Italy
Throughout history, Italy has been the heart of the action: epicentre of the Roman Empire, intellectual hub of the Renaissance, and destination for trade goods from the Silk Road.
Ancient Rome
Urbs kaput mundi - the city at the center of the world.
Throughout history, Italy has been the heart of the action: epicentre of the Roman Empire, intellectual hub of the Renaissance, and destination for trade goods from the Silk Road.
Ancient Rome
Urbs kaput mundi - the city at the center of the world.
Map of the Hellenic World Circa 1700 AD
Roman Mythology - Founding of Rome, 1st century
Title: Romulus and Remus with their foster mother, statue, c.500-489 BC.
Order No.: A1-1111.
Location: Capitoline Museums, Rome.
Beginning of the Roman Empire
Rome from legend to empire
According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 BC by Romulus, the first of seven kings. Over the next 250 years Rome grew from scattered huts into a city.
In 509 BC Rome became a republic, ruled by the Senate and people. By 200 BC, the republic had established control over the whole of Italy. In 146 BC it destroyed the powerful cities of Carthage in Tunisia, and Corinth in Greece - Rome now controlled the Mediterranean.
Looted Greek gold poured into Rome, but aristocrats competing for this wealth destabilized the republic, and civil war broke out. Julius Caesar re-established order, but was assassinated in 44 BC. His adopted son, Octavian, defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra of Egypt at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and became ruler of the republic. In 27 BC Octavian renamed himself Augustus, and the Roman Empire was born.
The empire, stretching across the Mediterranean lands and most of Europe, lasted over 400 years. The last western emperor was deposed in AD 476, but the empire survived in the east, as the Byzantine Empire, until AD 1453.
According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 BC by Romulus, the first of seven kings. Over the next 250 years Rome grew from scattered huts into a city.
In 509 BC Rome became a republic, ruled by the Senate and people. By 200 BC, the republic had established control over the whole of Italy. In 146 BC it destroyed the powerful cities of Carthage in Tunisia, and Corinth in Greece - Rome now controlled the Mediterranean.
Looted Greek gold poured into Rome, but aristocrats competing for this wealth destabilized the republic, and civil war broke out. Julius Caesar re-established order, but was assassinated in 44 BC. His adopted son, Octavian, defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra of Egypt at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and became ruler of the republic. In 27 BC Octavian renamed himself Augustus, and the Roman Empire was born.
The empire, stretching across the Mediterranean lands and most of Europe, lasted over 400 years. The last western emperor was deposed in AD 476, but the empire survived in the east, as the Byzantine Empire, until AD 1453.
Imperial Rome
Most of the visible remains of ancient Rome date from the time of the emperors. Images on coins and the impressive ruins of many of Rome's monuments give an idea of their original appearance.
Augustus was the first emperor. He and his supporters remodelled Rome, leaving a lasting legacy. They rebuilt the Roman forum, the religious, political and administrative hear of the city, as well as theatres, temples, baths, basilicas and porticoes. These monuments, built in the extravagant Corinthian style of architecture, pleased the people, beautified the city and glorified the emperor.
Later emperors also left their mark on the city. Claudius rebuilt the Circus Maximus, Nero built his enormous palace the Domus Area (Golden House), Vespasian erected the Colosseum, Trajan constructed an immense Forum and the Basilica Ullpia and Hadrian built the Pantheon, Several emperors including Titus, Caracalla, and Diocletian built lavish public baths.
Most of the visible remains of ancient Rome date from the time of the emperors. Images on coins and the impressive ruins of many of Rome's monuments give an idea of their original appearance.
Augustus was the first emperor. He and his supporters remodelled Rome, leaving a lasting legacy. They rebuilt the Roman forum, the religious, political and administrative hear of the city, as well as theatres, temples, baths, basilicas and porticoes. These monuments, built in the extravagant Corinthian style of architecture, pleased the people, beautified the city and glorified the emperor.
Later emperors also left their mark on the city. Claudius rebuilt the Circus Maximus, Nero built his enormous palace the Domus Area (Golden House), Vespasian erected the Colosseum, Trajan constructed an immense Forum and the Basilica Ullpia and Hadrian built the Pantheon, Several emperors including Titus, Caracalla, and Diocletian built lavish public baths.
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Augustus Caesar – Reigned 27 BC – 14 AD
While Julius Caesar set up the markings of a great empire, it was his great-nephew (and adopted son) who succeeded in implementing his dream. Born Gaius Octavius, Augustus Caesar formed the Second Triumvirate with Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus, and when the Triumvirate separated the Republic into three divisions, Augustus gained great power and eventually founded the Roman Empire and became its first emperor. Augustus led the empire it its most prosperous period, doubling its size after defeating Cleopatra* and seizing Egypt. He also expanded the empire into Hungary, Croatia, Spain, and Gaul, and he was worshiped like a god amongst his people. *The death of Cleopatra ended the Hellenistic Age (323 - 31 BC) |
Title: Portrait of Augustus, First Emperor of Rome, Roman Imperial Perios, Late 1st century, BC. Marble and plaster.
Order No.: A1-0487.
Location: SAM No. 1874-33.
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Altar of Augustus Peace in the Campus Martius
Title: Decorative Relief, Ara Pacis Augustae - 9 B.C..
Order No.; A1-1467
Location: Italy (Rome)
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Title: Roman Figures, Ara Pacis Augustae Frieze, 9 BC..
Order No.: A1-1488.
Location: Rome
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Title: Ara Pacis Frieze, Rome.
Order No.: A1-1452.
Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome. 9 BC. Frieze showing fragments with Vegetal Spirals (lily, rose, bellflower and date plams)
Augustus boasted that he found Rome a city of brick and left it of marble.
Title: Ancient Rome of Marble.
Order No.: A1-1267.
Location: Rome
Title: Ruins of Roman Forum.
Order No.: A1-0995.
Location: Rome.
The Arch of Tiberius ("'Arcus Tiberi'") was a triumphal arch built in 16 AD in the ForumRomanum to celebrate the recovery of the eagle standards that had been lost to Germanic tribes by Varus in 9. The Roman general Germanicus had recovered the standards in 15 or 16.
Title: Arch of Septimius Severus with Ruins of The Roman Forum.
Order No.: A1-y2014.
Location: Rome
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Title: Arch to Septimius Severus, c.16 AD with distant view of Arch of Titus.
Order No.: A1-0991.
Location: Roman Forum.
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The Arch of Titus (Italian: Arco di Tito; Latin: Arcus Titi) is a 1st-century AD honorific arch, located on the Via Sacra, Rome, just to the south-east of the Roman Forum. It was constructed in c. 81 AD by the Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to commemorate Titus's official deification or consecratio and the victory of Titus together with their father, Vespasian, over the Jewish rebellion in Judaea.The arch contains panels depicting the triumphal procession celebrated in 71 AD after the Roman victory culminating in the fall of Jerusalem,and provides one of the few contemporary depictions of artifacts of Herod's Temple. It became a symbol of the Jewish diaspora, and the menorah depicted on the arch served as the model for the menorah used as the emblem of the state of Israel.
The arch has provided the general model for many triumphal arches erected since the 16th century—perhaps most famously it is the inspiration for the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. |
Title: Arch of Titus showing the "Spoils of Jerusalem" relief on inside of arch.
Order No.: A1-1043.
Location: Roman Forum.
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Early Trade Routes - Frankincense - AD 100
Title: Map of Frankincense Trade Routes, c. AD 100. (National Geographic, 1982)
Title: Reliefs on Trajan's Column.
Order No.: A1-1327.
Location: Imperial Forum, Rome.
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Title: Trajan's Column, c.97 AD.
Order No.: A1-1623.
Location: Imperial Fora, Rome.
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Trajan's Column is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, that commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate.
Palmyra and the Silk Road in the early Middle Ages
Map of Palmyrene Kingdon, c.270 AD
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The ancient caravan city of Palmyra was a Roman provincial capital, which was an important trade centre on the Silk Road strategically situated between east and west connecting the Chinese, Persian and Roman empires. Merchants coming to or returning from Rome had to stop in Palmyra to pay taxes and simply to rest. Since around the year 227 AD, however, trade had been halted at intervals by the Sassanid Persians who periodically blocked the route to exact tribute. Silk had bee among the most popular commodities in Rome from before the time of Augustus (27 BC-14AD).
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Historical Background: The Byzantine World
Title: Coat-of-Arm of the Byzantine Empire
The term "Byzantine Empire"
There was not such a contemporary institution as the Byzantine Empire. The term was invented by a German historian in the 17th century as a convenient method of differentiation between the Latin speaking Roman Empire and the latter Greek speaking Roman Empire.
There was not such a contemporary institution as the Byzantine Empire. The term was invented by a German historian in the 17th century as a convenient method of differentiation between the Latin speaking Roman Empire and the latter Greek speaking Roman Empire.
Title: Bronze Bust of Emperor Constantine 1.
Order No.: A1-1125.
Location: Capitoline Musuem, Rome.
