THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE (II). SOCIETY AND ART

3.1 Byzantine society

Byzantine society was organised into three levels. The upper class consisted of the aristocracy and high-ranking Church officials who held large latifundia and occupied notable positions in the government and the administration.

The rest of the clergy, civil servants, wealthy businessmen and free farmers made up the middle class, while serfs and slaves made up the lower class.

3.2 The Church and its problems

The Church exerted a great influence on Byzantine society. In fact, it was closely tied to political power because it crowned the emperor. It held large estates and it controlled spiritual aspects of a society in which religious disputes tended to be mixed with social ones. Nevertheless, it faced two serious problems:

• The Iconoclastic Controversy began when some emperors prohibited the worship of sacred images, or icons, looking to reduce the power of the monasteries and to take control of their assets. The prohibition unleashed* serious social conflicts between the 8th and 9th centuries, although in the end the worship of icons prevailed.

• The East-West Schism was caused by rivalry between the patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope of Rome for primacy over Christendom. It ended in 1054 with the separation, or schism, between the Western or Roman Church and the Eastern Church. The latter, which came to be called the Orthodox Church, extended its area of influence to Eastern Europe with the evangelisation of the Slavic tribes.

3.3 Byzantine art

• Byzantine architecture used poor materials, such as brick; columns for support; semi-circular arches; and flat or vaulted planes, especially pendentives. The main building was the church, which adopted a rectangular, square, octagonal or Greek cross plan. The most outstanding examples are the Hagia Sophia basilica in Constantinople, commissioned by Justinian, and the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, both from the 6th century.

• Mosaics decorated the walls and domes of the interior of the churches. Among the most famous are those of San Vitale in Ravenna, which represent the emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora with their retinue, taking offerings to the church.

• Icons were religious images. The majority were painted on boards and incorporated gold in their imagery. Their way of representing religious scenes and images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin and the saints exerted a great influence on later art.

Byzantine icons

Byzantine sacred images or icons (from the Greek eikon, meaning image) are usually flat, with stylised figures and golden backgrounds, and follow a series of conventions or characteristic norms of representation.

Skill progress

Organising information

1 Completa el cuadro sobre los problemas de la Iglesia bizantina.

Problemas Causas Resolución Luchas iconoclastas

Cisma de Oriente

Understanding art

2 What were icons? What was their main theme? Do they seem like realistic representations to you?

Answer the questions using three arguments.

Analysing styles and works

3 Find characteristics of Byzantine architecture in the pictures.

4 Explain the system of roofing used in the construction of the Hagia Sophia church.

5 Look for the mosaics of Justinian and Theodora on the Internet and describe them.

The splendour of Byzantine art

Buttresses

The central nave, which is wider and higher, is covered by an enormous dome on pendentives that support it on four columns. Its weight is offset by two semidomes and two large arches, reinforced on the outside by buttresses. The lower lateral naves have two floors; the upper one is called a gallery.

Focus on English

unleash: if someone or something unleashes a feeling or an activity, it means that they start it.