After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 under the blows of the Germanic tribes, the Eastern Empire was the only surviving power that preserved the traditions of the ancient world. The Eastern or Byzantine Empire managed to preserve the traditions of Roman culture and statehood over the years of its existence.
Founding of Byzantium
The history of the Byzantine Empire is customarily conducted from the year the Roman emperor Constantine the Great founded the city of Constantinople in 330. It was also called New Rome.
The Byzantine Empire was much stronger than the Western Roman Empire in terms of a number of reasons :
- The slave system in Byzantium in the early Middle Ages was less developed than in the Western Roman Empire. The population of the Eastern Empire was 85% free.
- In the Byzantine Empire, there was still a strong connection between the village and the city. A small land economy was developed, which instantly adapted to the changing market.
- If you look at what territory Byzantium occupied, you can see that the state included extremely developed economically, for those times, regions: Greece, Syria, Egypt.
- Thanks to a strong army and navy, the Byzantine Empire quite successfully withstood the onslaught of barbarian tribes.
- In the major cities of the empire, trade and crafts were preserved. The main productive force were free peasants, artisans and small merchants.
- The Byzantine Empire adopted Christianity as the main religion. This made it possible to quickly establish relations with neighboring countries.
Rice. 1. Map of the Byzantine Empire in the 9th and early 11th centuries.
The internal structure of the political system of Byzantium did not differ much from the early medieval barbarian kingdoms in the West: the power of the emperor was based on large feudal lords, consisting of military leaders, the nobility of the Slavs, former slave owners and officials.
Timeline of the Byzantine Empire
The history of the Byzantine Empire is usually divided into three main periods: Early Byzantine (IV-VIII centuries), Middle Byzantine (IX-XII centuries) and Late Byzantine (XIII-XV centuries).
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Speaking briefly about the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, it should be noted that the main city of Byzantium rose even more after the absorption of the Roman provinces by the barbarian tribes. Until the 9th century, buildings of ancient architecture were being built, exact sciences were developing. The first high school in Europe was opened in Constantinople. Hagia Sophia has become a real miracle of the creation of human hands.
Rice. 2. Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.
Early Byzantine period
At the end of the 4th-beginning of the 5th centuries, the borders of the Byzantine Empire covered Palestine, Egypt, Thrace, the Balkans and Asia Minor. The eastern empire was far ahead of the western barbarian kingdoms in the construction of large cities, as well as in the development of crafts and trade. The presence of a merchant and military fleet made Byzantium the largest maritime power. The heyday of the empire continued until the XII century.
- 527-565 reign of Emperor Justinian I.
The emperor proclaimed the idea or recornist: "The restoration of the Roman state." To achieve this goal, Justinian waged wars of conquest against the barbarian kingdoms. Under the blows of the Byzantine troops, the Vandal states in North Africa fell, and the Ostrogoths in Italy were defeated.
In the occupied territories, Justinian I introduced new laws called the "Code of Justinian", slaves and columns were transferred to the former owners. This caused extreme discontent among the population and later became one of the reasons for the decline of the Eastern Empire.
- 610-641 The reign of Emperor Heraclius.
As a result of the invasion of the Arabs, Byzantium lost Egypt in 617. In the east, Heraclius abandoned the struggle with the Slavic tribes, giving them the opportunity to settle along the borders, using them as a natural shield against nomadic tribes. One of the main merits of this emperor is the return to Jerusalem of the Life-Giving Cross, which was recaptured from the Persian king Khosrov II. - 717 year. Arab siege of Constantinople.
For almost a year, the Arabs unsuccessfully stormed the capital of Byzantium, but in the end they did not take the city and rolled back with heavy losses. In many ways, the siege was repulsed thanks to the so-called "Greek fire". - 717-740 Reign of Leo III.
The years of the reign of this emperor were marked by the fact that Byzantium not only successfully waged wars with the Arabs, but also by the fact that Byzantine monks tried to spread the Orthodox faith among Jews and Muslims. Under Emperor Leo III, the veneration of icons was forbidden. Hundreds of valuable icons and other works of art associated with Christianity were destroyed. Iconoclasm continued until 842.
At the end of the 7th and beginning of the 8th centuries, Byzantium underwent a reform of self-government bodies. The empire began to be divided not into provinces, but into themes. So began to be called the administrative districts, which were headed by strategis. They had power and ruled on their own. Each theme was obliged to put up a militia-strati.
Middle Byzantine period
Despite the loss of the Balkan lands, Byzantium is still considered a mighty power, because its navy continued to dominate the Mediterranean. The period of the highest power of the empire lasted from 850 to 1050 and is considered the era of “classical Byzantium”.
- 886-912 Reign of Leo VI the Wise.
The emperor pursued the policy of previous emperors, Byzantium during the reign of this emperor continues to defend itself from external enemies. A crisis has matured within the political system, which was expressed in the confrontation between the Patriarch and the emperor. - 1018 Bulgaria joins Byzantium.
The northern borders can be strengthened thanks to the baptism of the Bulgarians and Slavs of Kievan Rus. - In 1048, the Seljuk Turks under the leadership of Ibrahim Inal invaded Transcaucasia and took the Byzantine city of Erzerum.
The Byzantine Empire did not have enough forces to protect the southeastern borders. Soon the Armenian and Georgian rulers recognized themselves as dependent on the Turks. - 1046 year. Peace treaty between Kievan Rus and Byzantium.
Emperor of Byzantium Vladimir Monomakh married his daughter Anna to Kyiv Prince Vsevolod. Russia's relations with Byzantium were not always friendly; there were many aggressive campaigns of ancient Russian princes against the Eastern Empire. At the same time, one cannot fail to note the enormous influence that Byzantine culture had on Kievan Rus. - 1054 year. Great schism.
There was a final split of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. - 1071 year. The Normans took the city of Bari in Puglia.
The last stronghold of the Byzantine Empire in Italy fell. - 1086-1091 The war of the Byzantine emperor Alexei I with the alliance of the Pechenegs and Cumans.
Thanks to the cunning policy of the emperor, the union of nomadic tribes broke up, and the Pechenegs were decisively defeated in 1091.
From the XI century begins the gradual decline of the Byzantine Empire. The division into themes has become obsolete due to the growing number of large farmers. The state was constantly subjected to attacks from outside, no longer able to fight against numerous enemies. The main danger was the Seljuks. During the clashes, the Byzantines managed to clear the southern coast of Asia Minor from them.
Late Byzantine period
Since the 11th century, the activity of Western European countries has increased. Crusader troops, raising the flag of the “defenders of the Holy Sepulcher”, attacked Byzantium. Unable to fight against numerous enemies, the Byzantine emperors use mercenary armies. At sea, Byzantium used the fleets of Pisa and Venice.
- 1122 year. The troops of Emperor John II Komnenos repulsed the invasion of the Pechenegs.
At sea, continuous wars are waged with Venice. However, the main danger was the Seljuks. During the clashes, the Byzantines managed to clear the southern coast of Asia Minor from them. In the fight against the crusaders, the Byzantines managed to clear Northern Syria. - 1176. The defeat of the Byzantine troops at Miriokefal from the Seljuk Turks.
After this defeat, Byzantium finally switched to defensive wars. - 1204. Constantinople fell under the blows of the Crusaders.
The basis of the crusader troops were the French and the Genoese. Central Byzantium occupied by the Latins is formed into a separate autonomy and is called the Latin Empire. After the fall of the capital, the Byzantine Church was under the jurisdiction of the pope, and Tommasso Morosini was appointed supreme patriarch. - 1261.
The Latin Empire was completely cleared of the crusaders, and Constantinople was liberated by the Nicaean emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.
Byzantium during the reign of the Palaiologos
During the reign of the Palaiologos in Byzantium, there is a complete decline of cities. The half-ruined cities looked especially miserable against the backdrop of flourishing villages. Agriculture experienced an upsurge caused by high demand for the products of feudal estates.
The dynastic marriages of the Palaiologos with the royal courts of Western and Eastern Europe and the constant close contact between them caused the appearance of their own heraldry among the Byzantine rulers. The Paleolog family was the very first to have its own coat of arms.
Rice. 3. Coat of arms of the Palaiologos dynasty.
- In 1265, Venice monopolized almost all trade in Constantinople.
A trade war broke out between Genoa and Venice. Often stabbings between foreign merchants took place in front of local onlookers in city squares. By strangling the domestic market for the emperor, the Byzantine rulers caused a new wave of self-hatred. - 1274. The conclusion of Michael VIII Palaiologos in Lyon of a new union with the pope.
The union carried the conditions of the supremacy of the Pope of Rome over the entire Christian world. This finally split society and caused a series of unrest in the capital. - 1341. The uprising in Adrianople and Thessaloniki of the population against the magnates.
The uprising was led by zealots (zealots). They wanted to take away land and property from the church and magnates for the poor. - 1352. Adrianople was captured by the Ottoman Turks.
From it they made their capital. They took the Tsimpe fortress on the Gallipoli peninsula. Nothing prevented the further advancement of the Turks to the Balkans.
By the beginning of the 15th century, the territory of Byzantium was limited to Constantinople with districts, part of Central Greece and islands in the Aegean Sea.
In 1452, the Ottoman Turks began the siege of Constantinople. May 29, 1453 the city fell. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine II Palaiologos, died in battle.
Despite the concluded alliance of Byzantium with a number of Western European countries, it was not necessary to count on military assistance. So, during the siege of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, Venice and Genoa sent six warships and several hundred people. Naturally, they could not provide any significant help.
What have we learned?
The Byzantine Empire remained the only ancient power that retained its political and social system, despite the Great Migration of Nations. With the fall of Byzantium, a new era begins in the history of the Middle Ages. From this article, we learned how many years the Byzantine Empire existed and what influence this state had on the countries of Western Europe and Kievan Rus.
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Much of this tone was set by the eighteenth-century English historian Edward Gibbon, who devoted at least three-quarters of his six-volume History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire to what we would unhesitatingly call the Byzantine period.. And although this view has not been the mainstream for a long time, we still have to start talking about Byzantium as if not from the beginning, but from the middle. After all, Byzantium has neither a founding year nor a founding father, like Rome with Romulus and Remus. Byzantium imperceptibly sprouted from within Ancient Rome, but never broke away from it. After all, the Byzantines themselves did not think of themselves as something separate: they did not know the words “Byzantium” and “Byzantine Empire” and called themselves either “Romans” (that is, “Romans” in Greek), appropriating the history of Ancient Rome, or “ by the race of Christians”, appropriating the entire history of the Christian religion.We do not recognize Byzantium in early Byzantine history with its praetors, prefects, patricians and provinces, but this recognition will become more and more as emperors acquire beards, consuls turn into hypats, and senators into synclitics.
background
The birth of Byzantium will not be clear without a return to the events of the 3rd century, when the most severe economic and political crisis broke out in the Roman Empire, which actually led to the collapse of the state. In 284, Diocletian came to power (like almost all emperors of the 3rd century, he was just a Roman officer of humble origin - his father was a slave) and took measures to decentralize power. First, in 286, he divided the empire into two parts, entrusting the administration of the West to his friend Maximian Herculius, while keeping the East for himself. Then, in 293, wanting to increase the stability of the system of government and ensure the turnover of power, he introduced a system of tetrarchy - a four-part government, which was carried out by two senior Augustus emperors and two junior Caesar emperors. Each part of the empire had an August and a Caesar (each of which had its own geographical area of responsibility - for example, the August of the West controlled Italy and Spain, and the Caesar of the West controlled Gaul and Britain). After 20 years, the Augusts were to transfer power to the Caesars, so that they would become Augusts and elect new Caesars. However, this system proved unviable, and after the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian in 305, the empire again plunged into an era of civil wars.
Birth of Byzantium
1. 312 - Battle of the Mulvian Bridge
After the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian, the supreme power passed to the former Caesars - Galerius and Constantius Chlorus, they became Augusts, but under them, contrary to expectations, neither the son of Constantius Constantine (later Emperor Constantine I the Great, considered the first emperor of Byzantium), nor Maximian's son Maxentius. Nevertheless, both of them did not leave imperial ambitions and from 306 to 312 alternately entered into a tactical alliance in order to jointly oppose other contenders for power (for example, Flavius Severus, appointed Caesar after the abdication of Diocletian), then, on the contrary, entered the struggle. The final victory of Constantine over Maxentius in the battle on the Milvian bridge across the Tiber River (now within the boundaries of Rome) meant the unification of the western part of the Roman Empire under the rule of Constantine. Twelve years later, in 324, as a result of another war (now with Licinius - Augustus and the ruler of the East of the empire, who was appointed by Galerius), Constantine united East and West.
The miniature in the center depicts the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. From the homily of Gregory the Theologian. 879-882 years
MS grec 510 /
The Battle of the Milvian Bridge in the Byzantine mind was associated with the idea of the birth of the Christian empire. This was facilitated, firstly, by the legend of the miraculous sign of the Cross, which Constantine saw in the sky before the battle - Eusebius of Caesarea tells about this (albeit in completely different ways). Eusebius of Caesarea(c. 260-340) - Greek historian, author of the first church history. and Lactants lactation(c. 250---325) - Latin writer, apologist for Christianity, author of the essay "On the Death of the Persecutors", dedicated to the events of the era of Diocletian., and secondly, the fact that two edicts were issued at about the same time Edict- normative act, decree. about religious freedom, legalized Christianity and equalized all religions in rights. And although the issuance of edicts on religious freedom was not directly related to the fight against Maxentius (the first was published in April 311 by the emperor Galerius, and the second - already in February 313 in Milan by Constantine together with Licinius), the legend reflects the internal connection of seemingly independent political steps of Constantine, who was the first to feel that state centralization is impossible without the consolidation of society, primarily in the sphere of worship.
