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Byzantium (ca. 330–1453)
Solidus of Constantius II (Sole Emperor, 350-361) [Byzantine] Pendant Plaque [Byzantine] Head of Emperor Constans (r. 337-350) [Byzantine] Chariot Mount with Three Figures [Byzantine] Statuette of the Personification of Constantinople [Byzantine] Steelyard Weight and Hook [Byzantine] Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis [Byzantine] Girdle with Coins and Medallions [Byzantine; Found in 1902 at Karavás, Cyprus] Avar Treasure [Found in Vrap, eastern Albania]
Icon with Saint Demetrios [Byzantine] Cross Pendant [Byzantine; Made in Constantinople] Medallion from an Icon Frame [Byzantine; From the Djumati Monastery, Georgia (now Republic of Georgia); Made in Constantinople] Capital with Bust of the Archangel Michael [Byzantine; Made in Constantinople] Double-Sided Gospel Leaf [Ethiopia; Tigray region] Icon with the Presentation of Christ in the Temple [Byzantine]


In 330 A.D., the first Christian ruler of the Roman empire, Constantine the Great, transferred the imperial capital from Rome to the ancient city of Byzantion, renaming it Constantinople. The state ruled from that city would come to be called Byzantium, although the citizens described themselves as Rhomaioi rather than Byzantines, as they considered themselves the inheritors of the ancient Roman empire.

The Beginning of Byzantium

The first golden age of the empire, the Early Byzantine period, extended from the founding of the new capital into the 700s. Christianity replaced the gods of antiquity as the official religion of the culturally and religiously diverse state in the late 300s. Byzantium's educated elite used Roman law and Greek and Roman culture to maintain a highly organized government centered on its great cities. The artistic traditions of the wealthy state extended throughout the empire, including the southernmost province of Egypt. In the 600s, Persian and Arab invasions devastated much of Byzantium’s eastern territories. In the 700s and early 800s, the Iconoclastic controversy raged over the proper use of religious images, resulting in extensive destruction of icons.

Middle and Late Byzantium

The resolution of the Iconoclastic controversy in favor of the use of icons ushered in a second flowering of the empire, the Middle Byzantine period (843–1261). The arts flourished, Greek became the dominant official language, and Christianity spread from Constantinople throughout the Slavic lands to the north. In 1204, Crusaders from western Europe took Constantinople, founding the Latin Empire, which lasted until 1261, when Byzantine rule was reestablished. The final great artistic flowering that followed lasted until Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, more than 1,100 years after its founding. Long after its fall, Byzantium set a standard for luxury, beauty, and learning that inspired both the Latin West and the Islamic East.


Europe, geography, Byzantium, West Asia, Byzantium, Religious Art, Christianity, Icons and Iconoclasm, Religious Art, Christianity, Architectural Elements, Religious Art, Christianity, Sculpture in the Round, Religious Art, Christianity, Book, Religious Art, Christianity, Icon, Byzantine art, Africa (including Egypt), Byzantine art, Europe, Byzantine art, West Asia

Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters

The Age of Justinian I (527-565 A.D.), Almoravid and Almohad Period, Animals in Medieval Art, Classical Antiquity in the Middle Ages, Birth of Islam, The Crusades, The Cult of the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages, Death in the Middle Ages, Provinces of the Late Roman Empire, Glass from Islamic Lands, Abridged List of Rulers: Roman Empire, Italian Painting of the Later Middle Ages, Art for the Christian Liturgy in the Middle Ages, Monasticism in Medieval Christianity, The Nature of Islamic Art, The Ottoman Empire before 1600 A.D., Private Devotion in Medieval Christianity, Relics and Reliquaries in Medieval Christianity, The Roman Empire, Umayyad Period, Umayyad Period in Spain, Mendicant Orders in the Medieval World, The Vikings, The Face in Medieval Sculpture, Roman Portrait Sculpture: The Stylistic Cycle , The Religious Relationship between Byzantium and the West, Abridged List of Rulers: Byzantium, Art of the Book in the Middle Ages, Byzantine Art under Islam, Constantinople after 1261, Hagia Sophia, Sardis, Roman Glass, Roman Egypt, Roman Portrait Sculpture: Republican through Constantinian ,

Asia Minor (Anatolia and the Caucasus), 1-500 A.D., Anatolia and the Caucasus, 500-1000 A.D., Anatolia and the Caucasus, 1000-1400 A.D., Anatolia and the Caucasus, 1400-1600 A.D., Arabian Peninsula, 500-1000 A.D., Ancient Greece, 1-500 A.D., Balkan Peninsula, 500-1000 A.D., Balkan Peninsula, 1000-1400 A.D., Balkan Peninsula, 1400-1600 A.D., Central Europe (including Germany), 500-1000 A.D., Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, 500-1000 A.D., Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, 1000-1400 A.D., Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, 1400-1600 A.D., The Eastern Mediterranean, 1-500 A.D., The Eastern Mediterranean, 500-1000 A.D., The Eastern Mediterranean, 1000-1400 A.D., The Eastern Mediterranean, 1400-1600 A.D., Egypt, 1-500 A.D., Egypt, 500-1000 A.D., France, 500-1000 A.D., Iberian Peninsula, 500-1000 A.D., Iberian Peninsula, 1400-1600 A.D., Iran, 1-500 A.D., Iran, 500-1000 A.D., Iraq (Mesopotamia) 500-1000 A.D., Italian Peninsula, 1-500 A.D., Italian Peninsula, 500-1000 A.D., Italian Peninsula, 1000-1400 A.D., Western North Africa (The Maghrib), 1400-1600 A.D., Mesopotamia, 1-500 A.D.,

Europe, 1-500 A.D., Europe, 500-1000 A.D., Europe, 1000-1400 A.D.