Origin

• The Byzantine Period, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, refers to the period
of Roman history when the capital city was located at Constantinople, which was
founded by Emperor Constantine in A.D. 330. During this time, Greek was the primarily
spoken language, and the old pagan (polytheistic) Roman religions were outlawed and
replaced in favor of Christianity.
• The end of the Byzantine Period came when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in
A.D. 1453.

Examples: The two greatest examples of Byzantine churches are

Hagia Sophia in Constantinople
St. Mark's Basilica in Venice.

Types of buildings:
Two major types of churches, however, can be distinguished:
• The basilica type, with a nave flanked by colonnades terminating in a semicircular apse
and covered by a timber roof;
• The stone-vaulted centralized church, with its separate components gathered under a
central dome. The second type the stone-vaulted centralized church was dominant
throughout the Byzantine period.

Architectural features

• The dome, which had always been a traditional feature in the East, became the prevailing
motif of Byzantine architecture
• a fusion of the domical construction with the Classical columnar style
• The Byzantines therefore took great pains in the manufacture of bricks, which were
employed alike in military, ecclesiastical, and domestic architecture
• Domes of various types were now placed over square compartments by means of
"pendentives,"
• Windows were formed in the lower portion of the dome
• The grouping of small domes or semi-domes round the large central dome was effective,
and one of the most remarkable peculiarities of Byzantine churches was that the forms of
the vaults and domes were visible externally, undisguised by any timber roof
• The most distinctive feature was the domed roof. To allow a dome to rest above a square
base, either of two devices was used: the squinch (an arch in each of the corners of a
square base that transforms it into an octagon) or the pendentive

Decorative features
• Byzantine structures featured soaring spaces and sumptuous decoration: marble columns
and inlay, mosaics on the vaults, inlaid-stone pavements, and sometimes gold coffered
ceilings
• The interiors were beautified by pavements and in domes and apses by colored mosaics
• vaults and domes with coloured glass mosaics on a golden background
Byzantine Architecture - Influences
I. Geographical.

Byzantium, renamed Constantinople after its Imperial founder, and also called " New Rome," was
inaugurated as capital of the Roman Empire in A.D. 330. Like Rome in Italy it stands on seven hills, and is
at the junction of the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmora, where Europe and Asia are only divided by a
narrow strip of water. This gave it a commanding and central position for the government of the
expanding Roman Empire. It was also at the intersection of two great highways of commerce, the water
highway between the Black Sea and Mediterranean, and the trade route between Europe and Asia ; and
thus it controlled the corn trade from the northern shores of the Euxine. The large, natural harbour of the
Golden Horn possesses unusual advantages for commerce ; for it is four miles in length, unaffected by
tides, and of sufficient depth to render its quays accessible to ships of deep draught. Byzantine art
pervaded all parts of the Eastern Roman Empire and was carried by traders to Greece, Russia, Asia
Minor, North Africa, and even farther west, where it is found in Venice, Ravenna, and Perigueux, and it
had consider-able influence on the architecture of these districts. Venice, especially by her situation, was
a connecting link between the Byzantine and Frankish Empires, and a depot for merchandise from both
East and West.

II. Geological.

Constantine possessed no good building stone, and local Materials such as clay for bricks and rubble for
concrete were employed.
Other materials more monumental in character had therefore to be imported : marble was brought from
the quarries in the islands and along the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean to Constantinople, which
was the chief marble-working centre and supplied all parts of the Roman Empire. Byzantine architecture
was further considerably influenced by the multitude of monolithic columns of such sizes as were
obtainable from the different quarries. These were even introduced into the underground cisterns for the
water storage of this Imperial city.

III. Climatic.

The Romans adapted their methods of building to the Eastern climate of their new capital and to those
conditions of life which had there already created traditional forms in art : thus flat roofs for summer resort
are combined with oriental domes, and these, with small windows often high up in otherwise unbroken
walls, form the chief features of the style, and sheltering arcades surrounded the open courts.

IV. Religious.

Constantine established Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire (B.C. 323), and it followed
that the chief buildings erected in Byzantium, his new capital, were churches for the new religion, and
they naturally, as time went on, came under the influence of their environment and so the basilican Early
Christian type of church was merged in the domical Byzantine type which had originated farther east.
Disputes and differences soon sprang up in the Church and became so rife that the Council of Nicaea
(A.D. 325) was only the first of a series called to suppress heresies. The political division too between
East and West was followed by a division of Churches, due to the " Filioque controversy " which arose in
A.D. 589 and eventually culminated in the " Great Schism " in A.D. 1014. The Western Church held that
the Spirit proceeded from the Father and Son, while the Eastern Church maintained that the Spirit
proceeded from the Father only. The Eastern and Western Churches had been further divided by the "
Iconoclastic movement," which resulted from the decree of the Eastern Emperor, Leo III (A.D. 717-741),
who, fearing that paganism would be fostered by the use of sculpture, proscribed all representations of
human or animal forms. Many Greek artists thereupon left Constantinople for Italy, where, under Pope
Gregory II, they could carry on their art unmolested by Imperial decrees. This movement resulted in the
admission of painted figures in the decoration of Eastern churches, but all sculptured statues were still
excluded. These controverises and other differences in ritual have vitally affected Byzantine church
architecture up to the present day. Byzantine architecture, devoid of statues, has always been and still
remains the official style of the Greek or Orthodox Church of eastern Europe which has conserved
unchanged its doctrines and ritual, and therefore the architecture also became stereotyped in form
through all periods, in sharp contrast with the changes and additions which characterise the
developments of Mediaeval architecture to suit it to the varying requirements of church economy and
ritual in western Europe.

