1.
History of the Byzantine Empire
–
This history of the Byzantine Empire covers the history of the Eastern Roman Empire from late antiquity until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD. Several events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period during which the Roman Empires east and west divided. In 285, the emperor Diocletian partitioned the Roman Empires administration into eastern and western halves, between 324 and 330, Constantine I transferred the main capital from Rome to Byzantium, later known as Constantinople and Nova Roma. Under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion, and finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military and administration were restructured and adopted Greek for official use instead of Latin. The borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through cycles of decline. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia as a homeland, the final centuries of the Empire exhibited a general trend of decline. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Roman Empire, during the 3rd century, three crises threatened the Roman Empire, external invasions, internal civil wars and an economy riddled with weaknesses and problems. The city of Rome gradually became important as an administrative centre. The crisis of the 3rd century displayed the defects of the system of government that Augustus had established to administer his immense dominion. His successors had introduced some modifications, but events made it clearer that a new, more centralized, Diocletian was responsible for creating a new administrative system. He associated himself with a co-emperor, or Augustus, each Augustus was then to adopt a young colleague, or Caesar, to share in the rule and eventually to succeed the senior partner. After the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian, however, the tetrachy collapsed, Constantine moved the seat of the Empire, and introduced important changes into its civil and religious constitution. Constantine also began the building of the fortified walls, which were expanded. Constantine built upon the administrative reforms introduced by Diocletian and he stabilized the coinage, and made changes to the structure of the army. Under Constantine, the Empire had recovered much of its military strength and he also reconquered southern parts of Dacia, after defeating the Visigoths in 332, and he was planning a campaign against Sassanid Persia as well. In the course of the 4th century, four great sections emerged from these Constantinian beginnings, Constantine established the principle that emperors should not settle questions of doctrine, but should summon general ecclesiastical councils for that purpose
2.
Greek scholars in the Renaissance
–
These emigres were grammarians, humanists, poets, writers, printers, lecturers, musicians, astronomers, architects, academics, artists, scribes, philosophers, scientists, politicians and theologians. They brought to Western Europe the relatively well-preserved remnants and accumulated knowledge of their own civilization and their main role within the Renaissance humanism was the teaching of the Greek language to their western counterparts in universities or privately together with the spread of ancient texts. Their forerunners were Barlaam of Calabria and Leonzio Pilato, both drawn from culturally Byzantine Calabria in southern Italy, the impact of these two scholars on the very first Renaissance humanists was indisputable. These young men had to study the sciences, in order to spread later sacred and profane learning among their fellow-countrymen. The construction of the College and Church of S. Atanasio, the same year the first students arrived, and until the completion of the college were housed elsewhere. Crete was especially notable for the Cretan School of icon-painting, which after 1453 became the most important in the Greek world, while Greek learning affected all the subjects of the studia humanitatis, history and philosophy in particular were profoundly affected by the texts and ideas brought from Byzantium. The effects of this knowledge of Greek history can be seen in the writings of humanists on virtue. Specifically, these effects are shown in the examples provided from Greek antiquity that displayed virtue as well as vice, the flourishing of philosophical writings in the 15th century revealed the impact of Greek philosophy and science on the Renaissance. Geanakoplos, Byzantine East and Latin West, Two worlds of Christendom in Middle Ages, the Academy Library Harper & Row Publishers, New York,1966. Deno J. Geanakoplos, A Byzantine looks at the renaissance, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 1, pp, jonathan Harris, Greek Émigrés in the West, 1400-1520, Camberley, Porphyrogenitus,1995. Louise Ropes Loomis The Greek Renaissance in Italy The American Historical Review,13, pp, john Monfasani Byzantine Scholars in Renaissance Italy, Cardinal Bessarion and Other Émigrés, Selected Essays, Aldershot, Hampshire, Variorum,1995. Steven Runciman, The fall of Constantinople,1453, fotis Vassileiou & Barbara Saribalidou, Short Biographical Lexicon of Byzantine Academics Immigrants to Western Europe,2007. Dimitri Tselos A Greco-Italian School of Illuminators and Fresco Painters, Its Relation to the Principal Reims Nigel G. Wilson, from Byzantium to Italy, Greek Studies in the Italian Renaissance. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press,1992, michael D. Reeve, On the role of Greek in Renaissance scholarship. Jonathan Harris, Byzantines in Renaissance Italy, bilingual excerpts from Gennadios Scholarios Epistle to Orators. Paul Botley, Renaissance Scholarship and the Athenian Calendar, karl Krumbacher, The History of Byzantine Literature, from Justinian to the end of the Eastern Roman Empire. San Giorgio dei Greci and the Greek community of Venice Istituto Ellenico di Studi Byzantini and Postbyzantini di Venezia
3.
