Culture of Byzantium

The Byzantine culture is sometimes unfairly treated as an imitation of the classical cultures of the Ancient World, Greek and Roman. From the point of view of medieval thought, it was Constantinople, the capital of the empire, that was the city of magic and unsurpassed beauty.

In epics and novels of the early Middle Ages, especially French, treasure-hunting treasures, monumental works of art, amazing spices and exotic dishes, magnificent robes are described that could be seen and tasted in beautiful Constantinople.

Of all the empires of the past, Byzantium was the state that lasted the longest.

Indeed, the culture of Ancient Byzantium contains Greek and Roman elements. For example, in the organization of social institutions in the early Byzantine period, the intellectual elite used Roman law. However, the Byzantines, who were the successors of brilliant traditions, strengthened them with their unparalleled successes, significantly influenced the course of history, the development of world culture, the formation of ethnic identity in many Eastern European countries. For millennia their power remained the light of civilization and culture for the whole world, never stopping to develop and innovate.

The artistic culture of Byzantium spread throughout the empire, including the most southerly regions of Egypt and North Africa, which remained under Byzantine control until the seventh century. The first centuries were marked by the main innovation, when the manuscripts replaced the scrolls. Many magnificently illustrated Byzantine manuscripts of the fourth and sixth centuries have survived to this day, including the "Aeneid" of Virgil, the "Iliad" of Homer, the "Old Testament" and the "New Testament", medical treatises - among them the important work of Dioscorides "On Medicinal Substances."

The culture of Byzantium is also remarkable literature with an extensive collection of diverse materials, from high theological texts to obscene stories, from original works of the highest standards to tiresome rhetoric.

Applied art is represented by silver vessels, dishes, gold belts with coins and medallions, many other artifacts, which were used in spiritual and secular life. Extremely popular was the art of fresco painting and mosaic work. In the sculpture of the early Byzantine period there is a transition from classical antique forms.

Among the most striking examples of secular architecture are remains of the atrium from the Great Imperial or Holy Palace in Constantinople (in its place, already in Istanbul, since the beginning of the seventeenth century the Blue Mosque rises ), generously decorated with mosaic illustrating scenes from everyday life in the empire. For the cult architecture, domed churches are typical, the most famous example is the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia. Funded by the Emperor Constantine, at the beginning of the fourth century they were built in large numbers next to the traditional basilicas.

With the resolution of the iconoclastic dispute in the middle of the ninth century, the second flourishing of the empire begins, when Greek became its official language, and Christianity began to spread northward into the Slavic lands.

The Byzantine culture of the middle period is illustrated by few examples of secular architecture that have survived to our time, but the literary sources contain stories about the construction and reconstruction of the Grand Palace in Constantinople, the foundation of new imperial and aristocratic possessions.

The first major monastery, which became one of the most important centers of Byzantine Christianity, was built on Mount Athos (Greece).

In the middle Byzantine period, more and more icons for the decoration of churches are used with different compositions.

The Latin occupation (1204-1261), when the participants of the Fourth Crusade, invading the ancient imperial capital, founded the Latin Constantinopolitan Empire, had a profound influence on the Byzantine peoples. It caused serious political disagreements, disorientation of the population, especially among the ruling classes. The new political capitals of the Byzantine state "in exile" with competing rulers were based on the periphery of the empire: in the city of Arta, in Trebizond, in Nicaea. Restoration of the Byzantine rule over the imperial city occurred in 1261 with the accession of the new ruling dynasty - Paleologi.

The culture of Byzantium especially flourished in the late period, despite the many desperate military and political circumstances in which its rulers turned out to be. Patrons at all social levels considered it their duty to build new buildings and restore the old ones, which suffered during the period of the Latin occupation.

For a long time before its fall in 1453, Byzantium established the standards of beauty, style, luxury. And after that, she continued to inspire both the Catholic West and the Islamic East.