Cultural studies and art history
Geographical position Byzantium, which spread its possessions on two continents - in Europe and Asia, and sometimes extended its power to the regions of Africa, made this empire, as it were, a link between East and West. The constant bifurcation between the Eastern and Western worlds, the crossing of Asian and European influences (with the predominance of one or the other in certain eras) ...
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Introduction
The Byzantine Empire arose at the turn of two eras - the collapse of late antiquity and the birth of medieval society as a result of the division of the Roman Empire into eastern and western parts. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the concept of world Roman dominion, the title of emperor and the very idea of a world monarchy, as well as the traditions of ancient education, survived only in the East - in Byzantine Empire. In the early period, it reached its peak during the reign of Emperor Justinian. I (527-565). Almost doubling the territory of the Byzantine Empire, extensive legislative and administrative reforms, the development of crafts and trade, the flourishing of science and other areas of culture - all this marked the transformation of Byzantium under Justinian again into the most powerful state in the Mediterranean.
The geographical position of Byzantium, which spread its possessions on two continents - in Europe and Asia, and sometimes extended its power to the regions of Africa, made this empire, as it were, a link between East and West. The constant bifurcation between the Eastern and Western worlds, the crossing of Asian and European influences (with the predominance of one or the other in certain eras) became the historical lot of Byzantium. The mixture of Greco-Roman and Eastern traditions left its mark on public life, statehood, religious and philosophical ideas, culture and art of the Byzantine society. However, Byzantium followed its own historical path, in many respects different from the fate of the countries of both the East and the West, which also determined the characteristics of its culture.
1. The birth of Byzantine culture
The history of Byzantium begins with IV century, from the time when Emperor Constantine ascended the throne of the Risky Empire (324-337 years of reign). He moved the capital of the empire to the city of Constantinople. This had a very deplorable effect on the Roman Empire, which as a result split into two parts. Western and Eastern, which later received the name of Byzantium from historians. Shortly before this, in 313, Edict of Milan allows the free practice of Christianity, and in 395 it was recognized as the official religion of both parts of the empire. It is hardly possible to find an event that would have a greater impact on all subsequent history. both Byzantium and Western Europe.
The Middle Ages were the heyday of the feudal system with its typical domination of the landowning class, non-economic measures of coercion, the predominance of subsistence farming, the weak development of commodity production and, as a result, political fragmentation.
Features of the feudal system also affected the development of Byzantine art.
In the history of Byzantium, three stages in the development of the Byzantine Empire and Byzantine culture were defined:
- early Byzantine ( V - VIII centuries)
- Middle Byzantine ( VIII - XIII centuries)
- Late Byzantine ( XIII - XV centuries)
Each of the three periods had its own characteristics, which developed from characteristic features the previous period on the basis of a new stage in the development of Byzantine society and the state.
The formation of Byzantine culture took place in an atmosphere of deeply contradictory ideological life in early Byzantium. This was the time of the formation of the ideology of Byzantine society, the formation of the system of the Christian worldview, which was affirmed in a sharp struggle with the philosophical, ethical, aesthetic and natural-scientific views of the ancient world. The first centuries of the existence of the Byzantine Empire can be regarded as an important stage in the worldview revolution, when not only the main tendencies of thinking of the Byzantine society were formed, but also its figurative system was formed, based on the traditions of pagan Hellenism and having acquired the official status of Christianity.
The entire spiritual life of society is marked by dramatic intensity: in all spheres of knowledge, in literature and art, there is an amazing mixture of pagan mythology and Christian mysticism. Sincerity and emotionality, folk naivete and wholeness of perception of the world, sharpness of moral assessments, an unexpected combination of mysticism with the vitality of everyday life, a pious legend with business practicality are increasingly penetrating into artistic creativity. The didactic element is being strengthened in all spheres of culture; word and book, sign and symbol, permeated with religious motifs, occupy a large place in the life of a person of the early Byzantine era.
Especially wide political and ideological resonance in Byzantium was caused by church reforms the first Isaurians. For the first time in the history of Byzantium, there was an open clash between the state and the church, when a strong blow was dealt to the veneration of icons, the cult of which gave the church a powerful ideological impact on the broad sections of the country's population and brought considerable income. Iconoclasm is the struggle of the military landowning nobility and part of the trade and craft circles of Constantinople for limiting the power of the church and dividing its property. As a result, the struggle ended with the ideological victory of the iconodules, but in fact a compromise was reached between the state and the church. Church and monastic land ownership was severely limited, many church treasures were confiscated, and church hierarchs, both in the capital and locally, were actually subordinate to the imperial authority. The Byzantine emperor became the recognized head Orthodox Church. 1
It should also be noted that the iconoclastic movement served as an incentive for a new rise in the secular fine arts and architecture of Byzantium. Under the iconoclastic emperors, the influence of Muslim architecture penetrated into architecture. So, one of the palaces of Constantinople - Vrias - was built according to the plan of the palaces of Baghdad. All palaces were surrounded by parks with fountains, exotic flowers and trees. In Constantinople, Nicaea and other cities of Greece and Asia Minor, city walls, public buildings, and private buildings were erected. In the secular art of the iconoclastic period, the principles of representative solemnity, architectural monumentality and colorful multi-figured decorativeness won, which later served as the basis for the development of secular artistic creativity.
2. Features of the culture of the Byzantine Empire
The reign of the emperors of the Macedonian dynasty is often called the golden age of Byzantine statehood. Indeed, under them, the magnificent etiquette of the Byzantine court, the strict ceremonial reception of foreign ambassadors, is formalized, the principle of legitimacy of power is strengthened through the institution of co-rulers. As a rule, the emperor made his son a co-ruler and thereby consolidated his power, received as a result palace coup or rebellion.
Since the X century. comes new stage history of Byzantine culture - there is a generalization and classification of everything achieved in science, theology, philosophy, literature. In Byzantine culture, this century is associated with the creation of works of a generalizing nature - encyclopedias on history were compiled, agriculture, medicine. The treatises of Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (913-959) "On the Governance of the State", "On the Themes", "On the Ceremonies of the Byzantine Court" are an extensive encyclopedia of the most valuable information about the political and administrative structure of the Byzantine state. At the same time, colorful material of an ethnographic and historical-geographical nature is collected here about the countries and peoples adjacent to the Empire, including the Slavs. 2
In culture, generalized spiritualistic principles completely triumph; social thought, literature and art, as it were, break away from reality and close themselves in a circle of higher, abstract ideas. The basic principles of Byzantine aesthetics are finally taking shape. The ideal aesthetic object is transferred to the spiritual sphere, and it is now described using such aesthetic categories as beauty, light, color, image, sign, symbol. These categories help lighting global problems art and other areas of culture. In artistic creativity, traditionalism and canonicity prevail; art no longer contradicts the dogmas of the official religion, but actively serves them. However, the duality of Byzantine culture, the confrontation in it between the aristocratic and popular trends, does not disappear even during periods of the most complete domination of dogmatized church ideology.
In XI - XII centuries Byzantine culture undergoes serious ideological shifts. The growth of provincial cities, the rise of handicrafts and trade, the crystallization of the political and intellectual self-consciousness of the townspeople, the feudal consolidation of the ruling class while maintaining a centralized state, rapprochement with the West under the Komnenos could not but affect culture. Significant accumulation of positive knowledge, growth natural sciences, the expansion of human ideas about the Earth and the universe, the needs of navigation, trade, diplomacy, jurisprudence, the development of cultural communication with the countries of Europe and the Arab world - all this leads to the enrichment of Byzantine culture and major changes in the worldview of Byzantine society. This was the time of the rise of scientific knowledge and the birth of rationalism in the philosophical thought of Byzantium.
Of course, the culture of the Byzantine Empire at that time still remained medieval, traditional, and largely canonical. But in the artistic life of society, despite its canonicity and the unification of aesthetic values, sprouts of new pre-Renaissance trends are breaking through, which have found further development in the Byzantine art of the era of the Palaiologos. They affect not only and not so much the return of interest in antiquity, which never died in Byzantium, but the emergence of sprouts of rationalism and freethinking, the intensification of the struggle of various social groups in the field of culture, and the growth of social discontent. In literature, there are tendencies towards the democratization of language and plot, towards the individualization of the author's face, towards the manifestation of the author's position; in it a critical attitude towards the ascetic monastic ideal is born and religious doubts slip through. Literary life becomes more intense, literary circles appear. Byzantine art also flourished during this period.
