CivilCulture

of citizens in their ordinary capacity, or of the ordinary life

and affairs of citizens, as distinguished from military and ecclesiastical life and affairs.

The people who we know today as the Byzantines called themselves Romans, spoke Greek, and lived in modern-day Turkey. (The name Byzantine came from the founder of the empire's capital, a Greek man named Byzas, who may have existed only in legend.) While the areas that were once ruled by the Roman Empire fell into disorder as conflicting tribes fought for control of their territory, the Byzantines maintained a legacy of learning and a civilization inherited from the Greeks and Romans for more than a thousand years. In the meantime they developed extensive trading relationships with the Middle East and the Orient, including India and China. From 476 C.E. until the collapse of the empire in 1453 C.E. , the Byzantine Empire was the most powerful and developed civilization in the Western world. Byzantine society was very hierarchical, which meant that people lived at different levels of rank and status. At the top of the society was the emperor, who made the major decisions affecting the empire. He was aided by an inner circle of advisers and bureaucrats. There was also a Byzantine senate, which prepared laws for approval by the emperor. Emperors usually chose their successor, either a son or a trusted adviser. The emperors ruled with the help of a strong and well-trained army that had as many as 120,000 members. Surrounding the emperor was an aristocracy of very wealthy people; the major cities also had a small middle class, made up of shop owners and traders. The majority of the population, however, was poor and either labored in the city or grew their own food on small plots of land that were controlled by wealthy landlords. The influence of Roman customs was very great in the early years of the Byzantine Empire. Byzantine people called themselves Romans, they spoke Latin like Romans, and they dressed in Roman clothes. They inherited the Greek and Roman love of learning and preserved many documents from these civilizations in their libraries. (Much of what we know about ancient Greece and Rome comes from Byzantine libraries, which were not destroyed by barbarian invaders.) Byzantines were great traders. They opened trade routes throughout the Middle East and into Asia and soon were exposed to Eastern styles of clothing, jewels, and decoration. Byzantine costume thus became a mix of Roman garments, such as the tunic (shirt) and the stola (a type of long dress), mixed with Eastern ornament and pattern. It was this mix that made Byzantine culture distinct.

Art
Byzantine achievements in mosaic decoration brought this art to an unprecedented level of monumentality and expressive power. Mosaics were applied to the domes, half-domes, and other available surfaces of Byzantine churches in an established hierarchical order. The center of the dome was reserved for the representation of the Pantocrator, or Jesus as the ruler of the universe, whereas other sacred personages occupied lower spaces in descending order of importance. The entire church thus served as a tangible evocation of the celestial order; this conception was further enhanced by the stylized poses and gestures of the figures, their hieratic gaze, and the luminous shimmer of the gold backgrounds. Because of the destruction of many major monuments in Constantinople proper, large ensembles of mosaic decoration have survived chiefly outside the capital, in such places as Salonica, Nicaea, and Daphni in Greece and Ravenna in Italy. An important aspect of Byzantine artistic activity was the painting of devotional panels, since the cult of icons played a leading part in both religious and secular life. Icon painting usually employed the encaustic technique. Little scope was afforded individuality; the effectiveness of the religious image as a vehicle of divine presence was held to depend on its fidelity to an established prototype. A large group of devotional images has been preserved in the monastery of St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai. The development of Byzantine painting may also be seen in manuscript illumination. Among notable examples of Byzantine illumination are a lavishly illustrated 9th-century copy of the Homilies of Gregory Nazianzus and two works believed to date from a 10th-century revival of classicism, the Joshua Rotulus (or Roll) and the Paris Psalter. Enamel, ivory, and metalwork objects of Byzantine workmanship were highly prized throughout the Middle Ages; many such works are found in the treasuries of Western churches. Most of these objects were reliquaries or devotional panels, although an important series of ivory caskets with pagan subjects has also been preserved. Byzantine silks, the manufacture of which was a state monopoly, were also eagerly sought and treasured as goods of utmost luxury. The architecture of the Byzantine Empire was based on the great legacy of Roman formal and technical achievements. Constantinople had been purposely founded as the Christian counterpart and successor to the leadership of the old pagan city of Rome. The new capital was in close contact with the Hellenized East, and the contribution of Eastern culture, though sometimes overstressed, was an important element in the development of its architectural style. The 5th-century basilica of St. John of the Studion, the oldest surviving church in Constantinople, is an early example of Byzantine reliance upon traditional Roman models. The most imposing achievement of Byzantine architecture is the Church of Holy Wisdom or Hagia Sophia. It was constructed in a short span of five years (53237) during the reign of Justinian. Hagia Sophia is without a clear antecedent in the architecture of late antiquity,

