Byzantium period. Byzantine Empire (395-1453). Temple of St. Sophia

Where is Byzantium

The great influence that the Byzantine Empire had on the history (as well as religion, culture, art) of many European countries (including ours) in the era of the dark Middle Ages is difficult to capture in one article. But we will still try to do this, and tell you as much as possible about the history of Byzantium, its life, culture and much more, in a word, using our time machine to send you to the times of the highest heyday of the Byzantine Empire, so make yourself comfortable and go.

Where is Byzantium

But before we go on a trip in time, first let's figure out the movement in space, and determine where is (more precisely, was) Byzantium on the map. In fact at different times historical development the borders of the Byzantine Empire were constantly changing, expanding in moments of development and shrinking in periods of decline.

For example, on this map Byzantium is shown in its heyday, and as we see at that time it occupied the entire territory of modern and Turkey, part of the territory of modern Bulgaria and Italy and numerous islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

During the reign of Emperor Justinian, the territory of the Byzantine Empire was even larger, and the power of the Byzantine emperor also extended to North Africa (Libya and Egypt), the Middle East (including the glorious city of Jerusalem). But gradually they began to be ousted from there, first, with which Byzantium had been in a state of permanent war for centuries, and then the warlike Arab nomads, carrying in their hearts the banner of a new religion - Islam.

And here on the map is shown the possessions of Byzantium at the time of its decline, in 1453, as we see at this time its territory was reduced to Constantinople with the surrounding territories and part of modern southern Greece.

History of Byzantium

The Byzantine Empire is the heir to another great empire -. In 395, after the death of the Roman emperor Theodosius I, the Roman Empire was divided into Western and Eastern. This division was caused by political reasons, namely, the emperor had two sons, and it is likely that, in order not to deprive one of them, the eldest son Flavius ​​became the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the youngest son Honorius, respectively, the emperor of the Western Roman Empire. At first, this division was purely nominal, and in the eyes of millions of citizens of the superpower of antiquity, it was still the same one big Roman Empire.

But as we know, the Roman Empire gradually began to lean towards its own destruction, which was largely facilitated by both the decline in morals in the empire itself and the waves of militant barbarian tribes that now and then rolled onto the borders of the empire. And already in the 5th century, the Western Roman Empire finally fell, the eternal city of Rome was captured and plundered by the barbarians, in the era of antiquity the end came, the Middle Ages came.

But the Eastern Roman Empire, thanks to a happy coincidence, survived, the center of its cultural and political life was concentrated around the capital of the new empire, Constantinople, which became the largest city in Europe in the Middle Ages. The waves of barbarians passed by, although, of course, they also had their influence, but for example, from the fierce conqueror Attila, the rulers of the Eastern Roman Empire prudently preferred to buy off with gold rather than fight. And the destructive outburst of the barbarians was directed precisely at Rome and the Western Roman Empire, which saved the Eastern Empire, from which, after the fall of the Western Empire in the 5th century, a new great state of Byzantium or the Byzantine Empire was formed.

Although the population of Byzantium consisted mainly of Greeks, they always felt they were heirs of the great Roman Empire and were called accordingly - "Romans", which in Greek means "Romans".

Already from the 6th century, under the rule of the brilliant emperor Justinian and his no less brilliant wife (there is an interesting article about this "first lady of Byzantium" on our website, follow the link), the Byzantine Empire began to slowly conquer the territories occupied at one time by the barbarians. So the Byzantines captured large territories of modern Italy, which once belonged to the Western Roman Empire, from the Lombard barbarians, the power of the Byzantine emperor extends to northern Africa, the local city of Alexandria becomes an important economic and cultural center of the empire in this region. The military campaigns of Byzantium also extend to the East, where for several centuries there have been continuous wars with the Persians.

The very geographical position of Byzantium, which spread its possessions on three continents (Europe, Asia, Africa) at once, made the Byzantine Empire a kind of bridge between the West and the East, a country in which the cultures of different peoples mixed. All this left its mark on social and political life, religious and philosophical ideas and of course art.

Conventionally, historians divide the history of the Byzantine Empire into five periods, we will give a brief description of them:

• The first period of the initial flourishing of the empire, its territorial expansion under the emperors Justinian and Heraclius, lasted from the 5th to the 8th century. During this period, there is an active dawn of the Byzantine economy, culture, and military affairs.
• The second period began with the reign of the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian, it lasted from 717 to 867. At this time, the empire, on the one hand, reaches the greatest development of its culture, but on the other hand, it is overshadowed by numerous, including religious (iconoclasm), which we will write in more detail later.
• The third period is characterized, on the one hand, by the end of the troubles and the transition to relative stability, on the other by constant wars with external enemies, it lasted from 867 to 1081. It is interesting that during this period Byzantium was actively at war with its neighbors, the Bulgarians and our distant ancestors, the Russians. Yes, it was during this period that the campaigns of our Kiev princes Oleg (Prophetic), Igor, Svyatoslav to Constantinople (as the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople, was called in Russia).
• The fourth period began with the reign of the Comnenian dynasty, the first emperor Alexei Comnenus ascended the Byzantine throne in 1081. This period is also known as the "Comnenian Renaissance", the name speaks for itself, during this period Byzantium revives its cultural and political greatness, somewhat faded after unrest and constant wars. The Comnenes turned out to be wise rulers, skillfully balancing in those difficult conditions in which Byzantium found itself at that time: from the East, the borders of the empire were increasingly pressed against by the Seljuk Turks, from the West, Catholic Europe breathed, considering the Orthodox Byzantines apostates and heretics, which is little better than infidel Muslims.
• The fifth period is characterized by the decline of Byzantium, which led, as a result, to its destruction. It lasted from 1261 to 1453. During this period, Byzantium waged a desperate and unequal struggle for survival. The Ottoman Empire, which gained strength, a new, this time Muslim superpower of the Middle Ages, finally swept away Byzantium.

Fall of Byzantium

What are the main reasons for the fall of Byzantium? Why did the empire, which possessed such vast territories and such power (both military and cultural), collapse? First of all, the most important reason there was an increase Ottoman Empire, in fact, Byzantium became one of the first victims, later the Ottoman Janissaries and Sipahs would ruffle many other European peoples, even reaching Vienna in 1529 (from where they were knocked out only by the combined efforts of the Austrian and Polish troops of King Jan Sobesky).

But in addition to the Turks, Byzantium also had a number of internal problems, constant wars exhausted this country, many territories that it owned in the past turned out to be lost. Affected and the conflict with Catholic Europe, which resulted in the fourth, directed not against the unfaithful Muslims, but against the Byzantines, these "wrong Orthodox Christian heretics" (from the point of view of Catholic crusaders, of course). Needless to say, the fourth crusade, which resulted in the temporary conquest of Constantinople by the crusaders and the formation of the so-called "Latin Republic", was another important reason for the subsequent decline and fall of the Byzantine Empire.

Also, the fall of Byzantium was greatly facilitated by the numerous political unrest that accompanied the final fifth stage of the history of Byzantium. So, for example, the Byzantine emperor John Palaeologus V, who ruled from 1341 to 1391, was dethroned three times (interestingly, first by his father-in-law, then by his son, then by his grandson). The Turks skillfully used intrigues at the court of the Byzantine emperors for their own selfish purposes.

In 1347, the most terrible plague epidemic swept through the territory of Byzantium, the black death, as this disease was called in the Middle Ages, the epidemic carried away about a third of the inhabitants of Byzantium, which was another reason for the weakening and fall of the empire.

When it became clear that the Turks were about to sweep away Byzantium, the latter began again to seek help from the West, but relations with the Catholic countries, as well as the Pope, were more than strained, only Venice came to the rescue, whose merchants traded profitably with Byzantium, and in Constantinople itself even had a whole Venetian merchant quarter. At the same time, Genoa, the former trade and political enemy of Venice, on the contrary helped the Turks in every possible way and was interested in the fall of Byzantium (primarily in order to cause problems for its trade competitors, the Venetians). In a word, instead of rallying and helping Byzantium to resist the blow of the Ottoman Turks, the Europeans pursued their own personal interests, a handful of Venetian soldiers and volunteers, still sent to the aid of Constantinople besieged by the Turks, could no longer do anything.

On May 29, 1453, the ancient capital of Byzantium, the city of Constantinople, fell (later renamed by the Turks to Istanbul), and the once great Byzantium fell with it.

Culture of Byzantium

The culture of Byzantium is the product of a mixture of cultures of many peoples: Greeks, Romans, Jews, Armenians, Egyptian Copts and the first Syrian Christians. The brightest part Byzantine culture is its ancient heritage. Many traditions of the times of ancient Greece were preserved and transformed in Byzantium. So the spoken written language of the citizens of the empire was exactly Greek. The cities of the Byzantine Empire preserved the Greek architecture, the structure of the Byzantine cities, again borrowed from ancient Greece: the heart of the city was the agora - a wide square where popular meetings were held. The cities themselves were richly decorated with fountains and statues.

The best masters and architects of the empire erected the palaces of the Byzantine emperors in Constantinople, the most famous of which is the Great Imperial Palace of Justinian.

Remains of this palace in medieval engraving.

In the Byzantine cities, antique crafts continued to develop actively, the masterpieces of local jewelers, craftsmen, weavers, blacksmiths, artists were appreciated throughout Europe, the skill of Byzantine craftsmen was actively adopted by representatives of other peoples, including the Slavs.

Hippodromes, where chariot races were held, were of great importance in the social, cultural, political and sports life of Byzantium. For the Romans, they were about the same as football is for many today. There were even their own, in modern terms, fan-clubs supporting this or that team of chariot hounds. Just as modern ultras football fans, who support different football clubs from time to time, arrange fights and fights among themselves, the Byzantine chariot racing fans were also very eager for this business.