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Title: Bust of Emperor Constantine 1
Order No.: A1-1084.
Location: Rome
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The Arch of Constantine (AD 312) is a triumphal arch in Rome dedicated to the emperor Constantine the Great. The arch was commissioned by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine’s victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in AD 312.
It is one of three surviving ancient Roman triumphal arches in Rome. Erected hastily to celebrate Constantine’s victory over Maxentius, it incorporates sculptures from many earlier buildings, including part of a battle frieze and figures of prisoners from the Forum of Trajan, a series of Hadrianic roundels, and a set of eight Aurelian panels.
It is one of three surviving ancient Roman triumphal arches in Rome. Erected hastily to celebrate Constantine’s victory over Maxentius, it incorporates sculptures from many earlier buildings, including part of a battle frieze and figures of prisoners from the Forum of Trajan, a series of Hadrianic roundels, and a set of eight Aurelian panels.
Title: Constantine Arch.
Order No.: A1-1031.
Location: Rome.
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Title: Facade of the Arch of Constantine.
Order No.: A1-1037.
Location: Rome.
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Title: Base of Arch of Constantine.
Order No.: A1-1058.
Location: Rome.
Christianity
Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire at the beginning of the fourth century, at about the same time the Roman Empire was divided into two separate but equal units: the Western Empire, with Rome as its administrative centre, and the Eastern Empire, with the ancient Greek city of Byzantium (later renamed Constantinople) as its capital and administrative centre.
Difference between the Eastern and Western Empires: Rome moved to backwater status in the fourth and fifth centuries. Milan supplanted Rome and then Ravenna became the third and final capital of the Western Roman Empire. This was necessitated due to the fact that the Emperor of the West was required at first to be close to the frontier dealing with the Barbarian invasions (i.e. Milan) and then in the fifth century to seek a stronger defence position in Ravenna.
The head of the Church in the East was next to the head of the Empire in Constantinople. But in the West, the head of the Church, the Bishop of Rome, never moved from Rome, even though the Western Emperor was later in residence in Milan and then in Ravenna. So Rome never lost its religious centricity. This in turn led to the development of the Papal estates following the collapse of the Western Empire itself under the weight of repeated and persistent attacks.
The Eastern Empire, by contrast, thrived. Constantinople assumed Rome's leading role in culture and art. Under its culture aegis, the peoples of the Hellenistic world and beyond became Christianized. Christian lands in the East included Greece, the Balkans, the Crimea and lands on the shores of the Black Sea, Asia Minor (today's Turkey), Palestine and Syria, Egypt and the Libyan coast, and the ancient land of Ethiopia, south of Egypt. The Eastern Church was divided for religious administrative purposes. Each division was ruled by a Patriarch, equal in status, with the Patriarch of Rome considered simply as "primus inter pares" ("a first among equals").
From the seventh century onward, many of these lands fell under Arabic rule, though Christians continued to live as a minority in these regions. Byzantium itself, however, continued to thrive and to convert new peoples in the north: the Slavs of the Balkans and Eastern Europe, who had arrived as invaders in the seventh century; the Bulgars, who settled in the area where Bulgaria is today; and the people of Ukraine and Russia, which included the Vikings, who had colonized the length of the Volga River and its Adjacent lands.
Constantinople remained the artistic, cultural and spiritual centre of all Orthodox Christians, even as they came under Islamic occupation. When, on May 29, 1453, Constantinople itself fell to the advancing armies of the Ottoman Turks, the Byzantine Empire came to an end. The Eastern Roman Empire had finally fallen after having continued the traditions of ancient Greece and Rome throughout more than a thousand years of shining cultural and artistic creation.
Difference between the Eastern and Western Empires: Rome moved to backwater status in the fourth and fifth centuries. Milan supplanted Rome and then Ravenna became the third and final capital of the Western Roman Empire. This was necessitated due to the fact that the Emperor of the West was required at first to be close to the frontier dealing with the Barbarian invasions (i.e. Milan) and then in the fifth century to seek a stronger defence position in Ravenna.
The head of the Church in the East was next to the head of the Empire in Constantinople. But in the West, the head of the Church, the Bishop of Rome, never moved from Rome, even though the Western Emperor was later in residence in Milan and then in Ravenna. So Rome never lost its religious centricity. This in turn led to the development of the Papal estates following the collapse of the Western Empire itself under the weight of repeated and persistent attacks.
The Eastern Empire, by contrast, thrived. Constantinople assumed Rome's leading role in culture and art. Under its culture aegis, the peoples of the Hellenistic world and beyond became Christianized. Christian lands in the East included Greece, the Balkans, the Crimea and lands on the shores of the Black Sea, Asia Minor (today's Turkey), Palestine and Syria, Egypt and the Libyan coast, and the ancient land of Ethiopia, south of Egypt. The Eastern Church was divided for religious administrative purposes. Each division was ruled by a Patriarch, equal in status, with the Patriarch of Rome considered simply as "primus inter pares" ("a first among equals").
From the seventh century onward, many of these lands fell under Arabic rule, though Christians continued to live as a minority in these regions. Byzantium itself, however, continued to thrive and to convert new peoples in the north: the Slavs of the Balkans and Eastern Europe, who had arrived as invaders in the seventh century; the Bulgars, who settled in the area where Bulgaria is today; and the people of Ukraine and Russia, which included the Vikings, who had colonized the length of the Volga River and its Adjacent lands.
Constantinople remained the artistic, cultural and spiritual centre of all Orthodox Christians, even as they came under Islamic occupation. When, on May 29, 1453, Constantinople itself fell to the advancing armies of the Ottoman Turks, the Byzantine Empire came to an end. The Eastern Roman Empire had finally fallen after having continued the traditions of ancient Greece and Rome throughout more than a thousand years of shining cultural and artistic creation.
The Byzantine Empire
Title: Constantinople, Ancient Capital of Byzantium.
Location: RlJanin, Dumarton Oaks Papers 54.
Title: Byzantine Empire from 600 AD to 1204 AD.
Title: Byzantine Empire, 565
Title: Byzantine Empire, 650.
Title: Byzantine Coinage
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Title: Byzantine Coinage
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Title: Emperor Theodosius 1 established Nicene Christianity as the state church of the Roman Empire, 380 AD.
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Messengers from Ephesus before Emperor Theodosius, c. 1200-1220, France (Worcester Arts Museum, MA).
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Christian Church as the official Church of the Roman Empire
When one of the branches of the Christian Church became the official Church of the Roman Empire, the Emperor soon became its official head. He occupied a position as a sort of supreme patriarch among patriarchs, and supreme bishop among bishops. On 27 February 380, the Emperor Theodosius I formally established Nicene Christianity as the state church of the Roman Empire with the Edict of Thessalonica. From now on, this one form of Christianity would be the sole permissible religion.
Justinian definitively established a system of church government, now called Caesaropapism, believing "he had the right and duty of regulating by his laws the minutest details of worship and discipline, and also of dictating the theological opinions to be held in the Church".
The Emperor exercised absolute control over the Church just as he exercised absolute control over the state, and it was not long before the arrangement was confirmed by declaring the Emperor to be infallible. For many centuries it was accepted Christian doctrine that the Emperor was the head of the Christian Church - Pontifex Maximus and Bishop of Bishops, that senior churchmen could be appointed by him, or at least appointed with his approval, that he alone convoked and presided over Universal Church Councils, that he enjoyed privileged direct communication with God, and that he was able to declare doctrine without reference to anyone else. Emperors such as Basiliscus, Zeno, Justinian I, Heraclius, and Constans II convoked councils to issue the edicts they had written, and in some cases they issued edicts themselves without reference to Church council or anyone else. The Emperor protected and favoured the Christian Church, and managed its administration. He not only appointed Patriarchs, but also set the territorial boundaries of their Patriarchies.
Justinian definitively established a system of church government, now called Caesaropapism, believing "he had the right and duty of regulating by his laws the minutest details of worship and discipline, and also of dictating the theological opinions to be held in the Church".
The Emperor exercised absolute control over the Church just as he exercised absolute control over the state, and it was not long before the arrangement was confirmed by declaring the Emperor to be infallible. For many centuries it was accepted Christian doctrine that the Emperor was the head of the Christian Church - Pontifex Maximus and Bishop of Bishops, that senior churchmen could be appointed by him, or at least appointed with his approval, that he alone convoked and presided over Universal Church Councils, that he enjoyed privileged direct communication with God, and that he was able to declare doctrine without reference to anyone else. Emperors such as Basiliscus, Zeno, Justinian I, Heraclius, and Constans II convoked councils to issue the edicts they had written, and in some cases they issued edicts themselves without reference to Church council or anyone else. The Emperor protected and favoured the Christian Church, and managed its administration. He not only appointed Patriarchs, but also set the territorial boundaries of their Patriarchies.
Title: The provinces (themes) of the Byzantine Empire, 1025 AD. Wikipedia
Title: Boundaries of the The Empire of Trebizond in .1432.
