Byzantine Empire

The city of Byzantium was established (in 658 B.C.) on a bay controlling the Straits of Bosporus, by the city of Megara as part of the colonization process. In 480 B.C. it was burned by the invading forces of Darius and in 479 it was occupied by the Spartans. It became part of the Macedonian hegemony until the Roman occupation. Under the Pax Romana, it prospered and became an important trade and commercial center because of its ideal geographical location.

The growing individualism, the lack of moral self-control and the spiritual crisis that started with the Gracchi, signified the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire. Diocletian's attempts to revive the stability through a highly bureaucratic and centralized authority led to the division of the Empire into large units under two Augusti and two Caesars. By 313 B.C., Constantine was the ruler in the West part and Licinius in the East. The same year they signed the "Edict of Milan" which gave freedom of worship to the new religion, Christianity. In 324, after a civil war, Constantine became the sole ruler of the Empire and transferred the capital of the Roman Empire to the city of Byzantium, later called Constantinople. The Roman Empire continued to exist and its close affinities with the Hellenistic world are apparent in all forms of expression and in philosophy.

The koine, or "common" language that was formed in the Hellenistic period to aid in the linguistic uniformity of a vast and culturally diverse region, was the language of the Byzantine world with the "atticizing" school (represented most typically by Lucian) to imbue the literary world. In art, especially in the early Christian period, ancient prototypes are "transferred" in the iconography of the new religion (e.g: Hermes with the ram on his shoulder became the image of the Good Shepherd, Psyche and Orantes became symbols of immortality represented amidst the flowers of Paradise and Apollo on a chariot from the breastplate of "Augustus of Primaporta", became the image of Christ). In architecture, one can even trace the Greek subtlety in the use of the pendentive in Aghia Sophia and in philosophy and education, in the attempt of Julian to revive the ancient Greek religion and philosophical schools. Photios composed the famous Myriovivlo, which included reviews of numerous classical writings.

His student, Arethas, organized the transcription of works of Plato, Aristotle, Aeschylos, Sophocles and others. In the 14th and 15th centuries, there was a strong attempt to revive the platonic philosophy in Constantinople and especially in Mystras (near the ancient Sparta) by Plython Gemistos. Yet, when Constantine founded the capital, his intention was to continue the tradition of the Roman Empire. He established a Senate, he encouraged the building of residences by the aristocratic families of Italy, he pursued the enforcement of the Roman Law and organized the city according to the Roman prototypes. The new capital became an amalgamation of Roman Imperial tradition and politics, ancient Greek culture and, of course, Christian Religion.

More Byzantine Empire

Constantine founded the new capital of the Roman Empire in a geographically strategic point as it was in the crossroads of east and west and close to the eastern territory, which was rich in produce.

 

Vissarion (one of the greatest Greek scholars to relocate to Italy) wrote in 1455: "while Constantinople was standing I did not care for the collection and preservation of Greek manuscripts.