However, under Constantine Christianity was only one of the candidates for the role of a consolidating religion. The emperor himself was for a long time an adherent of the cult of the Invincible Sun, and the time of his Christian baptism is still the subject of scientific disputes.
2. 325 - I Ecumenical Council
In 325 Constantine summoned representatives of the local churches to the city of Nicaea. Nicaea- now the city of Iznik in Northwestern Turkey. to resolve a dispute between Bishop Alexander of Alexandria and Arius, a presbyter of one of the Alexandrian churches, about whether Jesus Christ was created by God Opponents of the Arians briefly summarized their teaching thus: "There was [such a time] when [Christ] did not exist.". This meeting was the first Ecumenical Council - an assembly of representatives of all local churches, with the right to formulate a doctrine, which will then be recognized by all local churches. It is impossible to say exactly how many bishops participated in the council, since its acts have not been preserved. Tradition calls the number 318. Be that as it may, it is possible to speak about the “ecumenical” nature of the cathedral only with reservations, since in total at that time there were more than 1,500 episcopal sees.. The First Ecumenical Council is a key stage in the institutionalization of Christianity as an imperial religion: its meetings were held not in the temple, but in the imperial palace, the cathedral was opened by Constantine I himself, and the closing was combined with grandiose celebrations on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his reign.
First Council of Nicaea. Fresco from the monastery of Stavropoleos. Bucharest, 18th century
Wikimedia Commons
The Councils of Nicaea I and the Councils of Constantinople that followed it (meeting in 381) condemned the Arian doctrine about the created nature of Christ and the inequality of the hypostases in the Trinity, and the Apollinarian one, about the incomplete perception of human nature by Christ, and formulated the Nicene-Tsargrad Creed, which recognized Jesus Christ not created, but born (but at the same time eternal), but all three hypostases - possessing one nature. The creed was recognized as true, not subject to further doubt and discussion The words of the Nicene-Tsargrad Creed about Christ, which caused the most fierce disputes, in the Slavonic translation sound like this: Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, uncreated, consubstantial with the Father, Whom all was.”.
Never before has any direction of thought in Christianity been condemned by the fullness of the universal church and imperial power, and no theological school has been recognized as heresy. The era of the Ecumenical Councils that has begun is the era of the struggle between orthodoxy and heresy, which are in constant self- and mutual determination. At the same time, the same doctrine could alternately be recognized either as heresy or right faith, depending on the political situation (this was the case in the 5th century), however, the very idea of the possibility and necessity of protecting orthodoxy and condemning heresy with the help of the state was questioned in Byzantium has never been set.
3. 330 - transfer of the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople
Although Rome always remained the cultural center of the empire, the Tetrarchs chose cities on the periphery as their capitals, from which it was more convenient for them to repel external attacks: Nicomedia Nicomedia- now Izmit (Turkey)., Sirmium Sirmius- now Sremska Mitrovica (Serbia)., Milan and Trier. During the reign of the West, Constantine I transferred his residence to Milan, then to Sirmium, then to Thessalonica. His rival Licinius also changed the capital, but in 324, when a war broke out between him and Constantine, the ancient city of Byzantium on the banks of the Bosphorus, known from Herodotus, became his stronghold in Europe.
Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror and the Serpent Column. Miniature of Naqqash Osman from the manuscript "Khyuner-name" by Seyid Lokman. 1584-1588 years Wikimedia Commons
During the siege of Byzantium, and then in preparation for the decisive battle of Chrysopolis on the Asian coast of the strait, Constantine assessed the position of Byzantium and, having defeated Licinius, immediately began a program to renew the city, personally participating in the marking of the city walls. The city gradually took over the functions of the capital: a senate was established in it, and many Roman senatorial families were forcibly transported closer to the senate. It was in Constantinople that during his lifetime Constantine ordered to rebuild a tomb for himself. Various curiosities of the ancient world were brought to the city, for example, the bronze Serpentine Column, created in the 5th century BC in honor of the victory over the Persians at Plataea Battle of Plataea(479 BC) — one of the most important battles of the Greco-Persian wars, as a result of which the land forces of the Achaemenid Empire were finally defeated..
The chronicler of the 6th century, John Malala, tells that on May 11, 330, Emperor Constantine appeared at the solemn ceremony of consecrating the city in a diadem - a symbol of the power of the Eastern despots, which his Roman predecessors avoided in every possible way. The shift in the political vector was symbolically embodied in the spatial movement of the center of the empire from west to east, which, in turn, had a decisive influence on the formation of Byzantine culture: the transfer of the capital to territories that had been speaking Greek for a thousand years determined its Greek-speaking character, and Constantinople itself turned out to be in the center of the mental map of the Byzantine and identified with the entire empire.
4. 395 - division of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western
Despite the fact that in 324 Constantine, having defeated Licinius, formally united the East and West of the empire, ties between its parts remained weak, and cultural differences grew. No more than ten bishops arrived at the First Ecumenical Council from the western provinces (out of about 300 participants); most of the arrivals were not able to understand Constantine's welcome speech, which he delivered in Latin, and it had to be translated into Greek.
Half silicone. Flavius Odoacer on the obverse of a coin from Ravenna. 477 year Odoacer is depicted without the imperial diadem - with an uncovered head, a shock of hair and a mustache. Such an image is uncharacteristic for emperors and is considered "barbaric". The Trustees of the British Museum
The final division occurred in 395, when Emperor Theodosius I the Great, who for several months before his death became the sole ruler of East and West, divided the state between his sons Arcadius (East) and Honorius (West). However, formally the West still remained connected with the East, and at the very decline of the Western Roman Empire, in the late 460s, the Byzantine emperor Leo I, at the request of the Senate of Rome, made a last unsuccessful attempt to elevate his protege to the western throne. In 476, the German barbarian mercenary Odoacer deposed the last emperor of the Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus, and sent the imperial insignia (symbols of power) to Constantinople. Thus, from the point of view of the legitimacy of power, parts of the empire were again united: the emperor Zeno, who ruled at that time in Constantinople, de jure became the sole head of the entire empire, and Odoacer, who received the title of patrician, ruled Italy only as his representative. However, in reality, this was no longer reflected in the real political map of the Mediterranean.
5. 451 - Chalcedon Cathedral
IV Ecumenical (Chalcedon) Council, convened for the final approval of the doctrine of the incarnation of Christ in a single hypostasis and two natures and the complete condemnation of Monophysitism Monophysitism(from the Greek μόνος - the only one and φύσις - nature) - the doctrine that Christ did not have a perfect human nature, since his divine nature, during the incarnation, replaced it or merged with it. The opponents of the Monophysites were called dyophysites (from the Greek δύο - two)., led to a deep schism that has not been overcome by the Christian church to this day. The central government continued to flirt with the Monophysites under the usurper Basiliscus in 475-476, and in the first half of the 6th century, under the emperors Anastasius I and Justinian I. Emperor Zeno in 482 tried to reconcile supporters and opponents of the Council of Chalcedon, without going into dogmatic issues . His conciliatory message, called the Enoticon, ensured peace in the East, but led to a 35-year split with Rome.The main support of the Monophysites were the eastern provinces - Egypt, Armenia and Syria. In these regions, religious uprisings regularly broke out and an independent Monophysite hierarchy and its own church institutions parallel to the Chalcedonian (that is, recognizing the teachings of the Council of Chalcedon) formed, gradually developing into independent, non-Chalcedonian churches that still exist today - Syro-Jacobite, Armenian and Coptic. The problem finally lost its relevance for Constantinople only in the 7th century, when, as a result of the Arab conquests, the Monophysite provinces were torn away from the empire.
Rise of early Byzantium
6. 537 - completion of the construction of the church of Hagia Sophia under Justinian
Justinian I. Fragment of the church mosaic San Vitale in Ravenna. 6th century
Wikimedia Commons
Under Justinian I (527-565), the Byzantine Empire reached its peak. The Code of Civil Law summarized the centuries-old development of Roman law. As a result of military campaigns in the West, it was possible to expand the borders of the empire, including the entire Mediterranean - North Africa, Italy, part of Spain, Sardinia, Corsica and Sicily. Sometimes people talk about the "Justinian Reconquista". Rome became part of the empire again. Justinian launched extensive construction throughout the empire, and in 537 the construction of a new Hagia Sophia in Constantinople was completed. According to legend, the plan of the temple was suggested personally to the emperor by an angel in a vision. Never again in Byzantium was a building of such magnitude built: a grandiose temple, in the Byzantine ceremonial called the "Great Church", became the center of power of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The era of Justinian at the same time and finally breaks with the pagan past (in 529 the Academy of Athens was closed Athens Academy - philosophical school in Athens, founded by Plato in the 380s BC. e.) and establishes a line of succession with antiquity. Medieval culture opposes itself to early Christian culture, appropriating the achievements of antiquity at all levels - from literature to architecture, but at the same time discarding their religious (pagan) dimension.
Coming from the bottom, seeking to change the way of life of the empire, Justinian met with rejection from the old aristocracy. It is this attitude, and not the personal hatred of the historian for the emperor, that is reflected in the vicious pamphlet on Justinian and his wife Theodora.
7. 626 - Avaro-Slavic siege of Constantinople
The reign of Heraclius (610-641), glorified in court panegyric literature as the new Hercules, accounted for the last foreign policy successes of early Byzantium. In 626, Heraclius and Patriarch Sergius, who was directly defending the city, managed to repel the Avar-Slavic siege of Constantinople (the words that open the akathist to the Mother of God tell precisely about this victory In the Slavic translation, they sound like this: “To the chosen Voivode, victorious, as if having got rid of the evil ones, we will thankfully describe Thy servants, Mother of God, but as if having an invincible power, free us from all troubles, let us call Ty: rejoice, Bride of the Bride.”), and at the turn of the 20-30s of the 7th century during the Persian campaign against the power of the Sassanids Sasanian Empire- a Persian state centered on the territory of present-day Iraq and Iran, which existed in the years 224-651. the provinces in the East lost a few years earlier were recaptured: Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Palestine. The Holy Cross stolen by the Persians was solemnly returned to Jerusalem in 630, on which the Savior died. During the solemn procession, Heraclius personally brought the Cross into the city and laid it in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Under Heraclius, the last rise before the cultural break of the Dark Ages is experienced by the scientific and philosophical Neoplatonic tradition, coming directly from antiquity: a representative of the last surviving ancient school in Alexandria, Stephen of Alexandria, comes to Constantinople at the imperial invitation to teach.
Plate from a cross with images of a cherub (left) and the Byzantine emperor Heraclius with the Shahinshah of the Sassanids Khosrow II. Valley of the Meuse, 1160-70s Wikimedia Commons
All these successes were brought to naught by the Arab invasion, which wiped out the Sassanids from the face of the earth in a few decades and forever wrested the eastern provinces from Byzantium. Legends tell how the prophet Muhammad offered Heraclius to convert to Islam, but in the cultural memory of the Muslim peoples, Heraclius remained precisely a fighter against the emerging Islam, and not with the Persians. These wars (generally unsuccessful for Byzantium) are described in the 18th-century epic poem The Book of Heraclius, the oldest written monument in Swahili.
Dark Ages and iconoclasm
8. 642 Arab conquest of Egypt
The first wave of Arab conquests in the Byzantine lands lasted eight years - from 634 to 642. As a result, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt were torn away from Byzantium. Having lost the most ancient Patriarchates of Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria, the Byzantine Church, in fact, lost its universal character and became equal to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which within the empire had no church institutions equal to it in status.
In addition, having lost the fertile territories that provided it with grain, the empire plunged into a deep internal crisis. In the middle of the 7th century, there was a reduction in monetary circulation and the decline of cities (both in Asia Minor and in the Balkans, which were no longer threatened by the Arabs, but by the Slavs) - they turned into either villages or medieval fortresses. Constantinople remained the only major urban center, but the atmosphere in the city changed and the ancient monuments brought there back in the 4th century began to inspire irrational fears in the townspeople.
Fragment of a papyrus letter in the Coptic language of the monks Victor and Psan. Thebes, Byzantine Egypt, circa 580-640 Translation of a fragment of a letter into English at the Metropolitan Museum of Art website. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Constantinople also lost access to papyrus, which was produced exclusively in Egypt, which led to an increase in the cost of books and, as a result, a decline in education. Many literary genres disappeared, the previously flourishing genre of history gave way to prophecy - having lost their cultural connection with the past, the Byzantines lost interest in their history and lived with a constant feeling of the end of the world. The Arab conquests, which caused this breakdown in the worldview, were not reflected in the literature of their time, their events are brought to us by the monuments of later eras, and the new historical consciousness reflects only an atmosphere of horror, and not facts. The cultural decline lasted for more than a hundred years, the first signs of a revival occur at the very end of the 8th century.
9. 726/730 year According to 9th-century icon-worshipping historians, Leo III issued an edict of iconoclasm in 726. But modern scientists doubt the reliability of this information: most likely, in 726, talks about the possibility of iconoclastic measures began in Byzantine society, the first real steps date back to 730.- start of iconoclastic controversy
Saint Mokios of Amphipolis and the angel killing the iconoclasts. Miniature from the Psalter of Theodore of Caesarea. 1066 The British Library Board, Add MS 19352, f.94r
One of the manifestations of the cultural decline of the second half of the 7th century is the rapid growth of disordered practices of icon veneration (the most zealous ones scraped and ate plaster from the icons of saints). This caused rejection among some of the clergy, who saw in this a threat of a return to paganism. Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (717-741) used this discontent to create a new consolidating ideology, taking the first iconoclastic steps in 726/730. But the most fierce disputes about icons fell on the reign of Constantine V Copronymus (741-775). He carried out the necessary military and administrative reforms, significantly strengthening the role of the professional imperial guard (tagm), and successfully contained the Bulgarian threat on the borders of the empire. The authority of both Constantine and Leo, who repelled the Arabs from the walls of Constantinople in 717-718, was very high, therefore, when in 815, after the teaching of iconodules was approved at the VII Ecumenical Council (787), a new round of war with the Bulgarians provoked a new political crisis, the imperial power returned to the iconoclastic policy.