Eastern Turkey - Land of Battles
Eastern Turkey - Land of Battles
From Ankara Scene, Vol. XV, November 11, 1988, Ankara, Turkey
Eastern Turkey appeals because it is so different, even to the visitor coming from Ankara and Western Turkey. Cut off by mountains from the central Anatolian plateau, it lies open instead to Mesopotamia and Asia, and its great rivers-have served as pathways for invaders, its mountains in turn as places of refuge. In the past, as still today, on the border of major powers, it has been the site of great battles, and even one minor engagement, whose outcome has directly affected large parts of the western world.
Conquering and ruling this rugged land have always been two different matters, and although many empires have claimed it, none ever succeeded in bringing it totally under control. Achaemenid, Hellenistic, and Parthian kings, Roman emperors, even Ottoman sultans, were forced to govern not directly but through local rulers who owed, but aid not always give, fealty to the central authority.
Eastern Anatolia may seem especially different to the Western visitor because it lay outside the borders of the Graeco-Roman world, culturally as well as geographically. During most of the Classical period the local rulers owed their allegiance first to the Achaemenids, then to the Parthians, of Iran, who gave them members of the royal family as consorts as well as considerable autonomy. Their ultimate loyalties therefore lay with Parthia, even though they might at times pay homage to Rome during her centuries-long struggle for power in the East.
Attempts to make eastern Anatolia a province of the Roman Empire were thus doomed to failure, as Augustus learned to his great cost. Anxious to ensure that his own descendants would inherit his newly-established empire, Augustus formally adopted his grandson, Gaius Caesar, and made him his heir. When not yet twenty, Gaius was sent on an imperial grand tour of the eastern provinces, to prepare both himself and the East for his eventual rule.
The young man had progressed as far as Syria, everywhere receiving the adulation of loyal provinces, when the throne of Armenia fell vacant. Augustus immediately grasped this opportunity to influence the succession while adding to the prestige of his heir. He directly involved Gaius in the process of choosing a new monarch, then sent him to personally crown the prince deemed most loyal to Rome.
Gaius crossed the Euphrates, to be greeted not by loyal vassals but by civil war. Seeing that Rome's candidate would be king only by force of arms, he and the few troops at his command took part in the siege of a rebel stronghold, the small fortress of Artagira. Lured to a conference by the defenders and treacherously stabbed, Gaius managed to reach the coast and take ship for Rome. But "sick in mind as well as body," he broke his journey in Lycia and on February 21, AD 4, died in the city of Limyra, where German excavators have found and are now restoring his cenotaph.
Augustus's dream of an imperial dynasty died along with Gaius. "Bereaved by Fortune," as he states in the Res Gestae, engraved on the walls of his temple in Ankara, he had no choice but to name his hated stepson Tiberius as his successor. And while Rome continued its efforts to annex eastern Anatolia for another sixty years, it finally accepted that only "by consenting to recognize a Parthian prince as king of Armenia was it possible to maintain a Roman vassal on the throne."
Aside from a few attempts to extend the Empire to the Tigris, during the Pax Romana of the first and second centuries the border between Rome and Parthia ran from Trabzon to the upper Euphrates near Erzurum, then followed the west bank of the river into Syria. This border was guarded by imperial legions stationed at Satala (Sadak), Melitene (Malatya), Samosata (Samsat), and Zeugma (Balkis), with smaller forts in between.
From Ankara Scene, Vol. XV, November 11, 1988, Ankara, Turkey
Eastern Turkey appeals because it is so different, even to the visitor coming from Ankara and Western Turkey. Cut off by mountains from the central Anatolian plateau, it lies open instead to Mesopotamia and Asia, and its great rivers-have served as pathways for invaders, its mountains in turn as places of refuge. In the past, as still today, on the border of major powers, it has been the site of great battles, and even one minor engagement, whose outcome has directly affected large parts of the western world.
Conquering and ruling this rugged land have always been two different matters, and although many empires have claimed it, none ever succeeded in bringing it totally under control. Achaemenid, Hellenistic, and Parthian kings, Roman emperors, even Ottoman sultans, were forced to govern not directly but through local rulers who owed, but aid not always give, fealty to the central authority.
Eastern Anatolia may seem especially different to the Western visitor because it lay outside the borders of the Graeco-Roman world, culturally as well as geographically. During most of the Classical period the local rulers owed their allegiance first to the Achaemenids, then to the Parthians, of Iran, who gave them members of the royal family as consorts as well as considerable autonomy. Their ultimate loyalties therefore lay with Parthia, even though they might at times pay homage to Rome during her centuries-long struggle for power in the East.
Attempts to make eastern Anatolia a province of the Roman Empire were thus doomed to failure, as Augustus learned to his great cost. Anxious to ensure that his own descendants would inherit his newly-established empire, Augustus formally adopted his grandson, Gaius Caesar, and made him his heir. When not yet twenty, Gaius was sent on an imperial grand tour of the eastern provinces, to prepare both himself and the East for his eventual rule.
The young man had progressed as far as Syria, everywhere receiving the adulation of loyal provinces, when the throne of Armenia fell vacant. Augustus immediately grasped this opportunity to influence the succession while adding to the prestige of his heir. He directly involved Gaius in the process of choosing a new monarch, then sent him to personally crown the prince deemed most loyal to Rome.
Gaius crossed the Euphrates, to be greeted not by loyal vassals but by civil war. Seeing that Rome's candidate would be king only by force of arms, he and the few troops at his command took part in the siege of a rebel stronghold, the small fortress of Artagira. Lured to a conference by the defenders and treacherously stabbed, Gaius managed to reach the coast and take ship for Rome. But "sick in mind as well as body," he broke his journey in Lycia and on February 21, AD 4, died in the city of Limyra, where German excavators have found and are now restoring his cenotaph.
Augustus's dream of an imperial dynasty died along with Gaius. "Bereaved by Fortune," as he states in the Res Gestae, engraved on the walls of his temple in Ankara, he had no choice but to name his hated stepson Tiberius as his successor. And while Rome continued its efforts to annex eastern Anatolia for another sixty years, it finally accepted that only "by consenting to recognize a Parthian prince as king of Armenia was it possible to maintain a Roman vassal on the throne."
Aside from a few attempts to extend the Empire to the Tigris, during the Pax Romana of the first and second centuries the border between Rome and Parthia ran from Trabzon to the upper Euphrates near Erzurum, then followed the west bank of the river into Syria. This border was guarded by imperial legions stationed at Satala (Sadak), Melitene (Malatya), Samosata (Samsat), and Zeugma (Balkis), with smaller forts in between.
Title: Map of Eastern Anatolia, c.1071,
by Tony M. Cross, 1988.
In Late Roman times, when the Sassanian dynasty had replaced the Parthian and was constantly on the attack, the system of defenses began to change from this set, fortified line to high, impregnable castles which could hold out even if the enemy passed through on raids.
The Byzantines managed to extend the border past the Euphrates, sharing eastern Anatolia with the Persians, but all was lost to the Arabs in the 8th century as they advanced north into the Caucasus and beyond. When Arab power weakened, the local rulers, many now Christian, claimed virtual independence, but in the 11th century a revitalized Byzantium expanded eastward again.
This time the rule was to be very short-lived. Turkmen nomads and Seljuk Turks began annual raids, following the classic invasion route westward along the Araxes (Aras) and upper Euphrates, then spreading out along tributary streams. But the Turkmen were interested only in grazing land, and the Seljuk Turks, it seems, even after taking the cities of Ani and Kars, had no intention of establishing permanent rule. Yet their periodic incursions, the classic confrontation between nomadic herders and settled peasantry and city dwellers, caused total disruption of the eastern provinces.
In response, the Byzantine emperor Romanus Diogenes raised a huge army, estimated at 100,000 men, and marched east from Constantinople. But many of his troops were foreign mercenaries--Frankish and Norman cavalry under their own commander, Roussel, and Cuman Turks from southern Russia--while his second in command, Andronicus Ducas, was a bitter enemy whom he did not dare leave behind.
The Empeoro had reached Manzikert (Turkish Malazgirt) when he received word that the Seljuks under Alp Arslan were coming north from Syria. Even thus forewarned, AlP Arslan took him by surprise in the plain of Manzikert on Friday, August 19, 1071. As Runcirnan descrites it, "The Cumans, remembering that they were Turks and in arrears with their pay, had gone over in a body on the previous night to join the enemy; and Roussel and his Franks decided to take no part in the battle. Andronicus Ducas … drew the reserve troops under his command away from the battlefield and marched them westward, leaving the Emperor to his fate. ...By evening the Byzantine army was destroyed and Romanus wounded and a prisoner. "
Although Alp Arslan demanded little more from his victory than a large ransom for the emperor, "that dreadful day," as later Byzantine historians always described it, had far-reaching consequences. After Manzikert, the West could claim to have replaced Byzantium as protector of Christendom, thus justifying the Crusades. But the most important, and long-lasting, result of Alp's victory was that Anatolia would change from Byzantine and Christian to Turkish and Moslem.