In addition, up to XIII in. Byzantium, in terms of the level of development of education, the intensity of spiritual life and the colorful sparkle of objective forms of culture, undoubtedly, was ahead of all countries. medieval Europe.
The features of Byzantine culture are as follows: 1) the synthesis of Western and Eastern elements in various spheres of the material and spiritual life of society with the dominant position of Greco-Roman traditions; 2) Preservation to a large extent of tradition ancient civilization, which served as the basis for the development of humanistic ideas in Byzantium and fertilized the European culture of the Renaissance; 3) The Byzantine Empire, in contrast to fragmented medieval Europe, retained state political doctrines, which left its mark on various spheres of culture, namely: with the ever-increasing influence of Christianity, secular artistic creativity never faded; 4) the difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, which was manifested in the originality of the philosophical and theological views of Orthodox theologians and philosophers of the East, in dogmatics, liturgy, rituals of the Orthodox Church, in the system of Christian ethical and aesthetic values of Byzantium. 3
What is the contribution of Byzantine civilization to world culture? First of all, it should be noted that Byzantium was the "golden bridge" between Western and Eastern cultures; it had a profound and lasting impact on the development of the cultures of many countries of medieval Europe. The distribution area of the influence of Byzantine culture was very extensive: Sicily, Southern Italy, Dalmatia, the states of the Balkan Peninsula, Ancient Russia, Transcaucasia, North Caucasus and Crimea - all of them, to one degree or another, came into contact with Byzantine education. The most intense Byzantine cultural influence, of course, affected the countries where Orthodoxy was established, connected by strong threads with the Church of Constantinople. 4
The capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204 led to the disintegration of the Byzantine Empire and the short-term existence of the Latin Empire (1204-1261) and the possessions of the Latin barons on the land of Byzantium. The Byzantine emperors of the Palaiologos dynasty rebuilt an empire through a series of wars, the last centuries of which, up to the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, were characterized by economic instability, territorial losses, endless feudal strife and increasing external threat.
In the context of the tragic death of the once mighty empire, now surrounded by external enemies and shaken by internal social conflicts, there is a clear polarization of two main currents in Byzantine ideology: the progressive pre-Renaissance, associated with the birth of the ideas of humanism, and the religious-mystical, embodied in the teachings of the hesychasts.
In an atmosphere of hopelessness generated by deadly military danger, feudal strife and the defeat of popular movements, in particular the uprising of the Zealots, among the Byzantine clergy and monastics, the conviction grew stronger that salvation from earthly troubles could be found only in the world of passive contemplation, complete tranquility - hesychia, in self-absorbed ecstasy , allegedly granting a mystical merger with the deity and illumination with divine light. Supported by the ruling church and the feudal nobility, the teachings of the hesychasts won the victory, captivating the broad masses of the empire with mystical ideas. The victory of hesychasm was in many ways fatal for Byzantine culture: hesychasm strangled the germs of humanistic ideas in literature and art, and weakened the will to national resistance. 5
Superstition flourished in late Byzantium. Social unrest gave rise to thoughts about the approaching end of the world. Even among educated people, divination, predictions, and sometimes magic were common. Byzantine authors more than once referred to the story of the prophecies of the Sibyl, who allegedly correctly determined the number of Byzantine emperors and patriarchs and thus allegedly predicted the time of the empire's death. There were special fortune-telling books (Biblia Chrysmatogica) that predicted the future.
Religious mood was highly characteristic of late Byzantine society. The preaching of asceticism and anchorage addressed to the people could not but leave a trace. The desire for solitude, for prayer marked the lives of many people, both from the nobility and from the lower classes. The words of George Acropolitan could characterize not only Despot John: “He spent whole nights in prayer ... he had care to spend more time in solitude and enjoy the tranquility that flows from everywhere or at least to be in close communion with persons leading such a life. 6 Leaving political life for a monastery is far from being isolated.
The desire to get away from public affairs was explained primarily by the fact that contemporaries did not see a way out of those unfavorable collisions of the internal and international plan, which testified to the fall of the authority of the empire and its approach to disaster.
Conclusion
In the history of European, and indeed of the entire world culture, Byzantine civilization has a special place, it is characterized by solemn splendor, inner nobility, elegance of form and depth of thought. Throughout its thousand-year existence, the Byzantine Empire, which absorbed the heritage of the Greco-Roman world and the Hellenistic East, was the center of a unique and truly brilliant culture.
Byzantium was the "golden bridge" between Western and Eastern cultures; it had a profound and lasting impact on the development of the cultures of many countries of medieval Europe. The distribution area of the influence of Byzantine culture was very extensive: Sicily, Southern Italy, Dalmatia, the states of the Balkan Peninsula, Ancient Russia, Transcaucasia, the North Caucasus and Crimea - all of them, to one degree or another, came into contact with Byzantine education. The most intense Byzantine cultural influence, of course, affected the countries where Orthodoxy was established, connected by strong threads with the Church of Constantinople.
Byzantine influence was felt in the field of religion and philosophy, social thought and cosmology, writing and education, political ideas and law, it penetrated into all spheres of art - into literature and architecture, painting and music. Through Byzantium, ancient and Hellenistic cultural heritage, spiritual values created not only in Greece itself, but also in Egypt and Syria, Palestine and Italy, were transferred to other peoples. The perception of the traditions of Byzantine culture in Bulgaria and Serbia, Georgia and Armenia, in Ancient Russia contributed to the further progressive development of their cultures.
Literature
- Culturology. History of world culture. - M., 2003
- Polyakovskaya M.A., Chekalova A.A. Byzantium: life and customs. - Sverdlovsk, 1989.
- Udaltsova Z.V. Byzantine culture. - M., 1988.
1 Udaltsova Z.V. Byzantine culture. - M., 1988, p. 113.
2 Udaltsova Z.V. Byzantine culture. - M., 1988, p. 147.
3 Culturology. History of world culture. - M., 2003, p. 304.
4 Culturology. History of world culture. - M., 2003, p. 306.
5 Ibid., p. 248.
6 Udaltsova Z.V. Byzantine culture. - M., 1988, p. 201.
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For development modern society the cultural heritage of the Roman Egyptian kingdom and many other equally great civilizations had a huge impact. A huge number of cultural monuments have survived to this day, representing the society and the worldview of the ancient people.
The art of Byzantium is the clearest example of this. After the division of the Great, the kings of Constantinople ascended the throne, who left a gigantic number after their eleventh century reign. Difficult and difficult stages historical development not only did they not aggravate the growth and improvement of the art of civilization, but also gave the world unforgettable artifacts, a small part of which is available for visual acquaintance even now.
The art of Byzantium began its development from the slave system. The smooth transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages also left its indelible imprint on the improvement of culture. This period is characterized by magnificent monuments of architecture and art. It was at that time that the architects of the state tried to preserve the huge heritage that the people inherited from the great Roman Empire.
The adoption of Christianity by the people had a huge role in the art of Byzantium. This brought the state closer to such dissimilar territories as Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Serbia, etc. This period is characterized by the widespread installation of domed ceilings during the construction of temples. The medieval period saw the development of such areas as the creation of mosaics, frescoes and book miniatures. It is worth noting that it is at this stage that iconography plays an increasingly important role. But sculptural creations cannot boast of their rapid development. However, it was the social life and structure of the people of the state that imposed a special charm and unique beauty on the art of Byzantium. At the same time, the church fully served the benefit of society. In accordance with the medieval ideas of the people, the emperor was the vicar of the Lord. His power was supported by a powerful church apparatus.
The visual arts of Byzantium also underwent some changes. The artists of the first centuries of our era displayed in their creations vivid images that were permeated with allegorical features. Plasticity and distraction from the Christian beginning - these are the main features of the paintings of that time. They were replaced by creativity, the main feature of which was the divine principle. The expression of spiritual greatness has become an integral part of every piece of art.
