress is from Hagia Sophia, copyright Nexus7, Dreamstime.com.The mosaic of Christ flanked by Justinian and Constantine I is copyright Ahmet Ihsan Ariturk, Dreamstime.com.The icon of the Virgin Mary without Christ was first located in Greece but during the Turkish-Greek war was transferred to Russia where in 1984 it disappeared. The photographer is unknown. Wikipedia.The annunciation icon is from Macedonia. the photographer is unidentified, Wikipedia.The icon of the dormition of Theotokos (the Christ bearer) was created by Theophan the Greek in 1392. The photographer is unidentified, Wikipedia.Michael the Archangel is a 13th century icon from the monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai; photographer unknown, Wikipediathe icon of St. George is located in the Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens; photographer Ricardo Andre Frantz, WikipediaThe image of St.Peter is from the sixth century monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai; photographer unknown, Wikipedia.The Shroud of Charlemagne was a 9th century silk produced in Constantinople; presently in the Musee National de Moyen Age, Paris. Reproduced from De Byzance a Istambul, Wikipedia.The bishop's vestment with Byzantine embroidery is in the Kremlin Armory; photograph from Shakko, Wikipedia.The two images of a woman with a basket and a boy with a basket and mule are fifth century floor mosaics from the Great Palace in Constantinople. From the Yorx Project, Wikipedia.The floor mosaics of Nature personified and a fish are also from the Great Palace; Copyright Neilneil, Dreamstime.com.The image of two men hunting from the Great Palace is copyright Ukrphoto, dreamstime.com.The image of boys playing hoops from the Great Palace is copyright Pavle Marjanovic, Dreamstime.com.The eagle with a snake in its beak from the Great Palace is copyright Neil Harrison, Dreamstime.com.The mosaic depictions of the emperor Justinian and empress Theodora are from the church of San Vitale, Ravenna; copyright Mary Ann Sullivan, Bluffton University.The interior view of the Hagia Sophia Cathedral (later a mosque and now a museum) shows the ongoing efforts to uncover and preserve the remaining mosaics, many of which were covered but not destroyed after the Turkish conquest. Copyright Vvoevale, Dreamstime.com.The Vienna Dioscorides is a 6th century Byzantine herbal in Greek which was much later annotated in arabic. Presently in the Osterreichische nationalbibliothek, Vienna. Wikipedia.The interior view of the monastery church at Hosios Loukas is from Napoleon Vier, ookaboo.comThe photograph of Putna Monastery is copyright Marianmoca, Dreamstime.com.The fortress on Crete is copyright Larisap, dreamstime.comThe mosaic floor from Mount Nebo, Jordan is copyright Jerzy Strzelecki, Wikipedia.The photograph of the Monreale cathedral in Sicily is by Jerzy Strzelecki, Wikipedia.The image of Christ crowning Roger II king in Sicily is copyright Max Buten, All rights reserved.The image of a Byzantine empress, and that of an officer and courtier are from the 19th century History of Costume by braun and Schneider.The drawing of a domestic scene in Byzantium was from George Barrie & Sons 1907 and is from the author's collection.The bronze horses in San Marco, Venice are from Tteske, Wikipedia.Painting of the fall of Constantinople to the Turks from the 1455 Bertrandon de la Broquière in Voyages d'Outremer. No source, Wikipedia.The exterior of a Byzantine church is in the deserted city of Mistra in the Peloponnese is. No source, Wikipedia.The courtyard or cloister in Mistra is copyright Panagiotis Risvas, Dreamstime.com.The photo of the fortress of Monemvasia is copyright Georgios Alexandris, Dreamstime.com.The photo of Evlahos monastery in Meteora is by Vaggelis Vlahos, Wikipedia.The photo of the Russian Orthodox Church in Seldovia, Alaska is by Christopher Mertl, Wikipedia.