As Runciman notes, the Byzantines made this change even more certain by their immediate actions. Set free by Alp Arslan, Romanus Diogenes was deposed at Constantinople, his eyes put out "so savagely that he died a few days later." In the resulting civil war, Roussel tried to establish a Frankish state in western Anatolia and was stopped only when the Byzantine emperor called in the Seljuks, who alone had an army strong enough to defeat him. Within a few years the Seljuks, almost despite themselves, had formed the Sultanate of Rum in what had been "Roman" (i.e., Byzantine) Anatolia.
Today, the main monuments of this Seljuk state are the stone caravansaries which do the countryside of central Anatolia. Almost all have elaborately carved entrance portals, refectling the influence of various cultures. An additional charm, at least to the pedant, is that they are easy to date, because Seljuk rule was brief, cut of in its prime by the Mongols.
Preceded by their dreadful reputation for invincibility in battle and delight in mindless slaughter, the Mongols took Erzurum in the winter of 1243-4, and used it as a base of attack the following spring. The Seljuk Sultan Kaykhusraw II called upon not only his vassals, allies, and Frankish mercenaries but also former enemies such as the Armenians to muster at Sivas against the common enemy.
"Around him, " says Cahen, "people alternated between the usual panic whenever the Mongols approached, and impatience to go out to halt them, rather than wait until they had occupied or devastated half the realm." Kaykhusraw marched east without waiting for those troops who were delayed (some deliberately), and took up a position at the pass of Kose Dag. The Mongol army, although trapped, relied once again on its famous ruse, pretending to flee in panic and defeat, then suddenly wheeling upon an enemy strung out in pursuit and careless in presumed victory. By the evening of June 26, 1243, the Seljuk army had been totally destroyed. The Sultan fled all the way to Ankara, stopping only to pick up his treasure which had been left for safety in Tokat. "In one day, the course of the history of Asia Minor had been changed beyond recall."
Rarely has one battle been so decisive. Because of Kose Dag, the Turkish dynasty which was to rule Anatolia and well beyond for 500 years was not Seljuk but Ottoman. After taking Constantinople in 1453 the Ottoman Turks, now themselves the established rulers of an empire, tried in their turn to bring eastern Anatolia and its nomadic tribes under direct control. The nomads, however, were no more anxious to submit to the Ottomans than to any other central authority. Their resistance made them ready converts to the Safavid movement, a militant Shi'i heresy and thus anathema to the orthodox Sunnism of the Ottanan state. "Then, as later," explains Shaw, "religion in the Middle East served as a vehicle for the expression of political feelings and ambitions."
The Safavid leader Ismail (1487-1524) was driven into Iran, but within a few years he had eliminated the local dynasts there and gained control of the entire country. From this safe haven the Safavids sent itinerant preachers to the nomads of eastern Anatolia, who became a focus of all discontent. Selim, the grandson of Mehmet the Conqueror, came to know and fear the Safavids while governor of Trabzon, and as soon as he became sultan determined to eliminate them.
As Selim led his army eastward, Ismail retreated, trying to draw the Ottomans into the rugged mountains of northwest Iran. But when Selim made clear his intention of marching directly to the Safavid capital at Tabriz, the two armies met half-way, on August, 23, 1514, in the plain of Caldiran. Casualties were heavy on both sides, but the Ottomans succeeded in turning almost a certain defeat into victory, and Ismail barely managed to escape, wounded and almost alone.
The Ottomans then proceeded to take Tabriz, but because of difficulties in supply Selim withdrew to Karabag in the Caucasus, "the favorite wintering place of the nomadic hordes of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane before him,". But in early winter he was forced to lead his army back to Anatolia, and suffered great losses on the march.
Claimed as an Ottoman victory, Caldiran was more of a standoff. The Safavids accepted that trey could not defeat the Ottoman armies in the plain, although they did not cease their propaganda among the tribes of eastern Anatolia, especially at times of Ottoman weakness. For his part, Selim abandoned his attempt to extirpate the Safavids and instead turned south to add the Arab lands, including the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina, to the empire. And though his son, Suleyman the Magnificent, was to extend the border even further east, adding Van and Kars and Karabag, he too was forced to accept the existence of the Safavids, and with them the division of Islam into two, often warring, sects.
To administer their vast new empire, Selim and his immediate successors replaced the feudal rule of the old Ottoman aristocracy with a centralized government, run by a new bureaucracy and army loyal only to themselves. But in order to retain even nominal control of eastern Anatolia, the Sultans accepted that they must here rule not directly but through the local lords, the famous (and infamously unreliable) feudal agas, some of whom, in title at least, remain to this day.
By Toni M. Cross
ARIT - Ankara Director (1979-2002)
The American Research Institute in Turkey
The Byzantines managed to extend the border past the Euphrates, sharing eastern Anatolia with the Persians, but all was lost to the Arabs in the 8th century as they advanced north into the Caucasus and beyond. When Arab power weakened, the local rulers, many now Christian, claimed virtual independence, but in the 11th century a revitalized Byzantium expanded eastward again.
This time the rule was to be very short-lived. Turkmen nomads and Seljuk Turks began annual raids, following the classic invasion route westward along the Araxes (Aras) and upper Euphrates, then spreading out along tributary streams. But the Turkmen were interested only in grazing land, and the Seljuk Turks, it seems, even after taking the cities of Ani and Kars, had no intention of establishing permanent rule. Yet their periodic incursions, the classic confrontation between nomadic herders and settled peasantry and city dwellers, caused total disruption of the eastern provinces.
In response, the Byzantine emperor Romanus Diogenes raised a huge army, estimated at 100,000 men, and marched east from Constantinople. But many of his troops were foreign mercenaries--Frankish and Norman cavalry under their own commander, Roussel, and Cuman Turks from southern Russia--while his second in command, Andronicus Ducas, was a bitter enemy whom he did not dare leave behind.
The Empeoro had reached Manzikert (Turkish Malazgirt) when he received word that the Seljuks under Alp Arslan were coming north from Syria. Even thus forewarned, AlP Arslan took him by surprise in the plain of Manzikert on Friday, August 19, 1071. As Runcirnan descrites it, "The Cumans, remembering that they were Turks and in arrears with their pay, had gone over in a body on the previous night to join the enemy; and Roussel and his Franks decided to take no part in the battle. Andronicus Ducas … drew the reserve troops under his command away from the battlefield and marched them westward, leaving the Emperor to his fate. ...By evening the Byzantine army was destroyed and Romanus wounded and a prisoner. "
Although Alp Arslan demanded little more from his victory than a large ransom for the emperor, "that dreadful day," as later Byzantine historians always described it, had far-reaching consequences. After Manzikert, the West could claim to have replaced Byzantium as protector of Christendom, thus justifying the Crusades. But the most important, and long-lasting, result of Alp's victory was that Anatolia would change from Byzantine and Christian to Turkish and Moslem.
As Runciman notes, the Byzantines made this change even more certain by their immediate actions. Set free by Alp Arslan, Romanus Diogenes was deposed at Constantinople, his eyes put out "so savagely that he died a few days later." In the resulting civil war, Roussel tried to establish a Frankish state in western Anatolia and was stopped only when the Byzantine emperor called in the Seljuks, who alone had an army strong enough to defeat him. Within a few years the Seljuks, almost despite themselves, had formed the Sultanate of Rum in what had been "Roman" (i.e., Byzantine) Anatolia.
Today, the main monuments of this Seljuk state are the stone caravansaries which do the countryside of central Anatolia. Almost all have elaborately carved entrance portals, refectling the influence of various cultures. An additional charm, at least to the pedant, is that they are easy to date, because Seljuk rule was brief, cut of in its prime by the Mongols.
Preceded by their dreadful reputation for invincibility in battle and delight in mindless slaughter, the Mongols took Erzurum in the winter of 1243-4, and used it as a base of attack the following spring. The Seljuk Sultan Kaykhusraw II called upon not only his vassals, allies, and Frankish mercenaries but also former enemies such as the Armenians to muster at Sivas against the common enemy.
"Around him, " says Cahen, "people alternated between the usual panic whenever the Mongols approached, and impatience to go out to halt them, rather than wait until they had occupied or devastated half the realm." Kaykhusraw marched east without waiting for those troops who were delayed (some deliberately), and took up a position at the pass of Kose Dag. The Mongol army, although trapped, relied once again on its famous ruse, pretending to flee in panic and defeat, then suddenly wheeling upon an enemy strung out in pursuit and careless in presumed victory. By the evening of June 26, 1243, the Seljuk army had been totally destroyed. The Sultan fled all the way to Ankara, stopping only to pick up his treasure which had been left for safety in Tokat. "In one day, the course of the history of Asia Minor had been changed beyond recall."