But besides just riots, various groups of Byzantine fans also had a strong political influence. So once an ordinary scuffle of fans at the hippodrome led to the largest uprising in the history of Byzantium, known as "Nika" (literally "win", that was the slogan of the rebellious fans). The uprising of Nika fans nearly led to the overthrow of Emperor Justinian. Only thanks to the decisiveness of his wife Theodora and the bribery of the leaders of the uprising, he was suppressed.

Hippodrome in Constantinople.

In the jurisprudence of Byzantium, Roman law reigned supreme, inherited from the Roman Empire. Moreover, it was in the Byzantine Empire that the theory of Roman law acquired its final form, such key concepts as law, law, and custom were formed.

The economy in Byzantium was also largely driven by the legacy of the Roman Empire. Every free citizen paid taxes to the treasury on his property and labor activity (a similar tax system was practiced in ancient Rome). High taxes often caused massive discontent, if not unrest. Byzantine coins (known as the Roman coin) circulated throughout Europe. These coins were very similar to the Roman ones, but the Byzantine emperors made only a number of minor changes to them. The first coins that began to be minted in the countries of Western Europe, in turn, were imitations of the Romans' coins.

This is how coins looked in the Byzantine Empire.

Of course, religion had a great influence on the culture of Byzantium, as read on.

Religion of Byzantium

Religiously, Byzantium became the center of Orthodox Christianity. But before that, it was on its territory that the most numerous communities of the first Christians were formed, which greatly enriched its culture, especially in terms of the construction of temples, as well as in the art of icon painting, which originated in Byzantium.

Gradually Christian churches became the center public life Byzantine citizens, pushing back in this respect the ancient agoras and hippodromes with their violent fans. Monumental Byzantine churches, built in the V-X centuries, combine both ancient architecture (from which Christian architects borrowed a lot) and already Christian symbolism. The most beautiful temple creation in this regard can rightfully be considered the Church of St. Sophia in Constantinople, later transformed into a mosque.

Art of Byzantium

The art of Byzantium was inextricably linked with religion, and the most beautiful thing that it gave to the world was the art of icon painting and the art of mosaic frescoes, which decorated many temples.

True, one of the political and religious troubles in the history of Byzantium, known as Iconoclasm, was associated with icons. This was the name of the religious and political trend in Byzantium, which considered icons to be idols, and therefore subject to destruction. In 730, the emperor Leo III the Isaurian officially banned the veneration of icons. As a result, thousands of icons and mosaics were destroyed.

Subsequently, the power changed, in 787 the Empress Irina ascended the throne, who returned the veneration of icons, and the art of icon painting was revived with the same force.

The art school of Byzantine icon painters set the tradition of icon painting for the whole world, including its great influence on the art of icon painting in Kievan Rus.

Byzantium, video

And finally, an interesting video about the Byzantine Empire.

When writing the article, I tried to make it as interesting, useful and high-quality as possible. I would be grateful for any feedback and constructive criticism in the form of comments to the article. Also, you can write your wish / question / suggestion to my mail [email protected] or Facebook, sincerely the author.

Byzantium is an amazing medieval state in the southeast of Europe. A kind of bridge, a baton between antiquity and feudalism. Its entire millennial existence is a continuous series of civil wars and wars with external enemies, riots of the mob, religious strife, conspiracies, intrigues, coups d'état committed by the nobility. Either flying to the top of power, then plunging into the abyss of despair, decay, insignificance, Byzantium nevertheless managed to preserve itself for 10 centuries, being an example for contemporaries in the state structure, the organization of the army, trade, diplomatic art. Even today, the chronicle of Byzantium is a book that teaches how to and should not govern the subjects, the country, the world, demonstrates the importance of the role of the individual in history, and shows the sinfulness of human nature. At the same time, historians are still arguing about what the Byzantine society was - late antique, early feudal, or something in between *

The name of this new state was the "Kingdom of the Romans", in the Latin West it was called "Romania", and the Turks later began to call it "the state of Rums" or simply "Rum". Historians began in their writings to call this state "Byzantium" or "Byzantine Empire" after its fall

History of Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium

Around 660 BC, on a promontory washed by the waters of the Bosphorus, the Black Sea waves of the Golden Horn and the Sea of ​​Marmara, natives of the Greek city of Megar founded a trading outpost on the way from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, named after the leader of the Byzantine colonists. The new city was called Byzantium.

Byzantium existed for about seven hundred years, serving as a transit point on the way of merchants and sailors traveling from Greece to the Greek colonies of the northern shores of the Black Sea and Crimea and back. From the metropolis, merchants brought wine and olive oil, textiles, ceramics, other handicraft products, back - bread and furs, ship and timber timber, honey, wax, fish and livestock. The city grew, became rich and therefore was constantly under the threat of enemy invasion. More than once its inhabitants repulsed the onslaught of barbarian tribes from Thrace, Persians, Spartans, Macedonians. Only in 196-198 AD the city fell under the onslaught of the legions of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus and was destroyed

Byzantium is almost the only state in history that has exact dates of birth and death: May 11, 330 - May 29, 1453

History of Byzantium. Briefly

• 324, November 8 - Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (306-337) founded a new capital of the Roman Empire on the site of ancient Byzantium. It is not known exactly what caused this decision. Perhaps Constantine sought to create a center of the empire, remote from Rome, with its continuous strife in the struggle for the imperial throne.
• 330, May 11 - solemn ceremony of the proclamation of Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire

The ceremony was accompanied by Christian and pagan religious rites. In memory of the founding of the city, Constantine ordered a coin to be minted. On one side, the emperor himself was depicted in a helmet and with a spear in his hand. There was also an inscription - "Constantinople". On the other side is a woman with ears of corn and a cornucopia in her hands. The emperor granted Constantinople the municipal structure of Rome. The Senate was established in it, the Egyptian bread, which had previously been supplied to Rome, began to be directed to the needs of the population of Constantinople. Like Rome, built on seven hills, Constantinople spreads over the vast territory of the seven hills of the Bosphorus Cape. During the reign of Constantine, about 30 magnificent palaces and temples were built here, more than 4 thousand large buildings in which the nobility lived, a circus, 2 theaters and a hippodrome, more than 150 baths, about the same number of bakeries, as well as 8 water pipes

• 378 - Battle of Adrianople, in which the Romans were defeated by an army of the Goths
• 379 - Theodosius (379-395) became the Roman emperor. He made peace with the Goths, but the position of the Roman Empire was fragile
• 394 - Theodosius proclaimed Christianity as the only religion of the empire and divided it among his sons. He gave the Western to Honorius, the Eastern to Arcadia
• 395 - Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, which later became the state of Byzantium
• 408 - Theodosius II became the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, during whose reign walls were built around Constantinople, defining the borders in which Constantinople existed for many centuries.
• 410, 24 August - the troops of the Visigothic king Alaric captured and sacked Rome
• 476 - Fall of the Western Roman Empire. The leader of the Germans, Odoacer, overthrew the last emperor of the Western Empire, Romulus.

The first centuries of the history of Byzantium. Iconoclasm

Byzantium included the eastern half of the Roman Empire along a line that ran through the western part of the Balkans to Cyrenaica. Located on three continents - at the junction of Europe, Asia and Africa - it occupied an area of ​​up to 1 million square meters. km, including the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Cyrenaica, part of Mesopotamia and Armenia, islands, primarily Crete and Cyprus, strongholds in Crimea (Chersonesos), in the Caucasus (in Georgia), some regions of Arabia, islands of the Eastern Mediterranean. Its borders stretched from the Danube to the Euphrates. The territory of the empire was quite densely populated. According to some estimates, it had 30-35 million inhabitants. The main part was made up of the Greeks and the Hellenized population. In addition to the Greeks, Syrians, Copts, Thracians and Illyrians, Armenians, Georgians, Arabs, Jews lived in Byzantium.

• V century, end - VI century, beginning - the highest point of the rise of early Byzantium. Peace reigned on the eastern border. The Ostrogoths were removed from the Balkan Peninsula (488), giving them Italy. During the reign of Emperor Anastasius (491-518), the state possessed significant savings in the treasury.
• VI-VII centuries - Gradual liberation from Latin. The Greek language became not only the language of church and literature, but also of government.
• 527, August 1 - Justinian I became the Emperor of Byzantium. Under him the Code of Justinian was developed - a set of laws regulating all aspects of the life of Byzantine society, the temple of St. Sophia was built - a masterpiece of architecture, an example of the highest level of development of Byzantine culture; there was an uprising of the Constantinople mob, which went down in history under the name "Nika"

The 38-year reign of Justinian was the culmination and period of early Byzantine history. His activities played a significant role in the consolidation of Byzantine society, the major successes of Byzantine weapons, which doubled the borders of the empire to the limits that were never reached in the future. His policy strengthened the authority of the Byzantine state, and the glory of the brilliant capital - Constantinople and the emperor who ruled in it - began to spread among the peoples. The explanation of this "take-off" of Byzantium is the personality of Justinian himself: colossal ambition, intelligence, organizational talent, extraordinary capacity for work ("the emperor who never sleeps"), perseverance and perseverance in achieving his goals, simplicity and severity in personal life, the cunning of the peasant who knew how to hide his thoughts and feelings under a feigned external dispassion and calmness

• 513 - the young and energetic Khosrov I Anushirvan came to power in Iran.
• 540-561 - the beginning of a large-scale war of Byzantium with Iran, in which Iran had the goal of blocking the ties of Byzantium with the countries of the East in Transcaucasia and South Arabia, reaching the Black Sea and striking the rich eastern provinces.
• 561 - the peace treaty of Byzantium with Iran. It was reached on acceptable for Byzantium, but left Byzantium devastated and devastated by the once richest eastern provinces
• VI century - invasions of the Huns and Slavs into the Balkan territories of Byzantium. Their defense relied on a system of border fortresses. However, as a result of continuous invasions, the Balkan provinces of Byzantium were also devastated.

