Byzantine Culture

1
Byzantine Culture

• 476-1453
• (fall of Rome conquest by the Ottoman Turks)

2
Byzantine Empire

• After Rome falls, Constantinople remains secure,
  preserving the Eastern Empire
• A stable base of agriculture and trading, with
  deep class divisions
• A new fusion of ethnic groups Greeks, Romans,
  Serbs, Slavs, Turks, Bulgarians

3
Orthodox Christianity

• A gradual split between Roman (Catholic) and
  Byzantine (Orthodox) churches
• Differences in language (Greek the language of
  the Eastern Roman empire, Latin the language of
  the Western Roman empire)
• Differences in religious practice (Roman Catholic
  priests were celibate, Orthodox priests could
  marry)
• Different positions on the Iconoclastic
  Controversy (726-843) the Eastern Roman Empire
  was Iconoclast (image-breakers), while the papacy
  in the West refused to join.

4
Byzantine Culture

• mixture of Christian principles and Greco-Roman
  ideals
• Classical Values--restraint, order, proportion,
  thought--are now put to the service of
  Christianity.

5
Literary Culture

• Law the Justinian Code
• Created by the Emperor Justinian, who reigned
  527-565
• preserves Roman law and passes on legal
  principals into the Christian medieval period

6
Byzantine Architecture

• The great structures of the Byzantine period
  embody two basic purposes (sometimes one,
  sometimes both)
• A) glorifying the empire
• B) expanding Christianitys power

7
Byzantine style

• A combination of styles
• Greek the use of the classical columns
• Roman the use of the arch and the dome
• Asian (Persian, Arabic, Islamic, Turkish)
  influences
• More lavish colors and intricate ornamentation
• Form of Greek cross
• Use of dome
• Prevalence of mosaic

8
Byzantine Architecture

• Hagia Sophia was the mother church of the
  Orthodox church

9
Hagia Sophia
10
Orthodox Church in St. Petersburg, Russia
11
Christ
12
Christ in the Orthodox church of India