To David with love and gratitude for your continued help

Chapter 1
Constantinople - the treasure of Byzantium

Byzantium, or the Eastern Roman Empire, lasted for more than a thousand years: from 330 to 1453 AD. e. During this period, she was often called the main force of her time. She played the most important role in the formation of European culture. Byzantium was the first of the great states to adopt Christianity as the state religion, and the first to live and rule in accordance with Christian teachings. Thus, even though the Byzantines often behaved cruelly, overbearingly, and treacherously in both private and public life, the principles of Christianity nevertheless remained very important to them. The respect they held for the precepts upon which Christianity was built was passed on from generation to generation, forming the basis of much of Europe's Christian civilization. If Byzantium did not exist, our way of life would develop along paths different from those along which it went. In particular, this applies to countries professing Orthodoxy: Russia, Greece, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia; they are all followers of the same branch of the Christian Church, which originated in Byzantium and developed independently in Rome.

Rice. 1. Map of the Byzantine Empire. 6th century

Great changes always happen unexpectedly. This, apparently, can be said about those who witnessed the establishment of Christianity in the Roman Empire. This probably did not begin until 323 CE. e. and not later than 325, when Constantine I the Great convened the First Church Council at Nicaea and the citizens of the Roman Empire learned that Christianity would coexist with paganism as the state religion, because their Caesar, Constantine (306-337), had a vision that convinced him that such a change was necessary. This event is believed to have taken place one October night in 311, when Constantine encamped with his army under the walls of Rome, intending to draw Maxentius into battle the next day. He saw - and some sources say that his people were present at the same time - a sign in the sky and heard a voice telling his soldiers to draw this sign on their shields before the battle. But Constantine doubted that he really saw that sign. However, soon, according to Eusebius, Christ appeared to him, commanding him to depict this symbol on the personal banner of Constantine, with which he would lead his army into battle. In this vision, Constantine saw the sun, the symbol of Apollo, which was adopted by the Roman Caesars and thus rightfully the emblem of Constantine. The huge sunburst standard was lavishly decorated with gold and had a crossbar at the top, to which were attached two narrow purple ribbons embroidered with gold and studded with precious stones. He was crowned with a golden wreath with a golden cross and Greek letters, the monogram of Christ, and also, according to some sources, the words hoc vinces. Purple ribbons, like the rays of the sun, indicated that they belonged to Constantine, because purple robes - the most expensive and rare of all fabrics, since dye could only be obtained from the rather rare murex mollusk - were used only by the ruling family by order of Diocletian.

Rice. 2.
Icon of Our Lady Hodegetria

There is no doubt about the meaning of what he saw: it clearly indicated that Byzantium should become a Christian state, in which Constantine would rule as a messenger of God. Constantine obeyed the sign without delay. His army defeated Maxentius, and Constantine ordered that the eagles, which were depicted on the standards of the Roman legionnaires, be replaced by the sign he saw. In addition, he ended the Roman practice of using the cross as an instrument of torture. Henceforth, it was to be perceived as a symbol of Christianity. Eusebius claims that he saw a banner with a new design, with which Constantine went to battle with Maxentius. However, despite the fact that Constantine continued to use it as his labarum, that is, standard, he remained a pagan and worshiped the sun until the last day of his life. Only on his deathbed did he accept baptism. But Constantinople, the city he made his capital, was from the very beginning dedicated to the Holy Trinity and the Mother of God. When, in the 5th century, Evdokia sent the Empress Pulcheria the icon of Our Lady Hodegetria, that is, “Showing the Way,” painted by St. Luke, the icon began to be considered the protector of the capital.
In reality, such radical changes as the abandonment of one faith in favor of another rarely occur as a result of events in the personal life of one person. They tend to arise from changing outlooks and attitudes towards life influenced by thinking people in times of distress and turmoil. From the beginning of the Christian era, Rome experienced just such times. As a result, adjoining, on the one hand, the faith of the Jews in the one God and, on the other hand, with the widespread mystical beliefs of the Eastern peoples, many Romans began to doubt the validity of the old pagan religion, based on the causeless actions of countless gods, many of whom suffered from the worst human phobias. The accumulating economic and political difficulties of Rome contributed to these doubts. In addition, because of the large number of slaves whose labor enriched the owners without bringing income to the state, the vast territories stretching from Northumberland in Britain through Gaul and Spain to North Africa, and from there through all of Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria and Egypt, and the wide variety of peoples who lived on these lands, the Roman Empire became difficult to manage. The ruling classes were too preoccupied with themselves to do their job effectively. The leaders of the state are mired in laziness. The intelligentsia increasingly criticized the government, and Rome itself was torn from disagreements. Caesars succeeded Caesars, but everything remained the same. To stop the decay of the state, the institution of co-rulers was invented. Diocletian (284–305) decided that the situation could be rectified if regional centers of government were formed to take the place of the central authority centered in Rome. To do this, he moved his court to Nicomedia, located on the territory of the Asian part of modern Turkey, and established himself as the ruler of the Roman eastern lands, surrounding himself with the luxury and ceremonies of an eastern, or rather, Persian ruler. At the same time he appointed three co-rulers: Maximian in Milan to govern Italy and Africa; Constantius - in Trier (modern Germany) to control Gaul, Britain and Spain: Galeria - in Thessalonica to control Illyria (present-day Dalmatia and Transylvania), Macedonia and Greece. However, these measures did not help him improve the current situation. On the contrary, the principle of joint government caused the division of peoples who previously prided themselves on belonging to a single community. Oppression, corruption and idleness continued to reign in Rome. And when the civil war broke out, Diocletian decided to run away from problems and retired to his majestic palace, which he built for himself on the Adriatic coast in a place now known as Split. Fourteen centuries later, the 18th-century British architect Robert Adam examined the ruins of this palace with amazement and admiration, and brought many of its features into the architecture of his time.
Constantius, the ruler of Gaul, Britain and Spain, was forced by Diocletian to divorce his wife Helen - the daughter, according to legend, of the English king Col of Colchester and the mother of his son and heir Constantine. Left alone, Elena, apparently, began to communicate with the intelligentsia and took up the study of religion and philosophy. Perhaps it was then that she converted to Christianity, although there is no evidence for this. After the death of Constantius, Constantine succeeded him as governor of the western provinces. Apparently, after the divorce, Helen remained close to her son, and she probably played a significant role in inclining Constantine towards Christianity. In 324, having become, thanks to his own efforts, the sole ruler of the vast Roman Empire, Constantine issued a decree that was supposed to protect Christians from persecution. A year later, he convened a church council in Nicaea and legalized the activities of Christians in the territory of the empire. This step was not only wise, but actually inevitable, because by that time two-fifths of the population of the empire, most likely, professed Christianity, seeing in this religion the only hope for alleviating the burden of everyday life. For these people, Elena became the epitome of the Christian way of life. She became one of the first pilgrims to go to the Holy Land, and at the request of Constantine she brought back a piece of the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. This particle became the most revered shrine of Byzantium. It was kept in the Grand Palace of the Byzantine emperors in Constantinople, but in 565 Justin II, at the request of Saint Radegonda, abandoned by her husband Chilperic, gave her a small part of it. She inserted it into a luxurious shrine in the church of Saint Croix (Holy Cross), which is still in Poitiers, but since then a little has been separated from the initial fragment as gifts. Despite the fact that Christianity was made the state religion only by Emperor Theodosius I in 381 AD e., it was Elena and Constantine who were elevated to the rank of saints by the Orthodox Church in gratitude for their activities for the benefit of Christianity. Therefore, on icons and other images, they often stand side by side, and Elena holds a cross between herself and her son.
In Rome, Christianity was represented and spread by missionaries, neophytes and church fathers who, in the struggle to establish a new faith, followed the instructions of their leaders. Eventually, when the church settled in Rome, the first high priests were chosen from among these leaders. However, things were different in Constantinople. There, religion was supported by Constantine, who dominated both the political and spiritual spheres, since he was both the ruler of the state and the patron of the church, the secular emperor and the vicar of God on earth. His followers on the throne continued to consider themselves messengers of the Lord and, in this capacity, retained leadership among the clergy; one emperor from all the laity was allowed to enter the most sacred confines of the church, usually closed to all who were not ordained. When Grand Duchess Olga, having arrived in Constantinople from Kievan Rus in 957 on a state visit, decided to be baptized, the solemn ceremony was held jointly by the emperor of Byzantium and the patriarch of Constantinople, precisely because of the dual function of the emperor.
The well-informed inhabitants of Rome were apparently not surprised to learn of Constantine's decision to legalize Christianity, as well as the intention to move the capital from Rome to another city. However, they must have been amazed when, in 324, he transferred his residence and central authorities to the small town of Byzantium, located on a triangular promontory at the northern tip of the Sea of ​​​​Marmara, at a point where from Asia to Europe is within easy reach.

Rice. 3. Plan of Constantinople in the time of Emperor Theodosius

In addition to the emperor, few people at that moment understood what numerous geographical advantages this place was endowed with and what a wonderful harbor can be made from the bay washing the northern side of the "triangle". The Byzantines found a good name for it - the Golden Horn, and it justified itself when merchants from different countries began to come here, quickly turning it into the richest port in the world. The Byzantines could maintain contact with the Western world through a network of roads leading to the continent, and sailing north along the Bosphorus, they could also reach numerous ports on the shores of the Black Sea. And then, through the territory of modern Russia, the path of merchants lay to the Scandinavian countries, on the one hand, and to Central Asia, India and China, on the other. Moreover, turning south into the Aegean Sea, they entered the Dardanelles, from where they entered the Mediterranean Sea. That is, merchants, having just overcome the small Sea of ​​​​Marmara, could reach Asia Minor, and from there - to any point in the region, now called the Near and Middle East.
Those who failed to appreciate these geographical advantages were not the first to miss the city's merits. Centuries earlier, Greece, as the world's leading power, had experienced economic difficulties, and many of its city-states encouraged their citizens to move to other lands from which food and other necessities could be brought home. As a result, many Greeks founded independent, self-governing cities, known as colonies, on the shores of the Black Sea. In the 7th century BC e. a group of immigrants from Megara chose a leader named Wiz. Before leaving their hometown, they went to their favorite oracle, hoping that he would advise where to establish a colony. In the manner characteristic of the oracles, the answer sounded like a riddle: "Go and settle in front of the city of the blind." The Megarians boarded ships and reached the southern entrance to the Bosporus, where the Greek colonial city of Chalcedon stood on the Asian coast of the Sea of ​​Marmara (near modern Moda). Glaring with pleasure at the beautiful landscape before them, the Megarians landed on a triangle of land jutting out into the sea on the opposite (that is, European) coast. The settlers, who noticed its favorable location as quickly as Constantine later, decided that the inhabitants of Chalcedon, who could choose a place for the city at their own discretion, were the very “blind” that the oracle spoke of. They founded their settlement on the cape. Subsequently, despite all the advantages, the city appeared before Constantine too small for the capital. In 324, he outlined new boundaries for the city walls and ordered the construction of a palace, the necessary administrative buildings, a forum and a church, which he dedicated to Sophia, Holy (Divine) Wisdom. The work was completed after six years, and in 330 AD. e. Constantine declared the city the capital.
In order to ensure the status of the main city of the empire of his chosen capital, not only nominally, but also in fact, Constantine changed the entire structure of the Roman Empire and developed a new management system, replacing the usual official with a new type of person. He renamed the city Constantinople, "the city of Constantine", but it was often called "nova Roma", that is, "new Rome", and the name Visa spread to the entire eastern part of the empire. There were good reasons to call Constantinople "the new Rome," since virtually the entire ruling class, which included, as before, court and government, were Romans; although the city was inhabited by Greeks, Latin remained the official language until the 5th century, when the empire was divided into eastern and western parts. Within a century or so, Greek replaced Latin as the official language, and the eastern part of the empire became officially known as Byzantium. But to this day, in some parts of Turkey, Iran and Arabia, the old connection with Rome has been preserved, and the word "Ram" in the meaning of "Rome" is often used to refer to the area of ​​\u200b\u200bConstantinople or people who came from Europe.
Unlike the Roman Caesars, who by hook or by crook tried to convince the people to treat them as ordinary people who ascended to the heights of power at the will of the people, Constantine, having become the sole sovereign, took the position of emperor with all his power and high position. Moreover, being both the ruler of the Roman Empire and the vicar of God on earth, he insisted on his superiority over other rulers. The role of the emperor of Constantinople as the supreme ruler on earth was maintained by the followers of Constantine and remained unchanged when, in 396, after the death of Emperor Theodosius I, it was decided to divide the Roman Empire into eastern and western parts. The eastern one was to be ruled from Constantinople, where Arcadius became emperor, and the western, ruled from Rome, was considered subordinate to it. However, in five years the Goths, who at that time filled Europe, approached the very outskirts of Rome. From the very beginning, the situation in Ravenna was full of difficulties. The differences were multiplying. The ruler succeeded the ruler at short intervals, until finally, in 476, the German leader Odoacer overthrew Romulus Augustulus, the last member of the imperial house that ruled the West. After the fall of the West, the crown of Rome automatically passed to the ruler of the East, that is, the emperor of Byzantium, ruling in Constantinople. At that moment, Zeno was on the throne. Constantine managed to raise the prestige of the post of emperor of the East to its due height, and Zeno's authority was so great in the West that Odoacer, despite victories in Italy, considered that it would be enough for him if Zeno officially recognized him as a patrician of Rome and prefect of Italy. The bonds of Rome and the East remained so strong that in the 5th century, the Gothic ruler of Ravenna, Theodoric, sincerely adopted Byzantine culture. But shortly after his death, Emperor Justinian the Great (527–565) felt it his duty to conquer Italy once more. His commanders-in-chief, first Belisarius, then Narses, managed to carry out his plan by 555, but the result was ephemeral, and over the next two centuries, East and West finally fell apart. The pope lost his influence in Byzantium, and the emperor of the East lost his influence in Western Europe. In 590, Gregory, Bishop of Rome, became pope. He went down in history as the Great, largely because he was the first pope since Leo the Great to claim the right to act independently of Constantinople. From that time on, the popes became more and more influential in the West by reducing the power of the Patriarch of Constantinople. And in 800, Charlemagne questioned the supremacy of the Byzantine emperor by resurrecting the position of Emperor of the West and forcing Pope Leo III to crown himself on Christmas Day. It is interesting to note that due to Byzantine influence, the word "pope" originates from the Greek word "pappas", that is, "father", as the first bishops were called in the Greek church, and later all the clergy.
Although many buildings were erected in Constantinople during the life of Constantine, the city remained relatively small and could not compete, both in size and beauty, with such ancient and stately cities as Alexandria or Antioch; still less could it compare with Rome or even Athens. However, one hundred years after its founding, the population of Constantinople exceeded that of Rome. But it was still about two hundred years before the genius of Emperor Justinian and his chief architect Anthemius of Thrall allowed the capital to outshine all other cities in beauty, wealth, importance and variety of sights. The city became not only a major political and economic center of its time, but in the first few centuries of its existence and an important religious center, to which the whole Christian world turned its eyes, just as Catholics look towards Rome today. Moreover, Constantinople, like Paris since the end of the 19th century, became the capital where the most worthy works of art were collected. It was from there that the world fashion spread. There luxury abounded in all forms more than anywhere else in Europe. During the time of Justinian, the population of the city was probably about half a million people.
Initially, Constantinople was inhabited by Greeks, descendants of those who came from Megara and founded the city. Most of the people who arrived with Constantine were Romans who wore Roman togas and spoke Latin. However, when the Romans mixed with the local Greeks, when their language was forgotten by all but especially zealous scientists, and their clothes turned into something completely national, Roman togas remained in art forever. Regardless of the time in which they were created, both on the beautiful miniatures in the Byzantine lists of the Gospel and other sacred books, and on religious paintings and mosaics, the evangelists and saints are dressed in voluminous draped vestments, originating from the attire of classical times.

