DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24719#0021
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE.
embedded in stucco. Examples of all these various methods are to he seen at Athens, and
in the churches of Asia. The first churches in Gaul were also lighted in this manner.
The science of construction acquired hy the Homans descended to the Byzantines. Although
the constant progress of political and religious ideas led the people to destroy those ancient
pagan edifices that were not turned into churches ; and although the rich materials employed
in them—especially the columns, which were often of the richest marble — were used in the
erection and decoration of the new places of worship, the importation and sale of decorative
materials, such as rare marbles, did not in the least decline. The laws contained in the
Theodosian Code go to show that the imperial government encouraged this branch of trade and
industry. The mode of ornamentation by means of coloured marbles was carried to a greater
extent than ever before. The quarries opened by the Homans were carefully preserved, and
the workmen employed in them, governed by imperial decrees issued especially for their
guidance.
But all these precious materials were generally reserved for decorative purposes. Brick
was preferred in the construction of churches; it lent itself best to all the caprices of the
architect; and as the interiors were always lined with marbles and mosaics, or decorated with
paintings, brick walls were the most suitable for the reception of these kinds of ornamentation.
The forms of the bricks varied infinitely in Byzantine times; but the form that was the
most frequently used was that of the Homan brick, termed plinthos. These bricks were made
of tempered clay pressed into moulds by the feet of the workmen: we frequently see upon
their surface the prints of the feet of men and children. Moulds were used for the pieces
forming cornices and mouldings. The shafts of columns were built of circular bricks, which,
if the column was not above a foot in diameter, were divided into two semicircular parts; if,
however, the column was of considerable size, the bricks took the form of segments. The
Byzantine brick, like the Homan, was about an inch and a half in thickness, and was always
laid upon a bed of mortar half an inch thick.
Bricks were generally marked with a stamp which indicated their destination. Those for
churches had a cross and monograms; in the church of St. Sophia they have entire inscriptions.
This custom of stamping, which dates from the time of the Assyrians and Babylonians,
was common in all succeeding ages. The bricks of a portico at Ostia have the legend: De
Olearia; showing that the oil-market was situated there. Ciampini1 gives representations of
many signs copied from those of the ancient churches of Home. The churches of Thessalonica
have similar symbols, all of a religious character. We do not so often find the name of the
maker upon Byzantine as we do on Roman bricks. It is not surprising that the Byzantines
took great pains with the fabrication of their brick, when we consider that it was employed in
their military as well as in their ecclesiastical and domestic architecture. The walls of
Constantinople and of Nicsea are built of it. It was thought that brick walls were best able
to withstand the effect of the battering-ram in attacks. Generally the core of the wall was
of concrete.
The manner in which the bricks were arranged contributed greatly to the decoration of
buildings. They were laid not always horizontally, but sometimes obliquely, sometimes arranged
in the form of the meander fret, sometimes in the chevron, or herring-bone pattern, and many
other forms of similar design, giving great richness and variety to the fagades. Interesting
examples of this are to be seen in the absides of the church of Eski Djouma, at Thessalonica,
and in the walls of Nicsea, which present an infinite number of combinations.
The manufacture of roof-tiles remained much the same as in the earliest times. The
Byzantines generally made use of tiles two Greek feet in length by one foot in breadth; they
were placed alongside one another, and the joints covered with a hollowed tile; the ridges were
decorated with ornamental ridge-tiles, and the eaves enriched by ornaments which modern
arc litects improperly term antefixee. These ornaments were invented hy a sculptor, Dibutades,
who was the first to enrich the ends of the tiles with masks. This mode of decoration he
called protype.2
The universal use of brickwork made the Byzantines pay great attention to the composition
oi their mortar. It was so well made that it remains at the present day as hard as that in
a
1 De jEdificiis a Constantino Magno constructis. Primusque personas tegularum extremis imbricibus imposuit,
2 Pliny, book xxxv. ch. 12. Dibutadis inventum est . . . qnce inter initia protypa vocavit.
C
embedded in stucco. Examples of all these various methods are to he seen at Athens, and
in the churches of Asia. The first churches in Gaul were also lighted in this manner.