V. Social.

Constantine developed the policy initiated by Diocletian (A.D. 284–305) of providing adequate civil
government and military protection throughout the widespread Roman Empire and showed his
statesmanship in his manner of dealing with this political problem, just as he did in securing support for
himself from the growing power of Christianity by establishing it as the state religion. Diocletian's attempt,
however, to solve the difficulty of managing the Eastern Empire from the west of Italy by instituting three
seats of government, in addition to that of Rome, had proved ineffectual and open to abuse, and therefore
when Constantine in his turn was confronted with the same difficulty he took the bold course of
transplanting his capital from Rome to Byzantium (A.D. 324) because he recognised the political value of
its central position in the Empire. Thus the seat of civil government, the military head-quarters, and the
Imperial court were all established in an eastern city of which the population has always been described
as profligate, lazy, and vicious. Such a change of capital must have introduced Eastern methods of life
and corrupt conditions into the Roman social economy, and thus have further contributed to that growth of
luxury and vice which precipitated the fall of the Roman Empire. Byzantium was an old Greek city, and so
the new Imperial buildings were executed by Greek craftsmen untrammelled by Roman traditions. Within
the fortifications of Constantine, the new city was laid out on Roman lines, so far as the hills and site
allowed. There was the central dividing street running through a succession of six forums of which the
original Augusteum was adjoined, not only by S. Sophia, the greatest glory of early Christendom, but also
by the Imperial palace, senate house, and law courts. The Forum of Constantine, with his great porphyry
column, was the centre of commercial life, while, in the Hippodrome hard by, the chariot races took place
which were the chief amusement of New Rome, as gladiatorial combat had been of Old Rome. The
Hippodrome held the same position in the social life of New Rome as the Colosseum and thermae did in
Old Rome, and was indeed used for all purposes and on all occasions—for crowning of emperors,
burning of martyrs, execution of criminals, and for triumphal processions—and so was truly termed the
axis of the Byzantine world. The Romans paid the same attention to the water supply of their new as of
their old capital, for water was brought by aqueducts and stored in enormous underground cisterns with
roofs upheld by countless columns. As time went on and the population increased the city of Constantine
was extended, and the Great Wall with its famous military gates and many towers was built by
Theodosius II (A.D. 413) to set a circle of land and water fortifications against the formidable attacks of
Huns and Goths. Constantine, the strong man and despotic ruler, was followed by emperors too weak to
assert their authority, and thus the Empire was divided in A.D. 365. After Theodosius, the first Emperor to
emerge into prominence was Justinian (A.D. 527–565), who codified the Roman laws, was a great patron
of architecture, and was responsible not only for the rebuilding of S. Sophia, but also for many other
churches in the city and in Syria and Palestine. During the Macedonian dynasty (A.D. 867–1057) and the
Comnenian dynasty (A.D. 1057–1185) there was a remarkable outburst of building activity. In spite of its
position as the bulwark of Christianity against Huns, Goths, and Saracens, and in spite, too, of its
commercial prosperity and industrial activity, the Byzantine Empire was doomed to destruction. Decay
from within facilitated defeat from without, for during its later period society was a tangled skein of
treachery, immorality, and luxury, and the final crash came when the capital was captured by the Ottoman
Turks in A.D. 1453.

VI. Historical.
Byzantium, said to have been founded about B.C. 750, is known to have been a Greek colony some three
hundred years later, and in A.D. 324 became the capital of the Roman Empire. On the death of the
Emperor Theodosius I (A.D. 395) the Empire was finally divided, and Byzantium continued to be the
capital of the Eastern Empire, and throughout the Middle Ages was the bulwark of Christianity against the
attacks of the Huns and Goths on the west, and of Saracens on the east,

Honorius (A.D. 395—423), the first Western Emperor of the newly divided Empire, removed his residence
from Rome to Ravenna on the east coast of Italy (A.D. 403), and consequently there was great building
activity in that city, which, from its position, was peculiarly susceptible to Byzantine influence. A further
impetus was given to building when Ravenna became an archiepiscopal see in A.D. 438. During the reign
of Justinian (A.D. 527—565) Sicily and Italy were recovered to the Eastern Empire, and this new
connection promoted a revival of building in Italy; here again Byzantine influence came into play, and from
A.D. 539 to 752 Ravenna was the seat of the Exarch or representative of the Byzantine Emperors, and its
buildings of this period became of a still more pronounced Byzantine type. The history of the Byzantine
Empire from the fifth to the eleventh century is one of fluctuating and gradually declining fortunes. It first
lost its western provinces in the fifth century, some of which, including Italy and Sicily, were regained in
the sixth century under Justinian ; while again in the following century its strength was greatly reduced by
conflict with the Persians, but yet once more in the eighth century the Empire somewhat recovered itself,
till in the ninth century it was again strong enough to carry on fierce contests against the Saracens, who
were long kept at bay on the eastern side. In the eleventh century the decline was accelerated because,
besides enemies on the east and north, it was now attacked by Normans and Venetians, till the " Latin
occupation " of Byzantium was accomplished in A.D. 1204 and lasted to A.D. 1261. The old Empire still
staggered on for another two hundred and fifty years, but its vitality had been sapped by internal
dissensions and continuous warfare against the Persians and Turks, and it was finally captured by
Ottoman Turks in A.D. 1453.