Byzantine Art,

Architecture and Culture

Capital of Eastern Roman Empire moved to
Constantinople (330 AD)
More advantageous trade route between Asia and
Europe
Other factors: Situated; port; forests; water;
agricultural land
Rome falls to the Goths in 476 AD
Reached its highest expression of power in early
6
th
(500s) century when Justinian took the throne
Longest-lasting empire just short of Egyptian
Exerted strong cultural influence over Christian
world

Byzantine Empire with Time
Most famous church : Hagia Sophia
Name means Holy Wisdom
Church is the culminating example of
Byzantine architecture known as arcuate
domicile
Built between 532-537 AD
Was once the largest church in the world

Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia
Bricks alternated with mortar were not
properly/evenly balanced for weight
Destroyed twice
Damage/Collapse occurred during two
earthquakes
Rebuilt by Justinian I
Arches buckled and buttresses were erected
New research suggests actually survived b/o
these features: windows, pendentives,
mortar/brick ratio; mortar itself flexible and
self-sealing.

Stone remains of the basilica
ordered by Theodosius II,
showing the Lamb of God
Marble blocks from the
second church
Hagia Sophia
Long plan + Dome (Holy Sepulcher)
Emphasis is placed on the elevated central
pavilion ie, the dome
Image of heaven
Tall, open spaces
Need for light
Pavilion is a large dome with two half domes
flocking the east and west sides
Took five years to finish
A section of the original
architecture of Hagia Sophia
Ground-plan of the Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia
In order to create a transcendental
environment, dome could not be heavy as
seen in typical barrel vault techniques
Architects Anthemius and Isidore created
and used pendentives
Triangular masonry devices that
carried the weight of the dome on
massive piers
Inside
Hagia
Sophia
Hagia Sophia
Shows elements of old basilica styles

Columned side aisles
Gallery for female worship
Overwhelming visual impression from
dome

Need for light
Light = symbol of divine wisdom, illumination
Forty windows make the dome appear to be
floating
Light refracted off the rich mosaics and
colored marbled interior
Nave= oval
184 high
Ravenna:
Mausoleums
Built between 425 and 433 BC.
The mausoleums were covered with
mosaics.
Brilliance of the colors, which mask the
architecture and create an illusionistic
effect.
Notable - Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
and Mausoleum of Theodoric

Ravenna : Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
Inside
Mausoleum of
Galla Placidia
Mausoleum of Theodoric

Mosaics
Mosaics are icons
A window into the world of the sacred
One stands before the icon and speaks
through its image to the reality beyond
(Justinian had several mosaics of himself created;
thought he represented Christ on Earth)
Religious figures always surrounded by halo
of light.

The Desis mosaic with Christ as ruler from the
Hagia Sophia
Some Other Examples of Mosaics
Justinian and Theodora
Emperor Justinian and Attendants
Tile Mosaic (540 547 AD)
Theodora
Christ the Good Shepherd
St Lawrence
Concentric Circles
Sant Apollinare / Nuovo
Christ the Sustainer
Often painted on wood
Used in the home as
well as in churches

Controversy Surrounding
Icons
Many people believed them to be idol worship.
These people became known as iconoclasts.
Byzantine Emperor banned them for a time.
Patriarch of Rome not recognized as main Christian
authority by the Byzantines.
Patriarch of Rome declared all opposition to icons a
heresy.
Heresy anything attacking the basic principles of the
church.
Heresy was punishable by excommunication
Excommunication being kicked out of the church.
Split in the Christian
Church
1054 AD Christian Church split into two parts.
Western Church Roman Catholic Church
Led by the Pope, in Rome
Eastern Church Eastern Orthodox Church
Led by the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Split in the Christian Church
The most prominent works of sculpture are
manufactured Byzantine capitals ornamental
plant and animal motifs.
But the major works of sculpture is the small
Byzantine works, pamphlets and carved
boxes in ivory.
Archangel Ivory
The Archangel ivory is the largest surviving
Byzantine ivory panel, now in the British
Museum. Dated to the early 6th century, it
depicts an archangel holding a sceptre and
imperial orb.
The archangel is usually identified as
Michael, and the panel is assumed to have
formed the right part of a diptych, with the
lost left half possibly depicting Emperor
Justinian (reigned 527565).


Archangel Ivory
Barberini Ivory
The Barberini ivory is one fifth of a
Byzantine ivory imperial diptych dating
from Late Antiquity, now in the Louvre,
Paris, France. It is carved in the classical
style known as late Theodosian,
representing the emperor as triumphant
victor.