The church was the only major critic. The main directions in which the development and formation of artistic art proceeded were icon painting, frescoes, mosaics and book miniatures. The background of shimmering golden color, sparkling edges of stones and smalt, bright ornaments - these are the main features of almost any work of the creators of that era, for which Byzantium became famous all over the world. The art of this state has gone through several stages of its development. The first of these was the early Christian stage (from the 1st to the 3rd century AD). It is followed by the so-called early Byzantine, which affected the sixth and seventh centuries. This period is famous for the development of temple architecture and Ravenna mosaics. It is followed for a century and a half by the iconoclastic stage, which was replaced by the Macedonian Renaissance, which lasted until the 11th century. The penultimate period was the era of conservatism, and the development of the great art of Byzantium ended with Hellenistic principles and anti-crisis tendencies, which was reflected in the Palaiologan Renaissance.
1. Introduction
Stage I (middle of the 4th century - first half of the 7th century)
The role of religion in culture 3
New in Fine Arts 6
Architecture 8
visual arts 12
5. Secular and church music, theater 13
Stage II (middle of the 7th century - beginning of the 13th century)
1. Public life and religion 15
2. Philosophical movements 16
3. Literature 19
4. Aesthetics 21
5. Visual arts 21
6. Architecture 23
7. Music 23
Stage III (XIII century - mid-XV century)
Brief description 25
Introduction
The Byzantine state took shape as a result of the separation of the eastern part of the Roman Empire at the end of the 4th century. AD It existed for over a thousand years, until the defeat in 1453 of its capital, Constantinople, during the Turkish invasion. The beginning of the Byzantine Empire is considered to be 395, when Emperor Theodosius I divided the Roman state into two parts - eastern and western. Constantinople became the capital of the eastern part of the empire (this is how the old city of Byzantium was renamed in 330)
Byzantium is one of the states that made a great contribution to the development of culture in Europe in the Middle Ages. In the history of Byzantium, a special, prominent place belongs. In artistic creativity, Byzantium gave the medieval world high images of literature and art, which were distinguished by the noble elegance of forms, figurative vision of thought, refinement of aesthetic thinking, and depth of philosophical thought. By the power of expressiveness and deep spirituality, Byzantium stood ahead of all the countries of medieval Europe for many centuries. The direct successor of the Greco-Roman world and the Hellenistic East, Byzantium has always remained the center of a unique and truly brilliant culture. If you try to separate the Byzantine civilization from the civilization of Europe, the Front and the Near East, then the following factors will be the most important:
In Byzantium there was a linguistic community (the main language was Greek);
There was a religious community in Byzantium (the main religion was Christianity in the form of Orthodoxy);
In Byzantium, for all its multi-ethnicity, there was an ethnic core consisting of Greeks.
The Byzantine Empire has always been distinguished by stable statehood and centralized administration.
All this, of course, does not exclude the possibility that Byzantine civilization, which had an impact on many neighboring countries, was itself influenced by both the tribes and peoples that inhabited it, and its neighboring states.
During its thousand-year existence, Byzantium faced powerful external influences emanating from countries that were at a close stage of development - from Iran, Egypt, Syria, Transcaucasia, and later the Latin West and Ancient Russia. On the other hand, Byzantium had to enter into various contacts with peoples who were at a somewhat or significantly lower stage of development (the Byzantines called them "barbarians"). The process of development of Byzantium was not straightforward. It had epochs of ups and downs, periods of the triumph of progressive ideas and gloomy years of domination by reactionaries. But the sprouts of the new, the living, the advanced, sooner or later sprouted in all spheres of life, at all times.
Folk art was an inexhaustible source of culture. Under the cover of traditions and stereotypes, a new, creative beginning lived, acted and made its way. The entire thousand-year history of Byzantium can be divided into three periods:
Mid 4th century - First half of the 7th c. - the period of decomposition of the slave system and the formation of medieval society.
The middle of the 7th century - the beginning of the 13th century. - the emergence and development of feudalism in Byzantium.
XIII century - middle of the XV century. - the last period, characterized by the further development of feudalism and the beginning of its decomposition.
The first centuries of the existence of the Byzantine state can be regarded as the most important stage in the formation of the worldview of the Byzantine society, based on the traditions of pagan Hellenism and the principles of Christianity. In early Byzantium, the philosophy of Neoplatonism experienced a new flowering. A number of Neoplatonic philosophers appear: Proclus, Diadochus, Plotinus, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Neoplatonism directly adjoined and coexisted with early Byzantine philosophical thought. But Neoplatonism demanded from its adherents special philosophical training, special thinking, and a turn of mind. He was elitist, that is, inaccessible to the broad masses, which was reflected in his historical doom.
The role of religion in culture
The formation of Christianity as a philosophical and religious system was a complex and lengthy process. Christianity absorbed many philosophical and religious teachings of that time. Christian dogma has developed under the strong influence of not only Middle Eastern religious teachings, Judaism, Manichaeism, but also Neoplatonism. The dogma of the trinity of the deity, one of the central tenets of Christian doctrine, is essentially a rethought triad of the Neoplatonists. However, Christianity, despite having features in common with Manichaeism and Neoplatonism, is fundamentally different from Manichaean dualism and Neoplatonic monism. Christianity itself was not only a syncretic religious teaching, but also a synthetic philosophical and religious system, an important component of which were ancient philosophical teachings. This, perhaps, explains to some extent the fact that Christianity not only fought against ancient philosophy, but also used it for its own purposes.
In place of the irreconcilability of Christianity with everything that carried the stigma of paganism, comes a compromise between the Christian and the ancient worldview. In Neoplatonism itself, two currents were formed: one - radical, opposed to Christianity, the other - more moderate. Gradually, supporters of a compromise with Christianity are gaining the upper hand. There is a process of repulsion, isolation and at the same time rapprochement, fusion of Neoplatonic philosophy and Christian theology, which ends with the absorption of Neoplatonism by Christianity.
The most educated and far-sighted Christian theologians understood the need to master the entire arsenal of pagan culture in order to use it in the creation of philosophical concepts. In the works of Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus, in the speeches of John Chrysostom, one can see a combination of the ideas of early Christianity with Neoplatonic philosophy, sometimes a paradoxical interweaving of rhetorical ideas with new ideological content. Thinkers such as Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus lay the foundation of Byzantine philosophy, their philosophical constructions are deeply rooted in the history of Hellenic thinking. At the center of their philosophy is the understanding of being as perfection, which leads to a kind of justification of the cosmos, and, consequently, the world and man. In Gregory of Nyssa, this concept sometimes approaches pantheism.
In the transitional era of the death of the slave system and the formation of a feudal society, fundamental changes take place in all spheres of the spiritual life of Byzantium. A new aesthetics is being born, a new system of spiritual and moral values, more in line with the mentality and emotional demands of medieval man. Patristic literature, biblical cosmography, liturgical poetry, monastic tales, world chronicles, Christian hagiography, permeated with a religious worldview, gradually take possession of the minds of Byzantine society and replace ancient culture. The man of that era is also changing, his vision of the world, his attitude to the universe, nature, society. A new "image of the world" compared to antiquity is being created, embodied in a special sign system of symbols. The ancient idea of a heroic personality, the ancient understanding of the world as a world of laughing gods and heroes fearlessly going to death, where the highest good is not to be afraid of anything and not to hope for anything (very nice philosophy), is being replaced by the world of the suffering, torn by contradictions, small , a sinful person. He is infinitely humiliated and weak, but he believes in his salvation in another life and tries to find solace in this. Christianity reveals with unprecedented intensity the painful division within the human personality.
Man's idea of space, time, space, and the course of history is also changing: the closed historical cycles of ancient writers, determined by the will of God, are being replaced by the biblical vision of the progressive movement of history by early Byzantine historians and chroniclers. In early Byzantium, one of the fundamental ideas of the Middle Ages crystallized - the idea of the union of the Christian church and the "Christian empire".
The spiritual life of the then society is distinguished by dramatic tension; in all spheres of knowledge, literature and art, there is an amazing mixture of pagan and Christian ideas, images, ideas, a colorful combination of pagan mythology with Christian mysticism. The era of the formation of a new, medieval culture gives birth to talented, sometimes marked by the seal of genius, thinkers, writers, poets. The individuality of the artist has not yet been dissolved in church-dogmatic thinking.