Rarely has one battle been so decisive. Because of Kose Dag, the Turkish dynasty which was to rule Anatolia and well beyond for 500 years was not Seljuk but Ottoman. After taking Constantinople in 1453 the Ottoman Turks, now themselves the established rulers of an empire, tried in their turn to bring eastern Anatolia and its nomadic tribes under direct control. The nomads, however, were no more anxious to submit to the Ottomans than to any other central authority. Their resistance made them ready converts to the Safavid movement, a militant Shi'i heresy and thus anathema to the orthodox Sunnism of the Ottanan state. "Then, as later," explains Shaw, "religion in the Middle East served as a vehicle for the expression of political feelings and ambitions."
The Safavid leader Ismail (1487-1524) was driven into Iran, but within a few years he had eliminated the local dynasts there and gained control of the entire country. From this safe haven the Safavids sent itinerant preachers to the nomads of eastern Anatolia, who became a focus of all discontent. Selim, the grandson of Mehmet the Conqueror, came to know and fear the Safavids while governor of Trabzon, and as soon as he became sultan determined to eliminate them.
As Selim led his army eastward, Ismail retreated, trying to draw the Ottomans into the rugged mountains of northwest Iran. But when Selim made clear his intention of marching directly to the Safavid capital at Tabriz, the two armies met half-way, on August, 23, 1514, in the plain of Caldiran. Casualties were heavy on both sides, but the Ottomans succeeded in turning almost a certain defeat into victory, and Ismail barely managed to escape, wounded and almost alone.
The Ottomans then proceeded to take Tabriz, but because of difficulties in supply Selim withdrew to Karabag in the Caucasus, "the favorite wintering place of the nomadic hordes of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane before him,". But in early winter he was forced to lead his army back to Anatolia, and suffered great losses on the march.
Claimed as an Ottoman victory, Caldiran was more of a standoff. The Safavids accepted that trey could not defeat the Ottoman armies in the plain, although they did not cease their propaganda among the tribes of eastern Anatolia, especially at times of Ottoman weakness. For his part, Selim abandoned his attempt to extirpate the Safavids and instead turned south to add the Arab lands, including the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina, to the empire. And though his son, Suleyman the Magnificent, was to extend the border even further east, adding Van and Kars and Karabag, he too was forced to accept the existence of the Safavids, and with them the division of Islam into two, often warring, sects.
To administer their vast new empire, Selim and his immediate successors replaced the feudal rule of the old Ottoman aristocracy with a centralized government, run by a new bureaucracy and army loyal only to themselves. But in order to retain even nominal control of eastern Anatolia, the Sultans accepted that they must here rule not directly but through the local lords, the famous (and infamously unreliable) feudal agas, some of whom, in title at least, remain to this day.
By Toni M. Cross
ARIT - Ankara Director (1979-2002)
The American Research Institute in Turkey
Title: 'Four Emperors' (The Tetrarchs),
Order No.: A1-0010-2005
Country: Venice, Italy
Diocletian and the Tetrarchy, 286 and 293. The division of the Roman Empire into four parts.
The Tetrarchs, porphyry sculpture, ca. 300 AD, of the four emperors of the first Tetrarchy ("rule of four"instituted by Emperor Diocletian. It show the four rulers (Diocletian, co-augustus Maximian and Galerius and Constantius 1 as their caesars; Constantius was father to Constantine the Great) in a cordial embrace intended as an expression of concordia, or agreement. Originally located in Byzantine Philadelphion palace, Constantinople, the sculpture was plundered during the Crusade of 1204, taken back to Venice and incorporated into the facade of the Treasury of St. Marks, Venice.
A shift in orientation of style
The sculpture of the Tetrarchs exemplifies and marks the change in approach to representation from a classical to a medieval mentality.
The Tetrarchs, porphyry sculpture, ca. 300 AD, of the four emperors of the first Tetrarchy ("rule of four"instituted by Emperor Diocletian. It show the four rulers (Diocletian, co-augustus Maximian and Galerius and Constantius 1 as their caesars; Constantius was father to Constantine the Great) in a cordial embrace intended as an expression of concordia, or agreement. Originally located in Byzantine Philadelphion palace, Constantinople, the sculpture was plundered during the Crusade of 1204, taken back to Venice and incorporated into the facade of the Treasury of St. Marks, Venice.
A shift in orientation of style
The sculpture of the Tetrarchs exemplifies and marks the change in approach to representation from a classical to a medieval mentality.
Byzantine and Greek Iconography of the Hellenic World
Map of the Hellenic World, panel in the Tilakos Collection Exhibition, June 22 - October 21, 2018, Museum of Russian Icons (MRI), Clinton, MA.
Byzantine Art
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Byzantine Art:
D. Talbot Rice, Professor of Fine Arts in the University of Edinburgh c.1935 book on “Byzantine Art”: The author’s definition of “Byzantine” includes “all the work produced in the Byzantine sphere” (namely, in the Balkans, in Armenia, in Russia, in Italy, Africa, Greece, and in Asia Minor) “…and especially at Constantinople after the synthesis of East and West, of Greek, of Roman, of Syrian, and of Persian elements had been brought about as the outcome of the adoption of Christianity as the state religion”. For more than ten centuries these cultural streams and their many tributaries had flowed through Constantinople east and west and into the Slavonic world. This created a “fruitful traffic in ideas” between the Byzantine capita and the Christian and Moslem worlds. One sees in Byzantine art something “which links it, as far as aims and methods are concerned with the art of today..” We should not the judge Byzantine art by Greco-Roman Renaissance criteria it is this short-sighted approach to Byzantine art which, in the past, led the academic dogmatists to criticize it as a manifestation of decadence. |
Title: St. George and the Dragon, Byzantine stone art.
Order No.: A1-1989.
Location: Western Turkey
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The art of Constantinople had a far reaching and long lasting impact on the surrounding region. The period dates from the 5th through the 15th centuries. It includes art centred in the Ukraine and Russia as well.
The three "Golden Ages" of Byzantine Art
First, the Early Byzantine period, associated with the Emperor Justinian, dates from 527 to 726.
In 726 the iconoclastic controversy led to the destruction of many images.
The middle period began in 823, when Empress Theodora reinstated the veneration of icons and lasted until 1204, when Christian crusaders from the West occupied Constantinople.
The late Byzantine period began with the restoration of Byzantine rule in 1261, and ended when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Byzantine art continued to flourish in Russia, which succeeded Constantinople, as the centre of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The three "Golden Ages" of Byzantine Art
First, the Early Byzantine period, associated with the Emperor Justinian, dates from 527 to 726.
In 726 the iconoclastic controversy led to the destruction of many images.
The middle period began in 823, when Empress Theodora reinstated the veneration of icons and lasted until 1204, when Christian crusaders from the West occupied Constantinople.
The late Byzantine period began with the restoration of Byzantine rule in 1261, and ended when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Byzantine art continued to flourish in Russia, which succeeded Constantinople, as the centre of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Iconograpnhy
iconography: the visual images and symbols used in a work of art or the study or interpretation of these: the conventional iconography of Christian art.
Title: Byzantine wall painting: Isaac Comnenus, Commenid Dynasty (Byzantine Emperor of Cyprus), c.1184 - 1195.
Location: The Engleistra, Agios Neofytos Monastery, Cyprus.
Visual Art - Iconography
The term comes from the Greek word ikon meaning image. An icon was originally a picture of Christ on a panel used as an object of devotion in the Eastern Orthodox Church from at least the seventh century on. Hence the term icon has come to be attached to any object or image that is outstanding or has a special meaning attached to it.
Icons are most commonly created with tempera paint on wood panels but they can be made using a variety of materials such as metal casting, mosaics, textile works, and frescos. The oldest icons date from the 5th and 6th centuries; and after suffering a temporary setback as a result of the iconoclastic movement they played an increasingly important role throughout the history of Byzantine art, reaching their apogee at the time of the Empire's final collapse.
The icon as a Sacred Image
The icon is an archaeological record and a work of art. The Orthodox Church understands the icon to be a sacred image depicting a higher, divine reality. It is a visible reflection of an invisible realm in which all these qualities are simultaneously present. For the past two thousand years the icon has remained a constant image of the eternal and divine.
An icon as a sacred image depends on the continuous and accurate replication based on a prototype. The icon painter copies from the prototype as accurately as the medieval scribe and illuminator made the exquisite copies of the Bible. Just as the faithful would not alter the core meaning of a sacred text, such as the Bible, the same hold true of the icon.
Over time, regional differences and cultural influence allowed for stylistic changes in the icons, each becoming its own distinct work of art while remaining surprisingly constant in its purpose. The icon, no matter the artistic influence, links the viewer directly to the dawn of Christianity when many of the early practitioners were illiterate and relied on visual information to understand the World.
In order to understand the language of the icon the viewer must desire to meet with this reality: to enter into it, the viewer needs to learn to read the icon. The icon must not be regarded as a simple illustration of the Gospels or other theological texts. Visual form and Word are fused together to penetrate an alternate reality.