To ensure the continuation of hostilities, Justinian had to increase the tax oppression, introduce new extraordinary levies, in-kind duties, turn a blind eye to the increasing covetousness of officials, if only they provided receipts to the treasury, he had to curtail not only construction, including military, but also sharply reduce army. When Justinian died, his contemporary wrote: (Justinian died) "after he filled the whole world with murmurs and troubles."

• VII century, beginning - In many areas of the empire, uprisings of slaves and ruined peasants broke out. Poor peasants rebelled in Constantinople
• 602 - The rebels elevated one of their commanders to the throne - Foku. The slave-owning nobility, aristocrats, and large landowners opposed him. A civil war began, which led to the destruction of most of the old land aristocracy, the economic and political positions of this social stratum were sharply weakened.
• 610, October 3 - the troops of the new emperor Heraclius entered Constantinople. Fock was executed. Civil War ended
• 626 - the war with the Avar Kaganate, which almost ended with the plundering of Constantinople
• 628 - victory of Heraclius over Iran
• 610-649 - Rise of the Arab tribes of Northern Arabia. The entire Byzantine North Africa is in the hands of the Arabs.
• VII century, second half - the Arabs smashed the seaside towns of Byzantium, repeatedly tried to seize Constantinople. They took over the domination of the sea
• 681 - the formation of the First Bulgarian Kingdom, which for a century became the main enemy of Byzantium in the Balkans
• VII century, end - VIII century, beginning - a period of political anarchy in Byzantium, caused by the struggle for the imperial throne between groups of feudal nobility. After the overthrow of Emperor Justinian II from the throne in 695, six emperors were replaced on the throne in more than two decades
• 717 - the throne was seized by Leo III the Isaurian - the founder of the new Isaurian (Syrian) dynasty, which ruled Byzantium for a century and a half
• 718 - Unsuccessful attempt by the Arabs to seize Constantinople. The turning point in the history of the country is the beginning of the birth of medieval Byzantium.
• 726-843 - Religious strife in Byzantium. The struggle between iconoclasts and icon-worshipers

Byzantium in the era of feudalism

• VIII century - in Byzantium, the number and importance of cities decreased, most coastal cities turned into small port settlements, the urban population thinned, but the rural population increased, metal tools became more expensive and became scarce, trade became scarce, but the role of natural exchange increased significantly. These are all signs of the formation of feudalism in Byzantium.
• 821-823 - the first anti-feudal peasant uprising led by Thomas the Slav. The people were dissatisfied with the rise in taxes. The uprising took on a general character. The army of Thomas the Slav almost captured Constantinople. Only by bribing some of Thomas's supporters and receiving the support of the Bulgarian Khan Omortag, Emperor Michael II was able to defeat the rebels
• 867 - Basil I the Macedonian became the emperor of Byzantium, the first emperor of a new dynasty - Macedonian

She ruled Byzantium from 867 to 1056, which became an era of prosperity for Byzantium. Its borders expanded almost to the limits of early Byzantium (1 million sq. Km). She again belonged to Antioch and Northern Syria, the army was on the Euphrates, the fleet - off the coast of Sicily, protecting southern Italy from attempts by Arab invasions. The power of Byzantium was recognized by Dalmatia and Serbia, and in Transcaucasia - by many rulers of Armenia and Georgia. The long struggle with Bulgaria ended with its transformation in 1018 into a Byzantine province. The population of Byzantium reached 20-24 million people, of which 10% were townspeople. There were about 400 cities, with the number of inhabitants from 1-2 thousand to tens of thousands. The most famous was Constantinople

Magnificent palaces and temples, many prosperous trade and craft establishments, a seething port, at the berths of which there were countless ships, a multi-lingual, colorful crowd of townspeople. The streets of the capital were swarming with people. Most crowded around the numerous shops in the central part of the city, in the ranks of Artopolion, where bakeries and bakeries were located, as well as shops where they sold vegetables and fish, cheese and various hot snacks. The common people usually ate vegetables, fish and fruits. Countless taverns and taverns sold wine, flatbreads and fish. These establishments were a kind of clubs for the poor in Constantinople.

Commoners huddled in tall and very narrow houses, in which there were dozens of tiny apartments or closets. But this housing was also expensive and inaccessible to many. The development of residential areas was carried out in a very disorderly manner. Houses literally piled on top of each other, which was one of the reasons for the huge destruction during the frequent earthquakes here. The crooked and very narrow streets were incredibly muddy and littered with refuse. Tall houses did not let in daylight. At night, the streets of Constantinople were practically not lit. And although there was a night watch, numerous gangs of robbers ruled the city. All city gates were locked at night, and people who did not have time to pass before they were closed had to spend the night in the open air.

An integral part of the picture of the city were crowds of beggars, huddled at the foot of proud columns and at the pedestals of beautiful statues. The Constantinople beggars were a kind of corporation. Not every working person had their daily wages.

• 907, 911, 940 - the first contacts and treaties of the emperors of Byzantium with the princes of Kievan Rus Oleg, Igor, Princess Olga: Russian merchants were granted the right of duty-free trade in the possessions of Byzantium, they were given free food and everything they needed to live in Constantinople for six months, as well as supplies for the return trip. Igor assumed the obligation to defend the possessions of Byzantium in the Crimea, and the emperor promised to provide military assistance to the Kiev prince, if necessary.
• 976 - Vasily II took the imperial throne

The rule of Vasily II, endowed with extraordinary tenacity, merciless decisiveness, administrative and military talent, was the pinnacle of Byzantine statehood. 16 thousand Bulgarians blinded by his order, who earned him the nickname "The Bulgarians" - a demonstration of their determination to mercilessly deal with any opposition. The military successes of Byzantium under Basil were its last major successes.

• XI century - the international position of Byzantium worsened. The Pechenegs began to push the Byzantines from the north, and the Seljuk Turks from the east. In the 60s of the XI century. Byzantine emperors several times undertook campaigns against the Seljuks, but they failed to stop their onslaught. By the end of the XI century. almost all Byzantine possessions in Asia Minor were under the rule of the Seljuks. The Normans settled in Northern Greece and the Peloponnese. From the north, almost to the walls of Constantinople, waves of Pechenezh invasions rolled. The boundaries of the empire were inexorably shrinking, and the ring around its capital was gradually shrinking.
• 1054 - The Christian Church is divided into Western (Catholic) and Eastern (Orthodox). this was the most important event for the fate of Byzantium
• 1081, April 4 - Alexei Comnenus, the first emperor of the new dynasty, ascended the Byzantine throne. His descendants, John II and Mayuel I, were distinguished by military prowess and attention to state affairs. The dynasty was able to restore power to the empire for almost a century, and splendor and splendor to the capital.

The economy of Byzantium experienced an upsurge. In the XII century. it became completely feudal and provided more and more marketable products, expanded the volume of its export to Italy, where cities grew rapidly, in need of grain, wine, oil, vegetables and fruits. The volume of commodity-money relations increased in the XII century. 5 times compared with the IX century. The Komnenos government weakened the monopoly of Constantinople. In large provincial centers, industries similar to those of Constantinople developed (Athens, Corinth, Nicea, Smyrna, Ephesus). Privileges were granted to the Italian merchants, which in the first half of the XII century stimulated the rise of production and trade, crafts of many provincial centers

The death of Byzantium

• 1096, 1147 - knights of the first and second crusade came to Constantinople. The emperors bought them off with great difficulty.
• 1182, May - the Constantinople mob staged a Latin pogrom.

The townspeople burned and plundered the houses of the Venetians and Genoese, who competed with local merchants, killed without discerning either age or gender. When some of the Italians made an attempt to escape on their ships, which were in the harbor, they were destroyed by "Greek fire". Many Latins were burned alive in their own homes. Wealthy and prosperous neighborhoods have been turned into ruins. The Byzantines smashed the Latins' churches, their charities and hospitals. Many clerics were also killed, including the papal legate. Those Italians who managed to leave Constantinople before the massacre began, in revenge, began to ravage Byzantine cities and villages on the shores of the Bosphorus and on the Princes' Islands. They began to call on the Latin West for retribution everywhere.
All these events further intensified the enmity between Byzantium and the states of Western Europe.

• 1187 - Byzantium and Venice entered into an alliance. Byzantium granted Venice all the previous privileges and full tax immunity. Relying on the fleet of Venice, Byzantium minimized its fleet
• 1204, April 13 - Constantinople was taken by storm by the participants of the fourth crusade.

The city was pogromous. Its destruction was completed by fires that raged until autumn. Fires destroyed the rich trade and craft quarters and completely ruined the merchants and artisans of Constantinople. After this terrible disaster, the trade and craft corporations of the city lost their former importance, and Constantinople for a long time lost its exclusive place in world trade. Many architectural monuments and outstanding works art.