New in fine arts
Fundamental changes are taking place in the field of fine arts and aesthetic views of Byzantine society. Byzantine aesthetics developed on the basis of the entire spiritual culture of Byzantium. She largely relied on ancient views on the essence of beauty, but synthesized and rethought them in the spirit of Christian ideology. A distinctive feature of Byzantine aesthetics was its deep spiritualism. Giving preference to the spirit over the body, she at the same time tried to remove the dualism of the earthly and heavenly, divine and human, spirit and flesh. Without denying bodily beauty, Byzantine thinkers placed the beauty of the soul, virtue, and moral perfection much higher. Of great importance for the establishment of the Byzantine aesthetic consciousness was the early Christian understanding of the world as a beautiful creation of a divine artist. That is why natural beauty was valued higher than beauty created by human hands, as if "secondary" in its origin. Byzantine art genetically ascended to Hellenistic and Eastern Christian art. In the early period in Byzantine art, the refined Platonism and the quivering sensuality of late antique impressionism seemed to merge with the naive, sometimes rude expressiveness of the folk art of the East.
Hellenism for a long time remained the main, but not the only, source from which the Byzantine masters drew the elegance of forms, the correctness of proportions, the charming transparency of the color scheme, and the technical perfection of their works. But Hellenism could not fully resist the powerful stream of oriental influences that swept over Byzantium in the first centuries of its existence. At this time, the impact on the Byzantine art of the Egyptian, Syrian, Malaysian, Iranian artistic traditions is felt.
In the IV-V centuries. late antique traditions were still strong in the art of Byzantium. If classical ancient art was distinguished by pacified monism, if it did not know the struggle between spirit and body, and its aesthetic ideal embodied the harmonious unity of bodily and spiritual beauty, then already in late antique art, a tragic conflict of spirit and flesh is outlined. Monistic harmony is replaced by a clash of opposite principles, "the spirit, as it were, is trying to throw off the shackles of the body shell." In the future, Byzantine art overcame the conflict of spirit and body, it was replaced by calm contemplation, designed to lead a person away from the storms of earthly life into the supersensible world of pure spirit. This "pacification" occurs as a result of the recognition of the superiority of the spiritual principle over the bodily, the victory of the spirit over the flesh. From now on, the main aesthetic task of Byzantine art is the desire of the artist to embody the transcendent idea in the artistic image. In the VI-VII centuries. Byzantine artists were able not only to absorb these diverse influences, but also, having overcome them, create their own style in art. Since that time, Constantinople has become a renowned artistic center of the medieval world, a "palladium of sciences and arts." It is followed by Ravenna, Rome, Nicaea, Thessalonica, which also became the focus of the Byzantine artistic style.
The heyday of Byzantine art of the early period is associated with the strengthening of the power of the empire under Justinian. Magnificent palaces and temples are erected in Constantinople at this time.
Architecture
An unsurpassed masterpiece of Byzantine creativity was built in the 30s of the VI century. church of st. Sofia. Christian Byzantium also devoted a lot of work to decorating the temple of the One God. The churches of Constantinople amazed with their majestic architecture and the splendor of interior decoration.
But from the time of Justinian, the temple of St. Sophia, built by this emperor, became the pride of Constantinople, or Byzantium, in memory of the pacification of the rebellion, when this sovereign almost lost his throne.
Having decided to build a temple, Justinian turned to the most famous architects of his time - Anthimius from Tralles and Isidore from Miletus.
He wanted the temple to be erected to become a great monument to him, and therefore spared no expense for the construction. Under the leadership of Anfimy and Isidore, up to 10,000 masons, carpenters and other workers were employed daily in the buildings.
According to Justinian, the temple of St. Sophia was to surpass all temples that have ever existed in its size and luxury. Gold, silver, ivory, expensive types of stones were used for construction and decoration in myriad quantities. From all over the empire, columns and blocks of rare marbles were brought to decorate the temple. The result was that the unprecedented and unheard of splendor struck even the popular imagination, and in Byzantium there were legends that the heavenly forces themselves helped the architects in the construction.
Where Justinian conceived the construction, there was already a temple in the name of divine wisdom - St. Sophia, built by Constantine. The temple, over which the Mohammedan moon has occupied the place of the Holy Cross so insultingly for Christians for four centuries, was built on the same place as the first, but much later. The first was small for the large Christian population, and Constantius, son of Constantine, enlarged it. In 404, during the reign of Arcadius, he was burnt in a time of confusion. Emperor Theodosius rebuilt the cathedral. Subsequently, it burned down again, and only the emperor Justinian built a new stone church of St. Sophia in an incomparably large size and with great splendor. This temple has survived to our times. To fulfill his plan, the emperor ordered all the governors to look for marble, columns and sculptural decorations for the new temple. The last fire that destroyed the remains of the former temple was in January 532, and on February 23 of the same year the first stone of the new one was laid.
The new temple was built for about seven years, and in December 538 the completion of construction was celebrated, but seventeen years later, the eastern part of the main dome collapsed from an earthquake and fell on the precious altar and pulpit. This misfortune did not in the least lessen the zeal of Justinian: he renewed the church with greater strength and splendor, and on December 24, 568, before the day of the Nativity of Christ, they celebrated its consecration. Under the leadership of two chief architects - Anthimius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus - one hundred other architects directed the work, and each of them had a hundred masons under his command. Five thousand workers worked on the right side of the temple and the same number on the left.
According to Byzantine tradition, an angel drew the plan of this church to the emperor during his sleep. The emperor encouraged the workers with money and his presence, and instead of resting after dinner, according to the Eastern custom, he tied a scarf around his head and with a stick in his hand, went to inspect the work in the simplest linen clothes. All estates contributed monetary tribute to the construction of the temple. Marble of all colors - white, pink, green and blue, Egyptian granite and porphyry, as well as precious columns extracted from various ancient pagan temples: eight porphyry columns on the lower floor of the famous temple of the Sun in Baalbek, the other eight from the temple of Diana in Ephesus - decorated it . It is remarkable that the materials included in the building are taken from temples belonging to almost all pagan religions, so that it rested on the columns of the temples of Isis and Osiris, the Sun and the Moon (in Heliopolis), Minerva of Athens and Apollo of Delos.
In general, the form of the sanctuary of Solomon's temple predominates throughout the building. To make it easier to understand the structure of the Cathedral of St. Sophia, one must imagine a spacious quadrangle, to which four smaller squares adjoin on its four sides and thus form the main parts of the building and the shape of a cross inside. At the corners of the middle large square, four massive pillars (pileres) are built, the tops of which are interconnected by semicircular arches, and on top of this entire arcade rises a huge dome, 35 meters in diameter. The dome seems to rest on the arches with only four points, while the rest of it is supported by pandatives (triangles at the intersection of the arches), which start at the sharp corners of the piers and go up, rounding so imperceptibly that they seem to be simple light veins, and the fulcrum of this gigantic vaults elude the eye of the observer, and the dome seems to be hanging in the air. The top point of the vault rose 61 meters above the floor of the church; the length of the church inside the walls is 81 meters and the width is 60 meters. Two semi-domes adjoin the eastern and western parts of the middle vault and each of them has three niches, so that the roof of the main part of the building consists of nine domes rising one above the other. The rest was covered with marble slabs, and the domes themselves were covered with lead sheets. The half-domes and niches are supported by four main piers and four smaller ones, and under each niche are two porphyry columns with white marble capitals and bases. From the north and south of the main square, under the arches, between each two large piers, four columns of the finest granite are placed, supporting the choirs or galleries for women, which the ancient Christians stood separately during worship. On 24 other columns made of Egyptian granite, side galleries adjoin the choirs, illuminated by windows in three tiers: seven windows in the lower and middle, and five in the upper. The main dome is illuminated by 4 windows. Above the 40 columns of the lower floor, there are 60 others in the upper galleries and seven more above the entrance doors, so there are 107 columns in total. A mysterious meaning was attributed to this number in the East. All the columns of the upper floor are marble or granite, excellently polished and smooth, but the cornices and archivolts on top of these columns are absolutely fantastic. They are decorated with countless leaves and stripes in the form of galloons, mixed and intertwined. The main dome, in order to combine the full development of its size with the lightness of style, is made of clay pots, which still surprise with their strength; they are made of light clay found on the island of Rhodes, and are so light that the weight of 12 pots is equal to the weight of one ordinary brick. The walls are made of bricks and all covered with marble slabs, and the piers are made of large limestone stones, linked together with iron ties, and smoothly plastered with lime mortar in marbled oil of various colors.