Rice. 4. Golden Gate and part of the earthen rampart of Constantinople

As a rule, it consisted of a himation or a cloak worn over a tunic or shirt. Rarely did these vestments retain their original white color. Since these people were destined to enjoy eternal bliss in paradise, their clothes were dyed in all the colors of the rainbow. Often they were decorated with gold, like Indian saris. On white clothes, the folds were written out with the help of numerous shades.
The Roman Empire was a multinational state, and all its free people, regardless of nationality and religion, enjoyed equal rights. Therefore, it was in Constantinople from the very beginning that the Greeks and Romans united and created a new Christian culture and a new way of life of the Eastern Roman Empire. The Roman predilection for order seems to have contributed to the formation of the basic structure of the state. Greek thoughts and tastes, often influenced by the cultures of more eastern regions such as Syria, assumed a dominant position as Easterners flocked to Constantinople, seduced by the growing wealth of the city. They (Greeks and Asiatics) in Christianity were especially attracted by its mystical side. They often participated in religious mysteries and disputes. It was mainly under their influence that the Byzantines were swept up in a fascination with symbolism, which throughout their long history was expressed not only in religious works, but also in art and literature. Again, largely thanks to the Greeks, the interest of the Romans in their country was kindled by the Byzantines to the extent of an unfading love for classical Greek culture. The Byzantines understood Greek myths as freely as the pagan Greeks of earlier times. As a result, they used them as parables and applied them to contemporary events in literature, comparing some thought or phenomenon with some famous text or incident, or depicting them through some suitable mythological scene. However, these Greek and Asian threads were woven into a rather dense canvas, which was woven by diligent, methodical and rational Romans. Each branch of Byzantine power, the church, public organizations and services were carefully regulated and demarcated. Byzantium became an authoritarian, but not a dictatorial state, since its citizens were free to a certain extent. It is probably easier for us today than for any other generation to see the fine line between a dictatorship and a highly disciplined society. For all our love of independence and freedom, we voluntarily submit to a huge number of restrictions. For example, let's take the most banal, but extremely necessary rule related to parking cars and the prohibition of speeding. In order for our very complex society to exist normally, we have to put up with it, as with many others. During a state of emergency in the country, most of us are just as willing to give up our usual way of life in order to comply with government orders. Approximately similar motives moved the Byzantines, tired of years of instability and insecurity that accompanied the decline of Greece and Rome, when they agreed with the principles on which their constitution was based, and with the rights and duties assigned to each class of society. However, with all the rigidity of the structure, people had a certain freedom of thought and action. In the intellectual sphere of life, Byzantium diligently filled in the gaps of past centuries. If the citizens were dissatisfied with the edict or the emperor, they did not hesitate to declare it. Often they resorted to methods that no modern-day dictator would tolerate. Riots and uprisings were commonplace in Constantinople at all periods of its history, and many emperors, despite their divine rights and unlimited power, were ruthlessly overthrown, often tortured, and sometimes sentenced to death by outraged citizens.
For most of their history, the Byzantines fought. Although they were far from belligerent in character, the position of the inhabitants of the empire obliged them to defend the vast territories inherited from Rome and hold on to remote frontier settlements in the face of an intensifying liberation struggle. In 572, the Byzantines lost Spain. This was the first of a series of major defeats. The loss of Italy soon followed. Jerusalem, the holy of holies, the cradle of Christianity, passed to the Persians of other faiths in 613, and in 626 they moved to Constantinople. But the Mother of God, according to the firm conviction of the Byzantines, came to the rescue of her devout believers and helped them repel the onslaught of the enemy. Then came the rise of Islam, and by 640 all of Syria, Palestine and Egypt fell into the hands of the Arabs. Constantinople itself was also attacked by them.

The ancient, Christian and barbarian heritage laid the foundation for a new phenomenon - Byzantine culture, reflected in different ways in different spheres of life of the empire. In state building, the Roman tradition prevailed, in the spiritual field it prevailed, and in the daily life of the cities and villages of the empire, a completely new way of life arose, combining the features of the old and the new, the traditions of many peoples and tribes.

Cities of Byzantium

It still remained a country of cities, although the appearance of the settlements has changed markedly. Most of the old ancient cities shrunk in size, sometimes shutting themselves up within a garrison fortress. Athens, for example, now occupied an area of ​​only 16 hectares, while the ancient city was located on an area of ​​12.5 hectares. In some cities of the Byzantine Empire, the structure of the settlement completely changed. Thus, in Sardis, one of the largest centers of Asia Minor during the late Roman period, the compact city was replaced by several small villages with their own water tanks, squares and chapels.

The centers of the center of life of cities and quarters instead of city markets, galleries, thermal baths, theaters now become christian churches. Residential houses and public buildings gravitated towards them. According to them, the city was clearly divided into parishes.

All this, however, did not violate the clear urban planning inherited from ancient times. Unlike the young cities of the West, often representing chaos intertwined lanes, the cities of the Eastern Byzantine Empire retained their ancient appearance. Along with palaces designed in the antique style, houses of the nobility appeared with fortifications, reminiscent of western castles. Such fortifications were not always really necessary - but they emphasized the strength and wealth of influential families.

Houses of the Byzantine Empire

The houses of the nobility almost always had superstructures or at least two full floors. They housed a lot of residential and non-residential premises for various purposes - from the master's bedchamber to the latrines, where the ancient water supply system that was still working was used. All wealthy houses had spacious courtyards, often with outbuildings.

The country estates of the land magnates of Byzantium looked the same way. A detailed description of the master's villa of the 11th century has been preserved. in Asia Minor. Around the house with a dome resting on columns, there was an open veranda. Nearby were baths with marble floors, a barn of two compartments (in the lower, including the basement, food was stored, and in the upper - baked bread), a special warehouse for grain, straw and chaff, stables, a barn, rooms for workers and servants. In the estate there was a church with a dome on eight columns, choirs, a marble floor, and a gilded altar barrier.

A garden usually adjoined the manor house, where apple trees, pears, cherries, plums, peaches, date palms, quince, pomegranates, fig trees, lemon, pistachio and almond trees, chestnuts grew. All the space between the trees was planted with flowers: roses, lilies, violets, saffron.

The center of the house, as a rule, was a spacious dining room. In the hall of the estate described in the documents, 36 people could sit at the same time at a large round table decorated with gold and ivory. In the evening lamps burned with pure olive oil, nutmeg, camphor, cassia, amber and musk smoked by the couch. In the bedrooms there were gilded beds with expensive bedspreads, in the living rooms - tables inlaid with ivory, gold and silver.

The bulk of the buildings in large Byzantine cities of the Middle Ages - houses of small traders and artisans. They were also built of stone or brick, were quite comfortable, with courtyards. But their yards, much smaller in size, were not so securely hidden from strangers. The buildings themselves were one-story (although with attic and basement rooms).

Outskirts - villages and villages

Finally, the outskirts of cities and Byzantine villages were the kingdom of modest adobe or wooden houses of the urban poor and peasants. The dimensions of such buildings were very small., the only dwelling was heated by a simple hearth or stove. In the dwellings of the poor, there was often only a squalid bed with a mattress stuffed with straw.

Monasteries, often surrounded by impregnable walls, became a new type of settlement in Byzantium. Inside, there were tightly attached to each other church, refectory, residential and utility rooms.

Daily life of the Byzantines

The findings of archaeologists and the study of written monuments allow us to recreate the daily life of the Byzantine city and village. The villages were much more and by the number of inhabitants, and on the occupied territory than in the West. Sometimes they have been preserved since ancient times, after the collapse of the huge farms of the old slave-owning nobility. Slave labor in the countryside was almost never used. Peasants united in communities and did not depend on large landowners. In the Balkans, where many Slavs settled, the communities were more united and lasted longer than in other lands of the empire.

Villagers wheat and barley were grown, and millet was sown in the Slavic provinces, but grapes brought the maximum income to the peasant economy. The land under it was valued at ten times the price of an arable field when sold. Grapes were also cultivated by the townspeople - both in the city itself and in the suburbs. It was believed that even five vineyard modi (50-60 acres) could provide a modest income for a family. The demand for Roma wines far crossed the borders of the empire. They were valued at the courts of the kings of the West, Russian princes and Scandinavian kings. Famous in Byzantium and orchards, but the rival of grapes in terms of profitability in Asia Minor and in the southern Balkan provinces was olives. Olive oil, as well as salted olives, were constantly on the tables of the Romans.

The Byzantines raised horses, pigs, sheep and goats. A horse in a peasant economy was usually a rarity. For it they gave the price of three or four cows. A free peasant kept it only because he could not serve in the military without a horse. Horses were bred mainly in the estates of the nobility and imperial estates. Breeding horses, grown in the rich households of the aristocracy, were exported to many neighboring countries and were valued very dearly.

A serious role in the life of the rural population was played by various kinds of subsidiary crafts: fishing - near large rivers, lakes and the sea coast; hunting, beekeeping; charcoal burning and firewood.

A lot of strength was taken away from the peasant state labor duties(hangars), especially such as transporting goods on their animals, clearing roads, repairing and building bridges and fortifications.

The whole family, including children, was busy servicing the household, whether it was a small peasant field, a workshop or a city merchant's shop. The working day began at dawn and lasted until sunset.

BYZANTIAN LIFE

The family was, in essence, the only reliable support of the Romans. Her support was all the more significant because the Byzantine family, both in the higher and lower social environment, was, as a rule, not a small, but a large family, which included several individual families. Married sons were rarely separated from their parents, at least until they reached property legal capacity (up to 24-25 years). Extremely early marriages led to the fact that even married grandchildren often lived in the same house with their parents and grandfathers. In such a family, it was by no means newlyweds - almost children, but representatives of the older (and far from old) generation determined the whole way and routine of life.
The law allowed marriages for boys from the age of 15, and for girls from the age of 14 or, respectively, from the age of 14 and 13. Sources are full of reports about the marriage of mature husbands and even old men to young girls, almost girls. Cases of violation of age restrictions were more typical for wealthy circles than for the common people. Metropolitan Apokavk annulled the marriage between a 30-year-old man and a 6-year-old girl, punished her parents and the molester with penance, and removed the priest who consecrated this act of violence from service. Among ordinary people, marriage was usually concluded with a sober calculation for additional working hands, and not an extra mouth.
Even in the VIII and IX centuries. the marriage of the poor, who did not have the means for its "decent" writing (this was associated with expenses), was recognized as legal with one blessing of the priest or with verbal mutual consent in the presence of several friends-witnesses. However, by the beginning of the 10th century, the authorities began to regard this practice of marriage without formalities as legally untenable. From now on, the registration of marriage through the official public wedding ceremony in the church was considered mandatory. The state was interested in strengthening the family: a stable family coped with tax burdens with great success and supplied soldiers for the army.
By setting age limits for those who entered into marriage, the law also excluded marriages for persons who were related up to the sixth generation, and in the 11th-12th centuries. - even up to the seventh. Spiritual kinship was recognized as an insurmountable obstacle: godfathers (godfathers and mothers) and their children were considered relatives “in spirit”. For example, for the marriage (and for the connection) of the godfather with the goddaughter, they were punished, as for incest, by cutting off the nose. Marriages of Christians with pagans, heretics, Muslims, Jews were forbidden. Mental illness, a contagious illness, a serious injury served as an obstacle to marriage. Most often, however, the plans of young people who decided to marry were ruined because of the refusal of their parents to give their consent to it, because almost no marriage was concluded without certain, primarily material, calculations of the senior representatives of both families entering into a relationship.
It was these calculations that led to the widespread custom in Byzantium of the betrothal of minors (from the age of seven, and for girls from an even earlier age). The engagement was followed by a church ceremony; a contract was concluded that stipulated the size of the dowry, the size of the groom's premarital gift, the conditions for inheriting property, the place of residence of the bride and groom before marriage, etc. If the groom refused to marry, his premarital gift, according to the law, remained with the bride, who retained all her dowry.