The controversy over icons gave rise to two powerful strands of theological thought. Although the teachings of the iconoclasts are much less well known than those of their opponents, indirect evidence suggests that the thought of the iconoclasts of Emperor Constantine Copronymus and the Patriarch of Constantinople John Grammaticus (837-843) was no less deeply rooted in the Greek philosophical tradition than the thought of the iconoclast theologian John Damaskin and the head of the anti-iconoclastic monastic opposition Theodore the Studite. In parallel, the dispute developed in the ecclesiastical and political plane, the boundaries of the power of the emperor, patriarch, monasticism and episcopate were redefined.
10. 843 - The triumph of Orthodoxy
In 843, under Empress Theodora and Patriarch Methodius, the dogma of icon veneration was finally approved. It became possible thanks to mutual concessions, for example, the posthumous forgiveness of the iconoclast emperor Theophilus, whose widow was Theodora. The feast "Triumph of Orthodoxy", arranged by Theodora on this occasion, ended the era of the Ecumenical Councils and marked a new stage in the life of the Byzantine state and church. In the Orthodox tradition, he still manages to this day, and anathemas against iconoclasts, named by name, sound every year on the first Sunday of Great Lent. Since then, iconoclasm, which became the last heresy condemned by the entirety of the church, began to be mythologized in the historical memory of Byzantium.
Empress Theodora's daughters learn to read icons from their grandmother Feoktista. Miniature from the Madrid Codex "Chronicle" of John Skylitzes. XII-XIII centuries Wikimedia Commons
Back in 787, at the VII Ecumenical Council, the theory of the image was approved, according to which, in the words of Basil the Great, “the honor given to the image goes back to the prototype,” which means that worship of the icon is not an idol service. Now this theory has become the official teaching of the church - the creation and worship of sacred images from now on was not only allowed, but made a duty for a Christian. From that time on, an avalanche-like growth of artistic production began, the habitual appearance of an Eastern Christian church with iconic decoration took shape, the use of icons was integrated into liturgical practice and changed the course of worship.
In addition, the iconoclastic dispute stimulated the reading, copying and study of sources to which the opposing sides turned in search of arguments. Overcoming the cultural crisis is largely due to philological work in the preparation of church councils. And the invention of the minuscule Minuscule- writing in lowercase letters, which radically simplified and cheapened the production of books., perhaps, was due to the needs of the icon-worshipping opposition that existed under the conditions of “samizdat”: icon-worshippers had to quickly copy texts and did not have the means to create expensive uncial Uncial, or majuscule,- writing in capital letters. manuscripts.
Macedonian era
11. 863 - the beginning of the Photian schism
Dogmatic and liturgical differences gradually grew between the Roman and Eastern churches (primarily with regard to the Latin addition to the text of the Creed of the words about the procession of the Holy Spirit not only from the Father, but “and from the Son”, the so-called Filioque filioque- literally "and from the Son" (lat.).). The Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Pope fought for spheres of influence (primarily in Bulgaria, southern Italy and Sicily). The proclamation of Charlemagne as Emperor of the West in 800 dealt a severe blow to the political ideology of Byzantium: the Byzantine emperor found a rival in the person of the Carolingians.
The miraculous salvation of Constantinople by Photius with the help of the robe of the Mother of God. Fresco from the Dormition Knyaginin Monastery. Vladimir, 1648 Wikimedia Commons
Two opposing parties within the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the so-called Ignatians (supporters of Patriarch Ignatius, who was deposed in 858) and the Photians (supporters of Photius who was erected - not without scandal - instead of him), sought support in Rome. Pope Nicholas used this situation to assert the authority of the papal throne and expand his spheres of influence. In 863, he withdrew the signatures of his envoys who approved the erection of Photius, but Emperor Michael III considered that this was not enough to remove the patriarch, and in 867 Photius anathematized Pope Nicholas. In 869-870, a new council in Constantinople (to this day recognized by Catholics as the VIII Ecumenical) deposed Photius and restored Ignatius. However, after the death of Ignatius, Photius returned to the patriarchal throne for another nine years (877-886).
Formal reconciliation followed in 879-880, but the anti-Latin line laid down by Photius in the District Epistle to the episcopal thrones of the East formed the basis of a centuries-old polemical tradition, the echoes of which were heard during the rupture between the churches in, and during the discussion of the possibility of a church union in XIII and fifteenth centuries.
12. 895 - the creation of the oldest known codex of Plato
Manuscript page E. D. Clarke 39 with the writings of Plato. 895 The rewriting of the tetralogy was commissioned by Aretha of Caesarea for 21 gold coins. It is assumed that the scholia (marginal comments) were left by Aretha himself. At the end of the 9th century, there is a new discovery of the ancient heritage in Byzantine culture. A circle developed around Patriarch Photius, which included his disciples: Emperor Leo VI the Wise, Bishop Aref of Caesarea and other philosophers and scientists. They copied, studied and commented on the works of ancient Greek authors. The oldest and most authoritative list of Plato's writings (it is stored under the cipher E. D. Clarke 39 in the Bodleian Library of Oxford University) was created at this time by order of Arefa.
Among the texts that interested the scholars of the era, especially high-ranking church hierarchs, there were also pagan works. Aretha ordered copies of the works of Aristotle, Aelius Aristides, Euclid, Homer, Lucian and Marcus Aurelius, and Patriarch Photius included in his Myriobiblion "Myriobiblion"(literally "Ten thousand books") - a review of the books read by Photius, which, however, in reality were not 10 thousand, but only 279. annotations to Hellenistic novels, evaluating not their seemingly anti-Christian content, but the style and manner of writing, and at the same time creating a new terminological apparatus of literary criticism, different from that used by ancient grammarians. Leo VI himself created not only solemn speeches on church holidays, which he personally delivered (often improvising) after the services, but also wrote Anacreontic poetry in the ancient Greek manner. And the nickname Wise is associated with the collection of poetic prophecies attributed to him about the fall and reconquest of Constantinople, which were remembered back in the 17th century in Russia, when the Greeks tried to persuade Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich to campaign against the Ottoman Empire.
The era of Photius and Leo VI the Wise opens the period of the Macedonian Renaissance (named after the ruling dynasty) in Byzantium, which is also known as the era of encyclopedism or the first Byzantine humanism.
13. 952 - completion of work on the treatise "On the management of the empire"
Christ blesses Emperor Constantine VII. Carved panel. 945
Wikimedia Commons
Under the patronage of Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (913-959), a large-scale project was implemented to codify the knowledge of the Byzantines in all areas of human life. The measure of Constantine's direct participation cannot always be determined with accuracy, however, the personal interest and literary ambitions of the emperor, who knew from childhood that he was not destined to rule, and was forced to share the throne with a co-ruler for most of his life, are beyond doubt. By order of Constantine, the official history of the 9th century was written (the so-called Successor of Theophanes), information was collected about the peoples and lands adjacent to Byzantium (“On the management of the empire”), on the geography and history of the regions of the empire (“On the themes Fema- Byzantine military-administrative district.”), about agriculture (“Geoponics”), about the organization of military campaigns and embassies, and about court ceremonial (“On the ceremonies of the Byzantine court”). At the same time, the regulation of church life takes place: the Synaxarion and the Typicon of the Great Church are created, which determine the annual order of commemoration of the saints and the holding of church services, and a few decades later (about 980), Simeon Metaphrastus begins a large-scale project to unify hagiographic literature. Around the same time, a comprehensive encyclopedic dictionary of the Court was compiled, including about 30 thousand entries. But the largest encyclopedia of Constantine is an anthology of information from ancient and early Byzantine authors about all spheres of life, conventionally called "Excerpts" It is known that this encyclopedia included 53 sections. Only the section “On Embassies” has reached its full extent, and partially – “On Virtues and Vices”, “On Conspiracies against Emperors”, and “On Opinions”. Among the missing chapters: “On the peoples”, “On the succession of emperors”, “On who invented what”, “On Caesars”, “On exploits”, “On settlements”, “On hunting”, “On messages”, “ On speeches, On marriages, On victory, On defeat, On strategies, On morals, On miracles, On battles, On inscriptions, On public administration, “On Church Affairs”, “On Expression”, “On the Coronation of Emperors”, “On the Death (Deposition) of Emperors”, “On Fines”, “On Holidays”, “On Predictions”, “On Ranks”, “On the Cause of Wars ”, “On sieges”, “On fortresses”..
The nickname Porphyrogenitus was given to the children of reigning emperors, who were born in the Crimson Chamber of the Grand Palace in Constantinople. Constantine VII, son of Leo VI the Wise from his fourth marriage, was indeed born in this chamber, but formally was illegitimate. Apparently, the nickname was to emphasize his rights to the throne. His father made him his co-ruler, and after his death, the young Constantine ruled for six years under the tutelage of regents. In 919, under the pretext of protecting Constantine from the rebels, the military leader Roman I Lekapenus usurped power, he intermarried with the Macedonian dynasty, marrying his daughter to Constantine, and then was crowned co-ruler. By the time the independent reign began, Constantine had been formally considered emperor for more than 30 years, and he himself was almost 40.
14. 1018 - the conquest of the Bulgarian kingdom
Angels lay the imperial crown on Vasily II. Miniature from Basil's Psalter, Marchian Library. 11th century Ms. gr. 17 / Biblioteca Marciana
The reign of Basil II the Bulgar Slayers (976-1025) is the time of an unprecedented expansion of the church and political influence of Byzantium on neighboring countries: the so-called second (final) baptism of Russia takes place (the first, according to legend, took place in the 860s - when the princes Askold and Dir they allegedly were baptized with the boyars in Kyiv, where Patriarch Photius sent a bishop specially for this); in 1018, the conquest of the Bulgarian kingdom leads to the liquidation of the autonomous Bulgarian Patriarchate, which had existed for almost 100 years, and the establishment of the semi-independent Archdiocese of Ohrid in its place; as a result of Armenian campaigns, Byzantine possessions in the East were expanding.
In domestic politics, Basil was forced to take tough measures to limit the influence of large landowning clans, who actually formed their own armies in the 970-980s during the civil wars that challenged Basil's power. He tried by harsh measures to stop the enrichment of large landowners (the so-called dinats Dinat ( from the Greek δυνατός) - strong, powerful.), in some cases even resorting to direct land confiscation. But this brought only a temporary effect, centralization in the administrative and military spheres neutralized powerful rivals, but in the long run made the empire vulnerable to new threats - the Normans, Seljuks and Pechenegs. The Macedonian dynasty, which ruled for more than a century and a half, formally ended only in 1056, but in reality, already in the 1020s and 30s, people from bureaucratic families and influential clans gained real power.
The descendants awarded Vasily with the nickname Bulgar Slayer for cruelty in the wars with the Bulgarians. For example, after winning the decisive battle near Mount Belasitsa in 1014, he ordered 14,000 captives to be blinded at once. When exactly this nickname originated is not known. It is certain that this happened before the end of the 12th century, when, according to the 13th century historian George Acropolitan, the Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan (1197-1207) began to ravage the Byzantine cities in the Balkans, proudly calling himself a Romeo fighter and thereby opposing himself to Basil.
Crisis of the 11th century
15. 1071 - Battle of Manzikert
Battle of Manzikert. Miniature from the book "On the misfortunes of famous people" Boccaccio. 15th century
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The political crisis that began after the death of Basil II continued in the middle of the 11th century: clans continued to compete, dynasties constantly replaced each other - from 1028 to 1081, 11 emperors changed on the Byzantine throne, there was no such frequency even at the turn of the 7th-8th centuries . From the outside, Pechenegs and Seljuk Turks pressed on Byzantium The power of the Seljuk Turks in just a few decades in the 11th century conquered the territories of modern Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan and became the main threat to Byzantium in the East.- the latter, having won the battle of Manzikert in 1071 Manzikert- now the small town of Malazgirt on the easternmost tip of Turkey near Lake Van., deprived the empire of most of its territories in Asia Minor. No less painful for Byzantium was the full-scale rupture of church relations with Rome in 1054, later called the Great Schism. Schism(from the Greek σχίζμα) - gap., because of which Byzantium finally lost ecclesiastical influence in Italy. However, contemporaries almost did not notice this event and did not attach due importance to it.
However, it was precisely this era of political instability, the fragility of social boundaries and, as a result, high social mobility that gave rise to the figure of Michael Psellos, unique even for Byzantium, an erudite and official who took an active part in the enthronement of emperors (his central work, Chronography, is very autobiographical) , thought about the most complex theological and philosophical issues, studied the pagan Chaldean oracles, created works in all conceivable genres - from literary criticism to hagiography. The situation of intellectual freedom gave impetus to a new typical Byzantine version of Neoplatonism: in the title of "hypata of philosophers" Ipat philosophers- in fact, the main philosopher of the empire, the head of the philosophical school in Constantinople. Psellus was replaced by John Italus, who studied not only Plato and Aristotle, but also such philosophers as Ammonius, Philopon, Porphyry and Proclus and, at least according to his opponents, taught about the transmigration of souls and the immortality of ideas.
