Week 4: Late Antiquity the Early Christian and Byzantine

 This week we covered the Late Antiquity Period. To start, we went through a timeline. 

29 CE.- Pre-Constantine

    -Crucifixion of Christ

    -303-305 CE: persecution of the Christians under Diocletian

312 CE- Constantine

    - Constantine ruled from 312 to 337 CE

    -Edict of Millian in 313 CE

337 CE- Constantine Successors

    -Constantine died in 337 CE

    - Theodosius 1 rules from 379-395 CE

    - Christianity was proclaimed the state religion of the Roman Empire in 380 CE

    - Theodosius prohibits pagan worship in 391 CE

    -Honorius moves capital to Ravenna in 404 CE

476 CE- Odoacer

    -The Fall of Ravenna to Odoacer in 476 CE

493 CE- Theodoric

    - Theodoric at Ravenna from 493-526 CE

527 CE- Byzantine Rule

    -Rule of Byzantine Empire

Duras Euripus was likely founded after the death of Alexander the Great by one of his successors. It was taken over on many occasions. It fell in 256 CE to a Roman Enemy, Sasanian, heir to the Parthian throne. Town was Excavated and buildings were left intact. Excavators discovered the monotheistic creed of Judaism and Christianity. 

House churches were the earliest places of worship. These churches were held in people's private homes and some wealthy people would donate houses to the church as well. These were known as Tituli. There were over 25 of them in Rome at the time of Constantine's Conversion. Some of these became actual churches after Christianity was legalized. Some of the private houses that were then converted into churches were called domus ecclesiae and had a central courtyard that was surrounded on three sides by rooms. These rooms often adjoined and created a larger gathering space that could hold 50 people. Some of these other rooms were used for education, celebrations, baptisms, prayer, and mass. With the synagogues, since it was a house turned into a church it only had a small tub where they would have poured water on their heads to baptize them since there wasn’t room for a pool to submerge them in. The synagogue contains many frescos of biblical stories. Interestingly enough, there is none of God known as Yahweh, except one where He is represented as a hand emerging from the top of some framed panels.

House church floor plan

Christianity’s monotheistic belief was frowned upon and punishable by death. Pardon was offered but Emperor Dioecian ordered persecutions in 303 and 305 C.E. Christian communities were small in number and attracted the most impoverished classes of society. It is said that when meeting a new person, early Christians would draw an arc in the sand. If the new person was Christian, they too would draw a connecting arc making a fish.

The Catacombs of Rome were vast subterranean networks of galleries and chambers designed as cemeteries for the burial of Christian dead. Christians were buried outside a city’s wall on private property, although not all are found in Rome. Most Early Christian Art in Rome dates to the third or fourth century and is found in the Catacombs. They were dug 3-4’ wide tunnels with small openings called loculi in walls for the body of the dead and carved small rooms for mortuary chapels called cubicula. Catacombs that we know of run 60-90 miles.

Catacombs of Rome

After Christianity was legalized, there was a lot more control over people's lives. People were told what to eat, how and when to pray, how to act, and their lives were very tightly wound to the church. They ate a lot of fish as part of their diet, either as a sign of faith or due to being poor. Times for prayer and fasting were mandatory. 

Saint Peters was the grandest church of Constantine and was inspired by Roman Basilicas and housed many relics of Saint Peter. 

Old Saint Peters

Mosaics were used as advertisements of the faith. They were used in many different applications and portrayed religious figures. 

Mosaics

the Byzantine Empire lasted from 324 AD until 1453 and was the longest political entity in Europe Hinchman

Hagia Sophia was a great example of the Byzantine style. It was a mix between the classically rational and the mysterious. There was decorative art concentrated in the interior, plain exterior surfaces, extremely lavish ornamentation, well-lighted central space and was very spiritually evoking through its mystery. 

 

Byzantine Decorative Arts were lavish and important in defining the purpose of the building. Ivory was an important material. 

The throne of the Byzantine Archbishop and the chair of the most recent archbishop

A modern version of a chapel that is similar to the original house churches

One Step further. John Singer Sargent was a painter who was inspired by the Hagia Sophia and did a painting of it. He was inspired in a few other of his paintings as well and used the techniques from this painting to go on and paint other architecture from the Byzantine empire.