The treasures of the temples made up a huge part of the loot of the crusaders. The Venetians removed many of the rarest art monuments from Constantinople. The former splendor of Byzantine cathedrals after the era of the Crusades could only be seen in the churches of Venice. Repositories of the most valuable handwritten books- the focus of Byzantine science and culture - fell into the hands of vandals who made bivouac fires from scrolls. The works of ancient thinkers and scientists, religious books flew into the fire.
The catastrophe of 1204 sharply slowed down the development of Byzantine culture

The conquest of Constantinople by the crusaders marked the collapse of the Byzantine Empire. Several states arose on its ruins.
— The Crusaders created the Latin Empire with its capital at Constantinople. It consisted of lands along the shores of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, part of Thrace and a number of islands in the Aegean Sea
— Venice got the northern suburb of Constantinople and several cities on the coast of the Sea of ​​Marmara
— the head of the Fourth Crusade Boniface of Montferrat became the head of the Kingdom of Thessalonica, created on the territory of Macedonia and Thessaly
— Morey principality arose in Morey
— The Trebizond Empire was formed on the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor
— An Epirus despotate appeared in the west of the Balkan Peninsula.
— In the northwestern part of Asia Minor, the Nicene Empire was formed - the most powerful of all the new states

• 1261, July 25 - the army of the emperor of the Nicene Empire, Michael VIII Palaeologus, captured Constantinople. The Latin Empire ceased to exist, and the Byzantine Empire was restored. But the territory of the state has decreased several times. She owned only a part of Thrace and Macedonia, several islands of the Archipelago, certain areas of the Peloponnesian Peninsula and the northwestern part of Asia Minor. Not regained Byzantium and commercial power.
• 1274 - Wishing to strengthen the state, Michael supported the idea of ​​a union with the Roman Church in order, relying on the assistance of the Pope, to establish an alliance with the Latin West. This caused a split in Byzantine society.
• XIV century - The Byzantine Empire was steadily heading for ruin. She was shaken by civil strife, she suffered defeat after defeat in wars with external enemies. The imperial court is mired in intrigue. Even the outward appearance of Constantinople spoke of the decline: “It was striking for everyone that the imperial palaces and the noble chambers were in ruins and served as latrines for those who walked by and as cesspools; equally the stately buildings of the patriarchy that surrounded the great church of St. Sophia ... were destroyed or completely exterminated "
• XIII century, end - XIV century, beginning - a strong state of the Ottoman Turks arose in the northwestern part of Asia Minor
• XIV century, end - XV century first half - Turkish sultans from the Osman dynasty completely subjugated Asia Minor, seized almost all the possessions of the Byzantine Empire on the Balkan Peninsula. By that time, the power of the Byzantine emperors extended only to Constantinople and insignificant territories around it. Emperors were forced to recognize themselves as vassals of the Turkish sultans
• 1452, autumn - the Turks occupied the last Byzantine cities - Mesimvria, Anikhal, Visa, Silivria
• 1453, March - Constantinople is surrounded by the huge Turkish army of Sultan Mehmed
• 1453. May 28 - Constantinople fell as a result of the assault of the Turks. Byzantine history is over

Dynasties of Byzantine emperors

• Dynasty of Constantine (306-364)
• Dynasty Valentinian-Feodosia (364-457)
• Dynasty Lviv (457-518)
• Dynasty of Justinian (518-602)
• Dynasty of Heraclius (610-717)
• Isaurian dynasty (717-802)
• Dynasty of Nicephorus (802-820)
• Phrygian dynasty (820-866)
• Dynasty Macedonian (866-1059)
• Duk Dynasty (1059-1081)
• Comnen dynasty (1081-1185)
• Dynasty of Angels (1185-1204)
• Palaeologus Dynasty (1259-1453)

Major military rivals of Byzantium

• Barbarians: Vandals, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Avars, Lombards
• Iranian kingdom
• Bulgarian kingdom
• Hungarian kingdom
• Arab Caliphate
• Kievan Rus
• Pechenegs
• Seljuk Turks
• Ottoman Turks

What does Greek fire mean?

The invention of the Constantinople architect Kalinnik (end of the 7th century) is an incendiary mixture of resin, sulfur, saltpeter, and combustible oils. Fire was thrown out of special copper pipes. It was impossible to extinguish it

*books used
Y. Petrosyan "Ancient city on the shores of the Bosphorus"
G. Kurbatov "History of Byzantium"

Maximum territorial expansion of the Roman (green) and Byzantine empires (blue). The red line shows the division of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western parts.

First period

The first period extends to the beginning of the VIII century, its initial moments are chronologically defensible, just as the date delimiting the end of the ancient and the beginning new history... In terms of the volume and content of the historical material, this should include facts that characterize and prepare Byzantinism, even if they were chronologically related to the flourishing era of the Roman Empire. The same ethnographic upheaval that in the West paved the way for the transition from ancient history towards the middle, is gradually taking place in the East. The difference is that the West has completely become a prey for new peoples, being absorbed by German immigration, while the East has shown more adaptability to new historical conditions and survived a critical era with fewer losses for itself. In the struggle against the Goths and Huns, the empire suffered only temporary losses. The situation was more difficult in the 6th and 7th centuries, when the Empire, on the one hand, experienced an onslaught from the Avars and Slavs, and on the other, from the Persians. The victories of Justinian (527-565) and Heraclius (610-641) delayed the onslaught of external enemies and determined the political tasks of the empire for the future. The most important thing of the kings of this period was the organization of the relationship of the Slavs to the empire. This task was achieved by the system of placing Slavic tribes in the western and eastern provinces, providing them with free land for agricultural crops and non-interference in internal order Slavic community. As a result, the outskirts of the empire acquired a sedentary agricultural population, which formed a barrier against unexpected invasions of new enemies; military and economic means increased so much that the impending danger of an Arab conquest had no disastrous consequences for the empire.

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Second period

Third period

The period of troubles ended in 867 with the coming to power of the Macedonian dynasty. The third period lasts from the accession to the throne of Basil I the Macedonian to Alexei I Comnenus (867-1081). From the East, the most important event was the conquest of the island of Crete from the Arabs in 961. An essential feature of this period in the field of foreign policy history is the most expressive fact that runs through the entire period - the war with the Bulgarians. Then, for the first time, the question was raised about the political role of the Slavic element. Simeon of Bulgaria, by accepting the royal title and setting up an independent church government, claimed to transfer the leadership in the empire to the Slavs. The theater of military operations was transferred from Adrianople and Philippopolis to Greece and the Dardanelles. Participation Kiev prince Svyatoslav in this war was accompanied by disastrous consequences for the Slavic movement. In 1018, the Byzantines captured the capital of the First Bulgarian Kingdom, the city of Ohrid, the Bulgarians were defeated and their territory became part of the empire.

Temporary empire strengthening (11th century)

Byzantine Empire by 1025.

In 1019, having conquered Bulgaria, Armenia [ ] and Iberia [ ], Basil II celebrated with a great triumph the greatest strengthening of the empire since the times before the Arab conquests. The picture was completed by a brilliant state of finances and a flourishing of culture. However, at the same time, the first signs of weakness began to appear, which was expressed in strengthening feudal fragmentation... The nobility, who controlled vast territories and resources, often successfully opposed themselves to the central government.

The decline began after the death of Basil II, under his brother Constantine VIII (1025-1028) and under the latter's daughters - first under Zoe and her three successive husbands - Roman III (1028-1034), Michael IV (1034-1041), Constantine Monomakh (1042-1054), with whom she shared the throne (Zoe died in 1050), and then under Theodore (1054-1056). The weakening manifested itself even more sharply after the end of the Macedonian dynasty.

The fourth period

Byzantine Empire in 1180

The fourth period is from the accession to the throne of Alexei I Comnenus to 1261. All interest of the period is mainly focused on the struggle of the European West with the Asian East. The crusading movement (see Crusades) inevitably had to affect the Byzantine Empire and make it necessary to take care of the protection of its own possessions. The leaders of the crusading militias gradually lose sight of the original goal of the movement - the Holy Land and the weakening of the power of Muslims and come to the idea of ​​conquering Constantinople. All the wisdom of the policy of the Komnenos kings (Alexei and Manuel) focused on keeping in balance the elements hostile to the empire and not allowing one of them to prevail over the other. As a result, political alliances are concluded alternately with Christians against the Mohammedans, and then vice versa; hence the phenomenon that especially struck the crusaders of the first campaign - the Polovtsian and Pechenezh hordes in the service of the empire.

In 1204, the crusaders of the fourth campaign took possession of Constantinople and divided the empire among themselves. But a handful of patriots, led by Theodore I Laskaris, withdrew to Nicaea, and there was formed the seed of a political movement against the Latins and a hotbed of freedom, to which the thoughts of all Hellenes rushed. Michael VIII Palaeologus drove the Latins out of Constantinople in 1261.

In more or less close connection with the events of the Crusades are secondary facts of this period. In the East, the Seljuk Turks appeared, who used the Crusades to spread their power at the expense of the Byzantine Empire. In the west, on the one hand, the Normans, established in southern Italy and Sicily, are making personal scores with the empire in the crusading movement and threatening the maritime possessions of Byzantium, on the other, the Bulgarians are making a complete revolution in the Balkan Peninsula. The uprising of Peter and Assen at the end of the 12th century was accompanied by the liberation of Bulgaria and the formation of the second Bulgarian kingdom, which tended to unite the interests of all Slavs on the Balkan Peninsula. The interests of the Bulgarian kingdom and the Nicene empire coincided for some time due to the common danger from the Latins; but with the transfer of the capital back to Constantinople, political antagonism reappears, which the Ottoman Turks have successfully exploited.

Fifth period

The fifth period covers the time from 1261 to 1453. The facts of the external and internal history of this last period are determined by the exceptional conditions in which the kingdom of the Palaeologus was located. After the conquest of Constantinople, Michael VIII Palaeologus made every effort to unite the empires that were under the alien domination of the provinces under his rule. To this end, he enters into very difficult and burdensome treaties with Genoa and Venice, sacrificing essential interests of the empire in favor of these commercial republics; in the same considerations, he made very important concessions to the Pope, having agreed to a union with the Roman Church (

A legendary city that has changed many names, peoples and empires ... The eternal rival of Rome, the cradle of Orthodox Christianity and the capital of an empire that has existed for centuries ... You will not find this city on modern maps, nevertheless it lives and develops. The place where Constantinople was located is not so far from us. We will talk about the history of this city and its glorious legends in this article.

Emergence

People began to develop the lands located between the two seas - the Black and the Mediterranean in the 7th century BC. As the Greek texts say, the colony of Miletus settled on the northern shore of the Bosphorus. The Megarians lived on the Asian coast of the strait. Two cities stood opposite each other - in the European part there was Milesian Byzantium, on the southern coast - Megarian Calhedon. This situation settlement made it possible to control the Bosphorus Strait. Lively trade between the countries of the Black and Aegean Sea, regular cargo flows, merchant ships and military expeditions provided both of these cities, which soon became one whole.