The science of construction acquired hy the Homans descended to the Byzantines. Although
the constant progress of political and religious ideas led the people to destroy those ancient
pagan edifices that were not turned into churches ; and although the rich materials employed
in them—especially the columns, which were often of the richest marble — were used in the
erection and decoration of the new places of worship, the importation and sale of decorative
materials, such as rare marbles, did not in the least decline. The laws contained in the
Theodosian Code go to show that the imperial government encouraged this branch of trade and
industry. The mode of ornamentation by means of coloured marbles was carried to a greater
extent than ever before. The quarries opened by the Homans were carefully preserved, and
the workmen employed in them, governed by imperial decrees issued especially for their
guidance.
But all these precious materials were generally reserved for decorative purposes. Brick
was preferred in the construction of churches; it lent itself best to all the caprices of the
architect; and as the interiors were always lined with marbles and mosaics, or decorated with
paintings, brick walls were the most suitable for the reception of these kinds of ornamentation.
The forms of the bricks varied infinitely in Byzantine times; but the form that was the
most frequently used was that of the Homan brick, termed plinthos. These bricks were made
of tempered clay pressed into moulds by the feet of the workmen: we frequently see upon
their surface the prints of the feet of men and children. Moulds were used for the pieces
forming cornices and mouldings. The shafts of columns were built of circular bricks, which,
if the column was not above a foot in diameter, were divided into two semicircular parts; if,
however, the column was of considerable size, the bricks took the form of segments. The
Byzantine brick, like the Homan, was about an inch and a half in thickness, and was always
laid upon a bed of mortar half an inch thick.
Bricks were generally marked with a stamp which indicated their destination. Those for
churches had a cross and monograms; in the church of St. Sophia they have entire inscriptions.
This custom of stamping, which dates from the time of the Assyrians and Babylonians,
was common in all succeeding ages. The bricks of a portico at Ostia have the legend: De
Olearia; showing that the oil-market was situated there. Ciampini1 gives representations of
many signs copied from those of the ancient churches of Home. The churches of Thessalonica
have similar symbols, all of a religious character. We do not so often find the name of the
maker upon Byzantine as we do on Roman bricks. It is not surprising that the Byzantines
took great pains with the fabrication of their brick, when we consider that it was employed in
their military as well as in their ecclesiastical and domestic architecture. The walls of
Constantinople and of Nicsea are built of it. It was thought that brick walls were best able
to withstand the effect of the battering-ram in attacks. Generally the core of the wall was
of concrete.
The manner in which the bricks were arranged contributed greatly to the decoration of
buildings. They were laid not always horizontally, but sometimes obliquely, sometimes arranged
in the form of the meander fret, sometimes in the chevron, or herring-bone pattern, and many
other forms of similar design, giving great richness and variety to the fagades. Interesting
examples of this are to be seen in the absides of the church of Eski Djouma, at Thessalonica,
and in the walls of Nicsea, which present an infinite number of combinations.
The manufacture of roof-tiles remained much the same as in the earliest times. The
Byzantines generally made use of tiles two Greek feet in length by one foot in breadth; they
were placed alongside one another, and the joints covered with a hollowed tile; the ridges were
decorated with ornamental ridge-tiles, and the eaves enriched by ornaments which modern
arc litects improperly term antefixee. These ornaments were invented hy a sculptor, Dibutades,
who was the first to enrich the ends of the tiles with masks. This mode of decoration he
called protype.2
The universal use of brickwork made the Byzantines pay great attention to the composition
oi their mortar. It was so well made that it remains at the present day as hard as that in
a
1 De jEdificiis a Constantino Magno constructis. Primusque personas tegularum extremis imbricibus imposuit,
2 Pliny, book xxxv. ch. 12. Dibutadis inventum est . . . qnce inter initia protypa vocavit.
C