Another masterpiece of Byzantine architecture is the Church of St. Vitaliy in Ravenna - amazes with the sophistication and elegance of architectural forms. The famous mosaics of not only ecclesiastical, but also secular nature, in particular, images of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora and their retinue, brought special fame to this temple. The faces of Justinian and Theodora are endowed with portrait features, the color scheme of the mosaics is full-blooded brightness, warmth and freshness.
art
In painting VI-VII centuries. a specifically Byzantine image crystallizes, cleansed of foreign influences. It is based on the experience of the masters of the East and West, who independently came to create a new art that corresponds to the spiritualistic ideals of medieval society. In this art, there are already various trends and schools. The metropolitan school, for example, was distinguished by excellent workmanship, refined artistry, picturesqueness and colorful variety, quivering and iridescent colors. One of the most perfect works of this school were the mosaics in the dome of the Church of the Assumption in Nicaea. Other trends in the art of early Byzantium, embodied in the mosaics of Ravenna, Sinai, Thessaloniki, Cyprus, Parenzo, mark the rejection of ancient reminiscences by Byzantine masters. The images become more ascetic, not only the sensual, but also the emotional moment in such art no longer has a place, but spirituality reaches extraordinary strength.
Church worship in Byzantium turned into a kind of magnificent mystery. In the semi-darkness of the vaults of Byzantine churches, many candles and lamps shone twilight, illuminating with mysterious reflections the gold of mosaics, the dark faces of icons, multi-colored marble colonnades, and magnificent precious utensils. All this, according to the plan of the church, was supposed to overshadow in the soul of a person the emotional elation of ancient tragedy, the healthy fun of mimes, the vain excitement of circus dances and give him joy in the everyday life of real life.
"Orthodox iconography includes heavenly palm trees, flowers and floral ornaments, for "the righteous blossoms like a palm tree, towers like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they bloom in the courtyards of our God "(Ps 91. 13-14). Old Testament descriptions of images of angels, palm trees and flowers can be compared, for example, with the Byzantine mosaics of the Basilica of St. Apollinaris Nuovo in Ravenna (VI century), representing processions martyrs and martyrs in the Garden of Eden. Green meadows under the feet of the saints are dotted with lilies. Between the figures of Christian ascetics - palm trees, symbolizing eternal life. During the iconoclastic heresy in Byzantium, the Old Testament symbols of paradise were depicted instead of icons, so that the temples, according to contemporaries, "turned gardens, flower beds and poultry houses.
In the applied art of Byzantium, to a lesser extent than in architecture and painting, the leading line in the development of Byzantine art was determined, reflecting the formation of the medieval worldview. The vitality of ancient traditions was manifested here both in images and in forms of artistic expression. At the same time, the artistic traditions of the peoples of the East gradually penetrated here. Here, although to a lesser extent than in Western Europe, the influence of the barbarian world played its role.
Secular and church music, theater
Music occupied a special place in Byzantine civilization. A peculiar combination of authoritarianism and democracy could not but affect the nature of musical culture, which was a complex and multifaceted phenomenon of the spiritual life of the era.
In the V-VII centuries. the formation of the Christian liturgy took place, new genres of vocal art developed. Music acquires a special civil status, is included in the system of representation of state power. The music of city streets, theatrical and circus performances and folk festivals, which reflected the richest song and musical practice of many peoples inhabiting the empire, retained a special color. Each of these types of music had its own aesthetic and social meaning and at the same time, interacting, they merged into a single and unique whole. Christianity very early appreciated the special possibilities of music as a universal art and at the same time possessing the power of mass and individual psychological impact, and included it in its cult ritual. It was cult music that was destined to occupy a dominant position in medieval Byzantium.
Mass spectacles continued to play a huge role in the life of the broad masses of the people. True, the ancient theater begins to decline - ancient tragedies and comedies are increasingly replaced by performances of mimes, jugglers, dancers, gymnasts, and tamers of wild animals. The place of the theater is now occupied by a circus (hippodrome) with its horse races, which are very popular.
If we sum up the first period of the existence of Byzantium, we can say that during this period the main features of the Byzantine civilization were formed. First of all, they should include the fact that Byzantine culture was open to other cultural influences received from outside. But gradually, already in the early period, they were synthesized by the main, leading Greco-Roman culture. The culture of early Byzantium was an urban culture. The large cities of the empire, and primarily Constantinople, were not only centers of crafts and trade, but also centers of the highest culture and education, where the rich heritage of antiquity was preserved. The struggle between secular and ecclesiastical cultures is especially characteristic of the first period of the history of Byzantium. In the history of Byzantine civilization, the first centuries of the existence of Byzantium were a time of acute ideological struggle, a clash of contradictory tendencies, complex ideological conflicts, but also a time of fruitful searches, intense spiritual creativity, and the positive development of science and art. These were the centuries when, in the throes of the struggle between the old and the new, the culture of the future medieval society was born.
Public life
In the second stage of the development of culture, which fell on the time from the second half of the 7th century. to the XII century, they distinguish the time of iconoclasm (the second quarter of the VIII - the 40s of the IX century, the time of the reign of the emperors of the Macedonian dynasty (the so-called "Macedonian Renaissance": 867-1056, and the reign of the Komnenos ("Komnenian Renaissance": 1081-1185 gg.).
The defining feature of the spiritual life of the empire by the middle of the 7th century was the undivided dominance of the Christian worldview. Deep religiosity was now simulated not so much by dogmatic disputes as by the offensive of Islam, which was waged by the Arabs, inspired by the "holy war" and the struggle against the pagans - Slavs and pro-Bulgarians. The role of the church increased even more. The instability of life principles, the economic and domestic disorder of the masses of the population, poverty and the constant danger from an external enemy aggravated the religious feeling of the subjects of the empire: the spirit of humility before the vicissitudes of "this world", uncomplaining submission to "spiritual shepherds", boundless faith in miracles and signs, in salvation through self-denial and prayer. The class of monks rapidly increased, the number of monasteries multiplied. As never before, the cult of saints flourished, especially the worship of those known only in a given locality, district, city; all hopes were pinned on them as on their "own" heavenly intercessors.
The widespread superstition helped the church to dominate the minds of the parishioners, increase their wealth and strengthen their position. This was facilitated by the decline in the level of literacy of the population, the extreme narrowing of secular knowledge. However, the triumph of theology, the assertion of its dominance through violence hid a serious danger - theology could be powerless in the face of criticism of non-believers and heretics. Like any ideological system, Christianity needed development. The need for this was realized in the narrow circles of the church elite, which preserved the traditions of high religious and secular education. The systematization of theology became the first task, and for this it was necessary to resort again to the spiritual treasures of antiquity - without its idealistic theories and formal logic, the new tasks of theologians were impossible.
Philosophical movements
The search for original philosophical and theological solutions was already undertaken in the second half of the 7th century, although the most outstanding works in this area were created in the next century. Characteristic in this regard is the fact that against the general background of the decline of culture in the middle of the 7th century, in fact, only theology experienced a certain rise: this was required by the vital interests of the ruling elite, presented as an urgent need for the widest sections of society.
Regardless of the fact that Emperor Constant II himself persecuted Maximus the Confessor, the theoretical searches of this theologian met the needs of the ruling class; without them, by the way, the manifestation of the "Source of knowledge" of Damascus would be impossible. The basis of Maxim's theological constructions is the idea of the reunion of man with God (through overcoming the abyss between the spiritual and the carnal) as the reunion of the root cause of all that exists, the whole with its part. In the ascent to the spiritual, Maxim assigned an active role to man himself, to his free will. John of Damascus set himself and fulfilled two main tasks: he sharply criticized the enemies of orthodoxy (Nestorians, Manichaeans, iconoclasts) and systematized theology as a worldview, as a special system of ideas about God, the creation of the world and man, defining his place in this world and the other world . Compilation (in keeping with Damascene's motto "I love nothing mine") on the basis of Aristotelian logic represented the main method of his work. He also used the natural-scientific ideas of the ancients, but carefully selected from them, as well as from the dogmas of his theologian predecessors, only that which in no way contradicted the canons of the ecumenical councils. In essence, the work of Damaskinos, even by medieval standards, is devoid of originality. His works played a major role in the ideological struggle against iconoclasm, but not because they contained new arguments in defense of traditional ideas and religious rites, but due to the elimination of contradictions from church dogmas, bringing them into a coherent system. A significant step forward in the development of theological science, in the development of new ideas concerning the problems of the relationship between spirit and matter, the expression of thought and its perception, the relationship of God and man, was made during the fierce disputes between iconoclasts and iconodules. But in general, until the middle of the IX century. philosophers and theologians remained in the circle of traditional ideas of late antique Christianity.