So, the narrowest point of the Bosphorus, later called the bay, became the point where the city of Constantinople is located.

Attempts to capture Byzantium

The rich and influential Byzantium attracted the attention of many commanders and conquerors. For about 30 years during the conquest campaigns of Darius, Byzantium was under the rule of the Persian empire. A field of relatively calm life for hundreds of years, the troops of the king of Macedonia, Philip, approached its gates. Several months of the siege ended in vain. Enterprising and wealthy townspeople preferred to pay tribute to numerous conquerors, rather than engage in bloody and numerous battles. Another king of Macedonia, Alexander the Great, succeeded in conquering Byzantium.

After the empire of Alexander the Great was fragmented, the city fell under the influence of Rome.

Christianity in Byzantium

Roman and Greek historical and cultural traditions were not the only sources of culture for the future of Constantinople. Having emerged in the eastern territories of the Roman Empire, the new religion, like a fire, swept all the provinces of Ancient Rome. Christian communities accepted into their ranks people of different faiths, with different levels of education and income. But already in apostolic times, in the second century AD, numerous Christian schools and the first monuments of Christian literature appeared. Multilingual Christianity is gradually emerging from the catacombs and more and more loudly declares itself to the world.

Christian Emperors

After the division of the huge state formation, the eastern part of the Roman Empire began to position itself precisely as a Christian state. took power in the ancient city, calling it Constantinople, in his honor. The persecution of Christians was stopped, temples and places of worship of Christ began to be revered on a par with pagan sanctuaries. Constantine himself was baptized on his deathbed in 337. Subsequent emperors invariably strengthened and defended the Christian faith. And Justinian in the VI century. AD left Christianity as the only state religion, banning ancient rituals on the territory of the Byzantine Empire.

Temples of Constantinople

State support for the new faith had a positive effect on life and state structure ancient city... The land where Constantinople was located was filled with numerous temples and symbols of the Christian faith. Temples arose in the cities of the empire, divine services were held, attracting more and more adepts into their ranks. One of the first famous cathedrals that arose at this time was the Temple of Sophia in Constantinople.

Temple of St. Sophia

Its founder was Constantine the Great. This name was widespread in Eastern Europe. Sophia was the name of a Christian saint who lived in the 2nd century A.D. Sometimes this was called Jesus Christ for wisdom and learning. Following the example of Constantinople, the first Christian councils with this name spread throughout the eastern lands of the empire. The son of Constantine and heir to the Byzantine throne, Emperor Constantius, rebuilt the temple, making it even more beautiful and spacious. A hundred years later, during the unjust persecution of the first Christian theologian and philosopher John the Theologian, the churches of Constantinople were destroyed by the rebels, and the Cathedral of St. Sophia was burned to the ground.

The revival of the temple became possible only during the reign of Emperor Justinian.

The new Christian ruler wanted to rebuild the cathedral. In his opinion, Hagia Sophia in Constantinople should be venerated, and the temple dedicated to her must surpass in its beauty and grandeur any other structure of this kind in the whole world. To build such a masterpiece, the emperor invited famous architects and builders of that time - Amphimia from the city of Thrall and Isidore from Miletus. One hundred assistants worked in the subordination of the architects, and 10 thousand people were employed in the direct construction. Isidora and Amfimia had the most advanced building materials at their disposal - granite, marble, precious metals. The construction lasted five years, and the result exceeded the wildest expectations.

According to the stories of contemporaries who came to the place where Constantinople was located, the temple reigned over the ancient city, like a ship over the waves. Christians from all over the empire came to see the amazing miracle.

Weakening of Constantinople

In the 7th century, a new aggressive arose on the Arabian Peninsula - Under its pressure, Byzantium lost its eastern provinces, and the European regions were gradually conquered by the Phrygians, Slavs, and Bulgarians. The territory where Constantinople was located was repeatedly attacked and taxed. The Byzantine Empire lost its position in Eastern Europe and gradually fell into decay.

in 1204, the troops of the crusaders, as part of the Venetian flotilla and the French infantry, took Constantinople in a many-month siege. After prolonged resistance, the city fell and was plundered by the invaders. The fires destroyed many works of art and architectural monuments. In the place where the populous and rich Constantinople stood, there is the impoverished and plundered capital of the Roman Empire. In 1261, the Byzantines were able to recapture Constantinople from the Latins, but they failed to return the city to its former greatness.

Ottoman Empire

By the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire was actively expanding its borders in European territories, imposing Islam, by sword and bribery, annexing more and more lands to its possessions. In 1402 turkish sultan Bayazid had already tried to take Constantinople, but was defeated by Emir Timur. The defeat at Anker weakened the forces of the empire and extended the calm period of Constantinople's existence for another half century.

In 1452, Sultan Mehmed 2, after careful preparation, proceeded to capture. Previously, he took care of the capture of smaller cities, surrounded Constantinople with his allies and began a siege. On the night of May 28, 1453, the city was taken. Numerous Christian churches turned into Muslim mosques, the faces of saints and symbols of Christianity disappeared from the walls of cathedrals, and a crescent moon flew over Hagia Sophia.

It ceased to exist, and Constantinople became part of the Ottoman Empire.

The reign of Suleiman the Magnificent gave Constantinople a new "Golden Age". Under him, the Suleymaniye Mosque was erected, which becomes a symbol for Muslims, the same as St. Sophia remained for every Christian. After the death of Suleiman, the Turkish Empire throughout its existence continued to decorate the ancient city with masterpieces of architecture and architecture.

Metamorphoses of the name of the city

After the capture of the city, the Turks did not officially rename it. For the Greeks, it retained its name. On the contrary, “Istanbul”, “Stanbul”, “Istanbul” began to sound more and more often from the lips of Turkish and Arab residents - this is how Constantinople was called more and more often. Now there are two versions of the origin of these names. The first hypothesis asserts that this name is a bad copy of the Greek phrase, which means "I am going to the city, I am going to the city." Another theory is based on the name Islambul, which means “the city of Islam”. Both versions have a right to exist. Be that as it may, the name Constantinople is still used, but the name Istanbul also comes into use and is firmly rooted. In this form, the city fell on the maps of many states, including Russia, but for the Greeks it was still named in honor of the Emperor Constantine.

Modern Istanbul

The territory where Constantinople is located now belongs to Turkey. True, the city has already lost the title of the capital: by the decision of the Turkish authorities, the capital was moved to Ankara in 1923. And although Constantinople is now called Istanbul, for many tourists and guests ancient Byzantium is still a great city with numerous monuments of architecture and art, rich, hospitable in the south, and always unforgettable.

Archangel Michael and Manuel II Palaeologus. XV century Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, Italy / Bridgeman Images / Fotodom

1. The country called Byzantium never existed

If the Byzantines of the 6th, 10th or 14th centuries heard from us that they are Byzantines, and their country is called Byzantium, the overwhelming majority of them would simply not understand us. And those who did understand, would decide that we want to flatter them, calling them residents of the capital, and even in an outdated language that is used only by scientists trying to make their speech as sophisticated as possible. Part of the consular diptych of Justinian. Constantinople, 521 Diptychs were presented to consuls in honor of their inauguration. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The country that its inhabitants would call Byzantium never existed; the word "Byzantines" has never been the self-name of the inhabitants of any state. The word "Byzantines" was sometimes used to refer to the inhabitants of Constantinople - after the name of the ancient city of Byzantium (Βυζάντιον), which in 330 was re-founded by the Emperor Constantine under the name Constantinople. They were called so only in texts written in a conditional literary language, stylized as ancient Greek, which no one spoke for a long time. No one knew other Byzantines, and these existed only in texts accessible to a narrow circle of the educated elite, who wrote in this archaized Greek language and understood it.

The self-name of the Eastern Roman Empire, starting from the III-IV centuries (and after the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453), had several stable and understandable phrases and words: the state of the Romans, or the Romans, (βασιλεία τῶν Ρωμαίων), Romania (Ρωμανία), Romáida (Ρωμαΐς ).

The residents themselves called themselves Romans- the Romans (Ρωμαίοι), they were ruled by the Roman emperor - basileus(Βασιλεύς τῶν Ρωμαίων), and their capital was New rome(Νέα Ρώμη) - this is how the city founded by Constantine was usually called.

Where did the word "Byzantium" come from, and with it the idea of ​​the Byzantine Empire as a state that arose after the fall of the Roman Empire on the territory of its eastern provinces? The fact is that in the 15th century, along with the statehood of the Eastern Roman Empire (as Byzantium is often called in modern historical writings, and this is much closer to the self-consciousness of the Byzantines themselves), in fact, it lost its voice heard outside its borders: the Eastern Roman tradition of self-description found itself isolated within the Greek-speaking lands that belonged to the Ottoman Empire; what was important now was only what Western European scholars thought and wrote about Byzantium.

Jerome Wolf. Engraving by Dominicus Kustos. 1580 year Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig

In the Western European tradition, the state of Byzantium was actually created by Hieronymus Wolf, a German humanist and historian, who in 1577 published the Corpus of Byzantine History, a small anthology of works by historians of the Eastern Empire with a Latin translation. It was from the "Corpus" that the concept of "Byzantine" entered the Western European scientific circulation.

Wolf's work formed the basis for another collection of Byzantine historians, also called the "Corpus of Byzantine History", but much more ambitious - it was published in 37 volumes with the assistance of King Louis XIV of France. Finally, the Venetian reissue of the second Corpus used English historian XVIII century Edward Gibbon, when he wrote his "History of the Fall and Decline of the Roman Empire" - perhaps no book had such a huge and at the same time destructive impact on the creation and popularization of the modern image of Byzantium.

The Romans, with their historical and cultural tradition, were thus deprived not only of their voice, but also of the right to self-designation and identity.