Rich and educated getters lived in large cities of Byzantium. One of them is described in the satirical essay Journey to Hell. Her visitors were high-ranking noble persons, but when a certain “unreasonable” official who fell in love with this beauty wanted to marry her, the emperor forbade him to do so.
Houses of brothel were located in almost every one of the numerous quarters of Constantinople, having both official and unofficial status. Among their inhabitants there were many orphaned girls who barely earned their living in poor neighborhoods. They were also engaged in spinning wool. The authorities sometimes turned brothels into penal colonies, drove the getters into monasteries (this was done, for example, by Michael IV), but all this gave only a temporary effect.

In order to preserve the interests of the family, the law severely persecuted both cohabitation with slaves and various vices that were very common in the empire for a long time (apparently under the influence of the East). However, the sources give many examples of violations of the law and almost no mention of punishments. For cohabitation with someone else's slave, a fine and flogging were due, for cohabitation with one's own, she was supposed to be sold in favor of the fiscal. But the slaves were in the complete power of the masters. In one of the lives, a vivid scene is drawn: a slave girl, who has received the attention of her master, is impudent to her mistress, is brought up in front of the household, and when the mistress complains about her to her husband, he rewards not the slave girl, but the wife with a whip.
Almost every statute of the male monastery contained the strictest prohibition to accept boys, youths and eunuchs into the monastery yard and even keep female animals in the monastery yard. However, anomalies of this kind were by no means specifically monastic. Eunuch boys, given their appearance, as already mentioned, were willingly bought or taken into service by the richest gentlemen.
So, despite the fact that the family in the empire was one of the most stable cells of society, it constantly experienced the adverse impact of a considerable number of factors specific to Byzantium. The most important of these was the lack of a male population due to continuous, decades-long wars and the existence of many male monasteries, as well as the spread of some Eastern customs and vices. The problem of the family is by no means indifferent to clarifying the issue of the strengths and weaknesses of the social structure of the state. The noted factors in the development of the family in Byzantium had a negative impact primarily on the very process of reproduction and population growth of the empire. In addition, an inferior family - almost always economically less stable - had the worst potential for accumulating the funds necessary for the development and expansion of production.

The law was nevertheless more lenient towards men: more often than not, it emphasized the responsibility of women for the strength of marriage, establishing more severe punishments for them. Having caught the unfaithful wife on the spot, the husband had the right to kill her with impunity along with her lover. No wonder one of the prominent officials, caught in connection with a married woman, left everything and fled in fear to the island of Lemnos. In such a case, the husband could also drive his wife out of the house immediately, and he himself, finding himself in such a situation, get off with twelve blows of a cane. The law punished a man who, being married, destroyed someone else's family, was more severely punished: then both he and the married matron were subjected to the punishment mentioned above, because such cases, it was emphasized in the lawsuit, lead to "the ruin of children and violation of the commandments of the Lord." The husband, who knew about his wife's betrayal and did nothing, was publicly scourged and expelled.
By the end of the XII century. in Byzantium, they began to look more condescendingly at adultery among married men and married women. The strict laws mentioned above were apparently not always followed consistently during this period. They were violated by the emperors themselves, who were called upon to ensure the effectiveness of official law. And Manuel I Komnenos, and Andronicus I Komnenos had children from their own nieces. The law provided in such cases not only cutting off the nose, but also execution. However, a lot is known about cases of adultery among the nobility not only from the end of the 12th century, but also from the 11th century, and from the beginning of the 12th century.

Educated Romans loved to spend their leisure time playing checkers and "zatriky" - chess; they also knew another kind of game that was not at all harmless - dice for money. John Skylitsa tells how on the night of the assassination of Emperor Nicephorus II Phokas by conspirators, his brother Leo, a major commander and prominent dignitary, who brought the capital to starvation with his grain speculation, played dice. At the same time, he became so excited that he did not bother to read a note secretly handed over to him during the game, in which an unknown person warned of a conspiracy and of the assassination of the basileus scheduled for the coming night. Constantine VIII from his youth became addicted to this game and spent whole nights behind it, having already become emperor.

The hippodrome was a favorite pastime of the Romans. At the hippodrome, noble warriors sometimes demonstrated their art of horse riding. The squire of Roman I Lakapin - Mosila, standing tall on a galloping horse, without swaying, as Skilitsa says, brandished his sword, showing the techniques of wielding weapons. From the end of the XII century. under Western influence, knightly tournaments among the nobility began to be introduced in Byzantium. Military competitions, however, were arranged in the empire long before these tournaments; even the basileus themselves have long taken part in them, but these competitions were not fights (they threw a spear, shot at a target with a bow, overcame obstacles on horseback, hit a stuffed “enemy” with a sword or mace).
Entertaining the townspeople gathered at the hippodrome, tightrope walkers performed various acrobatic tricks on a rope stretched at a considerable height, walked blindfolded, shot from a bow, etc. Jugglers threw fragile glass balls into the air and caught them, manipulated vessels with water without spilling a drop from them. A trained bear, portraying losers, drunkards and simpletons, made the audience roll with laughter; a learned dog pulled out of the ranks, on the instructions of the owner, either a "miser", then a "libertine", then a "squanderer", then a "cuckold".
The position of the artists of acrobatic circus troupes (usually wandering) was difficult: they were pursued by the moral condemnation of the church and respectable hypocrites, the court and authorities did not recognize their civil rights, their living conditions depended entirely on the degree of generosity of random onlookers. They showed their performances right on the squares and streets of the city.
Byzantium did not know the actual theater - such as it developed in the period of antiquity. But a kind of theater still existed: the same wandering actors, buffoons and mimes, who often combined several “artistic” specialties, played sharply comic skits and farces of their own composition, in which the grotesque, satire and clowning were assigned the main role. The plots were chosen simple: adultery, the adventures of a young rake, the misadventures of a pander or a stupid miser. Often the performances were crudely cynical: obscene expressions were accompanied by no less obscene gestures. The actresses performed in unusual clothes - a shortened tunic with a large neckline. The church was especially aggressive in its persecution of mimes. They were not allowed on the hippodrome. However, memes were popular, and not only among the common people. Sometimes they got to the night revels of golden youth, to the feasts of respectable dignitaries, and even to the palace of the basileus. It is known about the passion for mimes of Roman II, Constantine VIII, Constantine IX. Even some patriarchs were accused of secretly amusing themselves with performances of mimes secretly led into the patriarchal chambers.
The theater lived a semi-official life at the court of the basileus himself. Nikita Choniates left a description of one of the large, specially organized performances in the imperial palace at the end of the 12th century. The spectators were the Vasileus, members of his family, palace dignitaries and servants, prominent titled persons. Among the actors were noble young men who had some kind of "talent" and wanted to demonstrate their abilities. Some kind of fee was charged from the invited nobles (apparently, in favor of professional actors). The performance was like a "review": competitions and tricks of athletes were replaced by dances, tricks and skits were interspersed with songs. In the interludes, clowns entered the arena, simultaneously playing the role of an entertainer. The course of the fun was regulated by a special manager, and the beginning of each number was announced by a loud slap on the lower back of a certain fellow.

The spectacle that attracted the attention of many citizens was the contemplation of outlandish beasts and animals from distant lands. Constantine IX ordered to drive around the city for the entertainment of the inhabitants of the capital of an elephant and a giraffe, sent to the emperor as a gift from Egypt. At the palace of Vasileus (in any case, back in the 12th century) there was a special menagerie in which lions were kept.
In addition to festivities, feasts and spectacles, the Byzantines knew other kinds of entertainment. In spring and summer, on Sundays and holidays, Constantinople on horseback and on ships went to the bosom of nature, to the banks of the Bosphorus. However, these country walks turned out to be unsafe: in the 9th century. Bulgarian light detachments more than once made quick raids on this carefree and unarmed public of the capital of the empire.

Especially widespread and "noble" pastime in the circles of the Byzantine nobility was considered hunting - a favorite and often dangerous pastime. Vasily I died, having received mortal bruises on a hunt: a deer, hooking his horn on his belt, dragged the emperor through the thicket; Isaac I Komnenos fell seriously ill after catching a cold while hunting wild boars. Both Alexander and Alexei I Komnenos with his brother Isaac, and Andronicus I, who ordered the artists to depict hunting scenes on frescoes with dogs chasing a hare, a wild boar overtaken by them, and also a bison pierced by a spear.
They usually went hunting before dawn and returned home by breakfast. Having left early in the morning for the surrounding forests that surrounded Constantinople as early as the 12th century, Alexei I managed to return to the palace with prey by morning. Generals and noble warriors did not miss the opportunity to hunt during military campaigns, when the army stopped to rest.
Magnificent hunting grounds were located in Bulgaria, near Anchial and near the Danube, and in Macedonia between the Struma and Vardar rivers, not far from Thessalonica, north of the city. The Thessalonian nobility amused themselves by hunting most often in October, on the eve of St. Demetrius. At the beginning of the X century. almost under the walls of Thessaloniki itself, sometimes wild deer roamed, grazing along with the cows of the townspeople. Small animals and birds were hunted with falcons: Alexei I had a special falconer. After the hunt, the weary aristocrat allowed the servants to take off his soiled dress, wash him in the bath, dress him in light perfumed clothes, and burn aromatic spices near his bed, on which he was resting.

In addition to numerous relatives who lived in the same house, in the family of a Roman, especially a rich and noble one, there lived many people who were not related by ties to the owner (teachers of children, friends, freeloaders, hired workers, servants, slaves, etc.). The number of such household members of the capital aristocrat was sometimes so great that he could, if necessary, form a significant armed detachment from them. Rich houses in Constantinople occupied entire blocks and were a complex complex with numerous buildings, barns, servants' quarters, cattle yards, stables, cellars and a vast courtyard with porticos and galleries.
Nevertheless, the Byzantine, as a rule, showed the greatest caution in admitting strangers into his house. In the image of Kekavmen, the Byzantine family appears as a world carefully fenced off from prying eyes, constantly ready for a siege from outside. This commander, who was generally extremely distrustful of friendship, advised not to leave a non-resident friend in his house even for a few days: a friend, it turns out, can seduce his wife, daughter-in-law or daughter, find out the amount of income, study shortcomings in the household routine, in order to then amuse his household stories. It is better to send a friend some thing as a token of attention.
Servants in the house, even those who were not free, occupied very different positions. Some were honored with the unlimited trust of the owner, served as stewards and bodyguards. Former servants, especially hereditary ones, sometimes received high official posts if happiness smiled at their master. The servant of the father of Alexei Komnenos - Leo Kefala became a famous commander, another servant of this emperor - the first adviser to the basileus, his attorney and confessor. Most of the servants, however, were under the strict supervision of the master and his stewards. Servants could not only "devour the profit" of the owner, as Kekavmen says, but also take part in political intrigue, betray the master and even encroach on his life.

The modest external appearance of the cities and their buildings corresponded to the interior decoration of the buildings. In the dwellings of the poor, there was often only a wretched, tattered bed, but in the houses of the nobility, the furniture changed noticeably. It now feels a significant simplification of forms. On book miniatures of that time, we see primitively designed seating furniture, beds, chests and tables. Sometimes these products, simple in their constructive forms, were supplemented with supports and backs carved from wood, miniature colonnades and arcades.
Stools and chests were common, the lids of which were used for sitting; There were also folding chairs. The Roman custom of reclining during meals and conversations is irretrievably a thing of the past. They slept on beds covered with mattresses, most often stuffed with hay. In rich houses they were covered with expensive bright (red, yellow, etc.) fabrics and carpets. Roughly knocked together chests were used for household items.
Wealthy people had elaborately decorated furniture, trimmed with gold, multi-colored enamel, painting and precious stones. Christian motifs were used in ornamentation: the monogram of Christ, a dove, a fish, a lamb, a peacock; from plants - a bunch of grapes, an ear of wheat, a laurel wreath, an olive branch and a palm leaf. From Greek motifs, the acanthus leaf and palmette were borrowed and stylized. The influence of Germanic (Langobard and Celtic) ornamentation also affected the furniture - climbing plants and a frieze of ribbon plexus, as well as "animal" motifs. Household utensils were metal, glass, but the bulk of the population used earthenware. They ate with their hands, although a two-pronged fork gradually entered the life of the nobility.

