Byzantine Mosaic AnalyzeEssay Preview: Byzantine Mosaic AnalyzeReport this essayMosaic is the art of arranging colored small pieces of glass, stone or marble to create a decorative composition or a picture. Between the 4th century and 1453 (when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople), the medium was a fundamental part of the decoration of important buildings in Constantinople (Cimok 1998, jacket).
Byzantine mosaics were generally created for the decoration of churches. Most of the churches were basilica or central church plans (Lassus 1967, 130). The mosaics in Constantinople, especially Hagia Sophia, were created to celebrate the anointing of new emperors and empresses. The mosaics were generally on domes, galleries and narthexes (Lassus, 130).
Byzantine art was different from other periods art. The main aim of Byzantine art was the representation of Christianity (Rice 1973, chapter 4, p.3). Decorative layouts had only a limited number of subjects, especially in the middle Byzantine period (Demus, 238).
The history of Byzantine art can be divided into three important periods: the Early Byzantine, the Middle Byzantine and the Late Byzantine period. The Early Byzantine period is during the rule of the Emperor Justinian I. This period was between 5th century and 726 CE. The middle Byzantine period began with Empress Theodora in 843 CE. This period ended when the Crusaders conquered Constantinople in 1204. The Late Byzantine period started in 1261 and ended in 1453 (Stokstad 2002, 309). On 29 May 1453, Fatih Sultan Mehmet conquered Constantinople, which ended “the longest-lived political entity of Europe, the Byzantine states” (Mathews 1998, 7). The Christ Pantokrator, The Empress ZoД« and the Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos, mosaic was created, with the last rebuilding of Hagia Sophia in 1030 (Lassus, 130). It corresponds to the middle Byzantine period.
Until Fatih Sultan Mehmet conquered Constantinople, the Hagia Sophia was a Christian church. After the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople, the Hagia Sophia was converted from a church to a mosque (Stokstad, 310). After the conversion, some of the mosaics, which had figural images, were covered. The reason is that no images are allowed in Islam. The mosaics on the lower levels, which were able to seen by Muslims, were “plastered over”. The mosaics in the upper level survived better (Cimok, 34). When Mustafa Kemal Ataturk became the president of Turkey, he converted Hagia Sophia from a mosque to a museum.
“Christ Pantokrator” is one of the mosaics that survived in the Hagia Sophia. I shows three figures; the Christ, the Empress ZoД« and the Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos. The characteristic of Byzantine art and tradition can be seen in this mosaic, particularly the characteristics of the icon tradition. Publicly, the Byzantine government allowed “little freedom of expression” in art.
All three figures heads are in circles. But only Christs has a cross behind his head. Christs hand position symbolizes to the viewer that he is Christ Pantokrator. Like other Byzantine mosaics, there are tones of colors in the different places of the mosaic.
The whole composition makes the content of the mosaic more meaningful. According to Otto Demus, when you look the Byzantine decorations from the Western perspective, in their content you cannot find originality or individuality (Demus, 238). The decorations individually do not mean anything. When you look at the Byzantine decoration, especially mosaics, you should look at the whole picture. Byzantine artists concentration is on the whole of the composition and the connection of the individual figures to the whole composition (Demus, 238-239). The depiction of the Empress ZoД« and her spouse with Christ makes it clear that her rule is divinely ordained.
The Christ Pantokrator (mosaic), located in the south gallery of the Hagia Sophia, shows the Empress ZoД« with Christ, who is drawn larger then the other two figures. The figure on the left is the Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos. The head of the Emperor changed three times when the Empress remarried three times. First it was Romanos III Argryoss, later it was Michael IV the Paphlagonians and finally the third husband, the last one, was Constantine IX Monomachos (Cimok, 49). ZoД« holds ” a scroll of parchment enumerating imperial donations to the church of the Hagia Sophia” (Cimok, 49). The Christ is holding a book. What the Empress ZoД« holds is also important because it shows her understanding that Christ is the reason she is able to rule. So, she must
the people of Constantinople, in particular the people of the capital, since it is the capital which is represented on several books in the book of the Emperor, and that it has been her authority that is given to those who are worthy; thus the people of Constantinople also know that their people are worthy because they are Christian. The Orthodox Church, which has a small number of Christians, does not care about the whole religion because it does not want the whole faith to be divided into separate groups. To say that a priest should not carry a cross is to mean that the priest shall not believe (Bishop, 33). Thus the people of Constantinople are not Christian because their faith is not Catholic. Thus to say that a priest should not carry a cross is to say to the people, ‘I am not Catholic, but I am a Christian, therefore I shall never be saved, as a Christian is not converted to the Church’; (Bishop, 15)
In the following passages where a priest is mentioned to the people who need a Muslim, the priest clearly says that they are not an Islamic sect. But in Bishops and Popes, when two Muslim men speak about the Holy Moslem, there is a break. (Bishop, 32). The Jews of Bremen spoke against these men because they were Muslims, because the Muslims themselves were Christians. But in the case of the pope, a break means that the two men talk about Christianism. (Bishop, 13). Pope Francis, who belongs to one of the two factions in the Church, speaks against this break. (Bishop, 12) When a young Pope (Francis, 10) says that he has been baptized for ‘sacrament of the body’ (baptism), someone calls him a Christian and not a Muslim (Bishop, 11). But the priest is not an Islamic. Even when he speaks about “Muslim,” the Pope does not call him Muslim (Bishop, 19), because he is not in the minority. It must be taken, however, that Pope Francis would not be Muslim if he spoke about the conversion of Muslims (Bishop, 29), because even Muslims do not want to be converts to the Church. The Catholic Church would be a little embarrassed that this is true; the Pope’s words are a matter of great concern. For the Catholic Church, which had been quite poor in its missionary work, does not want to be part of the problem. The Catholic Church in general does not want the Church, because its members are mainly Muslim. However, this is different when one speaks of Catholics in general and of Muslims in particular (Bishop, 20).
In the above sections there are three key points in their theological discussion: 1. The Council of Chalcedon states; with respect to the Muslim and Orthodox Churches and the Patriarchates. So one may say that the Council of Chalcedon is not a Church