Komnenoska revival
16. 1081 - coming to power of Alexei I Komnenos
Christ blesses Emperor Alexei I Komnenos. Miniature from "Dogmatic Panoply" by Euthymius Zigaben. 12th century In 1081, as a result of a compromise with the Duk, Melissene and Palaiologoi clans, the Komnenos family came to power. It gradually monopolized all state power and, thanks to complex dynastic marriages, absorbed former rivals. Beginning with Alexios I Comnenus (1081-1118), the aristocratization of Byzantine society took place, social mobility was reduced, intellectual freedoms were curtailed, and imperial power actively intervened in the spiritual sphere. The beginning of this process is marked by the church-state condemnation of John Ital for "Palatonic ideas" and paganism in 1082. Then follows the condemnation of Leo of Chalcedon, who opposed the confiscation of church property to cover military needs (at that time Byzantium was at war with the Sicilian Normans and Pechenegs) and almost accused Alexei of iconoclasm. Massacres against the Bogomils take place Bogomilstvo- a doctrine that arose in the Balkans in the 10th century, in many respects ascending to the religion of the Manichaeans. According to the Bogomils, the physical world was created by Satan cast down from heaven. The human body was also his creation, but the soul is still the gift of the good God. The Bogomils did not recognize the institution of the church and often opposed the secular authorities, raising numerous uprisings., one of them, Basil, was even burned at the stake - a unique phenomenon for Byzantine practice. In 1117, the commentator of Aristotle, Eustratius of Nicaea, appears before the court on charges of heresy.
Meanwhile, contemporaries and immediate descendants remembered Alexei I rather as a ruler who was successful in his foreign policy: he managed to conclude an alliance with the crusaders and inflict a sensitive blow on the Seljuks in Asia Minor.
In the satire "Timarion" the narration is conducted on behalf of the hero who made a journey to the afterlife. In his story, he also mentions John Ital, who wanted to take part in the conversation of ancient Greek philosophers, but was rejected by them: “I also witnessed how Pythagoras sharply pushed away John Ital, who wanted to join this community of sages. “Scum,” he said, “having put on the Galilean robe, which they call the divine holy robes, in other words, having been baptized, you seek to communicate with us, whose life was devoted to science and knowledge? Either throw off this vulgar dress, or leave our brotherhood right now! ”” (translated by S. V. Polyakova, N. V. Felenkovskaya).
17. 1143 - coming to power of Manuel I Comnenus
The trends that emerged under Alexei I were developed under Manuel I Comnenus (1143-1180). He sought to establish personal control over the church life of the empire, sought to unify theological thought, and he himself took part in church disputes. One of the questions in which Manuel wanted to have his say was the following: what hypostases of the Trinity accept the sacrifice during the Eucharist - only God the Father or both the Son and the Holy Spirit? If the second answer is correct (and this is exactly what was decided at the council of 1156-1157), then the same Son will be both the one who is sacrificed and the one who receives it.
Manuel's foreign policy was marked by failures in the East (the most terrible was the defeat at Miriokefal in 1176 at the hands of the Seljuks, which plunged the Byzantines into despondency) and attempts at diplomatic rapprochement with the West. Manuel saw the ultimate goal of Western policy as unification with Rome based on the recognition of the supreme authority of a single Roman emperor, which Manuel himself was to become, and the unification of churches that were officially divided in. However, this project was not implemented.
In the era of Manuel, literary creativity becomes a profession, literary circles arise with their own artistic fashion, elements of the folk language penetrate into court aristocratic literature (they can be found in the works of the poet Theodore Prodrom or the chronicler Constantine Manasseh), the genre of the Byzantine love story is born, the arsenal of expressive means and the measure of the author's self-reflection is growing.
Sunset of Byzantium
18. 1204 - the fall of Constantinople at the hands of the crusaders
During the reign of Andronicus I Komnenos (1183-1185) there was a political crisis: he pursued a populist policy (reduced taxes, severed relations with the West and severely cracked down on corrupt officials), which restored a significant part of the elite against him and aggravated the foreign policy position of the empire.
Crusaders attack Constantinople. Miniature from the chronicle of the Conquest of Constantinople by Geoffroy de Villehardouin. Approximately 1330, Villardouin was one of the leaders of the campaign. Bibliothèque nationale de France
An attempt to establish a new dynasty of Angels did not bear fruit, the society was deconsolidated. To this were added failures on the periphery of the empire: an uprising rose in Bulgaria; the crusaders captured Cyprus; Sicilian Normans ravaged Thessalonica. The struggle between pretenders to the throne within the family of Angels gave the European countries a formal reason to intervene. On April 12, 1204, members of the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople. We read the most vivid artistic description of these events in the "History" by Nikita Choniates and the postmodern novel "Baudolino" by Umberto Eco, who sometimes literally copies the pages of Choniates.
On the ruins of the former empire, several states arose under Venetian rule, only to a small extent inheriting Byzantine state institutions. The Latin empire, centered in Constantinople, was rather a feudal formation of the Western European type, the same character was with the duchies and kingdoms that arose in Thessalonica, Athens and the Peloponnese.
Andronicus was one of the most eccentric rulers of the empire. Nikita Choniates says that he ordered to create in one of the churches of the capital his portrait in the guise of a poor farmer in high boots and with a scythe in his hand. There were also legends about the bestial cruelty of Andronicus. He arranged public burnings of his opponents at the hippodrome, during which the executioners pushed the victim into the fire with sharp peaks, and who dared to condemn his cruelty, the reader of Hagia Sophia George Disipat threatened to fry on a spit and send to his wife instead of food.
19. 1261 - the reconquest of Constantinople
The loss of Constantinople led to the emergence of three Greek states that equally claimed to be the full heirs of Byzantium: the Nicaean Empire in northwestern Asia Minor under the rule of the Laskar dynasty; The Empire of Trebizond in the northeastern part of the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor, where the descendants of the Komnenos settled - the Great Komnenos, who took the title of "emperors of the Romans", and the Kingdom of Epirus in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula with the dynasty of Angels. The revival of the Byzantine Empire in 1261 took place on the basis of the Nicaean Empire, which pushed aside competitors and skillfully used the help of the German emperor and the Genoese in the fight against the Venetians. As a result, the Latin emperor and patriarch fled, and Michael VIII Palaiologos occupied Constantinople, was re-crowned and proclaimed "the new Constantine."
In his policy, the founder of the new dynasty tried to reach a compromise with the Western powers, and in 1274 he even entered into a church union with Rome, which set the Greek episcopate and the Constantinopolitan elite against him.
Despite the fact that the empire was formally revived, its culture lost its former “Constantinopolecentricity”: the Palaiologians were forced to put up with the presence of the Venetians in the Balkans and the significant autonomy of Trebizond, whose rulers formally renounced the title of “Roman emperors”, but in reality did not leave imperial ambitions.
A vivid example of the imperial ambitions of Trebizond is the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia of the Wisdom of God, built there in the middle of the 13th century and still making a strong impression today. This temple simultaneously contrasted Trebizond with Constantinople with its Hagia Sophia, and at the symbolic level turned Trebizond into a new Constantinople.
20. 1351 - approval of the teachings of Gregory Palamas
Saint Gregory Palamas. Icon of the master of Northern Greece. Early 15th century
The second quarter of the 14th century saw the beginning of the Palamite controversy. St. Gregory Palamas (1296-1357) was an original thinker who developed the controversial doctrine of the difference in God between the divine essence (with which man can neither unite nor cognize it) and uncreated divine energies (with which connection is possible) and defended the possibility contemplation through the "intelligent feeling" of the Divine light, revealed, according to the Gospels, to the apostles during the transfiguration of Christ For example, in the Gospel of Matthew, this light is described as follows: “After six days, Jesus took Peter, James and John, his brother, and brought them up to a high mountain alone, and was transformed before them: and His face shone like the sun, and his clothes They became as white as the light” (Matt. 17:1-2)..
In the 40s and 50s of the XIV century, the theological dispute was closely intertwined with political confrontation: Palamas, his supporters (Patriarchs Kallistos I and Philotheus Kokkinos, Emperor John VI Kantakuzen) and opponents (later converted to Catholicism, the philosopher Barlaam of Calabria and his followers Gregory Akindin, Patriarch John IV Kalek, philosopher and writer Nicephorus Gregory) alternately won tactical victories, then suffered defeat.
The Council of 1351, which approved the victory of Palamas, nevertheless did not put an end to the dispute, the echoes of which were heard in the 15th century, but forever closed the way for the anti-Palamites to the highest church and state power. Some researchers following Igor Medvedev I. P. Medvedev. Byzantine humanism of the XIV-XV centuries. SPb., 1997. they see in the thought of the anti-Palamites, primarily Nikifor Grigora, tendencies close to the ideas of the Italian humanists. Humanistic ideas were even more fully reflected in the work of the Neoplatonist and ideologist of the pagan renewal of Byzantium, Georgy Gemist Plifon, whose works were destroyed by the official church.
Even in serious scholarly literature one can sometimes see that the words "(anti)palamites" and "(anti)hesychasts" are used interchangeably. This is not entirely true. Hesychasm (from the Greek ἡσυχία [hesychia] - silence) as a hermit prayer practice, which makes it possible to directly experience communication with God, was substantiated in the works of theologians of earlier eras, for example, Simeon the New Theologian in the X-XI centuries.
21. 1439 - Ferrara-Florence Union
Union of Florence by Pope Eugene IV. 1439 Compiled in two languages - Latin and Greek. British Library Board/Bridgeman Images/Fotodom
By the beginning of the 15th century, it became clear that the Ottoman military threat called into question the very existence of the empire. Byzantine diplomacy actively sought support in the West, negotiations were underway on the unification of churches in exchange for military assistance from Rome. In the 1430s, a fundamental decision on unification was made, but the venue of the cathedral (on Byzantine or Italian territory) and its status (whether it would be designated as “unifying” in advance) became the subject of bargaining. In the end, the meetings took place in Italy - first in Ferrara, then in Florence and in Rome. In June 1439, the Ferrara-Florence Union was signed. This meant that formally the Byzantine Church recognized the correctness of the Catholics on all controversial issues, including the issue. But the union did not find support from the Byzantine episcopate (Bishop Mark Eugenicus became the head of its opponents), which led to the coexistence in Constantinople of two parallel hierarchies - Uniate and Orthodox. 14 years later, immediately after the fall of Constantinople, the Ottomans decided to rely on the anti-Uniates and installed a follower of Mark Eugenicus, Gennady Scholarius, as patriarch, but formally the union was abolished only in 1484.
If in the history of the church the union remained only a short-lived failed experiment, then its trace in the history of culture is much more significant. Figures like Bessarion of Nicaea, a disciple of the neo-pagan Plethon, a Uniate metropolitan, and then a cardinal and titular Latin patriarch of Constantinople, played a key role in the transmission of Byzantine (and ancient) culture to the West. Vissarion, whose epitaph contains the words: “Through your labors, Greece moved to Rome,” translated Greek classical authors into Latin, patronized Greek emigrant intellectuals, and donated his library to Venice, which included more than 700 manuscripts (at that time the most extensive private library in Europe), which became the basis of the Library of St. Mark.
The Ottoman state (named after the first ruler Osman I) arose in 1299 on the ruins of the Seljuk Sultanate in Anatolia and during the 14th century increased its expansion in Asia Minor and the Balkans. A brief respite for Byzantium was given by the confrontation between the Ottomans and the troops of Tamerlane at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries, but with the coming to power of Mehmed I in 1413, the Ottomans again began to threaten Constantinople.
22. 1453 - the fall of the Byzantine Empire
Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror. Painting by Gentile Bellini. 1480
Wikimedia Commons
The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, made unsuccessful attempts to repel the Ottoman threat. By the early 1450s, Byzantium retained only a small region in the vicinity of Constantinople (Trapezund was actually independent from Constantinople), and the Ottomans controlled both most of Anatolia and the Balkans (Thessalonica fell in 1430, Peloponnese was devastated in 1446). In search of allies, the emperor turned to Venice, Aragon, Dubrovnik, Hungary, the Genoese, the Pope, but real help (and very limited) was offered only by the Venetians and Rome. In the spring of 1453, the battle for the city began, on May 29 Constantinople fell, and Constantine XI died in battle. About his death, the circumstances of which are not known to scientists, many incredible stories were composed; in Greek folk culture for many centuries there was a legend that the last Byzantine king was turned into marble by an angel and now rests in a secret cave at the Golden Gate, but is about to wake up and drive out the Ottomans.
Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror did not break the line of succession with Byzantium, but inherited the title of Roman Emperor, supported the Greek Church, and stimulated the development of Greek culture. The time of his reign is marked by projects that at first glance seem fantastic. The Greek-Italian Catholic humanist George of Trebizond wrote about building a world empire led by Mehmed, in which Islam and Christianity would unite into one religion. And the historian Mikhail Kritovul created a story in praise of Mehmed - a typical Byzantine panegyric with all the obligatory rhetoric, but in honor of the Muslim ruler, who, nevertheless, is not called the sultan, but in the Byzantine manner - the basil.
Archangel Michael and Manuel II Palaiologos. 15th century Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, Italy / Bridgeman Images / Fotodom1. A country called Byzantium never existed
If the Byzantines of the 6th, 10th or 14th centuries had heard from us that they were Byzantines, and their country was called Byzantium, the vast majority of them would simply not understand us. And those who did understand would think that we want to flatter them by calling them residents of the capital, and even in an outdated language that is used only by scientists who try to make their speech as refined as possible.
Part of the consular diptych of Justinian. Constantinople, 521 Diptychs were presented to consuls in honor of their assumption of office. The Metropolitan Museum of Art There never was a country that its inhabitants would call Byzantium; the word "Byzantines" was never 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 Emperor Constantine under the name of Constantinople. They were called that only in texts written in a conventional literary language, stylized as ancient Greek, which no one had spoken for a long time. No one knew the other Byzantines, and even these existed only in texts accessible to a narrow circle of educated elites who wrote in this archaic Greek 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), there were several stable and understandable phrases and words: romean state, or Romans, (βασιλεία τῶν Ρωμαίων), romania (Ρωμανία), Romaida (Ρωμαΐς ).