The rich man's clothes consisted of a thin linen or silk chiton, pants made of expensive woolen fabric. His belt was sewn with gold, decorated with inlays and laid in smart folds, his collar was perfumed. The rich men wore boots with turned-up toes. The cloak of the epic hero Digenis Akritas was embroidered with images of griffins, the cap was trimmed with expensive fur, and the scarf was woven with gold. The clothes of the warrior Maximo were trimmed with fur, and her undershirt shone through like a gossamer.
Weapons, saddlery and blankets of horses and mules of the magnate were richly trimmed with precious metals and precious stones. For noble ladies, special saddles were made, they were decorated with pearls and gold plaques in the form of animals and birds. The saddle had a luxurious cover, and a silk coverlet hung from the croup of a horse or mule.
The interior of the rich man's house in the countryside was magnificent. In the bedrooms there were gilded beds with expensive bedspreads, in the living rooms - tables inlaid with ivory, gold and silver. In the evening lamps burned with pure olive oil, nutmeg, camphor, cassia, amber and musk smoked by the couch. When the rural magnate was going on a long journey, the collection continued for several weeks: provisions and camping equipment of all kinds were prepared for him and his large retinue.

Healthy enough, says the anonymous satire "Timarion", one who sits in the saddle and is able to eat a chicken. But the chicken and game on the table of the poor was only a stray holiday guest. The rich, on the other hand, due to the immoderate consumption of fatty foods and wine, often suffered from obesity and gout (the doctors advised them to eat more watercress, mallow and asphodel at dinner). Some gourmets could accurately determine by taste where honey and wine were brought from and how many days a whole roasted suckling pig was. The meat of a five-month-old lamb, a three-year-old specially fattened chicken, and the udder of a young pig were considered a delicacy. Pork was served with Phrygian cabbage, it was taken out of the fat in a pot directly by hand or with a two-horn fork.

Sharp differences in the position of peasants and masters were reflected in their entire way of life and, above all, in the cut and quality of clothing, the composition of food, the appearance of dwellings and their interior. The clothes of ordinary villagers have hardly changed over the centuries: a short cloak thrown over the shoulder, a chiton shirt made of coarse linen or wool, tucked into the same trousers, boots tied crosswise with a strap. Andronicus I Komnenos ordered to be depicted in the clothes of a peasant with a scythe in his hands: he is wearing a long blue shirt and white knee-high boots. According to Theodore the Studite, a prominent figure in the clergy of the ninth century, Theodore the Studite, performing monastic deeds in his youth, carried manure to the fields at night or at noon, when no one could see him: in the midday heat, the peasants apparently observed a siesta. The poor man's bed was a mattress stuffed with straw. The darkness in his hut was dispersed by coals, a torch or a torch.
The composition of the peasant's food was entirely determined by his economic capabilities. Most often it was barley bread, wine diluted with water and vegetables. Eating chaff, bran, acorns, and the meat of the "porpoise" (dolphin) was considered a sign of extreme poverty. The peasant tried to fill his fill in the morning, before the start of the working day; at lunch he ate "in moderation", and before going to bed - only vegetables and fruits. Many poor people ate only one meal a day. Not without reason, as they say in the legend of Stefanit and Ikhnilat, their eyes ran wide when they happened to see bread, wine, beans, cheese, and fruits on the table, in the immediate vicinity.

Where is Byzantium

The great influence that the Byzantine Empire had on the history (as well as religion, culture, art) of many European countries (including ours) in the era of the gloomy Middle Ages is difficult to cover in one article. But we will still try to do this, and tell you as much as possible about the history of Byzantium, its way of life, culture and much more, in a word, using our time machine to send you to the time of the highest heyday of the Byzantine Empire, so get comfortable and let's go.

Where is Byzantium

But before going on a journey through time, first let's deal with the movement in space, and determine where is (or rather was) Byzantium on the map. In fact, at different points in historical development, the boundaries of the Byzantine Empire were constantly changing, expanding during periods of development and shrinking during periods of decline.

For example, this map shows Byzantium in its heyday, and as we can see at that time, it occupied the entire territory of modern Turkey, part of the territory of modern Bulgaria and Italy, and numerous islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

During the reign of Emperor Justinian, the territory of the Byzantine Empire was even larger, and the power of the Byzantine emperor also extended to North Africa (Libya and Egypt), the Middle East, (including the glorious city of Jerusalem). But gradually they began to be ousted from there first, with whom Byzantium was in a state of permanent war for centuries, and then the militant Arab nomads, carrying in their hearts the banner of a new religion - Islam.

And here the map shows the possessions of Byzantium at the time of its decline, in 1453, as we see at that time its territory was reduced to Constantinople with the surrounding territories and part of modern Southern Greece.

History of Byzantium

The Byzantine Empire is the successor of another great empire -. In 395, after the death of the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, the Roman Empire was divided into Western and Eastern. This separation was caused by political reasons, namely, the emperor had two sons, and probably, so as not to deprive any of them, the eldest son Flavius ​​became the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the youngest son Honorius, respectively, the emperor of the Western Roman Empire. At first, this division was purely nominal, and in the eyes of millions of citizens of the superpower of antiquity, it was still the same one big Roman Empire.

But as we know, the Roman Empire gradually began to lean towards its death, which was largely facilitated by both the decline in morals in the empire itself and the waves of warlike barbarian tribes that now and then rolled onto the borders of the empire. And now, in the 5th century, the Western Roman Empire finally fell, the eternal city of Rome was captured and plundered by the barbarians, the end of antiquity came, the Middle Ages began.

But the Eastern Roman Empire, thanks to a happy coincidence, survived, the center of its cultural and political life was concentrated around the capital of the new empire, Constantinople, which became the largest city in Europe in the Middle Ages. The waves of barbarians passed by, although, of course, they also had their influence, but for example, the rulers of the Eastern Roman Empire prudently preferred to pay off gold rather than fight from the ferocious conqueror Attila. Yes, and the destructive impulse of the barbarians was directed precisely at Rome and the Western Roman Empire, which saved the Eastern Empire, from which, after the fall of the Western Empire in the 5th century, a new great state of Byzantium or the Byzantine Empire was formed.

Although the population of Byzantium consisted mainly of Greeks, they always felt themselves to be the heirs of the great Roman Empire and called them accordingly - "Romans", which in Greek means "Romans".

Since the 6th century, during the reign of the brilliant emperor Justinian and his no less brilliant wife (our website has an interesting article about this “first lady of Byzantium”, follow the link), the Byzantine Empire begins to slowly recapture the territories once occupied by barbarians. So the Byzantines from the barbarians of the Lombards captured significant territories of modern Italy, which once belonged to the Western Roman Empire, the power of the Byzantine emperor extends to northern Africa, the local city of Alexandria becomes an important economic and cultural center of the empire in this region. The military campaigns of Byzantium extend to the East, where for several centuries there have been continuous wars with the Persians.

The very geographical position of Byzantium, which spread its possessions on three continents at once (Europe, Asia, Africa), made the Byzantine Empire a kind of bridge between the West and the East, a country in which the cultures of different peoples were mixed. All this left its mark on social and political life, religious and philosophical ideas and, of course, art.

Conventionally, historians divide the history of the Byzantine Empire into five periods, we give a brief description of them:

• The first period of the initial heyday of the empire, its territorial expansion under the emperors Justinian and Heraclius lasted from the 5th to the 8th century. During this period, there is an active dawn of the Byzantine economy, culture, and military affairs.
• The second period began with the reign of the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian and lasted from 717 to 867. At this time, the empire, on the one hand, reaches the greatest development of its culture, but on the other hand, it is overshadowed by numerous, including religious ones (iconoclasm), which we will write about in more detail later.
• The third period is characterized on the one hand by the end of unrest and the transition to relative stability, on the other hand by constant wars with external enemies, it lasted from 867 to 1081. Interestingly, during this period, Byzantium was actively at war with its neighbors, the Bulgarians and our distant ancestors, the Russians. Yes, it was during this period that the campaigns of our Kyiv princes Oleg (Prophetic), Igor, Svyatoslav against Constantinople (as the capital of Byzantium Constantinople was called in Rus') took place.
• The fourth period began with the reign of the Komnenos dynasty, the first emperor Alexei Komnenos ascended the Byzantine throne in 1081. Also, this period is known as the “Komnenian Revival”, the name speaks for itself, during this period Byzantium revives its cultural and political greatness, somewhat faded after unrest and constant wars. The Komnenos turned out to be wise rulers, skillfully balancing in those difficult conditions in which Byzantium found itself at that time: from the East, the borders of the empire were increasingly pressed by the Seljuk Turks, from the West, Catholic Europe was breathing, considering the Orthodox Byzantines apostates and heretics, which is little better than infidel Muslims.
• The fifth period is characterized by the decline of Byzantium, which, as a result, led to its death. It lasted from 1261 to 1453. During this period, Byzantium is waging a desperate and unequal struggle for survival. The growing strength of the Ottoman Empire, the new, this time the Muslim superpower of the Middle Ages, finally swept away Byzantium.

Fall of Byzantium

What are the main reasons for the fall of Byzantium? Why did an empire that owned such vast territories and such power (both military and cultural) fall? First of all, the most important reason was the strengthening of the Ottoman Empire, in fact, Byzantium became one of their first victims, subsequently the Ottoman janissaries and sipahis will shake many other European nations on their nerves, even reaching Vienna in 1529 (from where they were knocked out only by the combined efforts of the Austrian and Polish troops of King Jan Sobieski).

But in addition to the Turks, Byzantium also had a number of internal problems, constant wars exhausted this country, many territories that it owned in the past were lost. The conflict with Catholic Europe also had an effect, resulting in a fourth one, directed not against infidel Muslims, but against the Byzantines, these "wrong Orthodox Christian heretics" (from the point of view of Catholic crusaders, of course). Needless to say, the fourth crusade, which resulted in the temporary conquest of Constantinople by the crusaders and the formation of the so-called "Latin Republic" was another important reason for the subsequent decline and fall of the Byzantine Empire.

Also, the fall of Byzantium was greatly facilitated by the numerous political unrest that accompanied the final fifth stage in the history of Byzantium. So, for example, the Byzantine emperor John Paleolog V, who ruled from 1341 to 1391, was overthrown from the throne three times (it is interesting that first by his father-in-law, then by his son, then by his grandson). The Turks, on the other hand, skillfully used the intrigues at the court of the Byzantine emperors for their own selfish purposes.

In 1347, the worst epidemic of the plague swept through the territory of Byzantium, black death, as this disease was called in the Middle Ages, the epidemic claimed about a third of the inhabitants of Byzantium, which was another reason for the weakening and fall of the empire.

When it became clear that the Turks were about to sweep away Byzantium, the latter began again to seek help from the West, but relations with the Catholic countries, as well as the Pope of Rome, were more than strained, only Venice came to the rescue, whose merchants traded profitably with Byzantium, and in Constantinople itself there was even a whole Venetian merchant quarter. At the same time, Genoa, the former trade and political opponent of Venice, on the contrary, helped the Turks in every possible way and was interested in the fall of Byzantium (primarily with the aim of causing problems to its commercial competitors, the Venetians). In a word, instead of uniting and helping Byzantium resist the attack of the Ottoman Turks, the Europeans pursued their own interests, a handful of Venetian soldiers and volunteers, yet sent to help Constantinople besieged by the Turks, could no longer do anything.

On May 29, 1453, the ancient capital of Byzantium, the city of Constantinople, fell (later renamed Istanbul by the Turks), and the once great Byzantium fell with it.

Byzantine culture

The culture of Byzantium is the product of a mixture of cultures of many peoples: Greeks, Romans, Jews, Armenians, Egyptian Copts and the first Syrian Christians. The most striking part of Byzantine culture is its ancient heritage. Many traditions from the time of ancient Greece were preserved and transformed in Byzantium. So the spoken written language of the citizens of the empire was precisely Greek. The cities of the Byzantine Empire retained Greek architecture, the structure of Byzantine cities, again borrowed from ancient Greece: the heart of the city was the agora - a wide square where public meetings were held. The cities themselves were lavishly decorated with fountains and statues.

The best masters and architects of the empire built the palaces of the Byzantine emperors in Constantinople, the most famous among them is the Great Imperial Palace of Justinian.

The remains of this palace in a medieval engraving.

Ancient crafts continued to develop actively in Byzantine cities, the masterpieces of local jewelers, craftsmen, weavers, blacksmiths, artists were valued throughout Europe, the skills of Byzantine masters were actively adopted by representatives of other peoples, including the Slavs.

Of great importance in the social, cultural, political and sports life of Byzantium were hippodromes, where chariot races were held. For the Romans, they were about the same as football is for many today. There were even their own, in modern terms, fan clubs rooting for one or another team of chariot hounds. Just as modern ultras football fans who support different football clubs from time to time arrange fights and brawls among themselves, the Byzantine fans of chariot racing were also very eager for this matter.