An iconography is a particular range or system of types of image used by an artist or artists to convey particular meanings. For example in Christian religious painting there is an iconography of images such as the lamb which represents Christ, or the dove which represents the Holy Spirit. In the iconography of classical myth however, the presence of a dove would suggest that any woman also present would be the goddess Aphrodite or Venus, so the meanings of particular images can depend on context.
The production of these small images, painted on wooden panels in an egg-yolk medium, was promoted after the 13th century by a whole series of circumstances. In the first place the practice grew up of hanging at least two rows of icons on the iconostasis (screen bearing icons, separating the sanctuary of many Eastern churches from the nave), considerably increasing the number required; the larger icons in the lower tier represented Christ, or the Virgin and Child, or the patron saint of the church, while on the upper tier were icons of the liturgical festivals, the Deisis or scenes from the lives of saints. A second factor was that in time of disturbance or danger to the Faith - as a result, for example, of the victories of the infidels - one of the ways in which ordinary people could seek reassurance and express their confidence and hope was to have in their homes images of Christ, the Virgin or the various saints to which they could address their prayers more easily and more frequently than in church. Gradually, therefore, each family came to have their own icons, varying inequality and costliness according to their resources. Theses icons now provide his historian with a mass of evidence, enabling him to observe the long continuance of traditional forms.
The icon-painters were not much given to innovation: they sought to reassure the faithful that the image would preserve its efficacy and power, and the best way of achieving this was to maintain the traditional patterns which were familiar to all. As time went on, however, other influences came into play alongside this conservative trend. In Eastern Christendom, where much of the population had fallen under the Turkish yoke while other areas remained independent, there was not the same cohesion aa before 1453, nor the same close links with the capital. In Crete, and later even more strongly in the Ionian Island, which still belonged to Venice, Italian influences were powerfully felt. In Russian and elsewhere artist expressed their religious ideal in forms which were no longer wholly Byzantine.
Iconography (or iconology) is also the academic discipline of the study of images in art and their meanings.
Source: Museum of Russian Icons and www.tate.org/art-terms/iconography
The term comes from the Greek word ikon meaning image. An icon was originally a picture of Christ on a panel used as an object of devotion in the Eastern Orthodox Church from at least the seventh century on. Hence the term icon has come to be attached to any object or image that is outstanding or has a special meaning attached to it.
Icons are most commonly created with tempera paint on wood panels but they can be made using a variety of materials such as metal casting, mosaics, textile works, and frescos. The oldest icons date from the 5th and 6th centuries; and after suffering a temporary setback as a result of the iconoclastic movement they played an increasingly important role throughout the history of Byzantine art, reaching their apogee at the time of the Empire's final collapse.
The icon as a Sacred Image
The icon is an archaeological record and a work of art. The Orthodox Church understands the icon to be a sacred image depicting a higher, divine reality. It is a visible reflection of an invisible realm in which all these qualities are simultaneously present. For the past two thousand years the icon has remained a constant image of the eternal and divine.
An icon as a sacred image depends on the continuous and accurate replication based on a prototype. The icon painter copies from the prototype as accurately as the medieval scribe and illuminator made the exquisite copies of the Bible. Just as the faithful would not alter the core meaning of a sacred text, such as the Bible, the same hold true of the icon.
Over time, regional differences and cultural influence allowed for stylistic changes in the icons, each becoming its own distinct work of art while remaining surprisingly constant in its purpose. The icon, no matter the artistic influence, links the viewer directly to the dawn of Christianity when many of the early practitioners were illiterate and relied on visual information to understand the World.
In order to understand the language of the icon the viewer must desire to meet with this reality: to enter into it, the viewer needs to learn to read the icon. The icon must not be regarded as a simple illustration of the Gospels or other theological texts. Visual form and Word are fused together to penetrate an alternate reality.
An iconography is a particular range or system of types of image used by an artist or artists to convey particular meanings. For example in Christian religious painting there is an iconography of images such as the lamb which represents Christ, or the dove which represents the Holy Spirit. In the iconography of classical myth however, the presence of a dove would suggest that any woman also present would be the goddess Aphrodite or Venus, so the meanings of particular images can depend on context.
The production of these small images, painted on wooden panels in an egg-yolk medium, was promoted after the 13th century by a whole series of circumstances. In the first place the practice grew up of hanging at least two rows of icons on the iconostasis (screen bearing icons, separating the sanctuary of many Eastern churches from the nave), considerably increasing the number required; the larger icons in the lower tier represented Christ, or the Virgin and Child, or the patron saint of the church, while on the upper tier were icons of the liturgical festivals, the Deisis or scenes from the lives of saints. A second factor was that in time of disturbance or danger to the Faith - as a result, for example, of the victories of the infidels - one of the ways in which ordinary people could seek reassurance and express their confidence and hope was to have in their homes images of Christ, the Virgin or the various saints to which they could address their prayers more easily and more frequently than in church. Gradually, therefore, each family came to have their own icons, varying inequality and costliness according to their resources. Theses icons now provide his historian with a mass of evidence, enabling him to observe the long continuance of traditional forms.
The icon-painters were not much given to innovation: they sought to reassure the faithful that the image would preserve its efficacy and power, and the best way of achieving this was to maintain the traditional patterns which were familiar to all. As time went on, however, other influences came into play alongside this conservative trend. In Eastern Christendom, where much of the population had fallen under the Turkish yoke while other areas remained independent, there was not the same cohesion aa before 1453, nor the same close links with the capital. In Crete, and later even more strongly in the Ionian Island, which still belonged to Venice, Italian influences were powerfully felt. In Russian and elsewhere artist expressed their religious ideal in forms which were no longer wholly Byzantine.
Iconography (or iconology) is also the academic discipline of the study of images in art and their meanings.
Source: Museum of Russian Icons and www.tate.org/art-terms/iconography
The First Sanctuaries - Paintings on Walls
The Engleistra (Place of Seclusion) of Agios Neofytos Monastery, 12th century. The paintings follow traditional Byzantine church decoration and were completed after 1197.
Title: Byzantine wall painting of Jesus Christ, c.1183.
Order No.: A1-0071.
Location: The Engleistra, Agios Neofytos Monastery.
Christ with his Disciples, Byzantine wall painting, c.1240.
Order No.: A1-9993.
Location: Engleistra of Agios Neophytos, Cyprus.
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The Blessing. Byzantine wall paining, c.1240.
Order No.: A1-0055.
Location: The Engleistra, Agios Neofytos Monastery, Cyprus.
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Title: The Crucifixion, nave of the Engleistra. c.1214
Order No.: A1-0058.
Location: Agios Neophytos.
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Title: Saint Neophytos in prayer between archangels Michael and Gabriel. The Bema of the Engleistra, c. 1183.
Order No.: A100093.
Location: Agios Neophytos, Cyprus.
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In the Byzantium Style
Title: Christ - in the Byzantium style.
Order No.: A1-1291
Location: Boston Fine Art Musuem.
Icons of the Hellenic World - Greek and Byzantium iconography
Icons illustrate the links and continuity of Greek art and culture from Late Antiquity, through Byzantium, to the present.
Byzantine Icons
Go to: www.ancient.eu/article/1161/byzantine-icons/
Go to: www.ancient.eu/article/1161/byzantine-icons/
Painting on Wood
14th Century
Title: Four Chosen Byzantine Saints, 14th century
RN: A1-8364.
Location: Byzantine (The Tiliakos Collection, USA).
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Title: The Deisis Byzantine, Late 14th Century. Tempera on Gesso Wood Panel.
RN: A1-8361.
Location: Constantinople (The Tiliakos Collection)
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All images taken in museums (marked by "RN") are not for sale and are for educational purposes only
Four Chosen Byzantine Saints: At the top Saint Anthony the Great, George the Great Martyr and in the lower register Peter on the left and Paul on the right. The icon maintains its entirely Byzantine character and material nature, and the idiom that the painter uses bears limited resemblance of the characteristic of the Cretan School.
Title: The Virgin and Child Enthroned Triptych, Byzantine, Late 14th Century. RN: A1-8339.
Location: Constantinople (Tiliakos Collection).
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The Virgin is seated on an Imperial carved wood throne with a wood plinth as support for her feet. Both furnishing are decorated with extensive gilt details, and she sits on a large red silk elongated pillow. The angels are dressed in the attire of attendants in the Imperial palace who carry Imperial authority as well. They are guard and servants at the same time.
The iconography in entirely Byzantine. It is an icon subject matter without the intrusion of later western influences, but also, this iconography transforms into the subject known as "Virgin Mary Queen of Heavens". The small triptych, 6 5/8" x 8 3/4", was made for personal adoration and as an object to be carried on one's body for protection and prayer. |
Title: Virgin and Child with Saints, about 1310-15. Egg tempera and gold leaf on panel. Attributed to the Master of the Pomposa Chapterhouse (Italian, active early 1300s)
Location: Boston Fine Arts Musuem
RN: A1-
Location:
15th Century
Title: Christ Pantokrator, Late 15th Century, Mount Athos.
RN: A1-8365.
Location: Northern Greece (The Tiliakos Collection, USA).
