DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24719#0025
THE ORIGIN OF BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE.
9
Xeuxippus; lie also erected a tlieatre. Constantine, when lie became ruler of Byzantium, caused
all these edifices to be completed; but he could not pay much attention to these various
undertakings until he became undisputed master of the Empire. The Christian religion made
great progress in spite of the secret schemes and open attacks of the rivals of Constantine. The
chief of these rivals was Licinius, who, when master of the East, in the year 316, passed an
edict forbidding the bishops to assemble, and another, making it illegal for men to assemble in
the churches at the same time as women; also for women to enter any places where the maxims
of Christian piety were taught; and, lastly, for bishops to undertake the instruction of women.1
This edict shows that in the primitive Church the two sexes assembled at the same time to listen
to the services. The edict of Licinius met with approval; for in the Byzantine Church, the
two sexes were quite separated, and had distinct entrances, though they came to receive
instruction at the same hour. St. Paulinus in his Epistles, and also St. Augustine, recommended
the separation of the sexes. The arrangements necessary to effect this separation had a great
influence on the plans of the churches in all parts of the Empire. In the East a gallery called
gynasconitis was appropriated to the women; in the West this custom was not so general. The
churches of Italy have no arrangement for the purpose. The most ancient churches there have
nave and aisles divided by rows of columns; they were, in fact, copied from the courts of
justice, — basilica, from which their name is derived.
The Apostolic injunctions relative to the new converts, who were called catechumens, and to
the various classes of the initiated of different degrees, gave rise to some peculiar features in the
plans of the churches, such as the nartliex, or external passage, the exonarthex, reserved for
penitents, and the baptistery, which was always built outside the church. We never find the
bell-tower mentioned amongst these different divisions: it was added in more modern times.
In the primitive Church the faithful were summoned to worship by the sound produced by
striking planks of oak, or slabs of bronze or iron, which were suspended in the outer part of
the building, generally in the porticos or emboles (roug o\aig). These planks were called
sementra. The great sementron was used for summoning the monies : it was generally of bronze,
and was more sonorous than the others, which were simple plates of iron suspended by chains:
these were struck with hammers of wood or iron.
The church Avas entered through a square court {atrium), in which Avas the fountain for
ablution; for all Christians were recommended to perform an ablution before prayers. There
is still to be seen an inscription in the church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, which proves
this to have been the usage: —NITONANOMHMATAMHMONANOf IN (Not only cleanse thy
body, but wash away thy sins). This custom of making the purity of the body symbolical of the
purity of the soul Avas the reason why baths Avere erected in the vicinity of most churches.
Eusebius mentions that Constantine caused a bath to be constructed near the church of the
Holy Apostles.
The persecutions to which Christians were subjected under Licinius were the last trials that
the religion of Christ had to undergo before its triumph over paganism. Contemporary writers
enumerate many churches that were razed to the ground. It is evident from this that the
Christian community had become rich and powerful to have erected so many places of worship.
After the death of Licinius, Constantine recalled the proscribed bishops, and those converts who
had been sent to labour in the mines.
The emperor conceived the idea of founding a new capital; and history acquaints us with
his uncertainty about the matter. He at first entertained the project of establishing it at
Thessalonica, a town celebrated in Christian annals by the preaching of St. Paul and St. AndreAv.2
He afterwards selected the territory of Troy as the site, because the name of that city Avas
always renowned amongst the Greeks; however, he finally fixed upon the site of Byzantium,
Avliicli had been dismantled by Severus, but had again become a central place of resort for a
maritime and commercial population. The Propontis and the Bosphorus were connected by a
Avail in the short space of nine months, and the town itself Avas completed A.D. 330, — the
twelfth year of the reign of Constantine — two years after the commencement of the work.
The writings of Byzantine historians abound with notices of the works executed by this emperor;
but the rapidity with which they were executed caused their ruin, and in the last ages of the
Empire it Avas difficult to find an edifice erected by its founder.
1 Eusebius, Life of Constantine, book i, cli. 53. Apostolic history of Abclias; Encyclopedia theologique, by the
~ Id., ibid, ch. 40 ; History oj St. Andrew, after tlie Abbe Migne, vol. xxiv. p. 62, seej.