2. The Byzantines did not know that they were not Romans

Autumn. Coptic panel. IV century Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester, UK / Bridgeman Images / Fotodom

For the Byzantines, who called themselves Romans-Romans, the history of the great empire never ended. The very idea would have seemed absurd to them. Romulus and Remus, Numa, Augustus Octavian, Constantine I, Justinian, Phoca, Michael the Great Comnenus - all of them in the same way from time immemorial stood at the head of the Roman people.

Before the fall of Constantinople (and even after it), the Byzantines considered themselves residents of the Roman Empire. Social institutions, laws, statehood - all this has been preserved in Byzantium since the time of the first Roman emperors. The adoption of Christianity had almost no effect on the legal, economic and administrative structure of the Roman Empire. If the Byzantines saw the origins of the Christian church in the Old Testament, then the beginning of their own political history, like the ancient Romans, was attributed to the Trojan Aeneas - the hero of the poem Virgil, which was fundamental to Roman identity.

The social order of the Roman Empire and a sense of belonging to the great Roman patria were combined in the Byzantine world with Greek science and written culture: the Byzantines considered classical ancient Greek literature as their own. For example, in the 11th century, the monk and scholar Michael Psellus seriously discusses in one treatise who writes poetry better - the Athenian tragedian Euripides or the Byzantine poet of the 7th century George Pisis, the author of a panegyric about the Avar-Slavic siege of Constantinople in 626 and the theological poem "Six Days »About the divine creation of the world. In this poem, subsequently translated into Slavic language, George paraphrases the ancient authors Plato, Plutarch, Ovid and Pliny the Elder.

At the same time, at the level of ideology, Byzantine culture often contrasted itself with classical antiquity. Christian apologists noticed that all of Greek antiquity - poetry, theater, sports, sculpture - is permeated with religious cults of pagan deities. Hellenic values ​​(material and physical beauty, desire for pleasure, human glory and honor, military and athletic victories, eroticism, rational philosophical thinking) were condemned as unworthy of Christians. Basil the Great, in his famous talk "To the youths on how to use pagan writings," sees the main danger for Christian youth in an attractive lifestyle that is offered to the reader in Hellenic writings. He advises to select only morally useful stories for yourself. The paradox is that Basil, like many other Church Fathers, himself received an excellent Hellenic education and wrote his works in a classical literary style, using the techniques of ancient rhetorical art and a language that by his time had already fallen out of use and sounded like archaic.

In practice, ideological incompatibility with Hellenism did not prevent the Byzantines from taking care of the ancient cultural heritage. The ancient texts were not destroyed, but copied, while the scribes tried to maintain accuracy, except that in rare cases they could throw out too frank erotic passage. Hellenic literature continued to be the basis of the school curriculum in Byzantium. An educated person had to read and know the epic of Homer, the tragedies of Euripides, the speeches of Demos-phenes and use the Hellenic cultural code in his own writings, for example, to call the Arabs Persians, and Russia - Hyperborea. Many elements of ancient culture in Byzantium survived, although they changed beyond recognition and acquired a new religious content: for example, rhetoric became homiletics (the science of church sermon), philosophy became theology, and an antique love story influenced hagiographic genres.

3. Byzantium was born when Antiquity adopted Christianity

When does Byzantium begin? Probably when the history of the Roman Empire ends - that's how we used to think. For the most part, this thought seems natural to us, thanks to the tremendous influence of Edward Gibbon's monumental History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Written in the 18th century, this book still prompts both historians and non-specialists to look at the period from the 3rd to the 7th century (which is now increasingly called late Antiquity) as the time of the decline of the former greatness of the Roman Empire under the influence of two main factors - the invasions of the German tribes and the ever-growing social role of Christianity, which in the IV century became the dominant religion. Byzantium, which exists in the mass consciousness primarily as a Christian empire, is portrayed in this perspective as a natural heir to the cultural decline that occurred in late Antiquity due to mass Christianization: a medium of religious fanaticism and obscurantism that stretched for a whole millennium of stagnation.

Amulet that protects against the evil eye. Byzantium, V-VI centuries

On one side there is an eye, at which arrows are directed and attacked by a lion, a snake, a scorpion and a stork.

© The Walters Art Museum

Hematite amulet. Byzantine Egypt, VI-VII centuries

The inscriptions define him as “a woman who suffered from bleeding” (Luke 8: 43–48). Hematite was believed to help stop bleeding, and amulets related to women's health and the menstrual cycle were very popular from it.

Thus, if you look at history through the eyes of Gibbon, late Antiquity turns into a tragic and irreversible end of Antiquity. But was it only a time of destruction of beautiful antiquity? For more than half a century, historical science has been convinced that this is not the case.

The idea of ​​the supposedly fatal role of Christianization in the destruction of the culture of the Roman Empire turns out to be especially simplified. The culture of late Antiquity in reality was hardly built on the opposition of "pagan" (Roman) and "Christian" (Byzantine). The way the late antique culture was arranged for its creators and users was much more complex: Christians of that era would have thought it strange the very question of the conflict between the Roman and the religious. In the IV century, Roman Christians could easily place images of pagan deities, made in the antique style, on household items: for example, on one casket donated to newlyweds, naked Venus is adjacent to the pious call "Seconds and Project, live in Christ."

On the territory of the future Byzantium, there was an equally problem-free fusion of the pagan and Christian in artistic techniques for contemporaries: in the 6th century, images of Christ and saints were performed using the technique of the traditional Egyptian funerary portrait, the most famous type of which is the so-called Fayum portrait Fayum portrait- a variety of funerary portraits common in Hellenized Egypt in the Ι-III centuries A.D. NS. The image was applied with hot paints to a heated wax layer.... Christian visuality in late Antiquity did not necessarily strive to oppose itself to the pagan, Roman tradition: very often it deliberately (or maybe, on the contrary, naturally and naturally) adhered to it. The same fusion of pagan and Christian is seen in the literature of late Antiquity. The poet Arator in the 6th century recites in a Roman cathedral a hexametric poem about the deeds of the apostles, written in the stylistic traditions of Virgil. In Christianized Egypt in the middle of the 5th century (by this time there have been different forms of monasticism for about a century and a half) the poet Nonn from the city of Panopol (modern Akmim) writes an arrangement (paraphrase) of the Gospel of John in the language of Homer, preserving not only meter and style, but also deliberately borrowing whole verbal formulas and figurative layers from his epic Gospel of John 1: 1-6 (synodal translation):
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It was in the beginning with God. Everything through Him began to be, and without Him nothing began to be that began to be. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not embrace it. There was a man sent from God; his name is John.

Nonn from Panopol. Paraphrase of the Gospel of John, ode 1 (translated by Y. A. Golubets, D. A. Pospelov, A. V. Markov):
Logos, God's Child, Light born of Light,
He is inseparable from the Father on an infinite throne!
Heavenly God, Logos, because You are the original
He shone together with the Eternal, the Creator of the world,
Oh, the oldest of the universe! All things have been accomplished through Him,
What is breathless and in spirit! Outside of the Speech, which does a lot,
Is it revealed that abides? And in Him there is eternally
Life that is inherent in everything, the light of a short-lived people ...<…>
In the bee-feeding more often
The mountain wanderer has appeared, the inhabitant of the desert slopes,
He is the herald of the cornerstone baptism, the name -
God's husband, John, counselor. ...

Portrait of a young girl. 2nd century© Google Cultural Institute

Funeral portrait of a man. III century© Google Cultural Institute

Christ Pantokrator. Icon from the monastery of St. Catherine. Sinai, mid-6th century Wikimedia Commons

St. Peter. Icon from the monastery of St. Catherine. Sinai, VII century© campus.belmont.edu

The dynamic changes that took place in different layers of the culture of the Roman Empire in late Antiquity can hardly be directly connected with Christianization, since the Christians of that time were themselves such hunters for classical forms in the visual arts and in literature (as well as in many other spheres of life). Future Byzantium was born in an era in which the relationship between religion, artistic language, its audience, and the sociology of historical shifts were complex and indirect. They carried the potential of the complexity and diversity that developed later over the centuries of Byzantine history.

4. In Byzantium they spoke one language and wrote in another

The linguistic picture of Byzantium is paradoxical. The empire, which not only claimed succession to the Roman Empire and inherited its institutions, but also from the point of view of its political ideology, the former Roman Empire, never spoke Latin. It was spoken in the western provinces and in the Balkans, until the 6th century it remained the official language of jurisprudence (the last legislative code in Latin was the Code of Justinian, promulgated in 529 - after it laws were issued already in Greek), it enriched Greek with many borrowings (formerly all in the military and administrative spheres), early Byzantine Constantinople attracted Latin grammarians with career opportunities. Yet Latin was not even the real language of early Byzantium. Although the Latin-speaking poets Koripp and Pristsian lived in Constantinople, we will not find these names in the pages of a textbook on the history of Byzantine literature.

We cannot say at what point the Roman emperor becomes Byzantine: the formal identity of institutions does not allow drawing a clear line. In search of an answer to this question, it is necessary to address informalized cultural differences. The Roman Empire differs from the Byzantine Empire in that the latter merged Roman institutions, Greek culture and Christianity, and this synthesis is carried out on the basis of the Greek language. Therefore, one of the criteria on which we could rely is language: the Byzantine emperor, unlike his Roman counterpart, is easier to express himself in Greek than in Latin.

But what is this Greek? The alternatives offered to us by bookstore shelves and philology programs are deceiving: we can find in them either Ancient or Modern Greek. There is no other starting point. Because of this, we are forced to proceed from the assumption that the Greek language of Byzantium is either distorted ancient Greek (almost Plato's dialogues, but not quite), or proton-Greek (almost negotiations between Tsipras and the IMF, but not quite yet). The history of 24 centuries of continuous development of the language is straightened and simplified: it is either the inevitable decline and degradation of the ancient Greek (this is what Western European classical philologists thought before the establishment of Byzantinism as an independent scientific discipline), or the inevitable germination of the modern Greek (this is what the Greek scientists believed during the formation of the Greek nation in the 19th century) ...

