The culture of Byzantium is sometimes unfairly interpreted as an imitation of the classical cultures of the Ancient World, Greek and Roman. From the point of view of medieval thought, it was Constantinople, the capital of the empire, that was a city of magic and unsurpassed beauty.
The epics and novels of the early Middle Ages, especially French, describe amazing treasures, monumental works of art, amazing spices and exotic dishes, lush robes - something that could be seen and tasted in beautiful Constantinople.
Of all the empires of the past, Byzantium was the state that lasted the longest.
Indeed, the culture of Ancient Byzantium contains Greek and Roman elements. For example, in the organization of social institutions in the early Byzantine period, intellectual law applied Roman law. However, the Byzantines, having continued the brilliant traditions, strengthened them with their unprecedented successes, which significantly affected the course of history, the development of world culture, the formation of ethnic identity in many Eastern European countries. For a millennium, their power remained the light of civilization and culture for the whole world, never stopping to develop and innovate.
Byzantine art culture spread throughout the empire, including the southernmost regions of Egypt and North Africa, which remained under Byzantine control until the seventh century. The first centuries were marked by a major innovation when manuscripts replaced scrolls. Many luxuriously illustrated Byzantine manuscripts of the fourth or sixth centuries have survived to this day, including Virgil's Aeneid, Homer’s Iliad, Old Testament and New Testament, medical treatises - among them, Dioscorides important work “On Medicinal Substances”.
The culture of Byzantium is also a wonderful literature with an extensive collection of diverse materials, from high theological texts to obscene stories, from original works of the highest standards to tedious rhetoric.
Applied art is represented by silver vessels, dishes, gold belts with coins and medallions, many other artifacts that were used in spiritual and social life. The art of fresco painting and mosaic works was extremely popular. In the sculpture of the early Byzantine period, a transition from classical antique forms is noted.
Among the most striking examples of secular architecture are the remains of the atrium from the Grand Imperial or Holy Palace in Constantinople (in its place, already in Istanbul, the Blue Mosque has been rising from the beginning of the seventeenth century ), generously decorated with mosaics illustrating scenes from everyday life in the empire. Dome architecture is characterized by domed churches, the most famous example being Hagia Sophia. Funded by Emperor Constantine, at the beginning of the fourth century they were built in large numbers next to traditional basilicas.
With the resolution of the iconoclastic dispute in the middle of the ninth century, the second flourishing of the empire began, when Greek became its official language, and Christianity began to spread north into the Slavic lands.
The Byzantine culture of the middle period is demonstrated by a few examples of secular architecture that have survived to our time, but the literature contains stories about the construction and reconstruction of the Grand Palace in Constantinople, the foundation of new imperial and aristocratic possessions.
The first major monastery, which became one of the most important centers of Byzantine Christianity, was built on Mount Athos (Greece).
In the middle Byzantine period, icons with different compositions are used more and more to decorate temples.
The Latin occupation (1204-1261), when the participants of the Fourth Crusade, having invaded the ancient imperial capital, founded the Latin Empire of Constantinople, had a profound influence on the Byzantine peoples. It caused serious political disagreements, disorientation of the population, especially among the ruling classes. The new political capitals of the Byzantine state "in exile" with rival rulers were based on the periphery of the empire: in the city of Arta, in Trebizond, in Nicaea. The restoration of Byzantine rule over the imperial city took place in 1261 with the accession of a new reigning dynasty - the Paleologists.
The culture of Byzantium especially flourished in the late period, despite the many desperate military and political circumstances in which its rulers found themselves. Patrons at all social levels considered it their duty to build new buildings and restore old ones that had suffered during the Latin occupation.
For a long time before its fall in 1453, Byzantium set the standards for beauty, style, luxury. And after that, she continued to inspire both the Catholic West and the Islamic East.