I)
9
Xeuxippus; lie also erected a tlieatre. Constantine, when lie became ruler of Byzantium, caused
all these edifices to be completed; but he could not pay much attention to these various
undertakings until he became undisputed master of the Empire. The Christian religion made
great progress in spite of the secret schemes and open attacks of the rivals of Constantine. The
chief of these rivals was Licinius, who, when master of the East, in the year 316, passed an
edict forbidding the bishops to assemble, and another, making it illegal for men to assemble in
the churches at the same time as women; also for women to enter any places where the maxims
of Christian piety were taught; and, lastly, for bishops to undertake the instruction of women.1
This edict shows that in the primitive Church the two sexes assembled at the same time to listen
to the services. The edict of Licinius met with approval; for in the Byzantine Church, the
two sexes were quite separated, and had distinct entrances, though they came to receive
instruction at the same hour. St. Paulinus in his Epistles, and also St. Augustine, recommended
the separation of the sexes. The arrangements necessary to effect this separation had a great
influence on the plans of the churches in all parts of the Empire. In the East a gallery called
gynasconitis was appropriated to the women; in the West this custom was not so general. The
churches of Italy have no arrangement for the purpose. The most ancient churches there have
nave and aisles divided by rows of columns; they were, in fact, copied from the courts of
justice, — basilica, from which their name is derived.
The Apostolic injunctions relative to the new converts, who were called catechumens, and to
the various classes of the initiated of different degrees, gave rise to some peculiar features in the
plans of the churches, such as the nartliex, or external passage, the exonarthex, reserved for
penitents, and the baptistery, which was always built outside the church. We never find the
bell-tower mentioned amongst these different divisions: it was added in more modern times.
In the primitive Church the faithful were summoned to worship by the sound produced by
striking planks of oak, or slabs of bronze or iron, which were suspended in the outer part of
the building, generally in the porticos or emboles (roug o\aig). These planks were called
sementra. The great sementron was used for summoning the monies : it was generally of bronze,
and was more sonorous than the others, which were simple plates of iron suspended by chains:
these were struck with hammers of wood or iron.
The church Avas entered through a square court {atrium), in which Avas the fountain for
ablution; for all Christians were recommended to perform an ablution before prayers. There
is still to be seen an inscription in the church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, which proves
this to have been the usage: —NITONANOMHMATAMHMONANOf IN (Not only cleanse thy
body, but wash away thy sins). This custom of making the purity of the body symbolical of the
purity of the soul Avas the reason why baths Avere erected in the vicinity of most churches.
Eusebius mentions that Constantine caused a bath to be constructed near the church of the
Holy Apostles.
The persecutions to which Christians were subjected under Licinius were the last trials that
the religion of Christ had to undergo before its triumph over paganism. Contemporary writers
enumerate many churches that were razed to the ground. It is evident from this that the
Christian community had become rich and powerful to have erected so many places of worship.
After the death of Licinius, Constantine recalled the proscribed bishops, and those converts who
had been sent to labour in the mines.
The emperor conceived the idea of founding a new capital; and history acquaints us with
his uncertainty about the matter. He at first entertained the project of establishing it at
Thessalonica, a town celebrated in Christian annals by the preaching of St. Paul and St. AndreAv.2
He afterwards selected the territory of Troy as the site, because the name of that city Avas
always renowned amongst the Greeks; however, he finally fixed upon the site of Byzantium,
Avliicli had been dismantled by Severus, but had again become a central place of resort for a
maritime and commercial population. The Propontis and the Bosphorus were connected by a
Avail in the short space of nine months, and the town itself Avas completed A.D. 330, — the
twelfth year of the reign of Constantine — two years after the commencement of the work.
The writings of Byzantine historians abound with notices of the works executed by this emperor;
but the rapidity with which they were executed caused their ruin, and in the last ages of the
Empire it Avas difficult to find an edifice erected by its founder.
1 Eusebius, Life of Constantine, book i, cli. 53. Apostolic history of Abclias; Encyclopedia theologique, by the
~ Id., ibid, ch. 40 ; History oj St. Andrew, after tlie Abbe Migne, vol. xxiv. p. 62, seej.
I)