Indeed, Byzantine Greek is elusive. Its development cannot be viewed as a series of progressive, sequential changes, since for each step forward in language development there was also a step back. The reason for this is the attitude towards the language of the Byzantines themselves. The linguistic norm of Homer and the classics of Attic prose was socially prestigious. To write well meant to write history indistinguishable from Xenophon or Thucydides (the last historian who decided to introduce into his text Old Attic elements that seemed archaic already in the classical era is the witness of the fall of Constantinople Laonik Chalcocondilus), and the epic is indistinguishable from Homer. Throughout the history of the empire, educated Byzantines were required to literally speak one (changed) language, and write in another (frozen in classical immutability) language. The duality of linguistic consciousness - essential feature Byzantine culture.

Ostrakon with a fragment of the Iliad in Coptic. Byzantine Egypt, 580-640

Ostrakons - shards of earthen vessels - were used to record biblical verses, legal documents, bills, school assignments and prayers when papyrus was unavailable or too expensive.

© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ostrakon with the troparion to the Mother of God in Coptic. Byzantine Egypt, 580-640© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The situation was aggravated by the fact that since the time of classical antiquity certain dialectal features were assigned to certain genres: epic poems were written in the language of Homer, and medical treatises were compiled in the Ionian dialect in imitation of Hippocrates. We see a similar picture in Byzantium. In ancient Greek, vowels were divided into long and short, and their orderly alternation formed the basis of ancient Greek poetic meters. In the Hellenistic era, the opposition of vowels in longitude left the Greek language, but nevertheless, after a thousand years, heroic poems and epitaphs were written as if the phonetic system had remained unchanged since the time of Homer. Differences pervaded others. language levels: it was necessary to construct a phrase, like Homer, select words, like Homer, and inflect and conjugate them in accordance with the paradigm that died out in living speech thousands of years ago.

However, not everyone succeeded in writing with antique liveliness and simplicity; quite often, in an attempt to achieve the Attic ideal, Byzantine authors lost their sense of proportion, trying to write more correctly than their idols. So, we know that the dative case, which existed in ancient Greek, almost completely disappeared in modern Greek. It would be logical to assume that with every century in literature it will be encountered less and less, until it gradually disappears altogether. However, recent studies have shown that in Byzantine high literature dative used much more often than in the literature of classical antiquity. But it is precisely this increase in frequency that speaks of a loosening of the norm! Obsession in using one form or another will tell about your inability to use it correctly, no less than its complete absence in your speech.

At the same time, the living language element took its toll. We learn about how the spoken language changed thanks to the mistakes of the scribes of manuscripts, non-literary inscriptions and the so-called folk-language literature. The term “folk-lingual” is not accidental: it describes the phenomenon of interest to us much better than the more familiar “folk” one, since often elements of simple urban colloquial speech were used in monuments created in the circles of the Constantinople elite. This became a real literary fashion in the XII century, when the same authors could work in several registers, today offering the reader exquisite prose, almost indistinguishable from Attic, and tomorrow - almost areal rhymes.

Diglossia, or bilingualism, gave rise to another typically Byzantine phenomenon - metaphrasing, that is, transposition, retelling in half with translation, presentation of the content of the source in new words with a decrease or increase in the stylistic register. Moreover, the shift could go both along the line of complication (pretentious syntax, exquisite figures of speech, antique allusions and quotes), and along the line of simplifying the language. Not a single work was considered inviolable, even the language of sacred texts in Byzantium did not have the status of a sacred one: the Gospel could be rewritten in a different stylistic key (as, for example, did the already mentioned Nonn Panopolitan) - and this did not bring anathemas on the author's head. It was necessary to wait until 1901, when the translation of the Gospels into colloquial New Greek (in fact, the same metaphor) brought opponents and defenders of language renewal to the streets and led to dozens of victims. In this sense, the outraged crowds who defended the "language of the ancestors" and demanded reprisals against the translator Alexandros Pallis, were much further from Byzantine culture, not only than they would like, but also than Pallis himself.

5. In Byzantium there were iconoclasts - and this is a terrible mystery

Iconoclasts John the Grammaticus and Bishop Anthony Sileisky. Khludov Psalter. Byzantium, about 850 Thumbnail to Psalm 68, verse 2: "And they gave me bile for food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." The actions of the iconoclasts, covering the icon of Christ with lime, are compared with the crucifixion on Calvary. The soldier on the right brings Christ a sponge with vinegar. At the foot of the mountain - John the Grammaticus and Bishop Anthony of Sileisky. rijksmuseumamsterdam.blogspot.ru

Iconoclasm is the most famous period in the history of Byzantium for a wide audience and the most mysterious even for specialists. The depth of the trace that he left in the cultural memory of Europe is evidenced by the possibility, for example, in English language to use the word iconoclast ("iconoclast") outside the historical context, in the timeless meaning of "rebel, subverter of foundations."

The event outline is as follows. By the turn of the 7th and 8th centuries, the theory of worshiping religious images was hopelessly behind practice. The Arab conquests of the middle of the 7th century led the empire to a deep cultural crisis, which, in turn, gave rise to the growth of apocalyptic sentiments, the multiplication of superstitions and a surge of disordered forms of veneration of icons, sometimes indistinguishable from magical practices. According to the collections of the miracles of the saints, drunk wax from a melted seal with the face of Saint Artemy healed from a hernia, and Saints Cosmas and Damian healed the suffering woman, commanding her to drink, mixing with water, the plaster from the fresco with their image.

Such veneration of icons, which did not receive a philosophical and theological justification, aroused rejection among some of the clergy, who saw in it signs of paganism. Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (717-741), finding himself in a difficult political situation, used this discontent to create a new consolidating ideology. The first iconoclastic steps date back to 726-730, but both the theological substantiation of the iconoclastic dogma and full-fledged repressions against dissidents fell on the reign of the most odious Byzantine emperor - Constantine V Copronymus (Gnoe-named) (741-775).

Claiming to the status of the ecumenical, the iconoclastic council of 754 brought the dispute to a new level: from now on it was not about fighting superstitions and fulfilling the Old Testament prohibition "Do not make yourself an idol", but about the hypostasis of Christ. Can He be considered depictable if His divine nature is “indescribable”? The “Christological dilemma” was as follows: icon-worshipers are guilty either of imprinting on icons only the flesh of Christ without His deity (Nestorianism), or of limiting the deity of Christ through a description of His depicted flesh (Monophysitism).

However, already in 787, Empress Irene held a new council in Nicaea, the participants of which formulated the dogma of icon veneration as a response to the dogma of iconoclasticism, thereby offering a full theological basis for previously unordered practices. An intellectual breakthrough was, firstly, the separation of "service" and "relative" worship: the first can be given only to God, while in the second, "the honor given to the image goes back to the prototype" (words of Basil the Great, which became the real motto of icon-worshipers). Secondly, the theory of homonymy was proposed, that is, uniformity, which removed the problem of portrait similarity between the image and the depicted: the icon of Christ was recognized as such not because of the similarity of features, but because of the spelling of the name - the act of naming.

Patriarch Nicephorus. Miniature from the Psalter of Theodore of Caesarea. 1066 year British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images / Fotodom

In 815, Emperor Leo V the Armenian again turned to iconoclastic politics, hoping in this way to build a line of succession in relation to Constantine V, the most successful and most beloved ruler in the army in the last century. The so-called second iconic struggle accounted for both a new round of repression and a new upsurge of theological thought. The iconoclastic era ends in 843, when iconoclasm is finally condemned as heresy. But his ghost haunted the Byzantines until 1453: for centuries, the participants in any church disputes, using the most sophisticated rhetoric, accused each other of hidden iconoclasm, and this accusation was more serious than any other heresy.

It would seem that everything is quite simple and straightforward. But as soon as we try to somehow clarify this general scheme, our constructions turn out to be very shaky.

The main difficulty is the state of the sources. The texts, thanks to which we know about the first iconoclasm, were written much later, and by icon-worshipers. In the 40s of the 9th century, a full-fledged program was carried out to write the history of iconoclasm from an icon-worshiping position. As a result, the history of the dispute was completely distorted: the works of the iconoclasts are available only in biased selections, and the textological analysis shows that the works of icon-worshipers, seemingly created to refute the teachings of Constantine V, could not have been written earlier than the very end of the 8th century. The task of the icon-worshiping authors was to turn the story we have described inside out, to create the illusion of tradition: to show that the veneration of icons (and not spontaneous, but meaningful!) Has been present in the church since apostolic times, and iconoclasm is just an innovation (the word καινοτομία - "innovation" in Greek - the most hated word for any Byzantine), and deliberately anti-Christian. The iconoclasts appeared not as fighters for the purification of Christianity from paganism, but as "Christian accusers" - this word began to designate precisely and exclusively iconoclasts. The sides in the iconoclastic dispute were not Christians, who interpreted the same teaching in different ways, but Christians and some external force hostile to them.

The arsenal of polemical techniques that were used in these texts to denigrate the enemy was very large. Legends were created about the hatred of the iconoclasts for education, for example, about the burning of the never existed university in Constantinople by Leo III, and Constantine V was credited with participating in pagan rituals and human sacrifices, hatred of the Mother of God and doubts about the divine nature of Christ. If such myths seem simple and were debunked long ago, others remain at the center of scientific discussions to this day. For example, it was only quite recently that it was possible to establish that the cruel massacre perpetrated on the glorified martyr Stephen the New in 766 is connected not so much with his uncompromising icon-worshiping position, as stated in his life, as with his closeness to the conspiracy of political opponents of Constantine V. controversy and key questions: what is the role of Islamic influence in the genesis of iconoclasm? what was the true attitude of the iconoclasts to the cult of saints and their relics?