The inhabitants 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 statehood, the Eastern Roman Empire (this is how Byzantium is often called in modern historical writings, and this is much closer to the self-consciousness of the Byzantines themselves), in fact, lost its voice heard beyond its borders: the Eastern Roman tradition of self-description found itself isolated within the Greek-speaking lands that belonged to the Ottoman Empire; the only important thing now was that Western European scholars thought and wrote about Byzantium.
Jerome Wolf. Engraving by Dominicus Custos. 1580 Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig In the Western European tradition, the state of Byzantium was actually created by Hieronymus Wolff, 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 "Korpus" that the concept of "Byzantine" entered the Western European scientific circulation.
Wolf's work formed the basis of another collection of Byzantine historians, also called the "Corpus of Byzantine History", but much larger - it was published in 37 volumes with the assistance of King Louis XIV of France. Finally, the Venetian edition of the second Corpus was used by the 18th-century English historian Edward Gibbon when writing his History of the Fall and Decline of the Roman Empire - perhaps no other book had such a huge and at the same time destructive influence 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-name and self-consciousness.
2. The Byzantines didn't know they weren't Romans
Autumn. Coptic panel. 4th century Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester, UK / Bridgeman Images / Fotodom For the Byzantines, who themselves called themselves Romans, the history of the great empire never ended. The very idea would seem absurd to them. Romulus and Remus, Numa, Augustus Octavian, Constantine I, Justinian, Phocas, Michael the Great Komnenos - 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 inhabitants 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, like the ancient Romans, they attributed the beginning of their own political history to the Trojan Aeneas, the hero of Virgil's poem, fundamental to Roman identity.
The social order of the Roman Empire and the sense of belonging to the great Roman patria were combined in the Byzantine world with Greek scholarship and written culture: the Byzantines considered classical ancient Greek literature to be their own. For example, in the 11th century, the monk and scholar Michael Psellos seriously discusses in one treatise about who writes poetry better - the Athenian tragedian Euripides or the Byzantine poet of the 7th century George Pisida, the author of a panegyric on the Avaro-Slavic siege of Constantinople in 626 and the theological poem "Shestodnev about the divine creation of the world. In this poem, later translated into Slavic, George paraphrases the ancient authors Plato, Plutarch, Ovid and Pliny the Elder.
At the same time, at the level of ideology, Byzantine culture often opposed itself to classical antiquity. Christian apologists noticed that all Greek antiquity - poetry, theater, sports, sculpture - was permeated with religious cults of pagan deities. Hellenic values (material and physical beauty, the desire for pleasure, human glory and honors, military and athletic victories, eroticism, rational philosophical thinking) were condemned as unworthy of Christians. Basil the Great, in his famous talk "To Young Men on How to Use Pagan Writings," sees the main danger for Christian youth in the attractive way of life offered to the reader in Hellenic writings. He advises to select in them for oneself only stories that are morally useful. The paradox is that Basil, like many other Fathers of the Church, himself received an excellent Hellenic education and wrote his compositions in a classical literary style, using the techniques of ancient rhetorical art and a language that by his time had already fallen into disuse and sounded like archaic.
In practice, ideological incompatibility with Hellenism did not prevent the Byzantines from carefully treating the ancient cultural heritage. Ancient texts were not destroyed, but copied, while the scribes tried to be accurate, except that in rare cases they could throw out a 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 epos of Homer, the tragedies of Euripides, the speeches of Demos-Phen and use the Hellenic cultural code in their own writings, for example, call the Arabs Persians, and Russia - Hyperborea. Many elements of ancient culture in Byzantium were preserved, although they changed beyond recognition and acquired new religious content: for example, rhetoric became homiletics (the science of church preaching), philosophy became theology, and the ancient 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, due to the enormous 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 centuries (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 Germanic tribes and the ever-growing social role of Christianity, which became the dominant religion in the 4th century. Byzantium, which exists in the mass consciousness primarily as a Christian empire, is drawn in this perspective as a natural heir to the cultural decline that occurred in late Antiquity due to mass Christianization: the focus of religious fanaticism and obscurantism, stretching for a whole millennium of stagnation.
Amulet that protects from the evil eye. Byzantium, 5th-6th centuries
On one side, an eye is depicted, at which arrows are directed and attacked by a lion, a snake, a scorpion and a stork.
© The Walters Art MuseumHematite amulet. Byzantine Egypt, 6th–7th centuries
The inscriptions define him as "the 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 just a time of destruction of beautiful antiquity? Historical science has been sure for more than half a century that this is not so.
Especially simplified is the idea of the supposedly fatal role of Christianization in the destruction of the culture of the Roman Empire. The culture of late Antiquity in reality was hardly built on the opposition of "pagan" (Roman) and "Christian" (Byzantine). The way late antique culture was organized for its creators and users was much more complex: the very question of the conflict between the Roman and the religious would have seemed strange to Christians of that era. In the 4th century, Roman Christians could easily place images of pagan deities, made in 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 pagan and Christian in artistic techniques for contemporaries: in the 6th century, images of Christ and saints were made using the technique of a traditional Egyptian funeral portrait, the most famous type of which is the so-called Fayum portrait. Fayum portrait- a kind of funeral portraits common in Hellenized Egypt in the Ι-III centuries AD. e. The image was applied with hot paints on 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 (and perhaps, 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 the 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 were different forms of monasticism here for about a century and a half), the poet Nonn from the city of Panopol (modern Akmim) writes an adaptation (paraphrase) of the Gospel of John in the language of Homer, preserving not only the meter and style, but also deliberately borrowing whole verbal formulas and figurative layers from his epos 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 came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being that came into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God; his name is John.
Nonn from Panopol. Paraphrase of the Gospel of John, Canto 1 (translated by Yu. A. Golubets, D. A. Pospelov, A. V. Markov):
Logos, God's Child, Light born from Light,
He is inseparable from the Father on the infinite throne!
Heavenly God, Logos, you are the primordial
He shone together with the Eternal, the Creator of the world,
Oh, Ancient of the universe! All things were done through Him,
What is breathless and in the spirit! Outside the Speech, which does a lot,
Is it manifest that it abides? And in Him exists from eternity
Life, which is inherent in everything, the light of a short-lived people ...<…>
In the bee-feeding more often
The wanderer on the mountain appeared, the inhabitant of the desert slopes,
He is the herald of the cornerstone baptism, the name is
God's man, John, the leader. .
Portrait of a young girl. 2nd century©Google Cultural Institute
Funeral portrait of a man. 3rd century©Google Cultural Institute
Christ Pantocrator. Icon from the monastery of St. Catherine. Sinai, mid 6th century Wikimedia Commons
St. Peter. Icon from the monastery of St. Catherine. Sinai, 7th century© campus.belmont.edu
The dynamic changes that took place in different layers of the culture of the Roman Empire in late Antiquity are difficult to directly relate to Christianization, since the Christians of that time were themselves such hunters for classical forms both in the visual arts and in literature (as well as in many other areas of life). The future Byzantium was born in an era in which the relationship between religion, artistic language, its audience, as well as 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, but wrote in another
The language picture of Byzantium is paradoxical. The empire, which not only claimed succession from the Roman Empire and inherited its institutions, but also, from the point of view of its political ideology, was the former Roman Empire, never spoke Latin. It was spoken in the western provinces and the Balkans, until the 6th century it remained the official language of jurisprudence (the last legal code in Latin was the Code of Justinian, promulgated in 529 - after it laws were already issued in Greek), it enriched Greek with many borrowings (before only in the military and administrative spheres), early Byzantine Constantinople attracted Latin grammarians with career opportunities. But still, Latin was not a real language even of early Byzantium. Let the Latin-speaking poets Corippus and Priscian live in Constantinople, we will not meet these names on the pages of the textbook of the history of Byzantine literature.
We cannot say at what exact moment the Roman emperor becomes Byzantine: the formal identity of institutions does not allow us to draw a clear boundary. In search of an answer to this question, it is necessary to turn to informal cultural differences. The Roman Empire differs from the Byzantine Empire in that the latter merged Roman institutions, Greek culture and Christianity and carried out this synthesis on the basis of the Greek language. Therefore, one of the criteria on which we could rely is the language: the Byzantine emperor, unlike his Roman counterpart, is easier to express himself in Greek than in Latin.
But what is this Greek? The alternative that bookstore shelves and philological programs offer us is misleading: we can find either ancient or modern Greek in them. No other reference point is provided. Because of this, we are forced to proceed from the fact that the Greek of Byzantium is either a distorted ancient Greek (almost the dialogues of Plato, but not quite) or Proto-Greek (almost the negotiations of Tsipras with the IMF, but not quite yet). The history of 24 centuries of continuous development of the language is straightened out and simplified: it is either the inevitable decline and degradation of the ancient Greek (this is what the Western European classical philologists thought before the establishment of Byzantine studies as an independent scientific discipline), or the inevitable germination of the modern Greek (this is what the Greek scientists thought at the time of 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, successive changes, since for every step forward in language development there was a step back. The reason for this is the attitude towards the language of the Byzantines themselves. Socially prestigious was the language norm of Homer and the classics of Attic prose. To write well meant to write history indistinguishable from Xenophon or Thucydides (the last historian who dared to introduce into his text the Old Attic elements, which seemed archaic already in the classical era, is a witness to the fall of Constantinople, Laonicus Chalkokondylus), and the epic is indistinguishable from Homer. From educated Byzantines throughout the history of the empire, it was required to literally speak one (changed) language and write another (frozen in classical immutability) language. The duality of linguistic consciousness is the most important feature of Byzantine culture.
Ostracon with a fragment of the Iliad in Coptic. Byzantine Egypt, 580–640
Ostraca - shards of clay vessels - were used to record Bible verses, legal documents, accounts, school assignments and prayers when papyrus was not available or too expensive.
© The Metropolitan Museum of ArtOstracon with a troparion to the Theotokos 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 ordered alternation formed the basis of ancient Greek poetic meters. In the Hellenistic era, the opposition of vowels by longitude left the Greek language, but nevertheless, even a thousand years later, heroic poems and epitaphs were written as if the phonetic system had remained unchanged since the time of Homer. Differences also permeated other linguistic levels: it was necessary to build a phrase, like Homer, select words, like Homer, and decline and conjugate them in accordance with a paradigm that died out in living speech millennia ago.
However, not everyone was able to write with antique liveliness and simplicity; often, in an attempt to achieve the Attic ideal, Byzantine authors lost their sense of proportion, trying to write more correctly than their idols. Thus, we know that the dative case, which existed in Ancient Greek, has almost completely disappeared in Modern Greek. It would be logical to assume that with each century in literature it will occur less and less until it gradually disappears altogether. However, recent studies have shown that the dative case is used much more often in Byzantine high literature than in the literature of classical antiquity. But it is precisely this increase in frequency that speaks of the 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 linguistic element took its toll. We learn about how the spoken language changed thanks to the errors of manuscript copyists, non-literary inscriptions and the so-called vernacular literature. The term “folk-speaking” is not accidental: it describes the phenomenon of interest to us much better than the more familiar “folk”, since elements of simple urban colloquial speech were often used in monuments created in the circles of the Constantinople elite. It became a real literary fashion in the 12th century, when the same authors could work in several registers, today offering the reader exquisite prose, almost indistinguishable from Attic, and tomorrow - almost rhymes.
Diglossia, or bilingualism, also gave rise to another typically Byzantine phenomenon - metaphrasing, that is, transcription, retelling in half with translation, presentation of the content of the source with new words with a decrease or increase in the stylistic register. Moreover, the shift could go both along the line of complication (pretentious syntax, refined figures of speech, ancient allusions and quotations), and along the line of language simplification. Not a single work was considered inviolable, even the language of sacred texts in Byzantium did not have the status of sacred: the Gospel could be rewritten in a different stylistic key (as, for example, the already mentioned Nonn of Panopolitan did) - and this did not bring down anathema on the head of the author. It was necessary to wait until 1901, when the translation of the Gospels into colloquial Modern Greek (in fact, the same metaphrase) brought opponents and defenders of the language renewal to the streets and led to dozens of victims. In this sense, the indignant 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. There were iconoclasts in Byzantium - and this is a terrible mystery
Iconoclasts John the Grammarian and Bishop Anthony of Silea. Khludov Psalter. Byzantium, circa 850 Miniature to Psalm 68, verse 2: "They gave me gall to eat, 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 Golgotha. The warrior on the right brings Christ a sponge with vinegar. At the foot of the mountain - John Grammatik and Bishop Anthony of Silea. rijksmuseumamsterdam.blogspot.ru Iconoclasm is the most famous period for a wide audience and the most mysterious even for specialists in the history of Byzantium. The depth of the trace that he left in the cultural memory of Europe is evidenced by the possibility, for example, in English to use the word iconoclast (“iconoclast”) outside of the historical context, in the timeless meaning of “rebel, overthrower of foundations”.
The event line is like this. By the turn of the 7th and 8th centuries, the theory of the worship of religious images was hopelessly lagging 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 icon veneration, sometimes indistinguishable from magical practices. According to the collections of miracles of saints, drunk wax from a melted seal with the face of St. Artemy healed a hernia, and Saints Cosmas and Damian healed the suffering woman by ordering 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, caused rejection among some clerics, who saw signs of paganism in it. 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 the years 726-730, but both the theological justification of the iconoclastic dogma and full-fledged repression against dissidents occurred during the reign of the most odious Byzantine emperor - Constantine V Copronymus (Gnoemeny) (741-775).