yet it must be accounted as culminating several centuries of experimentation toward the realization of a unified space of monumental dimensions. Throughout the history of Byzantine religious architecture, the centrally planned structure continued in favor. Such structures, which may show considerable variation in plan, have in common the predominance of a central domed space, flanked and partly sustained by smaller domes and half-domes spanning peripheral spaces. Although many of the important buildings of Constantinople have been destroyed, impressive examples are still extant throughout the provinces and on the outer fringes of the empire, notably in Bulgaria, Russia, Armenia, and Sicily. A great Byzantine architectural achievement is the octagonal church of San Vitale (consecrated 547) in Ravenna. The church of St. Mark's in Venice was based on a Byzantine prototype, and Byzantine workmen were employed by Arab rulers in the Holy Land and in Ottonian Germany during the 11th cent. Secular architecture in the Byzantine Empire has left fewer traces. Foremost among these are the ruins of the 5th-century walls of the city of Constantinople, consisting of an outer and an inner wall, each originally studded with 96 towers. Some of these can still be seen.

Religion The center of Byzantine culture was the Christian church, and it was headed by the emperor. Christian rituals and holidays organized Byzantine life. Byzantine Christians held beliefs similar to Roman Catholics: they believed that Jesus was the son of God, and they believed in the Trinity, which consisted of God the father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. But Byzantines and later Italians, who were Roman Catholic, fought over who held the highest authority: with Italians favoring the pope in Rome and the Byzantines preferring the bishop of Constantinople. In 1054 the two parts of the church would split, into the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, in what is known as the Great Schism.

Byzantine Christianity was closely tied to the government, so much so that its emperors are often referred to as caesaropapist, supreme over both church and state. Constantine himself often intervened in Church matters; it was he who convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 which brought together many bishops and church leaders to consider the position of Arian Christians. The Byzantine church was treated by the Emperors as a department of the state. They appointed the Patriarch of Constantinople (the highest church office in Byzantium and counterpart to the Pope in Rome. Patriarchs, bishops and priests were instructed to deliver sermons which supported imperial policy and encouraged obedience to the government. This was a source of conflict that often led to protests when the views of the government were not those of the populace.

The most divisive policy adopted by the Byzantine Emperors was that of Iconoclasm. The Empire had a long tradition of producing iconspaintings of Jesus and other religious personagesmany of which were magnificent works of art. They were considered useful as they inspired the popular imagination, and encouraged reverence for the figures depicted in the icons. The Emperor Leo III (r. 17 741) took issue with this as he considered the icons to violate the Second Commandment ("graven images.") In 726 C.E. he began the policy of iconoclasm, literally "breaking idols" by means of which religious images were destroyed and their use within the church prohibited. This caused protests and riots within the Empire as the laity were very fond of Icons. The debate raged for over a century; and iconoclasm was abandoned in 843 C.E. Byzantine Christianity also reflected Greek influence. Although Christianity had originated from Jewish sources, theologians sought to harmonize it with cultural Greek traditions, such as philosophy. Their reasoning was that a religion with Christian revelation and Greek reason would be especially appealing. As a result, Byzantine philosophers began extensive examination of religious questions from a philosophical point of view. They used philosophy to understand the nature of Jesus and the extent to which he could be both God and man. The debate at times was exceptionally technical, but demonstrated their efforts to understand Christian doctrine in terms of classical philosophy. The patriarch of Constantinople maintained a school that provided instruction in advanced theology. Thus, Byzantium built its own cultural and religious traditions on Classical Greek foundations, rather than the Classical Latin foundations of the Western church. This difference would ultimately lead to a split of the two churches into the Roman Catholicand Greek Orthodox churches. Monasticism: A number of individuals in Byzantium wished to lead especially holy lives. They were inspired by early Christian ascetics in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia who observed extreme self-denial. Some abandoned society altogether and lived hermit lives in deserts or caves; others adopted a life of celibacy, fasting, and prayer. The most remarkable were the "pillar saints," several men and at least two women who perched atop tall pillars for years. The most famous of these was St. Simeon Stylite; who attracted admirers from as far away as Gaul. This was at a time when the upper echelons (Emperor, patriarch, and high church officials) were more concerned with ritual and theological matters than the welfare of the common people. The extreme dedication of Byzantine hermits and ascetics attracted followers who became disciples; as a result communities of men and women determined to follow their example were formed. These were the earliest Monasteries of the Byzantine church. There were few rules until the fourth century, C.E. when St.Basil of Caesarea urged them to adopt rules to enhance their effectiveness. Among the rules,