But besides just unrest, various groups of Byzantine fans also had a strong political influence. So once an ordinary brawl of fans at the hippodrome led to the largest uprising in the history of Byzantium, known as "Nika" (literally "win", this was the slogan of the rebellious fans). The uprising of Nika's supporters almost led to the overthrow of Emperor Justinian. Only thanks to the determination of his wife Theodora and the bribery of the leaders of the uprising, he was able to suppress.

Hippodrome in Constantinople.

In the jurisprudence of Byzantium, Roman law, inherited from the Roman Empire, reigned supreme. Moreover, it was in the Byzantine Empire that the theory of Roman law acquired its final form, such key concepts as law, law, and custom were formed.

The economy in Byzantium was also largely driven by the legacy of the Roman Empire. Each free citizen paid taxes to the treasury from his property and labor activity (a similar tax system was also practiced in ancient Rome). High taxes often became the cause of mass discontent, and even unrest. Byzantine coins (known as Roman coins) circulated throughout Europe. These coins were very similar to the Roman ones, but the Byzantine emperors made only a number of minor changes to them. The first coins that began to be minted in the countries of Western Europe, in turn, were an imitation of Roman coins.

This is what coins looked like in the Byzantine Empire.

Religion, of course, had a great influence on the culture of Byzantium, about which read on.

Religion of Byzantium

In religious terms, Byzantium became the center of Orthodox Christianity. But before that, it was on its territory that the most numerous communities of the first Christians were formed, which greatly enriched its culture, especially in terms of the construction of temples, as well as in the art of icon painting, which originated precisely in Byzantium.

Gradually, Christian churches became the center of the public life of Byzantine citizens, pushing aside the ancient agoras and hippodromes with their violent fans in this regard. Monumental Byzantine churches, built in the 5th-10th centuries, combine both ancient architecture (from which Christian architects borrowed a lot of things) and already Christian symbolism. The most beautiful temple creation in this regard can rightfully be considered the Church of St. Sophia in Constantinople, which was later converted into a mosque.

Art of Byzantium

The art of Byzantium was inextricably linked with religion, and the most beautiful thing that it gave to the world was the art of icon painting and the art of mosaic frescoes, which adorned many churches.

True, one of the political and religious unrest in the history of Byzantium, known as Iconoclasm, was connected with icons. This was the name of the religious and political trend in Byzantium, which considered icons to be idols, and therefore subject to extermination. In 730 Emperor Leo III the Isaurian officially banned the veneration of icons. As a result, thousands of icons and mosaics were destroyed.

Subsequently, the power changed, in 787 Empress Irina ascended the throne, who returned the veneration of icons, and the art of icon painting was revived with the same strength.

The art school of Byzantine icon painters set the traditions of icon painting for the whole world, including its great influence on the art of icon painting in Kievan Rus.

Byzantium, video

And finally, an interesting video about the Byzantine Empire.

All Byzantine cities, with the exception of Constantinople, were founded in antiquity. They grew gradually and unsystematically, over the years acquiring their own, unlike any other features. Thus, in Byzantine times, Alexandria became, in essence, an industrial and commercial city, where the "working class" was constantly on the verge of rebellion. Antioch, two hours away from the summer resort of Daphne, had a quiet disposition. Her beautiful stone houses were decorated with exquisite mosaic floors, which spoke of the stability and wealth of her theater-loving middle class, most of which were prosperous merchants. The old cities, like the ones listed above, were multinational, but the Byzantine government made sure from the very beginning that they became a stronghold of Orthodoxy. Such a move, obviously, helped the Greek population, which remained in the minority, to impose their language and culture on these ancient cities. This happened at the initial stage of Byzantine history, at the very time when Egypt and Syria made a significant contribution to the culture and economy of Byzantium. Asia Minor played an important role not only because of the supply of food and minerals, but also because of its cultural heritage, dating back to the time of the Phrygians and the Hittites. Its influence was felt in the intellectual circles of Constantinople, but this effect was to some extent neutralized by the growing power of the Slavs who lived near the northern and western borders of Byzantium. Nevertheless, the Slavic influence can hardly be called more significant than the influence of Asia Minor, since the appearance of the Seljuk Turks on the eastern border of Byzantium from the 10th century onwards and their gradual conquest of Anatolia, which coincided in time with the advance of the Saracens of Saladin, forced the Byzantines to turn their eyes to the East again. And at the same time it contributed to the growth of cities at the expense of the countryside. The campaigns of the Mongols at the beginning of the thirteenth century riveted everyone's attention to the East, despite the Latin occupation and the increasing importance of the Italian trading cities. Because of these political changes, Constantinople became even more multiethnic than any old Byzantine city. More representatives of other peoples lived in it than in any other locality of the country.

Being recently founded, Constantinople was built according to new canons from the very beginning. The principles developed in Rome were also used here, but the features of eastern cities, such as Palmyra, prevailed. For this reason, and not only because of its metropolitan position, the description of Constantinople gives us a clearer idea of ​​the Byzantine views on urban planning than the plan of any other famous city in Europe. Therefore, it is very disappointing that most of the ancient Constantinople lies at a depth of about 7 meters under the streets of modern Istanbul. Travelers and pilgrims to the Holy Land have left us vivid accounts of the beauty and grandeur of the city, but it is all expressed in such a generalized way that it can hardly help archaeologists who are trying to reconstruct the original master plan of the city. After World War I, excavations began in Constantinople. Very valuable facts were discovered there, but the work was carried out in a small open area near the hippodrome and the Grand Palace. The main buildings mentioned in ancient records are still waiting in the wings. Today it is possible to form only a general idea of ​​what this once world-famous capital looked like.

Within the city walls, Constantinople stood on seven hills. The similarity with Rome was also enhanced by the layout of the city, although the layout of the streets corresponded to the triangular shape of the peninsula, but followed, as far as the earth allowed, the rectilinear structure of old Rome; first of all, as in Ostia near Rome, the houses of the wealthy were usually two stories high, but the names of the owners were already carved on the walls overlooking the street. Many front doors were made of iron held together with large nails. However, the street side of such houses can hardly be called a facade, because, unlike the mansions of Ostia, at first it was left deaf. All windows were located on the opposite wall, where they faced the adjacent courtyard. Stables, sheds for livestock and poultry, pantries were located in the yard, which was usually quite spacious. Horses rode out in it, and here - which is especially important - there was a reservoir, or a well, which supplied the whole house with water. However, in the 5th century, taller buildings began to appear in Constantinople. Although the lower part of the walls facing the street remained blank, it became a tradition to have a row of windows on the upper floors. They were rectangular or with a rounded top. Small pieces of glass were inserted into the plastered frames. Each such piece had an eight or quadrangular shape. They were made from a glass sheet, which was first beaten to make it even, and then cut into pieces 20-30 centimeters long, and in the most luxurious mansions - 60. It is likely that iron bars were placed on the windows of the lower floor, and some of them protruded below, forming a kind of window seat, which will become widespread in Ottoman Turkey. Balconies were made on the upper floors. They became so popular and numerous that the emperor Zeno (474-491), having ascended the throne, issued a decree according to which the width of the street had to be at least 3.5 meters, and the balconies had to be at least 4.5 meters from the ground and at a distance of 3 meters from the wall of the house opposite. Strict rules also ensured that no house obscures light or sea views from neighbors, that each house has drainpipes and sewers. Although the palaces were mostly built of marble on a stone foundation, the houses were built of brick. A few stone buildings were covered with plaster. Most wealthy houses had a flat roof, which was used as a terrace during the summer months. Other roofs were pitched, covered with tiles and crowned with a cross.

Usually the houses were planned around the central hall. In such a hall, the owner of the house arranged receptions. Stone or wooden columns, placed in the halls as support for the upper floors, where the private quarters of family members were located, also served as decorations. Stairs, mostly of wood, although some of the mansions of prosperous families were of stone, and of the wealthiest even of marble, led to the main rooms on the ground floor. The windows in them opened onto galleries overlooking the courtyard. In such houses, there were usually more than one living room. As in most others, the walls here were plastered, often decorated with crosses and excerpts from religious texts, but, at least in the later period, frescoes on non-ecclesiastical subjects were also common. Living rooms were more often used by the owner of the house than by women. The women spent most of their time with the children and maids in the rooms on the top floor. As in monasteries, such houses provided for a warm room, in which they moved during the winter cold, typical of the climate of Constantinople. Many wealthy homes had central heating powered by the hypocaust system adopted from the Romans, but most people relied on coal-fired stoves. The kitchen had a low hearth with square pipes forming a chimney above it, through which the smoke from burning wood, which was often used instead of coal, escaped. All houses were equipped with toilets, drains from which were thrown into the sea. Each family had a separate bath, usually located in the garden. Wealthy people built personal chapels on their plots, or at least a place for prayer. In contrast, the poor huddled in miserable dwellings. Only a few were fortunate enough to live in tiny houses with thatched roofs and dirt floors. However, starting from the 5th century, apartment buildings began to be built, numbering from five to nine floors, for rent. They were divided into small apartments, which were rented by representatives of the working class, who eked out a beggarly existence in them, and the houses themselves turned into slums. Shacks in a terrible state were found everywhere; many literally grew up overnight to provide shelter for illegal settlers. However, by erecting a roof over their heads, they could remain in this place as permanent residents. One of the most terrible slums arose near the Grand Palace. In these squalid areas, murder and robbery were commonplace. The uprisings, which often poisoned the life of the capital, began precisely there.

The authorities never managed to solve the problems of the slums, which owed their existence to the magnetic attraction of Constantinople, which attracted people from all areas of the empire. By the 5th century, Constantinople had 323 streets, consisting of 4383 houses, 20 state bakeries that worked only for those who received free bread, and another 120 commercial bakeries. The population appears to have been approximately 500,000. By the 9th century, the number of inhabitants reached a million, but during the Latin occupation, it sharply decreased and no longer rose to its previous level.

Thinking about the construction of the capital, the founder of Constantinople imagined a much smaller city: he designed it with right angles and divided it into two equal parts by the main street, Mesa. Mesa reached 3 kilometers in length. It led from the main city gate in the southwestern corner of the city walls to the Hagia Sophia. Following the line of the coast, albeit at a distance from it, it passes through such notable landmarks as the forum of Theodosius (discovered by British archaeologists in 1928), the forum of Taurus, as well as the forums named after Arcadius, Anastasius and Constantine. The latter was decorated with a porphyry column with a statue of the emperor on top. Today, the statue has been lost, and the column itself still stands in its original place; although the pillar itself is badly damaged, the base has been restored. The Turks call it the Burnt Column. To the east of the forum of Konstantin, the Mesa passes by the hippodrome and ends at the main entrance to the Hagia Sophia - the main church of the entire Orthodox world. The space near the cathedral was conceived by Konstantin as the central square of the city. He named it Augusteon in honor of his mother Augusta Helena, surrounded it with columns and installed a statue of Helen in the middle. Millius - the column indicating the beginning of the Mesa and on which, like a similar column in Rome, the distances to various parts of the empire were inscribed - stood next to the Augusteon, in line with the main entrance to the Grand Palace, located further to the east. The houses along the Mesa featured low arcades that housed shops at street level. Some passages were decorated with statues. As in other parts of the city, shops here were grouped according to the types of goods they sold. Entrance doors, as a rule, opened into a common room, in which there were tables with laid out goods.

Of all the numerous gates of Constantinople, the gates from which the Mesa began were considered the most important, because it was through them that the emperors traveled, heading to Europe to fight against the restless Slavs or inspect the western borders. Also through them they entered the capital, returning in triumph or following to the coronation. It was there, with rare exceptions, that they were met or escorted by their sons, the highest dignitaries of the empire and all the senators.

Even during the reign of Theodosius, these gates began to be associated among the common people with ceremonial processions. They were an impressive white marble statue with large doors of polished brass, which shone so that the gates were called Golden. Today, dilapidated and devoid of shining doors, this dull marble structure at first glance does not live up to its sonorous name, but when disappointment passes, the beauty of the strict lines of the gates and the harmony of their ideal proportions make the beholder fill with admiration.

The hippodrome served as the center of the life of the townspeople and played for them a role that neither the palace in the east nor the Hagia Sophia in the north could claim. Entrance to the hippodrome was carried out upon presentation of a special sign, but free of charge. The rows of marble seats were open to the entire male population regardless of class or profession. The first hippodrome in the city was built under Septimius Severus, but Constantine I remade it. In Byzantium, the hippodrome began to combine the theatrical functions of the Roman circus, the Colosseum, with the functions of a chariot track. Moreover, like the agora in Athens and the forum in Rome, it was used for religious processions, such as the very important procession on Palm Sunday, for state ceremonies and political meetings. Political views were also expressed through sports competitions. On several occasions, prisoners were publicly tortured at the hippodrome.