Claiming for the status of the ecumenical, the iconoclastic council of 754 took the dispute to a new level: from now on, it was not about the fight against superstitions and the fulfillment of the Old Testament prohibition “Do not make an idol for yourself”, but about the hypostasis of Christ. Can He be considered pictorial if His divine nature is "indescribable"? The “Christological dilemma” was as follows: the iconodules are guilty either of imprinting on icons only the flesh of Christ without His deity (Nestorianism), or of limiting the deity of Christ through the description of His depicted flesh (Monophysitism).
However, already in 787, Empress Irina held a new council in Nicaea, the participants of which formulated the dogma of icon veneration as a response to the dogma of iconoclasm, thereby offering a full-fledged theological foundation for previously unordered practices. An intellectual breakthrough was, firstly, the separation of “official” and “relative” worship: the first can only be given to God, while with the second “the honor given to the image goes back to the prototype” (the words of Basil the Great, which became real motto of iconodules). Secondly, the theory of homonymy was proposed, that is, the same name, which removed the problem of portrait similarity between the image and the depicted: the icon of Christ was recognized as such not due to the similarity of features, but due to the spelling of the name - the act of naming.
Patriarch Nicephorus. Miniature from the Psalter of Theodore of Caesarea. 1066 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 towards Constantine V, the most successful and most beloved ruler in the army in the last century. The so-called second iconoclasm accounts for both a new round of repressions and a new rise in theological thought. The iconoclastic era ends in 843, when iconoclasm is finally condemned as a heresy. But his ghost haunted the Byzantines until 1453: for centuries, participants in any church disputes, using the most sophisticated rhetoric, accused each other of covert iconoclasm, and this accusation was more serious than accusation of any other heresy.
It would seem that everything is quite simple and clear. But as soon as we try to somehow clarify this general scheme, our constructions turn out to be very unsteady.
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 iconodules. In the 40s of the 9th century, a full-fledged program was carried out to write the history of iconoclasm from icon-worshipping positions. As a result, the history of the dispute has been completely distorted: the iconoclasts' writings are available only in tendentious selections, and textual analysis shows that the iconodules' works, seemingly created to refute the teachings of Constantine V, could not have been written before the very end of the 8th century. The task of the icon-worshipping authors was to turn the history 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” on Greek - the most hated word for any Byzantine), and deliberately anti-Christian. Iconoclasts appeared not as fighters for the cleansing of Christianity from paganism, but as "Christian accusers" - this word began to refer specifically and exclusively to iconoclasts. The parties in the iconoclastic dispute turned out to be not Christians, who interpret 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 iconoclasts for education, for example, about the burning of the never-existing university in Constantinople by Leo III, and participation in pagan rites and human sacrifices, hatred of the Mother of God and doubts about the divine nature of Christ were attributed to Constantine V. 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 very recently that it was possible to establish that the cruel massacre committed against Stefan the New, glorified as a martyr in 766, was connected not so much with his uncompromising icon-worshiping position, as life claims, but with his proximity to the conspiracy of political opponents of Constantine V. disputes about key questions: what is the role of Islamic influence in the genesis of iconoclasm? what was the true attitude of the iconoclasts towards the cult of saints and their relics?
Even the language we use to talk about iconoclasm is the language of the conquerors. The word "iconoclast" is not a self-designation, but an offensive polemical label invented and implemented by their opponents. 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 non-material, 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 etc. Moreover, the iconoclasts themselves claimed that they were defending 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, defeat their teaching, it would be called Orthodox now, and we would contemptuously call the teaching of their opponents icon worship and talk not about the iconoclastic, but about the icon worship period in Byzantium. However, if it were so, the whole subsequent history and visual aesthetics of Eastern Christianity would have been different.
6. The West never liked 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 broke up into barbarian states and the tradition of "Romanness" was interrupted in the West, but preserved 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. The court of Charlemagne competed with Byzantium - this can be seen in architecture and in art. However, the imperial claims of Charles rather increased the misunderstanding between East and West: the culture of the Carolingian Renaissance wanted to see itself as the only legitimate heir of Rome.
Crusaders attack Constantinople. Miniature from the chronicle "The Conquest of Constantinople" by Geoffroy de Villehardouin. Approximately 1330, Villardouin was one of the leaders of the campaign. Bibliothèque nationale de France By the 10th century, the overland routes from Constantinople to northern Italy through the Balkans and along the Danube were blocked by barbarian tribes. The only way left was by sea, which reduced the possibilities of communication and made cultural exchange more difficult. The division into East and West has become a physical reality. The ideological divide between East and West, fueled throughout the Middle Ages by theological disputes, deepened during 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 the rest, referring to the divine establishment.
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 success of Islam to it. For example, Dante believed that Sultan Saladin could have converted to Christianity (and even placed him in his Divine Comedy in 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 the Greek language. At the same time, Byzantine intellectuals learned Latin only 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 had 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 Renaissance scholars and intellectuals were interested in classical antiquity, not in the society that preserved it. In addition, it was mainly intellectuals who fled to the West who were negatively inclined towards the ideas of monasticism and Orthodox theology of that time and who sympathized with the Roman Church; their opponents, supporters of Gregory Palamas, on the contrary, believed that it was better to try to negotiate with the Turks than to seek help from the pope. Therefore, 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 fixed in European culture as oriental and exotic, sometimes attractive, but more often hostile and alien to European ideals of reason and progress.
The age of European enlightenment completely stigmatized 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 dishonors 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 controversy:
The Greeks - great talkers, great debaters, sophists by nature - constantly entered into religious disputes. Since the monks enjoyed great influence in 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 first calming down, then inciting theological disputes, regarding which it was noticed that they became the hotter, the more insignificant was the reason that caused them.
So Byzantium became part of the image of the barbaric dark East, which paradoxically also included the main enemies of the Byzantine Empire - Muslims. In the Orientalist model, Byzantium was opposed to 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 Saint Anthony by Gustave Flaubert:
“The king wipes fragrances from his face with his sleeve. He eats from sacred vessels, then breaks them; and mentally he counts his ships, his troops, his peoples. Now, out of a whim, he will take and burn his palace with all the guests. He thinks to restore the Tower of Babel and overthrow the Almighty from the throne. Antony reads from a distance on his forehead all his thoughts. They take possession of him, and he becomes Nebuchadnezzar."
The mythological view of Byzantium has not yet been completely overcome in historical science. Of course, there could be no question of any moral example of Byzantine history for the education of youth. School curricula were based on samples of classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, and Byzantine culture was excluded from them. In Russia, science and education followed Western patterns. In the 19th century, a dispute about the role of Byzantium in Russian history broke out between Westerners and Slavophiles. Peter Chaadaev, following the tradition of European enlightenment, bitterly complained about the Byzantine heritage of Russia:
“By the will of fateful fate, we turned for moral teaching, which 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 Slavdom” 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 the hope for the general welfare of peoples, the totality of some aesthetic ideas, and so on. Since all-Slavism is not a civilization or culture at all, and European civilization is coming to an end, Russia - which inherited almost everything from Byzantium - needs Byzantism to flourish. pointed to the stereotypical idea of Byzantium, which has developed due to schooling and the lack of independence of Russian science:
"Byzantium seems to be something dry, boring, priestly, and not only boring, but even something pitiful and vile."
7. In 1453, Constantinople fell - but Byzantium did not die
Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror. Miniature from the collection of Topkapı Palace. Istanbul, late 15th century Wikimedia Commons In 1935, the book of the Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga, Byzantium after Byzantium, was published - and its title established itself 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 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 commonwealth", as the British historian Dmitry Obolensky called Eastern European medieval cultures that were directly influenced by Byzantium - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Russia. The participants in this supranational unity preserved the heritage of Byzantium in religion, the norms of Roman law, the standards of literature and art.
In the last hundred years of the existence of the empire, two factors - the cultural revival of the Palaiologos and the Palamite disputes - contributed, on the one hand, to the renewal of ties between the Orthodox peoples and Byzantium, and on the other hand, 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 got into 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 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 manage 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 the cultural and political heirs of the Byzantine Empire. They continued the traditions of the ceremonial of the royal court, Greek education and theology, and supported the Greek elite of Constantinople, the Phanariots. Phanariots- literally "inhabitants of Phanar", a quarter of Constantinople, in which the residence of the Greek patriarch was located. The Greek elite of the Ottoman Empire were called Phanariotes because they lived predominantly in this quarter..
Greek uprising of 1821. Illustration from A History of All Nations from the Earliest Times by John Henry Wright. 1905 The Internet Archive Iorga believes that Byzantium died after Byzantium during the unsuccessful uprising against the Turks in 1821, which was organized by Phanariot Alexander Ypsilanti. On one side of the banner of Ypsilanti there was the inscription “Conquer this” and the image of 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 crushed, the Patriarch of Constantinople was executed, and the ideology of the Byzantine Empire then dissolved into Greek nationalism.
Constantinople - in the center of the world
On May 11, 330 AD, on the European coast of the Bosporus, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great solemnly founded the new capital of the empire - Constantinople (and to be precise and use its official name, then - New Rome). The emperor did not create a new state: Byzantium, in the exact sense of the word, was not the successor to the Roman Empire, it was Rome itself. The word "Byzantium" appeared only in the West during the Renaissance. The Byzantines called themselves the Romans (Romans), their country - the Roman Empire (Empire of the Romans). Constantine's plans corresponded to such a name. New Rome was erected at the main crossroads of the main trade routes and was originally planned as the greatest of the cities. Built in the 6th century, Hagia Sophia was the tallest architectural structure on Earth for more than a thousand years, and its beauty was compared with Heaven.
Until the middle of the XII century, New Rome was the main trading hub of the planet. Before being devastated by the crusaders in 1204, it was also the most populated city in Europe. Later, especially in the last century and a half, more economically significant centers appeared on the globe. But in our time, the strategic importance of this place could not be overestimated. Owning the straits of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, he owned the entire Near and Middle East, and this is the heart of Eurasia and the entire Old World. In the 19th century, the British Empire was the real owner of the straits, protecting this place from Russia even at the cost of an open military conflict (during the Crimean War of 1853-1856, and the war could start in 1836 and 1878). For Russia, it was not just a matter of "historical heritage", but the ability to control its southern borders and main trade flows. After 1945, the keys to the straits were in the hands of the United States, and the deployment of American nuclear weapons in this region, as is known, immediately caused the appearance of Soviet missiles in Cuba and provoked the Cuban Missile Crisis. The USSR agreed to retreat only after the curtailment of the American nuclear potential in Turkey. Today, the issues of Turkey's entry into the European Union and its foreign policy in Asia are paramount problems for the West.
They only dreamed of peace
New Rome received a rich inheritance. However, this became his main "headache". In his contemporary world, there were too many applicants for the assignment of this inheritance. It is difficult to recall even one long period of calm on the Byzantine borders; the empire was in mortal danger at least once a century. Until the 7th century, the Romans, along the perimeter of all their borders, waged the most difficult wars with the Persians, Goths, Vandals, Slavs and Avars, and in the end the confrontation ended in favor of the New Rome. This happened very often: young and fresh peoples who fought the empire went into historical oblivion, and the empire itself, ancient and almost defeated, licked its wounds and continued to live. However, then the former enemies were replaced by the Arabs from the south, the Lombards from the west, the Bulgarians from the north, the Khazars from the east, and a new centuries-old confrontation began. As the new opponents weakened, they were replaced in the north by the Rus, Hungarians, Pechenegs, Cumans, in the east by the Seljuk Turks, in the west by the Normans.
In the fight against enemies, the empire used force, diplomacy honed over the centuries, intelligence, military cunning, and sometimes the services of allies. The last resort was double-edged and extremely dangerous. The crusaders who fought with the Seljuks were extremely burdensome and dangerous allies for the empire, and this alliance ended with the first fall for Constantinople: the city, which had successfully fought off any attacks and sieges for almost a thousand years, was brutally devastated by its “friends”. Its further existence, even after the liberation from the crusaders, was only a shadow of the previous glory. But just at that time, the last and most cruel enemy appeared - the Ottoman Turks, who surpassed all previous ones in their military qualities. The Europeans really got ahead of the Ottomans in military affairs only in the 18th century, and the Russians were the first to do this, and the first commander who dared to appear in the inner regions of the Sultan's empire was Count Peter Rumyantsev, for which he received the honorary name Zadanaisky.
Indefatigable subjects
The internal state of the Roman Empire was also never calm. Its state territory was extremely heterogeneous. At one time, the Roman Empire maintained its unity through superior military, commercial, and cultural capabilities. The legal system (the famous Roman law, finally codified in Byzantium) was the most perfect in the world. For several centuries (since the time of Spartacus), Rome, within which more than a quarter of all mankind lived, was not threatened by any serious danger, wars were fought on distant borders - in Germany, Armenia, Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). Only internal decay, the crisis of the army and the weakening of trade led to disintegration. Only from the end of the 4th century did the situation on the borders become critical. The need to repel barbarian invasions in different directions inevitably led to the division of power in a vast empire between several people. However, this also had negative consequences - internal confrontation, further weakening of ties and the desire to "privatize" their piece of imperial territory. As a result, by the 5th century, the final division of the Roman Empire was a fact, but did not alleviate the situation.