monks and nuns gave up personal possessions and lived communally. They followed the rule of elected superiors and everyone in the community dedicated oneself to work and prayer. The movement quickly spread throughout the Byzantine Empire. Many Basilian monks went to extremes in search of a mystical union with God through prayer and meditation. Some did so by special techniques such as controlled breathing or intense gazing to bring illumination. Others retired to remote destinations where they were not bothered by outside influences. The most extreme example was that of the monasteries of Mt. Athos in northern Greece, which still exist. The place is cold and barren; but even so, females, both animal and human, are forbidden, lest they appeal to the "carnal natures" of the brethren. Byzantine monasteries did not become centers of education and scholarship as was the case in Western Europe; rather they dedicated themselves to piety and devotion. This very act, however, endeared them to the Byzantine laity. Their piety represented a religious faith that was more meaningful than the theological debates of the aristocrats and bureaucrats in Constantinople. The monks often provided social services to the communities near them; often providing spiritual counsel and organizing relief efforts by providing food and medical attention in case of disasters. They vigorously opposed the Iconoclastic movement and fought to restore Icons which also made them popular with the populace. The few conflicts that arose were because many monasteries had large land holdings; and their economic interests often conflicted with those of the local community; however such disagreements were did not undermine their efforts to keep alive the Byzantine faith.
Military Unlike Rome, Constantinople had several industries producing luxury goods, military supplies, hardware, gems, jewelry, rich textiles, furs, aromatic spices, and drugs. After silkworms were smuggled out of China about A.D. 550, silk production flourished and became a profitable state monopoly. The state paid close attention to business, controlling the economy: A system of guilds to which all tradesmen and members of the professions belonged, set wages, profits, work hours, and prices and organized bankers and doctors into compulsory corporations. The commercial activity was the bigest of the middle ages; the Byzantines offered to India, Persia, and Central Asia a channel of communication with the West. Various districts of the empire strove to promote the export of industrial articles, Syria and Egypt, in particular, upholding their ancient positions as industrial sections of importance, their activity expressing itself chiefly in weaving and dyeing and the manufacture of metals and glass. As early as the sixth century Constantinople had a system of street-lighting; sports, equestrian games or polo-playing, and above all races in the circus attained a high national and political importance; Byzantine princesses married to Venetians introduced the use of table forks in the West. More striking are the facts that as early as the eighth and ninth centuries, the Byzantines, in their wars with the Arabs, used gunpowder the so-called Greek fire, Hugron Pir. In the tenth and eleventh centuries weaving, embroidery, and the

fabrication of carpets were of considerable importance at Thebes and Patrae. In the capital itself, with government aid in the form of a monopoly, a new industrial enterprise was organized which confined itself chiefly to shipbuilding and the manufacture of arms in the imperial arsenals but also took up the preparation of silk fabrics. The Byzantines themselves, in the earlier periods, carried these wares to the West. There they enjoyed a commercial supremacy for which their only rivals were the Arabs and which is most clearly evidenced by the universal currency of the Byzantine gold solidus. The widespread literacy and education among men and women of various segments of society would not be matched in Europe until, perhaps, eighteenth-century, France. Until its fall in 1453, the Byzantine Empire remained a shining fortress, attracting both invaders and merchants.

Civilation(What makes them civil)