Even the language we use about iconoclasm is the language of the victors. The word "iconoclast" is not a self-name, but an offensive polemic label that their opponents have invented and implemented. No "iconoclast" would ever agree with such a name, simply because the Greek word εἰκών has many more meanings than the Russian "icon". This is any image, including intangible, which means that to call someone an iconoclast is to declare that he is struggling with the idea of ​​God the Son as the image of God the Father, and man as the image of God, and the events of the Old Testament as prototypes of the events of the New and so on. Moreover, the iconoclasts themselves argued that they somehow defend the true image of Christ - the Eucharistic gifts, while what their opponents call an image, in fact, is not such, but is just an image.

In the end, conquer their teaching, it is precisely this that would now be called Orthodox, and the teaching of their opponents we would contemptuously call icon-worship and would speak not about the iconoclastic, but about the icon-worshiping period in Byzantium. However, if this were so, the whole further history and visual aesthetics of Eastern Christianity would have been different.

6. The West never loved Byzantium

Although trade, religious and diplomatic contacts between Byzantium and the states of Western Europe continued throughout the Middle Ages, it is difficult to talk about real cooperation or mutual understanding between them. At the end of the 5th century, the Western Roman Empire disintegrated into barbarian states and the tradition of “Romanism” was interrupted in the West, but remained in the East. Within a few centuries, the new Western dynasties of Germany wanted to restore the continuity of their power with the Roman Empire, and for this they entered into dynastic marriages with Byzantine princesses. Charlemagne's court competed with Byzantium - this can be seen in architecture and art. However, Charles' imperial claims rather intensified the misunderstanding between East and West: the culture of the Carolingian Renaissance wanted to see itself as the only legitimate heir to Rome.

The crusaders attack Constantinople. Miniature from the chronicle "The Conquest of Constantinople" by Geoffroy de Villardouin. Roughly 1330, Villardouin was one of the leaders of the campaign. Bibliothèque nationale de France

By the 10th century, the routes from Constantinople to Northern Italy by land through the Balkans and along the Danube were blocked by barbarian tribes. There was only a way by sea, which reduced the possibilities of communication and made it difficult for cultural exchange. The division into East and West has become a physical reality. The ideological divide between West and East, fueled by theological disputes throughout the Middle Ages, was exacerbated by the Crusades. The organizer of the Fourth Crusade, which ended with the capture of Constantinople in 1204, Pope Innocent III openly declared the primacy of the Roman Church over all others, referring to the divine institution.

As a result, it turned out that the Byzantines and the inhabitants of Europe knew little about each other, but were unfriendly towards each other. In the 14th century, the West criticized the depravity of the Byzantine clergy and attributed the successes of Islam to it. For example, Dante believed that Sultan Saladin could convert to Christianity (and even placed it in his “ Divine Comedy"In the limbo - a special place for virtuous non-Christians), but did not do this because of the unattractiveness of Byzantine Christianity. In Western countries, by the time of Dante, almost no one knew Greek. At the same time, Byzantine intellectuals learned Latin only in order to translate Thomas Aquinas, and did not hear anything about Dante. The situation changed in the 15th century after the Turkish invasion and the fall of Constantinople, when Byzantine culture began to penetrate Europe along with Byzantine scholars who fled from the Turks. The Greeks brought with them many manuscripts of ancient works, and humanists were able to study Greek antiquity from the originals, and not from Roman literature and the few Latin translations known in the West.

But scientists and intellectuals of the Renaissance were interested in classical antiquity, and not in the society that preserved it. In addition, it was mainly intellectuals who fled to the West, negatively disposed towards the ideas of monasticism and Orthodox theology of that time and sympathizing with the Roman Church; their opponents, supporters of Gregory Palamas, on the contrary, believed that it was better to try to come to an agreement with the Turks than to seek help from the Pope. Therefore, the Byzantine civilization continued to be perceived in a negative light. If the ancient Greeks and Romans were "their own", then the image of Byzantium was entrenched in European culture as oriental and exotic, sometimes attractive, but more often hostile and alien to the European ideals of reason and progress.

The Age of European Enlightenment even branded Byzantium. The French enlighteners Montesquieu and Voltaire associated it with despotism, luxury, lavish ceremonies, superstition, moral decay, civilizational decline and cultural sterility. According to Voltaire, the history of Byzantium is "an unworthy collection of grandiloquent phrases and descriptions of miracles" that disgraces the human mind. Montesquieu sees the main reason for the fall of Constantinople in the pernicious and pervasive influence of religion on society and power. He speaks especially aggressively about Byzantine monasticism and clergy, about the veneration of icons, as well as about theological polemics:

“The Greeks - great talkers, great debaters, sophists by nature - constantly got into religious disputes. Since the monks enjoyed great influence at the court, which weakened as it became corrupted, it turned out that the monks and the court mutually corrupted each other and that evil infected both. As a result, all the attention of the emperors was absorbed in trying to calm down or provoke divine-word disputes, about which it was noticed that they became the hotter, the less insignificant the reason that caused them was. "

So Byzantium became part of the image of the barbarian dark East, which, paradoxically, also included the main enemies of the Byzantine Empire - the Muslims. In the Orientalist model, Byzantium was contrasted with a liberal and rational European society, built on the ideals of Ancient Greece and Rome. This model underlies, for example, the descriptions of the Byzantine court in the drama The Temptation of St. Anthony by Gustave Flaubert:

“The king wipes the scents from his face with his sleeve. He eats from sacred vessels, then breaks them; and mentally he counts his ships, his troops, his people. Now, on a whim, he will take and burn his palace with all the guests. He thinks to restore the Tower of Babel and to overthrow the Most High from the throne. Antony reads all his thoughts from afar on his brow. They take possession of him, and he becomes Nebuchadnezzar. "

The mythological view of Byzantium has not yet been fully overcome in historical science... Of course, there could be no question of any moral example of Byzantine history for the education of youth. School programs were built on the samples of classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, and the Byzantine culture was excluded from them. In Russia, science and education followed Western patterns. In the 19th century, a dispute over the role of Byzantium in Russian history broke out between Westernizers and Slavophiles. Peter Chaadaev, following the tradition of European enlightenment, bitterly complained about the Byzantine heritage of Russia:

"By the will of fatal fate, we turned for a moral teaching that was supposed to educate us, to corrupted Byzantium, to the subject of deep contempt of these peoples."

Byzantine ideologist Konstantin Leontiev Konstantin Leontiev(1831-1891) - diplomat, writer, philosopher. In 1875, his work "Byzantism and Slavism" was published, in which he argued that "Byzantism" is a civilization or culture, the "general idea" of which is composed of several components: autocracy, Christianity (different from Western, "from heresies and splits ”), disappointment in everything earthly, the absence of“ an extremely exaggerated concept of the earthly human personality ”, rejection of hope for the universal well-being of peoples, the totality of some aesthetic ideas, and so on. Since pan-Slavism is not a civilization or culture at all, and European civilization is coming to an end, Russia - which inherited almost everything from Byzantium - is precisely Byzantism that is necessary for flourishing. pointed to the stereotypical view of Byzantium, formed due to school education and the lack of independence of Russian science:

"Byzantium seems to be something dry, boring, priestly, and not only boring, but even something pathetic and vile."

7.In 1453 Constantinople fell - but Byzantium did not die

Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror. Miniature from the collection of Topkapi Palace. Istanbul, late 15th century Wikimedia Commons

In 1935, the book of the Romanian historian Nicolae Yorgi "Byzantium after Byzantium" was published - and its name was established as a designation of the life of Byzantine culture after the fall of the empire in 1453. Byzantine life and institutions did not disappear overnight. They were preserved thanks to the Byzantine emigrants who fled to Western Europe, in Constantinople itself, even under the rule of the Turks, as well as in the countries of the "Byzantine community", as the British historian Dmitry Obolensky called the Eastern European medieval cultures that were directly influenced by Byzantium - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Russia. The participants in this supranational unity have preserved the legacy of Byzantium in religion, the norms of Roman law, the standards of literature and art.

In the last hundred years of the empire's existence, two factors - the cultural revival of the Paleologians and the Palamite disputes - contributed, on the one hand, to the renewal of ties between Orthodox peoples and Byzantium, and, on the other, to a new surge in the spread of Byzantine culture, primarily through liturgical texts and monastic literature. In the XIV century, Byzantine ideas, texts and even their authors entered the Slavic world through the city of Tarnovo, the capital of the Bulgarian Empire; in particular, the number of Byzantine works available in Russia doubled thanks to the Bulgarian translations.

In addition, the Ottoman Empire officially recognized the Patriarch of Constantinople: as the head of the Orthodox millet (or community), he continued to govern the church, in whose jurisdiction both Russia and the Orthodox Balkan peoples remained. Finally, the rulers of the Danubian principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, even after becoming subjects of the Sultan, retained Christian statehood and considered themselves cultural and political heirs of the Byzantine Empire. They continued the traditions of the royal court ceremonial, Greek education and theology and supported the Constantinople Greek elite, the Phanariots Fanariots- literally "inhabitants of Phanar", the quarter of Constantinople, in which the residence of the Greek patriarch was located. The Greek elite of the Ottoman Empire were called Phanariots because they lived primarily in this quarter..

Greek uprising of 1821. Illustration from A History of All Nations from the Earliest Times by John Henry Wright. 1905 year The Internet Archive

Jorga believes that Byzantium died after Byzantium during an unsuccessful uprising against the Turks in 1821, which was organized by the Phanariot Alexander Ypsilanti. On one side of the Ypsilanti banner there was the inscription "Conquer Sim" and the image of the emperor Constantine the Great, whose name is associated with the beginning of Byzantine history, and on the other - a phoenix reborn from the flame, a symbol of the revival of the Byzantine Empire. The uprising was defeated, the Patriarch of Constantinople was executed, and the ideology of the Byzantine Empire then dissolved into Greek nationalism.