Modern Greek Enlightenment
–
The Modern Greek Enlightenment was the Greek expression of the Age of Enlightenment. The Greek Enlightenment was given impetus by the Greek predominance in trade, Greek merchants financed a large number of young Greeks to study in universities in Italy and the German states. There they were introduced to the ideas of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, the Phanariotes were a small caste of Greek families who took their collective name from the Phanar quarter of Constantinople where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is still housed. They held various posts within the Ottoman Empire, the most important of which were those of hospodar, or prince. Most hospodars acted as patrons of Greek culture, education, and these academies attracted teachers and pupils from throughout the Orthodox commonwealth, and there was some contact with intellectual trends in Habsburg central Europe. This environment was in general a special attraction for young, ambitious and educated Greek people from the Ottoman Empire, the Princely Academies of Bucharest and Iasi also played a crucial role in this movement. Characteristically the authors of the Geographia Neoteriki, one of the most remarkable works of era, Daniel Philippidis. One effect was the creation of a form of Greek by linguistic purists. This created diglossia in the Greek linguistic sphere, in which Katharevousa, the transmission of Enlightenment ideas into Greek thought also influenced the development of a national consciousness. The publication of the journal Hermes o Logios encouraged the ideas of the Enlightenment, the journals objective was to advance Greek science, philosophy and culture. Two of the figures of the Greek Enlightenment, Rigas Feraios and Adamantios Korais. Greek Enlightenment concerned not only language and the humanities but also the sciences, Rigas Feraios also published an Anthology of Physics. Neophytos Doukas, a scholar and prolific writer, who wrote about 70 books, Rigas Feraios, Greek emigre to Vienna. He was an admirer of the French revolution and hoped to transplant its humanistic ideas to the Greek world and he imagined a pan-Balkan uprising against the Ottomans. Theophilos Kairis, influenced by the French Enlightenment and critical to the Eastern Orthodox Church and he had a very different vision for the independent Greece, one that was based upon the concept of separation of church and state. Theoklitos Farmakidis, inspired by the French Revolution, strongly pro-West, filomousos Eteria, the name of two philological and philellene organizations. Many young Phanariot Greeks were among its members, French Enlightenment Anthimos Gazis Ellinoglosso Xenodocheio Greek War of Independence Dimitris Michalopoulos, Aristotle vs Plato. The Balkans Paradoxical Enlightenment, Bulgarian Journal of Science and Education Policy,1, Anna Tabaki, Enlightenment, Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition, Editor Graham Speake, Volume vol.1 A-K, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, London-Chicago,2000, pp. 547–551
4.
Dionysios Solomos
–
Dionysios Solomos was a Greek poet from Zakynthos. He is best known for writing the Hymn to Liberty, of which the first two stanzas, set to music by Nikolaos Mantzaros, became the Greek national anthem in 1865, other notable poems include Ὁ Κρητικός, Ἐλεύθεροι Πολιορκημένοι and others. A characteristic of his work is that no poem except the Hymn to Liberty was completed, born at Zakynthos in 1798, Dionysios Solomos was the illegitimate child of a wealthy count, Nikolaos Solomos, and his housekeeper, Angeliki Nikli. Nikolaos Solomos was of Cretan origin, his family were Cretan refugees who settled on Zakynthos in 1670 after Cretes conquest by the Ottoman Empire in 1669, the Italian version of the family name is recorded as, Salamon, Salomon, Solomon, and Salomone. It is possible that his mother Angeliki Nikli came from the region of Mani, count Nikolaos Solomos was legally married to Marnetta Kakni, who died in 1802. From that marriage, he had two children, Roberto and Elena, since 1796, Nikolaos Solomos had a parallel relationship with his housekeeper Angeliki Nikli, who gave birth to one more son apart from Dionysios, Dimitrios. His father married Dionysios mother a day before he died on 27 February 1807, making the young Dionysios legitimate, the poet spent his childhood years on Zakynthos until 1808, under the supervision of his Italian tutor, abbot Santo Rossi. After his fathers death, count Dionysios Messalas gained Solomos custody, in 1808, Messalas sent Solomos to Italy in order to study law, as was customary with Ionian nobility, but possibly also because of Dionysios mothers new marriage. Solomos went to Italy with his tutor, who returned to his home town, initially he was enrolled at the Lyceum of St. Catherine in Venice, but he had adjustment difficulties because of the schools strict discipline. For that reason, Rossi took Solomos with him to Cremona, in November 1815, Solomos was enrolled at Pavia Universitys Faculty of Law, from which he graduated in 1817. Given the interest the young poet showed in the flourishing Italian literature and being a speaker of Italian. One of the most important first poems written in Italian during that period of time was the Ode per la prima messa, in the meantime, he acquainted himself with famous Italian poets and novelists, Ugo Foscolo from Zakynthos was among his friends. As a result, he was accepted in the Italian literary circles. After 10 years of studies Solomos returned to Zakynthos in 1818 with a background in literature. On Zakynthos, which at time was well known for its flourishing literary culture. Antonios Matesis, Georgios Tertsetis, Dionysios Tagiapieras and Nikolaos Lountzis were some of Solomos most well-known friends and they used to gather in each others homes and amused themselves by making up poems. They frequently satirized a Zakynthian doctor, Roidis and they also liked to improvise poems on a given rhyme and topic. His improvised Italian poems during that period of time were published in 1822, along with the Italian poems, Solomos made his first attempts to write in Greek
5.