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The Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain
A male-only holy retreat, Mount Athos is located on a peninsula in northern Greece that is the spiritual heart of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The monastery holds on to to the traditions of Byzantium when the might of the Byzantine Empire meant Greek culture dominated the eastern Mediterranean. There have been monks on Mount Athos since the sixth century, with monasteries still ruling the Julian calendar, 13 days behind the more common Gregorian calendar. Doing he day the monks work -- gardening, cooking, painting icons -- until is it time for vespers before sunset. |
Title: The Virgin Glykophilousa (Mother of God holds her son), Late Byzantine.
RN: A1-8338.
Location: Crete (Tiliakos Collection).
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Title: The Virgin Lactans (The Virgin Mary nursing the infant Christ), 15th century.
RN: A1-8333.
Location Crete or Venice (Tiliakos Collection).
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Title: Russian Icon, 15th century
RN: A1-6467.
Location: Nationalmusuem, Stockholm., Sweden
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Title: The Miracle of Saint George, Russian, 15th Century.
RN: A1-6476.
Location: Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden.
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Title: God Rested on the Seventh Day, 1550s (restored 1700s). Egg tempera on panel.
RN: A1-0696.
Location: Russia, Moscow. Museum of Russian Icons.
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Icons are religious objects that operate quite differently from the western European works. Rather than simply representing spiritual subjects, icons are considered direct portals to the divine. Icons capture the essence of the depicted figure and serve as a direct intercessor for the worshipper. They are instruments for establishing contact with God and remain a critical element of worship in the Orthodox Church.
God resting is a rare subject in both Western and Russian icons, indicating that the owner would have been a priest or a highly educated lay person who used the icon for private devotion. It represents the Old Testament book of Genesis 2:3: "And he blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." |
The Nationalmuseum, Stockholm has an outstanding collection of Russian and some Byzantine icons. Icons are the sacred images of the Orthodox Church. They have their own long-standing visual symbolism which differs radically from that of Western art. Their two-dimensionality, stylization and abstract qualities have provided important sources of inspiration from artist throughout the 20th century up until today.
All images taken in museums (marked by "RN") are not for sale and are for educational purposes only
16th Century
Title: Scenes from the Life of Joseph. Late 16th century.
RN: A1-8331.
Location: Venice (The Tiliakos Collection).
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Title: The Three Youths in the Fiery Furnace, Late 16th century. RN: A1-8330.
Location: Veneto-Cretan (Tilakos Collection).
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Title: Greek Icon. Palm Bearer - feast days, 16th century.
RN: A1-9481.
Location: Agios Neofytos Monestary Museum.
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Title: Saint Irene The Great Martyr, Late 18th Century.
RN: A1-8366.
Location: Crete (Tiliakos Collection)
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Title: The Assumption, 16th century.
RN: A1-9487.
Location:Agios Neofytos Monestary, Cyprus.
17th Century
Title: Saint Spyridon, 17th century.
RN: A1-800.
Location: Ionian Islands (The Tiliakos Collection).
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The Ascension of Christ, Early 17th Century.
RN: A1-8334.
Location: Crete (The Tiliakos Collection).
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18th Century
Title: Saint Theodosios, Coenobium leader, c1798.
Order No.: A1-9455.
Location: Agios Neofytos Monastery.
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Title: Jesus Christ Image, Greet Icon, 18th C.
Order No.: A1-9516.
Location: Agios Neofytos Monastery Museum.
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19th Century
Title: Saint Tryphon, "At the time of the Prelate", c.1820.
Order No.: A1-9563.
Location: Cyprus
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Title: Greek Icon of Saint Barbara, 19th century.
Order No.: A1-9458.
Location: Agios Neophytos Monastery, Cyprus
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All images taken in museums (marked by "RN") are not for sale and are for educational purposes only
Title: The Three Hierarchs, Greek Icon, 1856.
Order No.: A1-9516.
Location: Agios Neofytos Monastery.
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Title: The Great Martyr Demetrios of Thessaloniki, c. 1830-1850.
RN: A1-8342.
Location: Mount Athos, (Tiliakos Collection).
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Title: Icons on Pulpit, Greek Orthodox Church.
Order No.: A1-9435.
Location: Cyprus.
Iconic Russian Icons
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Russian Art on its Byzantine roots.
Russian icons are typically paintings on wood, often small, though some in churches and monasteries may be much larger. The use and making of icons entered Kievan Rus' following its conversion to Orthodox Christianity in AD 988. As a general rule, these icons strictly followed models and formulas hallowed by Byzantine art, led from the capital in Constantinople. As time passed, the Russians widened the vocabulary of types and styles far beyond anything found elsewhere in the Orthodox world. Russian Icons were an important aspect of medieval religious life in eastern Europe. Many of these beautiful sacred "images" are now considered to rank with Europe's great pictorial masterpieces. "Stemming from the ancient Egyptian tomb portraits, it was in Russia, converted to Christianity only at the end of the tenth century, that this art became of paramount importance. Russian painters soon became inspired by icons to produce their finest pictorial works, and to create a school of painting which has rarely been surpassed in depth of religious feeling." Icons, Tamara Talbot Rice, 1959 |
Book Cover: Icons by Tamara Talbot Rice, 1959
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A series of reprographics of Russian icons following traditional stylization.
Title: 'Old Testament Trinity', c.1400, Russian Church.
Order No.: A1-0912.
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Title: Elijah with scenes from his life. c.1700.
Order No.: A1-0962,
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Click on images to enlarge
Title: Christ and his Disciples, c.1600.
Order No.: A1-0975.
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Title: Entry into Jerusalem, c.1820, Palekh.
Order No.: A1-1035.
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Title: Elijah, c.1700.
Order No.: A1-1085.
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 Title: The Miracle of Saint George and the Dragon, c. 1900, Novgorod.
Order No.: A1-1060
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St. George and the Dragon
The legend of St. George and the Dragon tells of a terrible dragon that demanded human offerings from the town of Selene as its price for not laying waste to the town. The day the King's daughter is to be sacrificed, St. George comes riding by. On condition that the town's heathen inhabitants convert to Christianity, he slays the dragon.
The legend of St. George and the Dragon tells of a terrible dragon that demanded human offerings from the town of Selene as its price for not laying waste to the town. The day the King's daughter is to be sacrificed, St. George comes riding by. On condition that the town's heathen inhabitants convert to Christianity, he slays the dragon.
Title: Saint Paraskeva, Russian, c.1600.
RN: A1-8395.
Location: Russian (MRC Collection).
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Saint Paraskeva was born in Rome of devout Christian parents in the year 140 A.D. At that time, there were less than fifty thousand Christian in the world.
With her strong faith she persuaded many people to forsake their pagan idols and commit themselves to her faith in Jesus Christ. She continued her missionary endeavours despite being persecuted by the Roman emperors Antonius and Marcus Aurelius. She was finally put to death as a martyr to her faith. In her high hand, she hold a cross, sign of her martyrdom. In her left hand, she holds a scroll inscribed in Old Church Slavonic. In Greek, Paraskeva is the word for Friday. With Friday being the traditional market day, Saint Paraskeva is venerated as Patron of the marketplace and commerce. This panel was most likely a church icon, probably from the local tier of an iconostasis in a rural church. |
All images taken in museums (marked by "RN") are not for sale and are for educational purposes only
Title: Royal Doors of an Iconostasis, c.1600, Vologda.
Order No.: A1-0966.
There is a rich history and elaborate religious symbolism associated with icons. In Russian churches, the nave is typically separated from the sanctuary by an iconostasis, or icon-screen, a wall of icons with double doors in the centre. Icons are considered to be the Gospel in paint, and therefore careful attention is paid to ensure that the Gospel is faithfully and accurately conveyed.
Old Russian icons are often slightly concave due to the natural warpage of the wood - sign of originality. All photos are of original icons from a private Russian Icon Collection in North America.
Title: Icon in St. Basil's Church.
Order No.: A1-
Location: Moscow
Map of Armenian History - Region of Conflict
Title: Armenia History Map, c.1978.
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Title: David at Ishak Pasa Palace.
Order No.: A1-1988.
Location: Eastern Turkey
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Heritage of Eastern Turkey
The best preserved Islamic palace in eastern Turkey is Ishak Pasa. Located amid the hauntingly alluring and desolate landscape of Dogubayazit, it is one of the most outlandish buildings in Turkey. Built on a dominant rocky spur and visible from afar, the fortified palace was strategically positioned one the border of Turkey and Iran, to take advantage of the Silk Route, whose caravaners had no optioned but to pay tribute to the palace in return for a safe passage along the Tabriz-Erzurum road. A glance at the palace will leave no doubt that the Ishak Pasa and his family grew rich from this enterprise. The palace flourished for about four centuries, from the fourteenth century until the conflicts with Russia in 1828-29. Ishak became a Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire in 1789 and began building the palace, though his son Mahmut Pasa may have completed it.
