Evening star., 1928-03-25
THE ART OF THE MIDDLE AGES
BYZANTINE Days.

/ ~ uR story has taken us so far
/ 4 west and north that we have
forgotten that In the distant
/ east a fragment Of the Roman
! Empire still survived, and that
! for thousand years after the fall OF
Rome" long succession Of emperors
had reiened in the picturesque city
which Constantine built on the
shores Of the BoSporus. 1t is strange
and not strange that this Byzantine
Empire should find so little favor with
historians. Strange. since for II GEN.
tlirieS its kings ruled an ordered state
at the door between the eastern and
western world; not strange, since in
that long millennium this half oriental
monarchy produced no great literature,
no worthy science. and in art only an
architectural style that won its faireSt
triumphS in other lands. Let every
nation that would be remembered and
honored consider how time has dealt
with princes, potentates and powers.
crowding their names into dynaSties
and covering their violence with OBJ
livion. while it cherishes the memory
of poets and philosophers, artists,
scientists and saints
The Eastern Empire owed its wealth
and power to the commerce and inn
pregnability of its capital OF all me-
dieval cities none could rival the trade
of ConStantinople; from that strategic
port ships sailed To every land of
Europe and brought their goods through
the Black Sea TO reach by caravan the
fartheSt markets of the Orient, The
emperorS. dipping their fingers into
this wealth. became for a while con-
ouerors, snd#fhen relaxed in the lap
of luxury. While their people fell into
factions, their religion into schismS and
their realm into decay In the sixth
century JuStinlau for a passing period
extended the power OF the Eastern
Empire over Rome. but soon that
power passed. leaving the frontiers so
frali that in the seventh century the
SlavS invaded Greece. outhred the de-
scendants of the Periclean DAYS and
subjected what was left of Hellenic
culture TO their barbaric codes and
ways
The inhabitants of Constsntinople
Shorn of all share in the government
OF the state, expressed the natural
sectarianiSm OF mankind by ranging
themselves in hostile religious heresieS
We need not burden our tale with the
quarTels OF GnoStics. Manicheans
Moaophysites. Monothelites. HISTORIANS
and the rest, they partook diversely,
and with approximate equality. in the
madness OF their time: it is enough TO
know that after the Council of Chal-
cedon %45I1 the Catholics of the East
refused 10 acknowledge the Christian
sovereignty OF the Pope OF Rome. and
set up their own Greek Catholic
Church" with the patriarch OF Con-
siantinople at their head. and with all
superstitions carefully preserved. The
worship OF images was fifSt rejected
and then restored. man cannot wor
ship without imagination. and it is
difficult TO be philoSophicaliy religious
The great achievement of this civili-
zation-which history calls Byzantine
from the old Greek name of It's capital
was It's art. In SAG the Emperor
JlStinian commissioned Anthemius of
Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus TO de-
sign cathedral in memory OF St
Sophia: a generation OF labor vas re-
Quired for its completion: and its FINAL
fate vas to fall into the hands OF the
Turks and be transformed into q
Mohammedan mosque. Its great glory
is It's dome, which was in its time the
largest in the world, the architects
we're 0Feek, out tnelF cities ana tneir
traditions were already Oriental The
Turks did not need TO make essential
changes: they liked the dome and the
spacious interior. and they atoncd for
denuding the church OF ikons By grac-
ing the exterior with slender minarets.
Today as you enter IL YOU remove
your shoes and sperd most of the en-
suing hours I'm reca pturing the slippers
which Turkish attendants, for con-
sideration not TO be overlooked, try 10