Heptanese School (literature)
–
The term Heptanese School of literature denotes the literary production of the Ionian Islands literature figures from the late 18th century till the end of the 19th century. An Introduction to Modern Greek Literature, Oxford University Press, USA,1999, Ιστορία της Νεοελληνικής Λογοτεχνίας, XI ed. ed. Μ. Ι. Ε. Τ
6.
Southern Italy
–
It generally coincides with the administrative regions of Abruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, Calabria, Molise, Sicily, and Sardinia. Some also include the most southern and eastern parts of Lazio within the Mezzogiorno, Southern Italy carries a unique legacy of culture. It features many major tourist attractions, such as the Palace of Caserta, there are also many ancient Greek cities in Southern Italy, such as Sybaris, which were founded several centuries before the start of the Roman Republic. These same subdivisions are at the bottom of the Italian First level NUTS of the European Union, the term Mezzogiorno first came into use in the 18th century and is an Italian rendition of meridies. The term was popularised by Giuseppe Garibaldi and it eventually came into vogue after the Italian unification. In a similar manner, Southern France is colloquially known as le Midi, Southern Italy forms the lower part of the Italian boot, containing the ankle, the toe, the arch, and the heel, along with the island of Sicily. Separating the heel and the boot is the Gulf of Taranto, named after the city of Taranto and it is an arm of the Ionian Sea. The island of Sardinia, right below the French island of Corsica, on the eastern coast is the Adriatic Sea, leading into the rest of the Mediterranean through the Strait of Otranto. Along the northern coast of the Salernitan Gulf and on the south of the Sorrentine Peninsula runs the Amalfi Coast, off the tip of the peninsula is the isle of Capri. The climate is mainly Mediterranean, except at the highest elevations and the eastern stretches in Apulia, along the Ionian Sea in Calabria. The largest city of Southern Italy is Naples, a name from the Greek that it has maintained for millennia. Bari, Taranto, Reggio Calabria, Foggia, and Salerno are the next largest cities in the area. The region is very active and highly seismic, the 1980 Irpinia earthquake killed 2,914 people, injured more than 10,000. Also during this period, Greek colonies were established in places as widely separated as the eastern coast of the Black Sea, Eastern Libya and they included settlements in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian Peninsula. The Romans called the area of Sicily and the foot of Italy, Magna Graecia, the ancient geographers differed on whether the term included Sicily or merely Apulia and Calabria—Strabo being the most prominent advocate of the wider definitions. With this colonisation, Greek culture was exported to Italy, in its dialects of the Ancient Greek language, its religious rites, an original Hellenic civilization soon developed, later interacting with the native Italic and Latin civilisations. Many of the new Hellenic cities became very rich and powerful, like Neapolis, Syracuse, Acragas, other cities in Magna Graecia included Tarentum, Epizephyrian Locri, Rhegium, Croton, Thurii, Elea, Nola, Syessa, Bari, and others. After Pyrrhus of Epirus failed in his attempt to stop the spread of Roman hegemony in 282 BCE, from then to the Norman conquest of the 11th century, the south of the peninsula was constantly plunged into wars between Greece, Lombardy, and the Islamic Caliphate
7.
Ancient Greece
–
Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC
8.
Ancient Rome
–
In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
9.
