About this video
In 395 AD Emperor Theodosius split the Roman Empire between his sons: the Western Roman Empire fell to invaders within 81 years, while the Eastern, Byzantine Empire lasted another thousand. The video explains how Byzantine Iconoclasm destroyed religious images and left artists copying approved models, while in the West the Pope rejected Iconoclasm and artists gained freedom, gradually making their religious art more realistic.
You'll be able to
- explain how the Roman Empire was divided into the Western Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire.
- describe what Iconoclasm was and how it affected Byzantine art.
- explain why Western medieval artists had more creative freedom and why their art had religious themes.
Key words
- Byzantine Empire
- The eastern, Greek-speaking half of the Roman Empire, which lasted about a thousand years after the West fell.
- Iconoclasm
- A movement that removed or destroyed religious images, started by Emperor Leo III in 730 AD.
- graven images
- Carved or made images of holy figures, which the Ten Commandments were read as forbidding.
- excommunicate
- To formally cut someone off from the Church.
- patron
- A person or group who pays for and commissions works of art.
- vandalism
- Deliberate damage or destruction, a word that comes from the Vandals who sacked Rome.
Transcript
Oh Hi, Arthuro Petori here But you can call me Art. This is explorations in Art History
Starring: Me! and The Hand!. What about rest of me? Oh people watching from arround the world, stuck lanes, or some five fingered primadona Oh, oh that's better, right? see? It looks like we will be talking about the Medieval and Byzantine periods It had taken many lifetimes and countless battles to conquer and maintain the vast regions of the Roman Empire When Emperor Theodosius the first took power, he ruled over lands that stretched from Portugal to Palestine The question of succession of power had always been a problem in the Empire and for Theodosius it came down to a choice beetwen two sons.
Or did it? In 395 AD, Theodosius, instead, split the Empire in half. The Western half became domain of his son Honorius We call it the 'Western Roman Empire' The Eastern half was awarded to his son Arcadius and became known as the Byzantine Empire The two kingdoms both considered themselves Roman, though they spoke Latin in the West and Greek in the East Honorius and the Western Roman Empire were besieged by barbarian hordes from the beginning.
Huns,Goths, Vandals and Franks all took turns invading Western territories. Sacking Rome became a barbarian pastime. And the Vandals, thanks to their exceptional act of destruction and violence gave us the world the 'vandalism.' It was a rough and tumble time.
Only 81 years after the death of Theodosius, the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist. With the Empire spindled into separate countries, the one unifying force to remain is the Catholic church and the Pope The Byzantine Empire, on the other hand, would last another thousand years In 730 AD, Emperor Leo the third initiated the movement called the Iconoclasm based on strict interpretation of ten commandments which forbade the making and worshipping of the grave images and perhaps due to rising influence of Islamic culture. The Iconoclasm sacked the removal or destruction of paintings subsculptures There's one.
This way man arhhh Get him, I got that one, There's one, there's another one go and get it. Ohh we are too late Yea, stop him. Stop him now! Hurry! After Iconoclasm ended, the Byzantine artists were limited to copying approved images from the past I'm a copy, of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy Back in Rome, Pope Gregory the second rejected iconoclasm and denounced it as heretical.
He even sent a letter excommunicating Iconoclasm It's byzantine blasphemy. Excommunicate them! As a result, artist in the West had more creative freedom. The church was the major patron of the art and so most medieval art had reliogious themes Western artists of the later middle ages were interested in visionary experiences.
Over time, in the search to create more convincing and powerful images. Their art became more realistic in its patrial of people and natural world I have dimension This is Art saying thanks for sharing another fascinating exploration into... heyy.. I am not finished
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