The eastern half of the Roman Empire was more populated and Christianized (by the time of Constantine the Great, Christians, despite the persecution, there were already more than 10% of the population), but in itself did not constitute an organic whole. An amazing ethnic diversity reigned in the state: Greeks, Syrians, Copts, Arabs, Armenians, Illyrians lived here, Slavs, Germans, Scandinavians, Anglo-Saxons, Turks, Italians and many other nationalities soon appeared, from whom they were only required to confess the true faith and submit to imperial power. . Its richest provinces - Egypt and Syria - were geographically too far from the capital, fenced off by mountain ranges and deserts. Sea communication with them, as trade declined and piracy flourished, became more and more difficult. In addition, the overwhelming majority of the population here were adherents of the Monophysite heresy. After the victory of Orthodoxy at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, a powerful uprising broke out in these provinces, which was suppressed with great difficulty. In less than 200 years, the Monophysites joyfully greeted the Arab "liberators" and subsequently converted to Islam relatively painlessly. The western and central provinces of the empire, primarily the Balkans, but also Asia Minor, for many centuries experienced a massive influx of barbarian tribes - Germans, Slavs, Turks. Emperor Justinian the Great in the 6th century tried to expand the state limits in the west and restore the Roman Empire to its "natural borders", but this led to colossal efforts and costs. A century later, Byzantium was forced to shrink to the limits of its “state core”, predominantly inhabited by Greeks and Hellenized Slavs. This territory included the west of Asia Minor, the Black Sea coast, the Balkans and southern Italy. The further struggle for existence was mainly going on already in this territory.
The people and the army are united
The constant struggle required the constant maintenance of defense capability. The Roman Empire was forced to revive the peasant militia and heavily armed cavalry, characteristic of Ancient Rome of the republican period, to re-create and maintain a powerful navy at state expense. Defense has always been the main expense of the treasury and the main burden for the taxpayer. The state kept a close eye on the fact that the peasants retained their fighting capacity, and therefore strengthened the community in every possible way, preventing its disintegration. The state struggled with the excessive concentration of wealth, including land, in private hands. State regulation of prices was a very important part of the policy. A powerful state apparatus, of course, gave rise to the omnipotence of officials and large-scale corruption. Active emperors fought against abuses, inert ones started the disease.
Of course, slow social stratification and limited competition slowed down the pace of economic development, but the fact of the matter was that the empire had more important tasks. Not from a good life, the Byzantines equipped their armed forces with all sorts of technical innovations and types of weapons, the most famous of which was the “Greek fire” invented in the 7th century, which brought the Romans more than one victory. The army of the empire maintained its fighting spirit until the second half of the 12th century, until it gave way to foreign mercenaries. The treasury now spent less, but the risk of falling into the hands of the enemy increased immeasurably. Let us recall the classic expression of one of the recognized experts on the issue - Napoleon Bonaparte: the people who do not want to feed their own army will feed someone else's. Since that time, the empire has become dependent on Western "friends", who immediately showed her how much friendship is.
Autocracy as a recognized necessity
The circumstances of Byzantine life strengthened the perceived need for the autocratic power of the emperor (basileus of the Romans). But too much depended on his personality, character, abilities. That is why the empire developed a flexible system for the transfer of supreme power. In specific circumstances, power could be transferred not only to a son, but also to a nephew, son-in-law, brother-in-law, husband, adopted successor, even one's own father or mother. The transfer of power was secured by the decision of the Senate and the army, popular approval, church wedding (since the 10th century, the practice of imperial chrismation, borrowed in the West, was introduced). As a result, the imperial dynasties rarely experienced their centenary, only the most talented - the Macedonian - dynasty managed to hold out for almost two centuries - from 867 to 1056. A person of low birth could also be on the throne, who advanced thanks to one talent or another (for example, a butcher from Dacia Lev Makella, a commoner from Dalmatia and the uncle of the Great Justinian Justin I, or the son of an Armenian peasant Vasily the Macedonian - the founder of that same Macedonian dynasty). The tradition of co-rulers was extremely developed (co-rulers sat on the Byzantine throne in general for about two hundred years). Power had to be firmly held in the hands: in the entire Byzantine history, there were about forty successful coups d'etat, usually they ended in the death of the defeated ruler or his removal to the monastery. Only half of the basileus died on the throne with their death.Empire as a catechon
The very existence of the empire was for Byzantium more of a duty and a duty than an advantage or a rational choice. The ancient world, the only direct heir of which was the Empire of the Romans, has gone into the historical past. However, his cultural and political legacy became the foundation of Byzantium. The empire from the time of Constantine was also the stronghold of the Christian faith. The basis of the state political doctrine was the idea of the empire as a "katechon" - the guardian of the true faith. The barbarian-Germans who flooded the entire western part of the Roman ecumene adopted Christianity, but only in the Arian heretical version. The only major "acquisition" of the Ecumenical Church in the west until the 8th century was the Franks. Having accepted the Nicene Creed, King Clovis of the Franks immediately received the spiritual and political support of the Roman Patriarch-Pope and the Byzantine emperor. This began the growth of the power of the Franks in the west of Europe: Clovis was granted the title of Byzantine patrician, and his distant successor Charlemagne, three centuries later, already wanted to be called the emperor of the West.
The Byzantine mission of that period could well compete with the Western one. Missionaries of the Church of Constantinople preached in the space of Central and Eastern Europe - from the Czech Republic to Novgorod and Khazaria; close contacts with the Byzantine Church were maintained by the English and Irish Local Churches. However, papal Rome quite early became jealous of competitors and expelled them by force, and soon the mission itself in the papal West acquired an openly aggressive character and predominantly political tasks. The first large-scale action after the fall of Rome from Orthodoxy was the papal blessing of William the Conqueror on a campaign in England in 1066; after that, many representatives of the Orthodox Anglo-Saxon nobility were forced to emigrate to Constantinople.
Within the Byzantine Empire itself, there were heated disputes on religious grounds. Now among the people, now in power, heretical currents arose. Under the influence of Islam, the emperors began iconoclastic persecution in the 8th century, which provoked resistance from the Orthodox people. In the 13th century, out of a desire to strengthen relations with the Catholic world, the authorities went to the union, but again did not receive support. All attempts to "reform" Orthodoxy on the basis of opportunistic considerations or to bring it under "earthly standards" failed. A new union in the 15th century, concluded under the threat of Ottoman conquest, could no longer even ensure political success. It has become history's bitter grin at the vain ambitions of rulers.
What is the advantage of the West?
When and in what way did the West begin to take over? As always, in economics and technology. In the sphere of culture and law, science and education, literature and art, Byzantium until the 12th century easily competed or was far ahead of its Western neighbors. The powerful cultural influence of Byzantium was felt in the West and East far beyond its borders - in Arab Spain and Norman Britain, and in Catholic Italy it dominated until the Renaissance. However, due to the very conditions of the existence of the empire, it could not boast of special socio-economic successes. In addition, Italy and Southern France were initially more favorable for agricultural activity than the Balkans and Asia Minor. In the XII-XIV centuries in Western Europe there is a rapid economic rise - one that has not been since ancient times and will not be there until the XVIII century. This was the heyday of feudalism, the papacy and chivalry. It was at this time that a special feudal structure of Western European society with its class-corporate rights and contractual relations arose and established itself (the modern West emerged precisely from this).
Western influence on the Byzantine emperors from the Komnenos dynasty in the 12th century was the strongest: they copied Western military art, Western fashion, and for a long time acted as allies of the Crusaders. The Byzantine fleet, so burdensome for the treasury, was disbanded and rotted, its place was taken by the fleets of the Venetians and Genoese. The emperors cherished the hope of overcoming the recent falling away of papal Rome. However, the strengthened Rome already recognized only complete submission to its will. The West marveled at the imperial brilliance and, in order to justify its aggressiveness, loudly resented the duplicity and depravity of the Greeks.
Were the Greeks drowning in depravity? Sin was side by side with grace. The horrors of palaces and city squares alternated with the genuine sanctity of the monasteries and the sincere piety of the laity. Evidence of this is the lives of the saints, liturgical texts, high and unsurpassed Byzantine art. But the temptations were very strong. After the defeat of 1204 in Byzantium, the pro-Western trend only intensified, young people went to study in Italy, and among the intelligentsia there was a craving for the pagan Hellenic tradition. Philosophical rationalism and European scholasticism (and it was based on the same pagan learning) began to be regarded in this milieu as higher and more refined teachings than patristic ascetic theology. Intellect took precedence over Revelation, individualism over Christian achievement. Later, these trends, together with the Greeks who moved to the West, would greatly contribute to the development of the Western European Renaissance.
Historical scope
The empire survived the struggle against the crusaders: on the Asian shore of the Bosporus, opposite the defeated Constantinople, the Romans retained their territory and proclaimed a new emperor. Half a century later, the capital was liberated and held out for another 200 years. However, the territory of the revived empire was practically reduced to the great city itself, several islands in the Aegean Sea and small territories in Greece. But even without this epilogue, the Roman Empire existed for almost a millennium. It is possible in this case not even to take into account the fact that Byzantium directly continues the ancient Roman statehood, and considered the founding of Rome in 753 BC as its birth. Even without these reservations, there is no other such example in world history. Empires last for years (Napoleon's empire: 1804–1814), decades (German Empire: 1871–1918), at best, for centuries. The Han Empire in China lasted four centuries, the Ottoman Empire and the Arab Caliphate - a little more, but by the end of their life cycle they became only a fiction of empires. The West-based Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was also a fiction for most of its existence. There are not many countries in the world that did not claim imperial status and continuously existed for a thousand years. Finally, Byzantium and its historical predecessor - Ancient Rome - also demonstrated a "world record" of survival: any state on Earth withstood at best one or two global alien invasions, Byzantium - much more. Only Russia could be compared with Byzantium.
Why did Byzantium fall?
Her successors answered this question in different ways. At the beginning of the 16th century, the Pskov elder Philotheus believed that Byzantium, having accepted the union, had betrayed Orthodoxy, and this was the reason for its death. However, he argued that the death of Byzantium was conditional: the status of the Orthodox empire was transferred to the only remaining sovereign Orthodox state - Moscow. In this, according to Philotheus, there was no merit of the Russians themselves, such was God's will. However, the fate of the world now depended on the Russians: if Orthodoxy falls in Russia, then the world will soon end with it. Thus, Filofei warned Moscow of a great historical and religious responsibility. The coat of arms of the Paleologians inherited by Russia - a double-headed eagle - is a symbol of such responsibility, a heavy cross of the imperial burden.A younger contemporary of the elder, Ivan Timofeev, a professional warrior, pointed to other reasons for the fall of the empire: the emperors, trusting in flattering and irresponsible advisers, despised military affairs and lost combat readiness. Peter the Great also spoke about the sad Byzantine example of the loss of fighting spirit, which caused the death of a great empire: a solemn speech was delivered in the presence of the Senate, Synod and generals in the Trinity Cathedral of St. Petersburg on October 22, 1721, on the day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, at the king of the imperial title. As you can see, all three - the elder, the warrior and the newly proclaimed emperor - had in mind close things, only in a different aspect. The power of the Roman Empire rested on strong power, a strong army and the loyalty of its subjects, but they themselves, at the base, had to have a firm and true faith. And in this sense, the empire, or rather all the people who made it up, has always balanced between Eternity and death. In the invariable relevance of this choice, there is an amazing and unique flavor of Byzantine history. In other words, this story in all its light and dark sides is a clear evidence of the correctness of the saying from the order of the Triumph of Orthodoxy: “This is the apostolic faith, this is the paternal faith, this is the Orthodox faith, this is the faith that affirm the universe!”
Byzantium (Byzantine Empire) - a medieval state from the name of the city of Byzantium, on the site of which the emperor of the Roman Empire Constantine I the Great (306–337) founded Constantinople and in 330 moved the capital here from Rome (see Ancient Rome). In 395 the empire was divided into Western and Eastern; in 476 the Western Empire fell; East survived. Byzantium was its continuation. The subjects themselves called her Romania (Roman power), and themselves - Romans (Romans), regardless of their ethnic origin.
Byzantine Empire in the VI-XI centuries.
Byzantium existed until the middle of the 15th century; until the 2nd half of the 12th century. it was a powerful, richest state that played a huge role in the political life of Europe and the countries of the Middle East. Byzantium achieved its most significant foreign policy successes at the end of the 10th century. - the beginning of the 11th century; she temporarily conquered the western Roman lands, then stopped the offensive of the Arabs, conquered Bulgaria in the Balkans, subjugated the Serbs and Croats and became in essence a Greek-Slavic state for almost two centuries. Its emperors tried to act as the supreme overlords of the entire Christian world. Ambassadors from all over the world came to Constantinople. The sovereigns of many countries of Europe and Asia dreamed of kinship with the emperor of Byzantium. Visited Constantinople around the middle of the 10th century. and Russian princess Olga. Her reception in the palace was described by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus himself. He was the first to call Russia "Rosia" and spoke about the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks."
Even more significant was the influence of the peculiar and vibrant culture of Byzantium. Until the end of the 12th century. it remained the most cultured country in Europe. Kievan Rus and Byzantium supported from the 9th century. regular trade, political and cultural ties. Invented around 860 by Byzantine cultural figures - the "Thessalonica brothers" Constantine (in monasticism Cyril) and Methodius, Slavic writing in the 2nd half of the 10th century. - early 11th c. penetrated into Russia mainly through Bulgaria and quickly became widespread here (see Writing). From Byzantium in 988, Russia also adopted Christianity (see Religion). Simultaneously with the baptism, Prince Vladimir of Kyiv married the emperor's sister (granddaughter of Constantine VI) Anna. In the next two centuries, dynastic marriages between the ruling houses of Byzantium and Russia were concluded many times. Gradually in the 9th-11th centuries. on the basis of an ideological (then primarily religious) community, an extensive cultural zone (“the world of orthodoxy” - Orthodoxy) developed, the center of which was Byzantium and in which the achievements of Byzantine civilization were actively perceived, developed and processed. The Orthodox zone (it was opposed by the Catholic one) included, in addition to Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria and most of Serbia.
