The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-03-26
BYZANTINE DAYS

NUN oIOly lido OdhNlL oO La "SS"
~ and north that we have for
gotten that in the distant east
fragment Of the Roman Empire still
survived. and that for thousand
years after the fall Of Rome a long
succession of emperors had reigned
in the picturesque city which Con
stantine built on the shores Of the
Bosphorus.
It is strange and not strange that
this Byzantine Empire should find
so little favor with historians;
strange. since for eleven centuries
its kings ruled an ordered state at
the door between the eastern and
the western world; not strange, since
in that long millennium this half ORR
entail 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 re-
membered and honOred consider how
time has dealt with princes, poten-
tates and powers, croWding their
names into dynaSties and covering
treir violence with oblivion, 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 impregnability of its capitol. OF
all medieval cities none could rivai
the trade Of Constantinople: from
that strategic port ships sailed t
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 fling
ers into this wealth. became for a
while cOnquerors. and then relaxed
in the lap of luxury while their peo-
pie fell into factions. their religion
into SchiSms, and their real into dc
cay.
In the sixth century Justinian for
a passing period extended the power
of the Eastern Empire over Rome;
but soon that power passed. leav-
ing the frontiers so frail that in the
seventh century the SlavS invaded
Greece outbred the descendants of
the Periclean days and subjected
what was left of Hellenic culture
to their barbaric codes and ways.
r.
THE inhabitants of Constant
Il inople. shorn of all share in
the Government of the State, ex-
pressed the natural sectarianism of
mankind by ranging themselves in
hostile religious heresies.
We need not burden our tale
with the quarrels Of Gnostics.
Manicheans, Monophysites, Mono
thelites, HISTORIANS. and the rest;
they partook diversely and with
approximate equality, in the mad
ness of their time; it is enough to
know that after the council of
Chalcedon (45D, the Catholics of
the East refused to acknowledge the
Christian sovereignty OF the pope of
Rome, and set up their own
Greek Catholic Church." with the
patriarch of Constantinople at their
head, and with all superstitions
carefully preserved.
The worship of images was first
rejected, and then restored; man
cannot worship without imagination,
and it is difficult to be philosophical
ly religious.
The great achievement OF this
civilization-which history calls
BYZANTINE from the old Greek name
of its capital-Was its art In 532
the Emperor Justinian COM
missioned Anthemius of Tralles and
ISidorus of Miletus to design
cathedral in memory Of st. Sophia;
a generation of labor was required
for its completion; ana it's final fate
was to fall into the hands of the
Turks and be transformed into
Mohammedan mosque.
It's great glory is its dome, which
was in its time the largest in the
world; the architects were Greek,
but their cities and their traditions
we're already Oriental. The Turks
did not need to make essential
changes; they liked the dome and
the spacious interior, and they
atoned for denuding the church of
ikons by gracing the exterior with
slender minarets.
TODAY, as you enter it, you re-
Il move your shoes and spend most
of the ensuing hours in recapturing
the slippers which Turkish attend
ants, for a consideration not to be
overlooked, try to fit upon your feet