The arena itself was originally conceived for chariot racing; the path was wide enough to accommodate four chariots in a row. Four horses were harnessed to each, so they were called quadrigas. The hippodrome accommodated 40,000 spectators. It was built in the image of the Colosseum in Rome, but the games held there were never as cruel as they were there. A row of monuments in the center of the arena represented the back, indicating the division between the lower and upper lanes. Among these monuments was the famous Serpent Column, brought from Delphi, with the names of the states that participated in the battle of Plataea, and the Egyptian obelisk, which Theodosius I placed on a sculptural base. Both relics have survived to this day in their original places, despite the fact that the running track lies under a three-meter layer of earth on which the park is laid out. The base of the obelisk was decorated with sculptures on all four sides. One of the scenes represented Theodosius surrounded by courtiers in the box of the hippodrome, apparently watching the races. The charioteers rode around their backs in much the same way that the children depicted on the mosaic floor of the Grand Palace roll their rims around two tower-like structures. To understand what a moving quadriga looked like roaring along the track, one can turn to luxurious fabrics on which Byzantine weavers presented them, skillfully showing all the tension of the race. Despite the width of the track (about 60 meters with a length of 480 meters), skill was required to control the chariot at high speed. The excitement of the spectators often reached a climax, and they probably resembled a crowd of Spaniards watching bullfights in our day.

Each race was preceded by two days of careful preparation. First, formal permission from the emperor had to be obtained, which took most of the day. The next day, an announcement about the upcoming competition was hung at the entrance to the hippodrome. After that, the factions gathered at the Palace Gate of the hippodrome to greet the emperor and wish themselves victory in the competition, which was scheduled for the next day. Then they went to check on the horses in the stables on the grounds of the palace complex to make sure they were all right. Many emperors, especially Constantine VIII (1025–1028), took a keen interest in racing horses. Some even commissioned their bronzes from the leading sculptors of their day, while others preferred busts of their favorite charioteers. Unfortunately, none of these sculptures has survived to our time.

On the day of the races at dawn, a huge crowd gathered at the gates of the hippodrome. Meanwhile, the emperor, in official attire, with regalia and with a lit candle, which he used that morning, praying in his private chapel, went to the audience hall adjoining his box on the hippodrome, where he was greeted by the highest dignitaries of the city. While he was talking to them, his head stableman was making one last check before the start, that is, making sure that the charioteers, faction leaders, faction members taking part in the ceremony, and spectators were in their places. The emperor was informed that the games could begin; then a signal followed, and the doors of the imperial box slowly swung open. The emperor entered the podium and stood on the throne prepared for him in the box. Standing on the step of the throne, he lifted the hem of his robe to bless the audience with the sign of the cross three times: first facing the central sector of the audience, then to the right and, finally, to the left. Then the emperor threw a white handkerchief as a sign that the games had begun. The doors of the stalls opened, and the first four kodesses, who were chosen by lot, went out onto the path. They had to run in the first of eight races. Each of the competitors had to do eight laps. Seven ostrich eggs were laid on a dais in full view of the audience. At the end of the next round, one egg was removed. The prefect, dressed in a toga, presented the winner of each race with a crown or a palm branch.

Charioteers were cheered and noisily greeted by their fans. Constantine VIII even ordered that the portraits of those whom he especially admired be depicted on the mosaic. Charioteers were chosen from the senior ranks of the working class. But, just as in 19th-century England, where boxers were so revered that young noblemen rushed to the ring, so in 10th-century Byzantium, high-born youths, even some emperors, competed in the hippodrome. Constantine VIII not only watched the competitions, but also took part in them on an equal footing with the rest. The charioteers wore short, sleeveless tunics held in place by criss-crossed leather straps, and leather ankle gaiters. Since the 11th century, empresses were not forbidden to attend the races, but they had to watch them from the roof of one of the palace churches, the church of St. Stephen, and not from the imperial box. The Latin occupation put an end to the games, and after 1204 they were no longer held, although they remained popular in other cities.

The breaks between all eight races of the day were filled with performances by mimes, acrobats, actors and dancers, each with their own number. At state events, similar theatrical performances and team games were held at the hippodrome instead of racing. In the 11th century, Constantine VIII, Michael V, and Constantine IX adored these amusements, although Constantine IX hated organ music as much as he loved the flute. Actors-individuals were revered as stars: the magician Filary received such rich gifts from fans that he ended his days as a rather wealthy man. Most of the dances were performed by children, but acrobatic numbers, pantomimes, songs, clowning and humorous skits were more popular with the public than dances and even tragedies. Some performances were probably accompanied by singing, anticipating Western European opera performances that appeared much later. The variety of entertainment available surpassed anything that existed at that time in Europe. Later, they were joined by another, which can be described as a cabaret. Foreigners who visited the city were amazed and delighted by such performances. Some surviving illustrations in books and cloisonne plates give us an idea of ​​what adult dancers looked like. The most beautiful of these plates adorned the crown of Constantine IX Monomakh (1042–1055). Now it is kept in Budapest. Some plates depict girls dancing in an oriental style, swaying and holding a headscarf over their heads. Of even greater interest is the depiction of Miriam's dance on the famous Khlyudov manuscript. Both groups of illustrations show that the Byzantines preferred oriental dances. The smooth, graceful movements of the girls were reminiscent of the art of Syria, Persia and India, and not of Greece or Southern Europe. From the very beginning, the church so vehemently disapproved of theatrical performances that it even tried to cancel them. But she did not succeed, and then she concentrated her efforts on trying to ban them on Saturdays and Sundays.

Industrial and religious associations were mostly concentrated on the outskirts of Constantinople, but even there the main streets were at least 5 meters wide and paved with stone. The central territory was mainly occupied by squares where markets were organized and people gathered to learn the news and discuss burning issues. According to Anna Komnenos, one high-ranking officer, who managed to escape from the Turks and return to Constantinople, immediately rushed to the forum of Constantine to tell the people who came there about the battle in which he was taken prisoner. During the time of Justinian, the Augustaion was the most popular meeting place in the capital, perhaps due to the fact that the city's bookshops were nearby, and scribes sat at the entrance to the Hagia Sophia. At the end of the 6th century, a large food market appeared here. Precious stones and metals were sold in the agora - that was the name of the market between the Grand Palace and the Forum of Constantine - and metalworkers, jewelers and moneylenders could also be found there.

Although there were a great many shops in Constantinople, there were few street vendors. They sold high value items such as gold thread embroidery or everyday items such as shoes and fabrics. Wandering astrologers, sorcerers and soothsayers filled their ranks. The streets were filled with wagons, sometimes on solid gold wheels, but without springs. The most expensive ones were often painted and gilded, the blankets of the mules harnessed to them were sewn from gilded leather. The ladies, whether they rode in wagons or were carried in a palanquin, were accompanied by eunuchs who walked alongside and cleared a path through the crowd. The nobles usually rode white horses, apparently purebred Arabian horses, and used saddles embroidered with gold thread. In the city, they were accompanied by servants with sticks in their hands, who walked in front and cleared the way for their master.

The city had many public parks where men could find peace and rest from the hustle and bustle of the crowded streets. The passion of the Byzantines for parks is reflected in the abundance of floral motifs in their art. Also, a very touching fact was discovered during the excavations of the Grand Palace: when the archaeologists cleaned the mosaic, it turned out that the empty space in the center of the floor was covered with fertile earth, which was brought there, in all likelihood, to organize a small garden. Theophilus's love for plants may have arisen under the influence of the East. He laid out a beautiful park next to the polo field, between the slope and the Tsikanisterion pavilion, that is, the “polo palace”.

In the 11th century, Constantine IX ordered a pond to be dug in the middle of an orchard. It was below ground level and could not be seen from a distance. As a result, unsuspecting thieves who planned to steal the fruits from the garden inevitably fell into the pond and were forced to swim to the shore. Water was supplied to the pond through canals. Konstantin also built a charming holiday house next to the pond. When visiting the garden, he liked to sit in it. It also occurred to him to turn the field into a garden. By his order, huge fruit trees were planted there, and the ground was covered with turf. Unfortunately, not a single image of these parks has come down to us. Herbalists of the time list and describe many individual plants, but all of them are predominantly medicinal or edible, with very little attention paid to purely decorative flowers.

At least until the reign of Leo VI (886–912), only emperors and their relatives were allowed to be buried within the city walls. Only they had the right to rest in porphyry sarcophagi located in mausoleums or in church tombs. The latter tradition arose later, when emperors began to be buried in their favorite temples. Andronikos I, for example, found eternal rest in the church of St. Mary Panahrantus (Fenari-Isa Mosque). After the Latin occupation of Constantinople, the restored emperors could no longer afford to build churches or even chapels to serve as mausoleums, but there were those among their courtiers who could. At the beginning of the 14th century, the great logothete Theodore Metochites spent a significant part of his fortune to build the Church of Christ the Savior next to the Blachernae Palace, dedicated to the Saving Sacrifice of Christ, that is, the heart of all things. She was supposed to serve him as a mausoleum and adjoined the monastery. Today, this church is one of the most beautiful sights in Istanbul and is called Kariye Camii. Metochites decorated the bottom of its walls with veined marble panels, and the upper part with wall mosaics and paintings, which were included in the treasury of late Byzantine art. Having completed the construction of the church, Metochites fell into disgrace and ended his days as a monk in a monastery built on his own donations. Although by that time burials in graves had become commonplace, in the early Byzantine period, wealthy people, like their predecessors of the classical period, were buried in sarcophagi. They were usually made of marble and decorated with sculptures made by the best sculptors of the time. Ordinary people were supposed to rest in cemeteries outside the city walls, but graveyards began to appear at many city churches. In both cases, a tombstone with a simple inscription was placed over the grave: the name of the deceased, his occupation and the good wishes of relatives. Sometimes a portrait was depicted. After the death of a person, as in pagan times, mourners were called. The mourning clothes of the emperor were white, those of all others were black. This even applied to empresses. Anna Comnene mentions that after the death of her father, the empress removed her imperial veils, cut off her hair and replaced her purple clothes and shoes with black ones. On the third, ninth and fortieth day after death (these intervals were determined by the Babylonian astrologers, who based their calculations on the lunar cycle), the family gathered at the grave to celebrate a memorial service. Metaphors invented by friends in memory of the deceased were not carved on the slab, but were spoken aloud, written down and passed around in a circle so that everyone would read them over the grave. Most of them were full of mythological allusions and often based on mythological plots.

Attempts to limit burials within the city arose not only due to lack of space, but probably also for reasons of hygiene. We know that epidemics and leprosy were not uncommon. Other diseases at that time were already accurately diagnosed. Several emperors suffered from arthritis, gout, dropsy, heart failure and consumption, and Michael IV suffered from epilepsy. To combat these diseases, and perhaps others not mentioned in the records that have come down to us, the Byzantines had an efficient and well-organized health system. Each city employed as many doctors as was considered necessary for its population. Hospitals, charity homes and orphanages were built. They were led by trained specialists who were accountable to a special eparch, and the largest orphanage in Constantinople, founded by the emperor, was managed by an "orphanotrophy" - a priest accountable only to the emperor.

The Byzantines were well aware that, in addition to physical treatment, there is also a psychological one, and they provided appropriate assistance, which was not suspected in the Western world for hundreds of years and which is not recognized even today in some countries with a high standard of living. Among the favorable psychological conditions was the right of every private householder, at least in Constantinople, to have a view of the sea or the local historical monument. However, if someone claimed to have been denied a view to such a monument as, for example, the statue of Apollo, he had to prove that he was sufficiently educated and able to understand the value of the statue; then the view was returned to him. The Byzantine concern for a large supply of water was not based solely on physical needs or considerations of convenience, since sufficient reserves were needed for a growing population in the event of a long siege. Beginning in the 8th century, the threat to the security of Constantinople increased so much that the inhabitants were ordered to store a supply of food in pantries for three years. Thus, the main duty of state engineers was to provide all cities with a generous supply of water. In Constantinople, this was first achieved with the help of a system of aqueducts, one of which, built by Valens (364-378), is still located in the center of old Istanbul. Water supply was carried out through a system of waterworks, starting far outside the city, carrying water from the springs of the Belgrade Forest to the north of the Golden Horn and to the city. However, the Byzantines soon realized that such a water source could be easily blocked by daring enemies, so they came up with a different system, architecturally stunning and very practical. They began building huge reservoirs that could safely store vast amounts of water for long periods of time. They were erected at various important points. More than 30 such reservoirs have already been studied. The largest and most beautiful are located near the Hagia Sophia, not far from the main entrance to the Grand Palace. Two are real masterpieces of architecture and are comparable in size and ideal proportions to a large church with many columns. They are so large that you can swim in a boat, and their domed ceilings are supported by a forest of columns. It is no coincidence that the Turks named one of them, the most impressive one, "Reservoir of 1001 Columns".

Loving water, the Byzantines, like the Romans, loved to take baths. Although the church considered three baths a day to be too much, two baths were considered common.

Nevertheless, in the 8th century, clerics who washed twice a day were severely condemned by their superiors. Only very rich people could afford to build a private bath. The bathhouse in which Roman III (1028–1034) died - he was most likely killed - stood next to the palace in which he lived. He had the following custom: entering the bath, he washed his head, then his whole body, and then he swam. This indicates that the Byzantine baths were not too different from the Roman ones. Having built a church dedicated to two healers, Saints Cosmas and Damian, Michael IV (1034-1041) built in addition a bathhouse with fountains. Obviously, his act inspired other emperors. There was no shortage of public baths in any city, as the nobles followed the example of the emperors, often building similar establishments in the poorest neighborhoods. As in Rome, in Byzantium the public baths were impressively beautiful buildings. Their facades were richly decorated, and the interior was stunning with luxury. In Justinian's time, and possibly earlier, individual cubicles and latrines were considered necessary. The baths usually had a round pool, the water for which was heated in a bronze cauldron and fed through pipes ending in a beautiful drain. Pools with cold and hot water, as well as a steam room, were located in the same building. The establishment was open to men all day, and in the evenings women also visited it.