The ideological struggle of the era of iconoclasm, which took on a sharp political form, the spread of the Paulician heresy made it quite obvious the need to improve the education of the clergy and representatives of the upper strata of society.
In the context of a general upsurge of spiritual culture, a new direction in the scientific and philosophical thought of Byzantium emerged in the work of Patriarch Photius, who did more than anyone else before him to revive and develop the sciences in the empire. Photius made a new assessment and selection of scientific and literary works of the previous era and the present, based not only on church doctrine, but also on considerations of rationalism and practical utility, and trying to explain the causes of natural phenomena through natural science knowledge. The rise of rationalistic thought in the era of Photius, accompanied by a new increase in interest in antiquity, became even more tangible in the 11th-12th centuries.
It is noteworthy, however, that simultaneously with this trend, as was very often the case in Byzantium, purely mystical theological theories were developed and deepened. One of these theories, created at the turn of the X-XI centuries. and not widely recognized in the XI-XII centuries, a major ideological and political role was determined in the future: it formed the basis of a powerful trend in the Orthodox Church in the XIV-XVI centuries. - hesychasm. We are talking about the mysticism of Simeon the New Theologian, who developed the thesis about the possibility for a person of real unity with the deity, the connection of the sensual and mental (spiritual) world through mystical self-contemplation, deep humility and "intelligent prayer". Even in the time of Photius, contradictions were clearly revealed in the interpretation of the idealistic concepts of antiquity between the adherents of Aristotle and Plato. After an era of long preference given by Byzantine theologians to the teachings of Aristotle, from the 11th century. in the development of philosophical thought there has been a turn towards Platonism and Neoplatonism.
Mikhail Psellus was a prominent representative of this particular trend. With all his admiration for ancient thinkers and with all his dependence on the positions of the classics of antiquity he cited, Psellus nevertheless remained an original ("artistic") philosopher, being able, like no one else, to combine and reconcile the theses of ancient philosophy and Christian spiritualism, to subordinate orthodox dogma even the mysterious divinations of the occult sciences. However, no matter how careful and skillful were the attempts of the Byzantine intellectual elite to preserve and cultivate the rationalistic elements of ancient science, a sharp clash turned out to be inevitable: an example of this is the excommunication and condemnation of the disciple of Psellos, the philosopher John Italus. Plato's ideas were driven into the rigid framework of theology. Rationalist tendencies in Byzantine philosophy will not resurrect soon, only in the context of the growing crisis of the 13th-15th centuries, especially in the conditions of a fierce struggle with the mystics-hesychasts.
Literature
The general decline in creative activity in the "dark ages" was reflected with particular force in the state of Byzantine literature. Vulgarization, lack of literary taste, "dark" style, stereotyped characteristics and situations - all this was established for a long time as the dominant features of works of literature created in the second half of the 7th - the first half of the 9th century. Imitation of ancient models no longer found an echo in society. The black clergy became the main customer and connoisseur of literary work. The monks were all the time and the authors of the lives. Hagiography and liturgical poetry came to the fore. The preaching of asceticism, humility, hopes for a miracle and otherworldly retribution, the chanting of a religious feat is the main ideological content of this kind of literature.
Byzantine hagiography reached particular heights in the 9th century. In the middle of the X century. about one and a half hundred of the most popular lives were processed and rewritten by the prominent chronicler Simeon Metaphrastus (Logophet). The decline of the genre was marked in the next, 11th century: instead of naive, but lively descriptions, a dry scheme, stereotyped images, and stereotyped scenes of the life of saints began to dominate.
At the same time, the hagiographical genre, which invariably enjoyed the widest popularity among the masses, had a noticeable influence on the development of Byzantine literature in both the 10th and 11th centuries. Vulgarization was often combined with vivid imagery, realistic descriptions, vitality of details, and dynamism of the plot. Among the heroes of the lives, there were often the poor and offended, who, performing a martyr's feat for the glory of God, boldly entered into a struggle with the strong and rich, with injustice, untruth and evil. The note of humanism and mercy is an integral element of many Byzantine hagiographies.
Religious themes dominated in this era in poetic works. Some of them were directly related to liturgical poetry (chants, hymns), some were dedicated, like hagiography, to the glorification of religious deeds. Thus, Fyodor Studit sought to poeticize monastic ideals and the very routine of monastic life. The revival of the literary tradition, which consisted in focusing on the masterpieces of antiquity and in their rethinking, became especially noticeable in the 11th-12th centuries, which affected the choice of plots, genres, and artistic forms.
As in antiquity, epistolography, replete with reminiscences from ancient Greco-Roman mythology, has become a means of vividly emotional narration, self-expression of the author, rising to the level of exquisite prose. Plots and forms of both Eastern and Western literature are boldly borrowed during this period. Translations and revisions from Arabic and Latin are carried out. There are experiments of poetic compositions in the folk, colloquial language. For the first time in the history of Byzantium since the 4th c. took shape and began to gradually expand from the XII century. cycle of vernacular literature. The enrichment of the ideological and artistic content of literature by strengthening the folklore tradition, the heroic epic is most clearly seen in the epic poem about Digenis Akrita, created on the basis of a cycle of folk songs in the 10th-11th centuries. Folklore motifs also penetrate into the Hellenistic love-adventure novel that was revived at that time.
Aesthetics
The second period also saw the flowering of Byzantine aesthetics. The development of aesthetic thought in the VIII-IX centuries. was stimulated by the struggle around cult images. Icon worshipers had to sum up the main Christian concepts of the image and, on their basis, develop a theory of the relationship between the image and the archetype, primarily in relation to the visual arts. The functions of the image in the spiritual culture of the past were studied, a comparative analysis of symbolic and mimetic (imitative) images was carried out, the relation of the image to the word was meaningful in a new way, the problem of the priority of painting in religious culture was posed.
In that era, the most complete development was received by the anti-kissing direction of aesthetics, which was guided by the ancient criteria of beauty. There was a revival of interest in the physical (bodily) beauty of a person; the aesthetics of eroticism, condemned by religious rigorists, received a new life; secular art again enjoyed special attention. The theory of symbolism also received new impulses, especially the concept of allegory; gardening art began to be appreciated; The revival also touched on the dramatic art, the comprehension of which was devoted to special works. In general, aesthetic thought in Byzantium in the VIII-XII centuries. reached, perhaps, the highest point of its development, exerting a strong influence on the artistic practice of a number of other countries in Europe and Asia.
art
The crisis phenomena of the transitional era in Byzantine culture were especially protracted in the field of fine arts of the 7th-9th centuries, the fate of which was more strongly affected than in other areas by iconoclasm. The development of the most mass, religious types of fine art (icon painting and fresco painting) resumed only after 843, i.e. after the victory of icon veneration. The peculiarity of the new stage was that, on the one hand, the influence of the ancient tradition increased noticeably, and on the other hand, the iconographic canon developed in that era with its stable norms regarding the choice of plot, the ratio of figures, their very poses, acquired an ever more stable framework. selection of colors, distribution of chiaroscuro, etc. This canon in the future will be strictly followed by Byzantine artists. The creation of a pictorial stencil was accompanied by an increase in stylization, designed to serve the purpose of conveying through the visual image not so much the human face, but the religious idea contained in this image. At that time, the art of colored mosaic images reached a new heyday. In the IX-XI centuries. old monuments were also restored. Mosaics were also restored in the church of St. Sofia. New plots appeared that reflected the idea of the union of church and state.
In the IX-X centuries. the décor of manuscripts became substantially richer and more complex, and book miniatures and ornamentation became richer and more varied. However, a truly new period in the development of book miniature falls on the 11th-12th centuries, when the Constantinople school of masters in this area of art flourished. In that era, in general, the leading role in painting as a whole (in icon painting, miniature, fresco) was acquired by the metropolitan schools, marked by a special perfection of taste and technique.