Barberini Ivory
Consular Diptych
In Late Antiquity a consular diptych was a
particular type of diptych (a pair of linked panels,
generally in ivory, wood or metal and decorated
with rich sculpted decoration) which could
function as a writing tablet but was also intended
as a deluxe commemorative object,
commissioned by a consul ordinarius and then
distributed to reward those who had supported
his candidature as rewards and to mark his entry
to that post.
Consular Diptych
Imperial Diptych
In Late Antiquity, an imperial diptych is a
theoretical type of ivory diptych, made up of
two leaves of five panels each and each with
a central panel representing the emperor or
empress.
Imperial Diptych
Four different cultural elements are to
be reckoned with:
The Greek
The Christian
The Roman
The Oriental
Genres
Historians and Annalists
Encyclopedists and Essayists
Secular Poetry
Ecclesiastical and Theological Literature
Popular Poetry
Historians and
Annalists
Jurists - Procopius, Agathias, Evagrius,
Michael Attaliates.
Statesmen - Joannes Cinnamus, Nicetas
Acominatus, Georgius Pachymeres, Laonicus
Chalcondyles.
Generals and diplomats - Nicephorus
Bryennius, George Acropolites, Georgius
Phrantzes.
crowned heads - Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, Anna Comnena, John VI
Cantacuzene.
Historians and
Annalists
Jurists - Procopius, Agathias, Evagrius,
Michael Attaliates.
Statesmen - Joannes Cinnamus, Nicetas
Acominatus, Georgius Pachymeres, Laonicus
Chalcondyles.
Generals and diplomats - Nicephorus
Bryennius, George Acropolites, Georgius
Phrantzes.
crowned heads - Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, Anna Comnena, John VI
Cantacuzene.
An image and text from John Skylitzes 'Chronicle'
A work of 11th Century Byzantine Historical scholar.
Encyclopedists and
Essayists

Patriarch Photios, Michael Psellos,
and Michael Choniates are regarded as
the greatest Encyclopedists of
Byzantium
A page from a 16th-century edition of the vast
Byzantine Encyclopaedia, the Suda
Secular poetry
They wrote romances, panegyrics, epigrams,
satires, and didactic and hortatory poetry.
The only genuine heroic epic of the
Byzantines is the Digenis Acritas.
Byzantine music is the music of the Byzantine
Empire composed to Greek texts as ceremonial,
festival, or church music.
Byzantine music is closely related to the ancient
Greek system.

It remains the oldest genre of extant music, of
which the manner of performance and the names of
the composers, and sometimes the particulars of
each musical work's circumstances, are known.
The identification of "Byzantine music" with
"Eastern Christian liturgical chant" is a
misconception due to historical cultural reasons. Its
main cause is the leading role of the Church as
bearer of learning and official culture in the Eastern
Roman Empire (Byzantium), a phenomenon that
was not always that extreme but that was
exacerbated towards the end of the empire's reign
(14th century onwards) as great secular scholars
migrated away from a declining Constantinople to
rising western cities, bringing with them much of
the learning that would spur the development of
the European Renaissance.

Byzantine music notation style in a 1823 "Book of
Hymns at the Lord's Resurrection"
Dance
Antiquity was originally held to have some kind of
educational value, as evidenced in Plato's dialogues
on this point in The Laws. However, as Greek
culture gradually conquered Rome, dancing lost most
of its educational value and was simply used as a
method of entertainment, this coincided with the
perception that being a dancer was not a particularly
admirable job to have, and that its performers were
generally of low social status.
Popular Dances of
That Period
Syrtos (literally "dragged dance")
Geranos ("circle dance")
Mantilia ("kerchiefs")
Saximos
Pyrrichios ("war dance")
Kordakas ("indecent dance")

Musical Instruments
Byzantine instruments included the:
Guitar
Single, double, or multiple flute
Sistrum ("tambourine, instrument with
bells")
Timpani ("drum")
Psaltirio ("psalter")
Lyre
Keras ("horn (musical)")
Kanonaki

Byzantine Musicians
The Byzantine economy was among the most
advanced in Europe and the Mediterranean for
many centuries. Europe, in particular, was unable to
match Byzantine economic strength until late in the
Middle Ages. Constantinople was a prime hub in a
trading network that at various times extended
across nearly all of Eurasia and North Africa, in
particular being the primary western terminus of
the famous silk road.

One of the economic foundations of the empire was
trade. Textiles must have been by far the most
important item of export; silks were certainly
imported into Egypt, and appeared also in Bulgaria,
and the West. The state strictly controlled both the
internal and the international trade, and retained
the monopoly of issuing coinage. The government
exercised formal control over interest rates, and set
the parameters for the activity of the guilds and
corporations, in which it had a special interest.

The Persistence of
Byzantine Culture
Byzantine and
Russia
Sense of Stability due to Russian
Orthodox (and Greek Orthodox)
churches
Russian emissaries brought back Byzantine
style of art
Impact of services in Hagia Sophia and the
building itself
Russian Onion-dome churches - Byzantine
influence
Schools of icon painting in Russia
Byzantine and
Italy
Most dominant influence in Ravenna
under Justinian
Byzantine artists active in Italy after
iconoclastic controversy
Influences create own movement
known as Italo-Byzantine by the end of
the 13
th
century

Stability in Art
Art connected to theological doctrine
and liturgical practice
Infuse work with spirituality
Icon painting considered a holy
occupation
New Orthodox church
Commission monk or icon painter
Greece
Movement to purge icon painting of
Western Influence
Carry on Greek
tradition
During Middle Ages (next unit) Greek
learning becomes lost
Greek learning gained through Arabic
sources
Aristotle (12
th
and 13
th
centuries)
Greek language not readily known 15
th

century
Greek scholars move westward after fall
of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453
Thank
you
Presented By Joyita Dey
Batch 2 ( FP)