Apart from large religious festivals and processions, events at the hippodrome and meetings with friends in the squares, parks and baths, organized performances were infrequent. To a large extent, they were limited to a certain number of celebrations tied to the seasons and having a semi-church, semi-state character. The poor were looking forward to them. The annual religious procession with a revered icon through the whole city always attracted a large crowd. The annual pilgrimage to monasteries or shrines was a real feast. The pilgrimage to the Holy Land became an exceptional spiritual feat and a test of physical endurance, but many people, both Byzantines and foreigners, found the strength to accomplish it. Cities that stood in the way of the pilgrims, such as Ephesus, prospered. Numerous inns offered wine and food to travelers, but on Sundays and holidays they were not allowed to open before eight in the morning and had to put out the lights and close the doors at eight in the evening.

The amusements connected with pagan festivals were more frivolous in nature, and so pleasing to the people, that even when university students were forbidden to take part in them, most continued to be considered holidays, at least until the 8th century, and some even longer. Later, they began to be treated in much the same way as Halloween is treated in modern Scotland. So, for example, at the Bromeliad festival in honor of Dionysus, masked people paraded around the city. On the new moon, bonfires were lit in the streets, as they do to this day in the remote villages of Sicily on the day of the Assumption of the Virgin, and young people jumped over the fire. In addition, local seasonal fairs were also held, at which sages, astrologers and healers, despite the violent attacks of the church, gathered huge crowds around them and made good money selling talismans, amulets and potions. There were often unexpected performances. Unexpectedly, foreigners arrived in unusual outfits or overseas animals appeared on the streets of the city, for example, elephants accompanied by drovers, camels driven by negro servants, or giraffes. A less kind-hearted and innocent spectacle was the passage of condemned criminals being led to the place of execution or torture. They sat backwards on mules with their hands tied behind their backs. If the verdict was passed in public, a large crowd of onlookers gathered.

But even such events were rare. Life in Byzantium revolved around the family, which, in turn, almost completely coordinated its existence with family religious ceremonies: baptisms, betrothals, weddings, funerals and funerals. Periods of fasting and repentance, rituals associated with the preparation of the Paschal lamb, which today are an important component of the celebration of Easter in Greece, travel to shrines and monasteries, pilgrimages, followed by periods of withdrawal from society or even going to a monastery, ordination to the priesthood were a red thread through the life of the Byzantine family.

The midwife washed the newborn baby and swaddled it in woolen bandages - such scenes often appeared in Byzantine illustrations telling about the birth of children. The child was kept in this state for two or three months. Wealthy families often hired wet nurses to nurse their children. Since the 6th century, it has been considered necessary to baptize an infant in the first week of life. During this ceremony, the child was dipped three times in holy water, and then carried home, accompanied by parents and their friends, who walked with lit candles and sang hymns. Until the 6th century, children were usually given one name. To distinguish him from other people with the same name, they began to use the Greek custom of adding to him the name of the father in the genitive case. So the children began to be called, for example, Nikola Theodora, that is, Nikola, the son of Theodore. However, over time, the Roman method also came into use: to the name of the child, “prenomina”, they added “nomin gentilyanum” or “cognomen” (that is, a generic name). Surnames came into circulation in the 6th century and were soon widely used. Little is known about what the babies were fed. One young widow, who lived in the 10th century, gave her baby thin barley porridge, honey and water. Cereals, a small amount of white wine, and vegetables were considered suitable foods for toddlers. Meat was given not earlier than thirteen years.

Christianity has made a huge contribution to raising the status of women, bringing new meaning and significance to marriage. The civil law of the country continued to recognize divorce in cases where it was desired by both parties, regardless of the church's condemnation. Divorce, although legally permitted at all times, was in a state of temporary suspension, and it was only in the 11th century that divorces became common and often stipulated in the contract. The church did not approve of second marriages, but they were not prohibited, but the third marriage already promised serious punishment, and the fourth, if the emperor did not bless him, threatened with excommunication. These measures helped to increase the strength of the family, and largely thanks to them, family life remained the most important thing for an individual. The legendary hero Digenis Akritus never started eating without waiting for his mother, and seated her in the most honorable place. The mother of Psella was without a doubt the head of the family. Her preoccupation with her son's education must have been unusual for women in her position, but the way she dominated her family was quite normal. However, women, not counting the empresses, even if they kept their husbands and the whole house in check, did not become equal to men. Although, for example, Psellos treated his sister precisely as an equal. All women, even empresses, were supposed to cover their faces with a veil when they left the house. They were forbidden to participate in processions. Few were allowed to be present in the drawing rooms when their husbands entertained their male guests, and no male other than family members and household eunuchs were allowed to enter their chambers. Both at court and among the nobility, eunuchs, many of whom were Europeans, were hired to serve the mistresses of the house. But, despite the fact that women were supposed to lead a separate life, they were not completely isolated, even if, belonging to noble families, they had to appear in public accompanied by a servant, and at the same time they could go to church (where they had to stand in the gallery), to close relatives or to the bathhouse. Many women, coming to the bath, put on bathing dresses.

The principle of inheritance was valid in the middle class, but it was possible to climb the social ladder through merit or an advantageous marriage. Betrothal was considered a very important step, almost of religious significance. Breaking the engagement was strictly condemned by the church and punished with a fine. This attitude led to child betrothals, but soon a law was passed forbidding girls under 12 and boys under 14 from marrying. Parents themselves found a mate for their child. The engagement was sealed by a written contract. Having set the wedding date, they sent out invitations to relatives and friends. The day before the wedding, expensive fabrics and the most valuable items in the family were hung on the walls of the bride's bedroom, furniture was placed in the room with songs. On the day of the wedding, guests dressed in white gathered. The groom came for the bride, accompanied by musicians. She was waiting for him in a luxurious brocade dress and an embroidered blouse. Her face was covered with a veil. When he approached her, she lifted her veil so that he could see her, perhaps for the first time in his life. Her face was decorated with elaborate make-up. Surrounded by parents, servants, friends, torchbearers, singers and musicians, the bride and groom walked to church. As they passed through the streets, people from the balconies showered them with violets and rose petals. In church, their godparents stood behind them and held the crowns over their heads throughout the ceremony. At the imperial wedding, instead of crowns, strips of precious fabrics were held over the head of the bride and groom. Then they exchanged rings, and from the 11th century they were also presented with a marriage contract, prepared in advance, so that they would sign it in front of witnesses. After the wedding, everyone returned to the bride's house along the same path that they went to the church, where a solemn dinner awaited them. Men and women sat separately. All the tables were set beautifully and generously, on them stood the best vessels and dishes, lay the best appliances that were in the family. With the onset of night, all the guests escorted the newlyweds to the bedroom. In the morning they came again to wake up the young with songs.

Since the 7th century, it has become a tradition for the groom to present the bride with a wedding ring and belt. In all likelihood, this was not the ring used during the wedding ceremony. It is believed that the husband gave them to his wife when they first entered the bedroom together. More rings than belts have survived to this day. Perhaps only very rich men could afford to give their wife a belt. Although gold rings are now kept in museums, it seems possible that less expensive silver and bronze rings were also in use. Gold rings are a simple round or octagonal band.

If the ring was octagonal, seven of its faces were decorated with biblical scenes using the blackening technique, and on the eighth face there was a plate depicting a wedding; most often there was Christ standing between the bride and groom at the moment when they join hands. A more symbolic rendering of this scene was nonetheless more popular: the newlywed couple was depicted standing on either side of the cross with crowns over their heads. Sometimes the word "homonoia" (consent) was written above them. It is suggested (by Dr. Marvin Ross) that wedding rings originated from the tradition introduced by the first emperors of minting coins on their wedding day, such as the coin depicting Theodosius II standing between Eudoxia and Valentinian III (Theodosius married Eudoxia in 437), or the coins depicting Christ between Marcian and Pulcheria, Anastasius and Ariadne.

Wedding belts that have come down to our time were used during more refined and expensive ceremonies than rings. Most were made from small discs, coins, or gold medallions; medallions twice as large as the main medallions served as buckles and clasps. Often the discs or plates were decorated with pagan, mostly mythological, motifs and therefore contrasted strongly with the two central medallions, which depicted Christ standing between the groom on his right hand and the bride on his left at the moment of fastening hands. The drawings were usually printed on a plate and then engraved. Often an inscription was carved above them. On a belt stored in Washington in the collection of the Dumbarton Oaks Villa, it is written: "ΕΞ ΘΕΟΥ ΟΜΟΝ[Ο]ΙΑ ΧΑΡΙΣ ΥΓ[Ε]ΙΑ" (consent from God, grace, health).

The dowry of the bride was carefully guarded. Wills drawn up according to the law were common in Byzantium, but oral ones, declared in the presence of two witnesses, were considered valid. As in Roman law, the husband was to pass on his wife's dowry to the children, but he was also required to bequeath to her sufficient means of subsistence in case she outlived him, providing her with money, furniture, slaves, and even the right to receive free bread, if he possessed one. Left a widow and not remarried, a woman legally became the guardian of her children, controlling the late husband's property as head of the family and home. If a husband was offered the position of bishop during their life together, he could accept it only if the wife willingly agreed to enter a monastery.

Even families of relatively modest means owned slaves or hired servants to help with the household. For example, Psellos' father was far from rich, but two servants worked in their house. In wealthy families, poor relatives and hangers-on were added to the numerous hired servants and slaves. In the 6th century, slaves under the age of 10 were sold for 10 nomisms. The price of older, but untrained slaves was twice as high. A scribe cost as much as 50 nomisms, and doctors and other educated people - all 60. However, over time, prices fell. It is quite natural that the church condemned slavery. Theodore the Studite tried to forbid monasteries from having slaves, but this system lasted until the end of the empire. Although the number of slave owners who believed that it would be right to abolish slavery gradually increased, paradoxically, a small number of them gave freedom to slaves.

The appearance of the Byzantines has changed markedly over the centuries. Fashion dictated different styles in clothes, hairstyles and beards. Women's fashion seems to have undergone less change than men's; however, this opinion may be erroneous and stem from a lack of information. Basically, since the time of Theodora, empresses and their ladies-in-waiting followed the example of emperors and their courtiers: they wore tight-fitting silk tunics, over which they put on a dalmatic embroidered on the shoulders and along the edge. A pallium was worn over it, which was a long piece of fabric with embroidery with a circular neckline. The back panel remained free and formed a train that could be picked up and thrown over the left hand. The clothes of middle-class women were also sewn on the model of men. It consisted of a tunic and a cloak with a side panel of sufficient length, which was thrown over the shoulder and head. Sometimes, instead, they put a veil over their heads, choosing the fabric and color of their choice. Some cloaks were made from linen, some from silk, some from transparent fabrics, the use of which revolted the church. All wore robes like those we see on Justinian and Theodore in the mosaic at Ravenna. The clothes of wealthy people were richly decorated with an embroidered border. On the plates of the crown of Constantine IX Monomakh, made in the 11th century, the empresses Zoya and Theodora are depicted in cloaks, called "princess style" by tailors. They are practically the same. The tunics on the dancing girls on the other plates are slightly different in detail. While all are hip-length and embroidered around the neck, hem and front, some have bias-cut hemlines, while others have triangular insets for fullness. Some have round necklines, others have V-necks. On all belts of different widths. On the feet of the girls shoes without heels. Some have jeweled gloves on their hands. All have crowns on their heads. Although the Byzantines wore wigs in some periods, in general women parted in the center and styled their hair in rings on either side of the head, secured with gold and silver threads or pearls. Sometimes linen ribbons were used instead. Combs made of ivory or tortoiseshell were worn as additional decoration. Eyebrows were plucked into a long, straight, narrow line and emphasized with black paint. Belladonna was instilled into the pupils so that they narrowed to the size of a black dot. Lips lavishly painted red. During the reign of the Palaiologos dynasty, women wore even more profuse makeup than before. Wealthy ladies bought so many clothes that the great logothete Theodore Metochites complained about his wife's huge wardrobe.

In the 5th and 6th centuries, the "working class" went barefoot. They wore short woolen tunics, picked up by a belt, threaded into a belt thrown over the left shoulder. Wealthy people wore longer tunics, most of which were made of silk. The cheaper ones were sleeveless, but the more expensive ones had long sleeves and gathered into narrow, beautifully embroidered cuffs. The courtiers' tunics were decorated with a border richly embroidered, mostly in gold. In cold weather, men threw long robes on top, the style of which, according to many scientists, was adopted from Chinese mandarins. The cut of most of the cloaks was simple, but among the rich they were decorated with embroidery and, if their owners could afford them, turned away with fur, mainly imported from Rus' as a luxury item.