Architecture
In the VII-VIII centuries. in the temple construction of Byzantium and the countries of the Byzantine cultural circle, the same cross-domed composition that arose in the 6th century dominated. and was characterized by a weakly expressed external decorative design. The decor of the facade acquired great importance in the 9th-10th centuries, when a new architectural style arose and became widespread. The emergence of a new style was associated with the flourishing of cities, the strengthening of the social role of the church, the change in the social content of the very concept of sacred architecture in general and temple construction in particular (the temple as an image of the world). Many new temples were erected, a large number of monasteries were built, although they were, as a rule, small in size. In addition to changes in the decorative design of buildings, the architectural forms and the very composition of buildings also changed. The importance of vertical lines and divisions of the facade increased, which also changed the silhouette of the temple. Builders increasingly resorted to the use of patterned brickwork. Features of the new architectural style also appeared in a number of local schools. For example, in Greece X-XII centuries. it is typical to preserve some archaism of architectural forms (non-segmentation of the facade plane, traditional forms of small temples) - with the further development and growth of the influence of the new style, patterned brick decor and polychrome plastic were also increasingly used here.
In the VIII-XII centuries. a special musical and poetic church art took shape. Thanks to his high artistic merits, the influence of folklore music on church music, the melodies of which had previously penetrated even into the liturgy, weakened. In order to further isolate the musical foundations of worship from external influences, the canonization of the laotonal system - "oktoiha" (eight-tones) was carried out. Ichoses were some melodic formulas. However, musical-theoretical monuments allow us to conclude that the Ichos system did not rule out a sound-row understanding. The most popular genres of church music were the canon (a musical and poetic composition during a church service) and the troparion (almost the main unit of Byzantine hymnography). Troparias were composed for all holidays, all solemn events and memorable dates. The progress of musical art led to the creation of musical writing (notation), as well as liturgical handwritten collections in which chants were recorded (either only text or text with notation). Public life also could not do without music. The book On the Ceremonies of the Byzantine Court reports almost 400 hymns. These are procession songs, and songs during horse processions, and songs at the imperial feast, and acclamation songs, etc.
From the 9th century in the circles of the intellectual elite, interest in ancient musical culture was growing, although this interest was mainly theoretical in nature: attention was attracted not so much by the music itself as by the works of ancient Greek musical theorists.
As a result of the second period, I would like to say that Byzantium at that time reached the highest power and the highest point in the development of culture. In the social development and in the evolution of the culture of Byzantium, contradictory trends are evident, due to its median position between East and West.
III period
a brief description of
The third period (XII-XIV centuries) can be briefly described as the highest point in the development of feudalism and the collapse of the Byzantine Empire. Due to the lack of material on this period, it can only be noted that, despite the fact that Byzantium existed 1000 years longer than the Great Roman Empire, it was still conquered in the XIV century. Seljuk Turks. But, despite this, Byzantium made a huge contribution to the development of world culture. Its basic principles and directions of culture were transferred to neighboring states. Almost all the time, medieval Europe developed on the basis of the achievements of Byzantine civilization. Byzantium can be called the "second Rome", because. its contribution to the development of Europe and the whole world is in no way inferior to the Roman Empire.
References
Bychkov V.V. A small history of Byzantine aesthetics. - Kyiv, 1991.
World history of state and law. Encyclopedic Dictionary. / Edited by A.V. Krutskikh. – M.: Infra-M, 2001.
Kazhdan A.P. Byzantine culture (X-XII centuries). - M., 1997.
Byzantine culture. In 3 volumes - M., 1984-1991.
Udaltsova Z.V. Byzantine culture. - M., 1988.
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Byzantium is the Eastern Roman Empire. Initially, the main center was the colony of Byzantium, then it became Constantinople. Byzantium included territories: the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, India with Palestine, Syria, North. Africa, Sev. Black Sea region. This empire existed from the 4th century BC. - middle of the 15th century, until it was destroyed by the Seljuk Turks.
She is the heiress of Greco-Roman culture. Culture is controversial, because tried to combine the ideals of antiquity and Christianity. The world was perceived as a beautiful creation of God. They singled out the Divine essence of the human soul.
The role of cities. In 4-5 centuries major cities were: Alexandria, Antioch (Syria), Edes (Mesopotamia), Tyre, Beirut, Ephesus, Smyrna, Nicaea (Asia Minor), Thessalonica and Corinth (European part).
Constantinople (located in the Bosporus) played a special role. Already in the 4th c. it became the largest trade and craft center, it was called the "Master of the Universe". Vessels from different countries. Its importance as a cultural and religious center also grew. There was a construction of secular buildings, spectacular buildings, temples.
The role of the church. Byzantium is a state-empire. The emperor had unlimited power. He was considered mortal, but in relation to society he was the likeness of the Heavenly Father. The emperors showed themselves to be faithful sons of the church, although they exerted a profound influence. The church influenced society. The church fought against heresies (they deviated from the official teaching). In the 9th century Eastern church(Orthodox) separated from Western (Catholic). In the 11th century there was a split in the church, they became independent offshoots of Christianity. Byzantium itself separated from Western Christianity.
Early medieval period.
Education was on highest level. Preference was given to encyclopedic knowledge. The Laws of God, music, aesthetics, physical education were studied.
Byzantium develops institute of monasticism especially in the 7th-9th centuries. A lot of religious literature of the lives of the saints appears. The first university was opened school in the 9th century in Constantinople (closed in the 7th), and a medical school.
The science.
IN geography- they drew maps of the seas, countries, cities, this was incomprehensible for the West.
Significant advances in medicine: the physician Oribasius compiled medical encyclopedia from 70 books. After the establishment of Christianity, scientists were persecuted, schools were closed, part of the Alexandrian Library was destroyed. Science becomes theological.
All R. 6th c. monk Cosmas Indikopl wrote "Christian topography"(the shape of the earth is a flat quadrilateral).
In the 6th-7th century dominated alchemy in search of a divine elixir (metal to gold, cure any disease, restore youth). Developed chemistry: paints for painting and fabrics, ceramics, mosaics, enamels.
At 7 a.m., the Byzantines invented "divine fire"- a mixture that burned on water, it was used in the siege of fortresses.
Scientist Lev Mathematician perfected light telegraph.
Doctor Nikita compiled collection of surgery 9th century
Philosophy.
Distributed in the 4th-5th century Neoplatonism- a combination of Stoic, Epicurean and skeptical teachings with the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Representatives: Proclus and John Philospon or Grammar.
Literature.
Secular poets retell ancient myths, use ancient metrics, and church poets. More gospel stories.
The poetic size of folk verse is church poetry in the folk language (Roman Sladkopevets).
Poems about the fight against enemies - a poem about Digenis Akrita.
The animal epic is a satirical depiction of gentlemen.
Almost only theological literature has been preserved: Cosmas of Magomsky (8th century - song singer), John of Damascus (canons - hyms of 9 songs), Theodore Studite (canons, hymns). Written "Miriobiblion" by Photius - these are annotations to 280 ancient and early Byzantine traditions with comments.
Art and Architecture.
Tasks of Byzantine Art- to embody divine ideas and the beauty of the human spirit in artistic images.
IN architecture rounded shapes appear, rotunda, basilica, domes appear. The most famous - the Cathedral of St. Mary (6th century Constantinople), was built by Anthimius and Isidore. It is a domed basilica in shape.
Style is taking shape wall painting- mosaic. Mosaic of the Church of St. Vitalius in Ravenna, mosaic of Sophia of Constantinople 9th century.
Is born icon painter b - it depicts the Divine world in the images of earthly reality (The Virgin and Child, Jesus).
Ivory sculptures- Consular diptychs.
Music.
Hymns are religious and philosophical song lyrics that combined mysticism with emotional content (John of Damascus).
Period of the Macedonian dynasty and the Komnic dynasty.
Awakens interest in classical literature and philosophy.
Science and education .
In the 9th century revived ununiversity is the center secular education for the entire empire.
In the 10th century compilations and encyclopedias(historical, agricultural, medical and veterinary).
~ 975 Suda was created - 30 thousand articles explaining ancient realities, biographical notes, quotations from ancient authors, etc.
Literature.
Representatives: Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, Simeon Metafrast, adapted the cultural heritage to the interests of the ruling elite.
At 11 in Michael Psellos - essays on history, theology, mathematics, poems, odes ("Chronography").
Art and architecture.
Instead of a basilica cross-domed temple, it began to dominate in the 10-12th century. Temples are getting smaller, but taller. The dome looked from the inside - it symbolized the Universe. The new look of the temples is being revetted. The first new type is the basilica of Basil the Macedonian "New Church".
In art 10-11 century. dominates lush decorativeness.
In 11-12 century. church painting is formed into a scheme - all churches are painted according to it.