Cretan School
–
There was a substantial demand for Byzantine icons in Europe throughout the Middle Ages and, as a Venetian possession since 1204, Crete had a natural advantage and soon came to dominate the supply. A probable early example is the icon of the Virgin in Rome known as Our Mother of Perpetual Help. At this date there is little to distinguish Cretan work from other Byzantine icons stylistically, the most famous artist of the period was Andreas Ritzos, whose son Nicholas was also well known. Andreas Pavias and his pupil Angelos Bizamanos, and Nicholas Tzafuris were other leading artists, even before the fall of Constantinople there is evidence that leading Byzantine artists were leaving the capital in order to settle in Crete. Cretan icons were commissioned for monasteries on Mount Athos and elsewhere, the Cretan school had a smaller rival, until it fell to the Turks in 1522, Rhodes also had a community of artists, but not so large or significant. The Venetian archives preserve considerable documentation on the trade of artistic icons between Venice and Crete, which by the end of the 15th century had one of mass production. There is documentation of an order in 1499, of 700 icons of the Virgin,500 in a Western style. The order was placed with three artists by two dealers, one Venetian and one from mainland Greece, and the time between contract date and delivery was set at only forty-five days. But at the top end of the market Cretan icons were now the finest in the Byzantine world, about 120 artists can be documented working in Candia, in the period 1453–1526, and they had organized a Schuola di San Luca painters guild, based on the Italian model. Some of these chose to continue the Byzantine tradition of Constantinople, while others were influenced by the masters of the Venetian Renaissance, such as Giovanni Bellini. Later Veronese was to be a particular influence, indeed, sometimes both styles could be found in the same icon, the one right next to the other. The fame of the most prominent Cretan painters spread throughout Greece, to an extent quantity was probably replaced by quality compared with the previous century. Apart from El Greco, the most famous Cretan artists during the century were Theophanis Strelitzas, known as Theophanes the Cretan, Michael Damaskenos, various members of the Lambardos family were also significant artists. Fortunately for art historians, many Cretan painters adopted the practice, perhaps as early as Western painters, of signing their work, which was not a traditional Byzantine practice. Theophanes the Cretan] was a relatively conservative Cretan artist, whose first dated work is from 1527 and he was the most important Greek wall painter of his day, incorporating some Western iconographic and stylistic elements, but remaining essentially Byzantine in spirit. The intellectual and artistic personality of the young El Greco was formed in this artistic environment. In 1563, at the age of twenty-two, El Greco was described in a document as a master, meaning he was already a master of the local guild. He left for Venice a few later, and never returned to Crete
10.
Age of Enlightenment
–
The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement which dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century, The Century of Philosophy. In France, the doctrines of les Lumières were individual liberty and religious tolerance in opposition to an absolute monarchy. French historians traditionally place the Enlightenment between 1715, the year that Louis XIV died, and 1789, the beginning of the French Revolution, some recent historians begin the period in the 1620s, with the start of the scientific revolution. Les philosophes of the widely circulated their ideas through meetings at scientific academies, Masonic lodges, literary salons, coffee houses. The ideas of the Enlightenment undermined the authority of the monarchy and the Church, a variety of 19th-century movements, including liberalism and neo-classicism, trace their intellectual heritage back to the Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment was preceded by and closely associated with the scientific revolution, earlier philosophers whose work influenced the Enlightenment included Francis Bacon, René Descartes, John Locke, and Baruch Spinoza. The major figures of the Enlightenment included Cesare Beccaria, Voltaire, Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin visited Europe repeatedly and contributed actively to the scientific and political debates there and brought the newest ideas back to Philadelphia. Thomas Jefferson closely followed European ideas and later incorporated some of the ideals of the Enlightenment into the Declaration of Independence, others like James Madison incorporated them into the Constitution in 1787. The most influential publication of the Enlightenment was the Encyclopédie, the ideas of the Enlightenment played a major role in inspiring the French Revolution, which began in 1789. After the Revolution, the Enlightenment was followed by an intellectual movement known as Romanticism. René Descartes rationalist philosophy laid the foundation for enlightenment thinking and his attempt to construct the sciences on a secure metaphysical foundation was not as successful as his method of doubt applied in philosophic areas leading to a dualistic doctrine of mind and matter. His skepticism was refined by John Lockes 1690 Essay Concerning Human Understanding and his dualism was challenged by Spinozas uncompromising assertion of the unity of matter in his Tractatus and Ethics. Both lines of thought were opposed by a conservative Counter-Enlightenment. In the mid-18th century, Paris became the center of an explosion of philosophic and scientific activity challenging traditional doctrines, the political philosopher Montesquieu introduced the idea of a separation of powers in a government, a concept which was enthusiastically adopted by the authors of the United States Constitution. Francis Hutcheson, a philosopher, described the utilitarian and consequentialist principle that virtue is that which provides, in his words. Much of what is incorporated in the method and some modern attitudes towards the relationship between science and religion were developed by his protégés David Hume and Adam Smith. Hume became a figure in the skeptical philosophical and empiricist traditions of philosophy. Immanuel Kant tried to reconcile rationalism and religious belief, individual freedom and political authority, as well as map out a view of the sphere through private
.JPG)
