DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0451
Bk. L Ch. L.
INTRODUCTORY.
4J 5
BOOK I.
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE.
CHAPTER I.
INTROD UCTORY.
CHRONOLOGY.
DATES.
Constantine founds Constantinople. . . a.d. 324
First Council of Nice.325
Julian the Apostate.361
Theodosius the Great.379
Theodosius II.408
Marcian.450
DATES.
Fall of Western Empire.a.d. 476
Justinian 1.527
Justin II.565
Heraclius.610
The Hejira.622
The term Byzantine has of late years been so loosely and incorrectly
used—especially by French writers on architecture—that it is now
extremely difficult to restrict it to the only style to which it really
belongs. Wherever a certain amount of colourecl clecoration is em-
ployed, or a peculiar form of carving found, the name Byzantine is
applied to churches on the Rffiine or in France ; although no similar
ornaments are found in the Eastern Empire, and though no connection
can be traced between the builders of the Western churches and the
architects of Byzantium, or the countries subject to her sway.
Strictly speaking, the term ought only to be applied to the style of
architecture which arose in Byzantium and the East after Constantine
transferred the government of the Roman Empire to that city. It is
especially the style of the Greek Church as contradistinguished from
that of the Rnman Church, and ought never to be employed for any-
thing beyond its limits. The only obstacle to coniining it to this
definition occurs between the ages of Constantine and Justinian. Up
to the reign of the last-named monarch the separation between the
two churches was not complete or clearly defined, and the archi-
tecture was of course likewise in a state of transition, sometimes
inclining to one style, sometimes to the other. After Justinian’s
time, the line may be clearly and sharply drawn, and it woulcl
INTRODUCTORY.
4J 5
BOOK I.
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE.
CHAPTER I.
INTROD UCTORY.
CHRONOLOGY.
DATES.
Constantine founds Constantinople. . . a.d. 324
First Council of Nice.325
Julian the Apostate.361
Theodosius the Great.379
Theodosius II.408
Marcian.450
DATES.
Fall of Western Empire.a.d. 476
Justinian 1.527
Justin II.565
Heraclius.610
The Hejira.622
The term Byzantine has of late years been so loosely and incorrectly
used—especially by French writers on architecture—that it is now
extremely difficult to restrict it to the only style to which it really
belongs. Wherever a certain amount of colourecl clecoration is em-
ployed, or a peculiar form of carving found, the name Byzantine is
applied to churches on the Rffiine or in France ; although no similar
ornaments are found in the Eastern Empire, and though no connection
can be traced between the builders of the Western churches and the
architects of Byzantium, or the countries subject to her sway.
Strictly speaking, the term ought only to be applied to the style of
architecture which arose in Byzantium and the East after Constantine
transferred the government of the Roman Empire to that city. It is
especially the style of the Greek Church as contradistinguished from
that of the Rnman Church, and ought never to be employed for any-
thing beyond its limits. The only obstacle to coniining it to this
definition occurs between the ages of Constantine and Justinian. Up
to the reign of the last-named monarch the separation between the
two churches was not complete or clearly defined, and the archi-
tecture was of course likewise in a state of transition, sometimes
inclining to one style, sometimes to the other. After Justinian’s
time, the line may be clearly and sharply drawn, and it woulcl