11th-12th century rise in the art of icon painting- icon of Our Lady of Vladimir, belongs to the type of tenderness. High craftsmanship in gold processing, brocade fabrics, glassware, ivory carvings.
Music - Church singing.
The era of the Palaiologos.
In the 13th century Constantinople is captured by the crusaders. Decline of culture. Cultural property was destroyed.
Large historian - Nikita Choniates, author of a work of 21 books.
Geography - Nikifor Vlemmid, author of "History of the Earth", "General Geography".
Maxim Planud pointed to the Indian origin of the Arabic numeral system "Counting art according to the Indian model".
Maths - Nicholas Artabasd Rabd.
Philosophy
15th c. - George Gemist Plifon, humanistic worldview. Late Byzantine philosophical mysticism was represented by Gregory of Sinai, Nicholas Cabasilus, Gregory Palamas.
Literature.
Representatives - Nikifor Grigor, Lapith, Akindin.
The first Italian humanists were Manuel Chrysolor, Plethon and Bessarion of Nicaea.
Art and architecture.
The temples are more picturesque, the proportions are more fragile - the Church of the Apostles in Thessalonica. Painting- a dramatic experience of the gospel story. Colors are more muted, fresco, miniature, icon. 14 in Theophanes the Greek - painting of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Novgorod.
In the context of the culture of the Middle Ages, Byzantium is a kind of cultural and historical type, different from Western Europe. It was in Byzantium that the formation of Christianity was completed, and for the first time it acquired a finished classical form in its orthodox orthodox version. All the specific features of Byzantine culture were determined by Christianity. By the power of expressiveness and spirituality of artistic culture, Byzantium stood ahead of all the countries of Medieval Europe for many centuries.
The history of Byzantium begins in 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to the ancient Greek settlement of Byzantium on the shores of the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara, later renamed Constantinople. In Russia, this city is known as Tsar-Grad. By its size, Constantinople (which was called the "second Rome") surpassed the "first" Rome, competed with it in beauty. After the collapse of the Roman Empire in 395 into Western and Eastern, the latter became known as Byzantium.
Byzantium was located at the junction of three continents: Europe, Africa and Asia, becoming a link between East and West. The multi-ethnicity of the population, the mixture of Greco-Roman and Eastern traditions left an imprint on public life, statehood, the religious and philosophical atmosphere, and the art of Byzantine society.
The most important features that distinguish Byzantine culture from the cultures of Europe, the Near East and the Near East are the following:
linguistic community (the main language was Greek);
Religious community (Christianity in the form of Orthodoxy);
the existence of an ethnic core consisting of Greeks
stable statehood and centralized government (autocratic monarchy with unlimited power of the emperor - basileus)
· the absence of economic and administrative autarky (i.e. independence) of the church: unlike Rome, the Orthodox Church of Byzantium was subject to the royal authority.
There are three stages in the history of Byzantine culture:
early (IV - mid-VII century);
middle (VII - IX centuries);
late (X-XV centuries).
The Greco-Roman heritage played a huge role in the formation of Byzantine culture. The confrontation between the ancient tradition and the new Christian worldview shaped the culture of the Byzantine Empire. The struggle with the philosophical, ethical, natural-science, aesthetic views of the ancient world manifested itself in the entire history of Byzantine culture. But at the same time there was a constant synthesis of Christianity and many Greco-Roman philosophical teachings.
The last ancient philosophy that Byzantine culture came into contact with was Neoplatonism, the philosophical and mystical direction of the 3rd - 6th centuries, combining Eastern teachings with Greek philosophy, and influencing early Byzantine patristics (the works of the "Church Fathers"). In writings Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa, in speeches John Chrysostom , where the foundation of medieval Christian theology was laid, a combination of the ideas of early Christianity with Neoplatonic philosophy, a paradoxical interweaving of ancient rhetorical forms with new ideological content is noticeable.
The most important topics of theological discussions at an early stage in the development of this culture were disputes about the nature of Christ and his place in the Trinity, about the meaning of human existence, the place of man in the universe and the limit of his capabilities. The main Christian dogmas, in particular the Creed, were fixed at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea (325) and confirmed at the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople (381).
A feature of Byzantine culture was the formation new aesthetics , asserting that the source of beauty, surpassing all that is beautiful, is God. The material and spiritual world is a system of images, symbols and signs (signs) pointing to God. So, everything beautiful in the material world and in the creations of human hands, as well as light, color and images of verbal, musical and visual arts are images and symbols of God.
Based on this aesthetic concept, the main types of fine arts developed - mosaic, fresco, iconography. Here there is a strict and severe canon , dictating the composition, the type of figures and faces, the basics of the color scheme. The canon also determined the figurative structure of the image. So, for example, the type of Oranta (the standing figure of the Mother of God with outstretched arms) predetermined the features of solemnity and grandeur, the type of image of the Mother of God with the baby clinging to her “Tenderness” - a note of lyrical depth, etc.
chief architectural the building was a temple, the so-called basilica (gr. "royal house") the purpose of which was significantly different from other buildings. If the Egyptian temple was intended for priests to conduct solemn ceremonies and did not allow a person to enter the sanctuary, and the Greek and Roman temples served as the seat of a deity, then the Byzantine ones became the place where believers gathered for worship, i.e. temples were designed for human stay in them. A feature of Byzantine architecture was domed basilica , combining the basilica and the centric temple - a round, rectangular or polygonal building, covered with a dome.
The embodiment of these ideas was the famous Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, the construction of which was carried out under the leadership of Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Thrall and ended in 537. He embodied all the best that was created in the architecture of that time, both in the West and in the East. It embodied the idea of a grandiose centric cathedral crowned with a gigantic dome. At the top of the dome was a huge cross framed by a starry sky.
An important component second stage in the history of Byzantine culture was the confrontation iconoclasts And icon worshipers (726-843). The first direction was supported by the ruling secular elite, and the second by the orthodox clergy and many segments of the population. Iconoclasts, asserting the idea of the indescribability and unknowability of the deity, striving to preserve the sublime spirituality of Christianity, advocated the abolition of the worship of icons and other images of Christ, the Virgin and saints, seeing in this the exaltation of the carnal principle and remnants of antiquity.
At a certain stage, the iconoclasts gained the upper hand, so for some time ornamental and decorative abstract symbolic elements prevailed in Byzantine Christian art. The struggle between the supporters of these directions was extremely tough, and many monuments of the early stage of Byzantine culture, in particular the first mosaics of the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople, perished in this confrontation. But anyway final victory won by supporters of icon veneration, which further contributed to the final formation of the iconographic canon - strict rules for depicting all scenes of religious content.
Late the period of the history of Byzantine culture, continuing the traditions, marks a new stage in the interaction of Christian and ancient principles. In the 11th century, the processes of gradual rationalization of Christian doctrine began. With special force, new trends manifested themselves in the works Michael Psellos And Joanna Itala. They revealed a new type of scientist who does not want to rely in his work only on theological truths. Science itself is able to comprehend the truth, even in the realm of the divine.
The last religious and philosophical doctrine that became the official form of Orthodoxy in Byzantium was hesychasm. Hesychasm (“Hesychia” in Greek means “peace, silence, detachment”) in a more general sense of the word is an ethical and ascetic doctrine about a person’s path to unity with God through “purification of the heart” with tears and through the concentration of consciousness in oneself , for which a special technique of prayer and a system of psychophysical self-control techniques were developed, which has some external resemblance to yoga methods. Initially, this teaching appeared in Egypt in the 4th century, while for the needs of the Orthodox Church proper it was revised by a Byzantine theologian Gregory Palamas . He taught that the ascetic-hesychast in a state of ecstasy directly perceives the uncreated and immaterial radiation of God, the so-called Tabor Light, as a result of which such an “enlightenment” of the spirit is achieved that will be able to “life-create” the flesh.
After 1000 years of history, Byzantium ceased to exist. The Turkish troops that conquered Constantinople in 1453 put an end to the history of the Byzantine Empire. But Byzantium made a huge contribution to the development of world culture. Its basic principles and directions of culture were transferred to neighboring states.
The main achievements of medieval culture were:
formation of viable nations and states;
formation of modern European languages;
· the formation of the historical and cultural unity of Europe;
The rise of Catholicism Western Europe) and Orthodoxy (Byzantium);
the emergence of universities;
creation of works of art, achievement of scientific and technical successes that have enriched world culture.
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