The best preserved Islamic palace in eastern Turkey is Ishak Pasa. Located amid the hauntingly alluring and desolate landscape of Dogubayazit, it is one of the most outlandish buildings in Turkey. Built on a dominant rocky spur and visible from afar, the fortified palace was strategically positioned one the border of Turkey and Iran, to take advantage of the Silk Route, whose caravaners had no optioned but to pay tribute to the palace in return for a safe passage along the Tabriz-Erzurum road. A glance at the palace will leave no doubt that the Ishak Pasa and his family grew rich from this enterprise. The palace flourished for about four centuries, from the fourteenth century until the conflicts with Russia in 1828-29. Ishak became a Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire in 1789 and began building the palace, though his son Mahmut Pasa may have completed it.
Byzantine Revival style in Canada
St. Anne's Anglican Church National Historic Site of Canada, Toronto.
One of Canada's artistic treasures
Built in 1907-1908 in the Byzantine Revival style the church contains a remarkable cycle of paintings by ten prominent Canadian Artists, including three (J.E.H. MacDonald, Fred Varley and Frank Carmichael) from the famous Group of Seven. The result was their only religious art.
St. Anne, of course, has no iconostasis (screen bearing icons, separating the sanctuary of many Eastern churches from the nave.), and this changes the relationship of the paintings to the space. In St. Anne's there is an emphatic stress of the apsidal chancel with the sequence of five trapezoidal panels above the window and two more above the organ pipes. Alongside these seven scenes illustrating events in the Gospels, the four major scenes on the triangular pendentives illustrate moments in Jesus's life (nativity, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension). They are unquestionably the highlight of the iconography,
The elaborate interior mural decoration, designed by J. E.H. MacDonald, cover the walls and ceiling of the apse, the main arches, the pendentives and the central dome. The cycle combines narrative scenes, written texts, as well as decorative plasterwork and detailing accentuating the architectural lines of the building. Official recognition refers to the building and its interior decorative work on its legal lot.
Its cycle of painting belongs to the revival of mural decoration that emerged int he last quarter of the 19th century and is a manifestation of the Arts and Crafts movement which sought to ally architecture with the sister arts of painting and sculpture.
St. Anne's decorative cycle draws upon the motifs, colours and the artistic conventions of Byzantine art while adapting their character to reflect a contemporary Canaidan setting. The works are integral to the church's architectural style.
The original decision to build in a Byzantine style reflected the support for an ecumenical movement that advocated unification with other Protestant denominations. Architect W. Ford Howland's design was intended to evoke the early Byzantine period, before the Christain church had split into its subsequent numerous denominations.
One of Canada's artistic treasures
Built in 1907-1908 in the Byzantine Revival style the church contains a remarkable cycle of paintings by ten prominent Canadian Artists, including three (J.E.H. MacDonald, Fred Varley and Frank Carmichael) from the famous Group of Seven. The result was their only religious art.
St. Anne, of course, has no iconostasis (screen bearing icons, separating the sanctuary of many Eastern churches from the nave.), and this changes the relationship of the paintings to the space. In St. Anne's there is an emphatic stress of the apsidal chancel with the sequence of five trapezoidal panels above the window and two more above the organ pipes. Alongside these seven scenes illustrating events in the Gospels, the four major scenes on the triangular pendentives illustrate moments in Jesus's life (nativity, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension). They are unquestionably the highlight of the iconography,
The elaborate interior mural decoration, designed by J. E.H. MacDonald, cover the walls and ceiling of the apse, the main arches, the pendentives and the central dome. The cycle combines narrative scenes, written texts, as well as decorative plasterwork and detailing accentuating the architectural lines of the building. Official recognition refers to the building and its interior decorative work on its legal lot.
Its cycle of painting belongs to the revival of mural decoration that emerged int he last quarter of the 19th century and is a manifestation of the Arts and Crafts movement which sought to ally architecture with the sister arts of painting and sculpture.
St. Anne's decorative cycle draws upon the motifs, colours and the artistic conventions of Byzantine art while adapting their character to reflect a contemporary Canaidan setting. The works are integral to the church's architectural style.
The original decision to build in a Byzantine style reflected the support for an ecumenical movement that advocated unification with other Protestant denominations. Architect W. Ford Howland's design was intended to evoke the early Byzantine period, before the Christain church had split into its subsequent numerous denominations.
Title: Elaborate Interior Mural Decoration on apse or chancel ceiling, Byzantine Revival style, 1923.
Order No.: A1-9098.
Location: St. Anne's Church, Toronto, (1907-08, Ford Howland, architect).
Apse or Chancel Ceiling
The apse or chancel ceiling has a background of blue over which is a vine leaf pattern with clusters of grapes in gold leaf. On the ceiling are circular decorations including symbols such as the Three of Life guarded by the two cherubim, and the Lamb. The alpha (A) and the Omega (W) signify Christ as the beginning and the end. Also present are the letters I and C, which are the first and last letters of Jesus in Greek, and C and R, which are the initials letters of Christ in Greek. These combined with the Greek Word NIKE (conquers) give "Jesus Christ conquers". These are ancient Christain symbols. Between the chancel windows are circular plaster reliefs depicting a peacock and an urn by the sculptors Frances Loring and Florence Wyle. The central mosaic work added in 1960 was the work of Nicholas Kavakonis. The stained glass windows in the chancel came from the original 1862 church. St. Anne's was designated a National Historic Site in 1997.
The apse or chancel ceiling has a background of blue over which is a vine leaf pattern with clusters of grapes in gold leaf. On the ceiling are circular decorations including symbols such as the Three of Life guarded by the two cherubim, and the Lamb. The alpha (A) and the Omega (W) signify Christ as the beginning and the end. Also present are the letters I and C, which are the first and last letters of Jesus in Greek, and C and R, which are the initials letters of Christ in Greek. These combined with the Greek Word NIKE (conquers) give "Jesus Christ conquers". These are ancient Christain symbols. Between the chancel windows are circular plaster reliefs depicting a peacock and an urn by the sculptors Frances Loring and Florence Wyle. The central mosaic work added in 1960 was the work of Nicholas Kavakonis. The stained glass windows in the chancel came from the original 1862 church. St. Anne's was designated a National Historic Site in 1997.
Title: Byzantine Revival style mosaic in chancel behind the alter.
Order No.: A1-9113.
Location: St. Anne's Church, Toronto.
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Title: Paintings and Stained Glass Windows in Apse, c.1923.
Order No.: A1-9124.
Location: St. Anne's Toronto.
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Title: Jesus in the Temple by Arthur Martin, 1923.
Order No.: A1-9128.
Location: Aspe painting in St. Anne's Church.
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Title: The Raising of Lazarus by Thoreau MacDonald, 1923.
Order No.: A1-9131.
Location: Aspe painting in St. Anne's Church.
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Title: Entry into Jerusalem by Franklin Carmichael, 1923.
Order No.: A1-9155.
Location: Apse painting in St. Anne's Church, Toronto
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Title: Image of Jesus.
Order No.: A1-9249.
Location: St. Anne's Church. The stained glass window, above the wall mosaic, is from the Church of 1862.
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References
The Pictorial Metaphysics of the Icon: Abstraction vs. Naturalism Reconsidered.
Post of 3 in the series:
Part 1. Go to link: orthodoxartsjournal.org/the-pictorial-metaphysics-of-the-icon-abstraction-vs-naturalism-reconsidered/
Part 2. Go to link: orthodoxartsjournal.org/the-pictorial-metaphysics-of-the-icon-part-ii/
Part 3. Go to link: orthodoxartsjournal.org/the-pictorial-metaphysics-of-the-icon-part-iii/
Post of 3 in the series:
Part 1. Go to link: orthodoxartsjournal.org/the-pictorial-metaphysics-of-the-icon-abstraction-vs-naturalism-reconsidered/
Part 2. Go to link: orthodoxartsjournal.org/the-pictorial-metaphysics-of-the-icon-part-ii/
Part 3. Go to link: orthodoxartsjournal.org/the-pictorial-metaphysics-of-the-icon-part-iii/
Return of the Relics of Sts. Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom
Go to link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Eztvp0CN4Q&feature=youtu.be
Go to link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Eztvp0CN4Q&feature=youtu.be
Timeline of the Roman and Byzantine Emperors
Go to link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Eztvp0CN4Q&feature=youtu.be
Go to link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Eztvp0CN4Q&feature=youtu.be
2020 Converstion of the Hagia Sophia Musuem to a Mosque
Go to link: www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16221/turkey-hagia-sophia-mosque
Go to link: www.euronews.com/2020/07/10/turkey-can-convert-istanbul-s-iconic-hagia-sophia-museum-back-into-a-mosque-top-court-rule?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=en&utm_content=turkey-can-convert-istanbul-s-iconic-hagia-sophia-museum-back-into-a-mosque-top-court-rule&_ope=eyJndWlkIjoiMjM2MjhhMzkwYWJkYTg4YzViYmUwZGE0ZWU3M2Y5ZWUifQ%3D%3D