Byzantine men were very interested in fashion. In the 7th century they were attracted by the oriental style. They began to wear oriental shoes in summer and soft leather boots in winter, forgetting about Roman sandals. At the same time, they replaced the short tight-fitting tunic with a longer and looser one. In the hem of a short tunic, a cut was made at the back, into which a triangular piece of cloth was inserted to make it wider. The neck ended with a small collar. Its roots should probably be sought in northern Persia, where tunics were distinguished by incredible elegance, although they were longer. In the 11th century, emperors wore a very short tunic trimmed with gold as a riding suit. Knee-length stockings were also popular. The Komnenos dynasty marked the beginning of an era of unimaginable luxury in clothing. Manuel Komnenos (1143-1180), ambassador to France at the court of Louis VII, appeared at the king's court in Ratisbon in a tunic of magnificent silk, knee-length, with narrow sleeves. This outfit allowed him to move freely, which was so unusual for the local nobility that he reminded Western envoys of an athlete with his appearance. Andronicus II (1282-1328) tried to curb the passion of his fellow citizens for expensive clothes, but was defeated. During the reign of his successors, fashion inspired even more extravagant outfits. The pursuit of foreign tendencies - Syrian, Italian, Bulgarian and Serbian - has become a craze. Under the influence of Syria, black cloaks appeared in Byzantium. Even the economic crisis that arose with the return of the emperors to Constantinople in 1261 and lasted until the fall of the empire in 1453 did not put an end to the craving for beautiful and sophisticated clothes. Turkish and Italian styles were in particular demand. The tunic was heavy and straight again, like a dressing gown. The great logothete Theodore Metochites at the height of his power in 1346 received special permission to wear an extravagant hat, in which he is depicted on a mosaic in the Church of Christ the Savior. His attire, like the costume of the senior Admiral Apocaucus or John VI Cantacuzenus (1347–1355) depicted in 1346, does not suggest that the lack of money forced the silk manufacturers to switch to simpler and cheaper fabrics.

Although Justinian wore something like a tiara, in the early period headdresses were used mainly by travelers. By the end of the 10th century, men began to wear a hat held on by a ribbon so often that Michael VI (1056-1057) turned it into a uniform, ordering everyone to wear red hats. By the end of the century, however, whites were favored. A variety of hats followed, but their forms were soon standardized and tied to social classes. The clergy wore a skiandion. The laity more often wore a kalifta - a pyramid-shaped headdress, possibly of Turkish origin. A later view of the headdress is shown on frescoes in the church of Pantanassa in Mistra. It is a hat with a brim. John VIII Palaiologos (1425–1448) is depicted on a medal made by Pisaniello, wearing a hat with a brim at the back and a button at the top of the crown, which was called the kamelakion.

First of all, men in the Roman manner cut their hair short and shaved cleanly, only philosophers wore a short beard. However, during the reign of Justinian, the representatives of the blue faction grew a beard and mustache, wore their hair long at the back of their heads and cut short in front, like the Huns. Constantine IV (668–685) became the first bearded emperor. The beard became a fashion that went to extremes. Men braided their hair in braids or styled them in rings, curling them on papilottes at night. The braids were so long that some reached the waist, which caused outrage in the church. Constantine V (741–775) issued a decree obliging everyone to shave. Theophilus, who was bald, went further and ordered the military to shave their heads, but this rule was abolished after his death, perhaps because caught criminals shaved their heads and beards. And at the end of the 10th century, even the church itself announced its approval of the beard and long hair, emphasizing that this makes it possible to distinguish between eunuchs and everyone else. Priests and monks began to grow their hair and beards much earlier, and in the Orthodox world they still do it.

The refined taste of the Byzantines inspired them to create beautiful jewelry. There was no pretentiousness in them, the design was simple, the dimensions were reasonable, and the skill of the jewelers was amazing. Even the crowns of later periods were in the form of gold crowns with gilded and jeweled pendants of incredible beauty and sophistication. Jewelry in the form of Christian symbols, such as fish, was very popular, although crosses worn as pendants were most often used. In addition, people wore rings made of copper, bronze, silver and gold. Some were bejeweled with engraved monograms, Christian symbols or inscriptions. In the early period, under Roman influence, cameos were in high demand, but were soon replaced by gemstone brooches. Earrings, bracelets, necklaces and pendants were also worn very often. The most expensive ones were made of filigree gold and were distinguished by the finest workmanship. Many were decorated with cloisonné enamel and inlay. Jewelers often drew inspiration from the East. Thus, Persian taste largely dictated the style of Theodora's crown (it can be seen on the smalt mosaic in the church of San Vitale in Ravenna), and also introduced such details as lion heads on bracelets, and the fashion for depicting fighting animals on the sides of the central motif. Perhaps under the influence of Egypt, they began to make small animals, ducks and fish from gold and fasten them together into necklaces.

The passion of the Byzantines for jewelry was limited only by the size of their wallets. Moneybags preferred pearls, amethysts and emeralds, most of which were imported from India. They were attached to pins that held chlamys, a type of clothing that was supplanted by the mantle in the 10th century. They were also used to make brooches, pendants, belt buckles, rings, crosses, hats, saddles and other harnesses. The quality of these stones was not high by modern standards, but the workmanship and setting were excellent. Jewelry and clothes were thrown away when they looked worn or old. Unlike European society, which even at the end of the 18th century often ignored the elementary rules of personal hygiene, the Greeks were as squeamish as the Romans, and not only spent a lot of time in the baths, but also made sure that their clothes were clean and did not look worn.

The idea of ​​the Byzantines about food is closer to our modern than to those that existed in medieval Europe. Three meals a day - breakfast, lunch and dinner - was considered the norm. The fasts were strictly observed, and the rest of the time for lunch and dinner in wealthy families, three courses of dishes were served. They started with appetizers, followed by fish dishes with gakos sauce, popular in pre-Christian times. Fried meat could be served instead of fish. Finished sweet.

A variety of dishes made it possible to develop personal preferences in food. Constantine VIII is known for his special passion for delicious sauces, Zoya - for Indian seasonings, especially those that are not dried, for small olives and bleached bay leaves. A housewife could compose a menu from a variety of game, poultry and meat. As in modern Greece, in Byzantium, pork and ham were the most beloved food. Poultry meat was both boiled and fried. Duck and fish were often cooked. Many soups according to complex recipes were prepared for several hours. Often, the menu included tripe and stew, as well as various salads. The Byzantines were very fond of cheese and fruits, raw and stewed. Apples, melons, figs, dates, raisins and pistachios were invariably present on the table. Asparagus and mushrooms were consumed less frequently. Vegetable oil was used for cooking. They drank a lot of wine, mostly from Chios. Michael VI was not the only drunkard in the empire. The feast depicted in a mosaic discovered in Antioch consisted of artichokes, white sauce, fried pig's feet, fish, ham, duck, biscuits, fruit and wine, and hard-boiled eggs served in blue-enamelled coasters with small, long-handled spoons.

The empire abounded with delicatessens who were happy to sell products that certain areas were famous for, such as Wallachian cheese. Food was very important. When the daughters of Constantine VII announced after his death that she would have to retire to a monastery, she insisted that she be allowed to eat meat there.

The effort that the Byzantines made to serve food as beautifully as possible is comparable to modern delights. In Byzantium, tables were laid with great scrupulousness. While in Europe such thoroughness was rare, in Byzantium clean, often elaborately embroidered tablecloths were used. Entering the dining room, people changed street shoes for indoor shoes. At ceremonial dinners, members of the imperial family and courtiers sat on sofas around the table until about the 10th century, although in everyday life they apparently used chairs. At the beginning and possibly at the end of the meal, a prayer was offered. Often people ate with their hands, but there were already not only spoons and knives, but also a variety of forks. The fork, obviously, was invented in the East, and it was brought to Europe by the Italians, who learned how to use it in Byzantium. This device became so tightly integrated into everyday life that a young princess, married to a Venetian doge, took several two-pronged forks with her to Italy. Their appearance amazed and even shocked the Venetians. Dishes of various shapes, types, and sizes were produced in huge quantities, as were goblets, decanters, and other vessels. In all likelihood, the view familiar to that time was depicted by Manuel Tsikandily in 1362 in an illustration to the codex belonging to John Cantacuzenus of Mistra. Although he painted an episode from the Book of Job, this picture can be interpreted more as a genre scene than as an iconographic interpretation. It depicts Job dining with his wife and three daughters at a table with knives, bowls, jugs and glasses. The younger girl is carrying a dish of roasted suckling pig. The domestic dog is begging for pieces. The faces of all those present are written out in detail. People in hats of three styles sit on curved stools.

Individual specimens from a huge number and variety of items produced by Byzantine craftsmen have survived through the centuries to the present day. Most of them are precious. Their intrinsic value, equal to the quality of the work and the beauty of the design, led people to treat them with a care that less valuable objects lacked. For this reason, the surviving examples are mostly jewelry, impressive silver cutlery or fine pottery. To them it is necessary to add a fair number of ivory objects. The most important of these are chests or jewelry boxes. They are predominantly rectangular and covered with either geometric patterns or mythological motifs, such as the 10th-century Veroli box in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Another large group of items are oil lamps and candlesticks. Although they were often intended for the church, similar ones were probably used in the home. It is possible that in them only Christian symbols that adorned church utensils were replaced by classical and geometric patterns. And the cheapest of them could not be decorated at all. All kinds of table lamps were made from various materials. In the first centuries of the empire’s existence, simple Roman lamps were in use, either clay or exquisite metal, reminiscent of those produced in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries by craftsmen who, probably under the influence of excavations in Pompeii, turned to Ancient Rome for inspiration. Perhaps their improved version was a self-refilling lamp created for the emperor Justinian. In addition, there was a huge variety of candlesticks. Most of them stood either on a simple round stand, or on three legs, or - if something ingenious was required - on lion paws.

Bronze and iron weights, often with balance weights, have also come down to us in significant quantities. They were constantly checked by inspectors so that sellers do not underweight buyers. Even while producing such everyday utilitarian items, Byzantine craftsmen brought a special originality to each. They preferred not to cut metal into plates of the required weight, but to give them the shape of a woman's head with shoulders. Lead seals, used for documents and customs purposes, resembled coins in size and, in addition to the inscription, also contained religious symbols or scenes.

Chance finds have provided a wide variety of items, including everyday items such as buttons and needles, and the rarer pocket compass, which is of great value. This is enough to argue that life in Byzantium, at least in wealthy homes, was at such a high level that in itself stimulated the production and use of objects comparable to those common in Western Europe several centuries later. The main drawback was the inability to come up with a way of printing. Its absence is surprising enough, since there were wooden seals for transferring patterns to cloth and bread. Nevertheless, the list of inventions of the Byzantines is incredibly long, which makes it even more insulting that so few items have survived to our time. Not a single piece of home furniture has come down to us. To imagine what it looked like, one has to turn to images of the Byzantines, for example, on tombstones, book illustrations, carvings or sculpture. Records speak of bone and gold tables at ceremonial dinners in the Grand Palace. There is evidence that one was round. Images of the Last Supper suggest that the table was, if not a T-shaped, then most likely a D-shaped one, and images of a marriage in Cana indicate that simple houses often had rectangular tables. Although sofas and chairs were used in the palace, benches and stools similar to those depicted in the paintings of the post-iconoclast period were preferred in the average houses. The armchairs, apparently, were made in the form of curules, common in Rome, and had armrests in the form of lions, winged Nikes or dolphins, and backs in the form of a lyre. The curule chair was in the Roman Empire cabinet furniture, on which the curule, or senior judge, or even the emperor himself sat. Its carved arms were often made of bone, but it had no back, allowing it to be folded like a stool. However, the bone throne made for the Bishop of Ravenna, Maximian, stood on a barrel-shaped base and had a Greek-style rounded back. Some of the chairs no doubt resembled a throne. On many, probably, there were mountains of pillows like those that we see on the icons depicting Christ and the Virgin.

Built-in wardrobes, similar to those still in existence in many monasteries, were no doubt known to the Byzantines from early times, but then they were apparently considered a luxury and were rare. Although more often things and household linen were stored in chests, some of them were placed on shelves in such cabinets. The Byzantines most likely did not know hanging shelves, as well as chests of drawers. Although a piece of furniture, which is a cross between an lectern and a desk (as far as one can judge from the drawings depicting the apostles writing the Gospels), was common. Such pieces are somewhat similar to the Regency secretaire, in that they had a side cabinet with shelves. They differed in size, appearance and decoration, but the basic form was unchanged. Some had bookends. The drawings show that there were also free standing stands, like an lectern.

To understand what the beds looked like, we will have to turn again to religious drawings, especially those depicting the miracle of healing the sick, who picked up their beds and carried them away on their backs. Beds ranged from cheap and simple, made of boards, with square legs at the four outer corners, in rare cases with a headboard, to luxurious, with twisted legs, expertly crafted, like in the days of Queen Victoria, with a high headboard and a lower footboard. Bed linen also varied depending on the wealth of the people. The rich used sheets, woolen and quilted blankets, bedspreads, either sewn from expensive fabrics or embroidered. The poor made do with rags and sackcloth. Draperies and curtains were as integral to household items as pillows and carpets.

There was no special care for the children. Clay carts and horses, houses made of earth or stones, articular bones, balls, whistles, flutes, covers and hoops - for boys, wax, clay or limestone dolls - for girls served as toys. But in Byzantium, children grew up early, and these simple toys, although they were kept with love, fit into the chest as soon as the child exchanged the second ten.

Notes:

Notes

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10 Hypocaust - from Greek hypo - "under", "below", and kaustos - "heated".

11 From lat. spina - "splinter, thorn, thorn".

12 The Regency is a period in British history, circa 1811–1820.