One of the factors holding back the social and state development of Byzantium was the continuous wars that it waged throughout its existence. In Europe, she held back the onslaught of the Bulgarians and nomadic tribes - the Pechenegs, the Uzes, the Polovtsy; waged wars with the Serbs, Hungarians, Normans (in 1071 they deprived the empire of its last possessions in Italy), and finally, with the crusaders. In the East, Byzantium served for centuries as a barrier (like Kievan Rus) for Asian peoples: Arabs, Seljuk Turks, and from the 13th century. - and the Ottoman Turks.
There are several periods in the history of Byzantium. Time from the 4th c. until the middle of the 7th c. - this is the era of the collapse of the slave system, the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages. Slavery has outlived itself, the ancient policy (city) - the stronghold of the old system - was wrecked. The crisis was experienced by the economy, the state system, and ideology. Waves of "barbarian" invasions hit the empire. Relying on the huge bureaucratic apparatus of power inherited from the Roman Empire, the state recruited part of the peasants into the army, forced others to perform official duties (to carry goods, build fortresses), imposed heavy taxes on the population, attached it to the land. Justinian I (527–565) attempted to restore the Roman Empire to its former borders. His commanders Belisarius and Narses temporarily conquered North Africa from the Vandals, Italy from the Ostrogoths, and part of Southeastern Spain from the Visigoths. The grandiose wars of Justinian were vividly described by one of the largest contemporary historians - Procopius of Caesarea. But the rise was short. By the middle of the 7th c. the territory of Byzantium was reduced by almost three times: possessions in Spain, more than half of the lands in Italy, most of the Balkan Peninsula, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt were lost.
The culture of Byzantium in this era was distinguished by its bright originality. Although Latin was almost until the middle of the 7th century. official language, there was also literature in Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian. Christianity, which became the state religion in the 4th century, had a huge impact on the development of culture. The church controlled all genres of literature and the arts. Libraries and theaters were destroyed or destroyed, schools where "pagan" (ancient) sciences were taught were closed. But Byzantium needed educated people, the preservation of elements of secular scholarship and natural science knowledge, as well as applied arts, the skill of painters and architects. A significant fund of ancient heritage in Byzantine culture is one of its characteristic features. The Christian Church could not exist without a competent clergy. It turned out to be powerless in the face of criticism from pagans, heretics, adherents of Zoroastrianism and Islam, without relying on ancient philosophy and dialectics. On the foundation of ancient science and art, multicolored mosaics of the 5th-6th centuries, enduring in their artistic value, arose, among which the mosaics of churches in Ravenna stand out especially (for example, with the image of the emperor in the church of San Vitale). The Code of Civil Law of Justinian was drawn up, which later formed the basis of bourgeois law, since it was based on the principle of private property (see Roman law). An outstanding work of Byzantine architecture was the magnificent church of St. Sophia, built in Constantinople in 532-537. Anthimius of Thrall and Isidore of Miletus. This miracle of building technology is a kind of symbol of the political and ideological unity of the empire.
In the 1st third of the 7th c. Byzantium was in a state of severe crisis. Huge areas of previously cultivated lands were desolate and depopulated, many cities lay in ruins, the treasury was empty. The entire north of the Balkans was occupied by the Slavs, some of them penetrated far to the south. The state saw a way out of this situation in the revival of small free peasant landownership. Strengthening its power over the peasants, it made them its main support: the treasury was made up of taxes from them, an army was created from those obliged to serve in the militia. It helped to strengthen power in the provinces and return the lost lands in the 7th-10th centuries. a new administrative structure, the so-called thematic system: the governor of the province (themes) - the strategist received from the emperor all the fullness of military and civil power. The first themes arose in areas close to the capital, each new theme served as the basis for the creation of the next, neighboring one. The barbarians who settled in it also became subjects of the empire: as taxpayers and warriors, they were used to revive it.
With the loss of lands in the east and west, the majority of its population were Greeks, the emperor began to be called in Greek - "basileus".
In the 8th–10th centuries Byzantium became a feudal monarchy. A strong central government held back the development of feudal relations. Some of the peasants retained their freedom, remaining taxpayers to the treasury. The vassal system in Byzantium did not take shape (see Feudalism). Most of the feudal lords lived in large cities. The power of the basileus was especially strengthened in the era of iconoclasm (726-843): under the flag of the fight against superstition and idolatry (veneration of icons, relics), the emperors subjugated the clergy, who argued with them in the struggle for power, and supported separatist tendencies in the provinces, confiscated the wealth of the church and monasteries . From now on, the choice of the patriarch, and often the bishops, began to depend on the will of the emperor, as well as the welfare of the church. Having solved these problems, the government restored icon veneration in 843.
In the 9th-10th centuries. the state completely subjugated not only the village, but also the city. The gold Byzantine coin - nomisma acquired the role of an international currency. Constantinople became again a "workshop of splendor" that amazed foreigners; as a "golden bridge", he brought into a knot the trade routes from Asia and Europe. Merchants of the entire civilized world and all "barbarian" countries aspired here. But the artisans and merchants of the major centers of Byzantium were subjected to strict control and regulation by the state, paid high taxes and duties, and could not participate in political life. From the end of the 11th century their products could no longer withstand the competition of Italian goods. Uprisings of townspeople in the 11th-12th centuries. brutally repressed. Cities, including the capital, fell into decay. Their markets were dominated by foreigners who bought wholesale products from large feudal lords, churches, and monasteries.
The development of state power in Byzantium in the 8th–11th centuries. - this is the path of gradual revival in a new guise of a centralized bureaucratic apparatus. Numerous departments, courts, and overt and secret police operated a huge machine of power, designed to control all spheres of life of citizens, to ensure their payment of taxes, the fulfillment of duties, and unquestioning obedience. In the center of it stood the emperor - the supreme judge, legislator, military leader, who distributed titles, awards and positions. His every step was decorated with solemn ceremonies, especially the receptions of ambassadors. He presided over the council of the highest nobility (synclite). But his power was not legally hereditary. There was a bloody struggle for the throne, sometimes the synclite decided the matter. Intervened in the fate of the throne and the patriarch, and the palace guards, and all-powerful temporary workers, and the capital's plebs. In the 11th century two main groups of nobility competed - the civil bureaucracy (it stood for centralization and increased tax oppression) and the military (it sought greater independence and expansion of estates at the expense of free taxpayers). Basileus of the Macedonian dynasty (867-1056), founded by Basil I (867-886), under which Byzantium reached the pinnacle of power, represented the civil nobility. The rebellious usurper commanders waged a continuous struggle with her and in 1081 managed to place their protege Alexei I Comnenus (1081–1118), the founder of a new dynasty (1081–1185), on the throne. But the Comneni achieved temporary successes, they only delayed the fall of the empire. In the provinces, the rich magnates refused to consolidate the central government; Bulgarians and Serbs in Europe, Armenians in Asia did not recognize the power of the Basils. Byzantium, which was in crisis, fell in 1204, during the invasion of the Crusaders during the 4th Crusade (see Crusades).
In the cultural life of Byzantium in the 7th-12th centuries. changed three stages. Until the 2nd third of the 9th c. its culture is marked by decadence. Elementary literacy became a rarity, secular sciences were almost expelled (except for those related to military affairs; for example, in the 7th century "Greek fire" was invented, a liquid combustible mixture that brought victories to the imperial fleet more than once). Literature was dominated by the genre of biographies of saints - primitive narratives that praised patience and implanted faith in miracles. Byzantine painting of this period is poorly known - icons and frescoes perished during the era of iconoclasm.
The period from the middle of the 9th c. and almost to the end of the 11th century. called by the name of the ruling dynasty, the time of the "Macedonian revival" of culture. Back in the 8th c. it became predominantly Greek-speaking. The "Renaissance" was peculiar: it was based on official, strictly systematized theology. The metropolitan school acted as a legislator both in the sphere of ideas and in the forms of their embodiment. The canon, model, stencil, fidelity to tradition, the unchanging norm triumphed in everything. All types of fine arts were permeated with spiritualism, the idea of humility and the triumph of the spirit over the body. Painting (icon painting, frescoes) was regulated by obligatory plots, images, the arrangement of figures, a certain combination of colors and chiaroscuro. These were not images of real people with their individual traits, but symbols of moral ideals, faces as carriers of certain virtues. But even in such conditions, artists created genuine masterpieces. An example of this is the beautiful miniatures of the Psalter of the early 10th century. (stored in Paris). Byzantine icons, frescoes, book miniatures occupy a place of honor in the world of fine arts (see Art).
Philosophy, aesthetics, and literature are marked by conservatism, a penchant for compilation, and a fear of novelty. The culture of this period is distinguished by external pomposity, adherence to strict rituals, splendor (during worship, palace receptions, organizing holidays and sports, triumphs in honor of military victories), as well as a sense of superiority over the culture of the peoples of the rest of the world.
However, this time was also marked by a struggle of ideas, and by democratic and rationalist tendencies. Major advances have been made in the natural sciences. He was famous for his scholarship in the first half of the 9th century. Lev Mathematician. The ancient heritage was actively comprehended. He was often approached by Patriarch Photius (mid-ninth century), who cared about the quality of teaching at the higher Mangavra school in Constantinople, where the Slavic enlighteners Cyril and Methodius were then studying. They relied on ancient knowledge when creating encyclopedias on medicine, agricultural technology, military affairs, and diplomacy. In the 11th century the teaching of jurisprudence and philosophy was restored. The number of schools that taught literacy and numeracy increased (see Education). Passion for antiquity led to the emergence of rationalistic attempts to justify the superiority of reason over faith. In the "low" literary genres, calls for sympathy for the poor and humiliated became more frequent. The heroic epic (the poem "Digenis Akrit") is permeated with the idea of patriotism, consciousness of human dignity, independence. Instead of brief world chronicles, there are extensive historical descriptions of the recent past and events contemporary to the author, where often the devastating criticism of the basileus was heard. Such, for example, is the highly artistic Chronography by Michael Psellos (2nd half of the 11th century).
In painting, the number of subjects increased sharply, technique became more complicated, attention to the individuality of images increased, although the canon did not disappear. In architecture, the basilica was replaced by a cross-domed church with rich decoration. The pinnacle of the historiographical genre was the "History" by Nikita Choniates, an extensive historical narrative, brought to 1206 (including a story about the tragedy of the empire in 1204), full of sharp moral assessments and attempts to clarify the cause-and-effect relationships between events.
On the ruins of Byzantium in 1204, the Latin Empire arose, consisting of several states of Western knights bound by vassal ties. At the same time, three state associations of the local population were formed - the Kingdom of Epirus, the Empire of Trebizond and the Empire of Nicaea, hostile to the Latins (as the Byzantines called all Catholics whose church language was Latin) and to each other. In the long-term struggle for the “Byzantine inheritance”, the Nicaean Empire gradually won. In 1261, she expelled the Latins from Constantinople, but the restored Byzantium did not regain its former greatness. Not all lands were returned, and the development of feudalism led to the 14th century. to feudal disunity. In Constantinople and other large cities, Italian merchants were in charge, having received unheard-of benefits from the emperors. Civil wars were added to the wars with Bulgaria and Serbia. In 1342–1349 the democratic elements of the cities (primarily Thessalonica) revolted against the big feudal lords, but were defeated.
The development of Byzantine culture in 1204–1261 lost unity: it proceeded within the framework of the three states mentioned above and in the Latin principalities, reflecting both Byzantine traditions and the characteristics of these new political entities. Since 1261, the culture of late Byzantium has been characterized as a "Paleologian revival". This was a new bright flowering of Byzantine culture, marked, however, by especially sharp contradictions. As before, writings on ecclesiastical topics prevailed in literature - lamentations, panegyrics, lives, theological treatises, etc. However, secular motives begin to sound more and more insistently. The poetic genre developed, novels in verse on ancient subjects appeared. Works were created in which there were disputes about the meaning of ancient philosophy and rhetoric. Folk motifs, in particular folk songs, began to be used more boldly. The fables ridiculed the vices of the social system. Literature in the vernacular arose. 15th century humanist philosopher Georgy Gemist Plifon exposed the self-interest of the feudal lords, proposed to liquidate private property, to replace obsolete Christianity with a new religious system. In painting, bright colors, dynamic postures, individuality of portrait and psychological characteristics prevailed. Many original monuments of religious and secular (palace) architecture were created.
Starting from 1352, the Ottoman Turks, having captured almost all the possessions of Byzantium in Asia Minor, began to conquer its lands in the Balkans. Attempts to bring the Slavic countries in the Balkans to the union failed. The West, however, promised Byzantium help only on the condition that the church of the empire be subordinated to the papacy. The Ferraro-Florentine union of 1439 was rejected by the people, who protested violently, hating the Latins for their dominance in the economy of cities, for the robberies and oppression of the crusaders. At the beginning of April 1453, Constantinople, almost alone in the struggle, was surrounded by a huge Turkish army and on May 29 was taken by storm. The last emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, died in arms on the walls of Constantinople. The city was sacked; it then became Istanbul - the capital of the Ottoman Empire. In 1460, the Turks conquered the Byzantine Morea in the Peloponnese, and in 1461 Trebizond, the last fragment of the former empire. The fall of Byzantium, which had existed for a thousand years, was an event of world-historical significance. It resonated with keen sympathy in Russia, in Ukraine, among the peoples of the Caucasus and the Balkan Peninsula, who by 1453 had already experienced the severity of the Ottoman yoke.
Byzantium perished, but its bright, multifaceted culture left a deep mark on the history of world civilization. The traditions of Byzantine culture were carefully preserved and developed in the Russian state, which experienced a rise and soon after the fall of Constantinople, at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, turned into a powerful centralized state. Her sovereign Ivan III (1462–1505), under whom the unification of Russian lands was completed, was married to Sophia (Zoya) Paleolog, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor.