Byzantine Documentaries

Well this week my research really only involved tracking down a few videos. I spent a week in Canberra so I was not really going to be doing any indepth research so this week I am continuing with the bits from Britannica, the thesis and also going to be posting up a few general Byzantine Empire documentaries.  The documentaries are long as one would expect so I expect only the really keen to watch them.

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This first documentary is about Constantine the Great. It is a kind of blend between documentary and film so I also intend to post two other documentaries to give some choice and variety. 

This documentary is a more dry affair; It discusses the empire in general, it's history, inception and so on.



And this final one is a lot more show & tell instead of simply tell.


And now back to the regularly scheduled research.

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It was during this time that the codex (book) began to come into popular use, trumping the papyrus scroll. Constantine himself ordered that the scriptures for his new churchs be inscribed upon vellum (a type of fine parchment) and bound in a codex (Ilie 2007 p. 4).

This use of codexs revolutionised libraries; With a stable spine on which to write a title items could be catalogued & organised more quickly & effectively. The codex would become the favoured format for both Christian and Western society.

All in all Constantine was a tremendous supporter and enthusiast for the literary arts as his patronage of them shows. His son however, Constantius, was not the ardent fan that his father had been. Despite his lack of interest the Imperial Library experienced steady growth under his reign (Ilie 2007 p. 5).

The next emperor whom would take up the role of patron and benefactor for the libraries with zeal was Julian the Apostate. Julian, named Apostate for his anti-Christian politics, built a portico to create more space and made considerable additions to the library (Ilie 2007 p. 5).

His unique way of gathering materials for the library even led him to threaten the Bishop George as a means to acquire the Bishop's personal library. During his reign he ordered "that the works of the impious Galileans be destroyed"  referring to works of Christian authors (Ilie 2007 p. 5); From this we can pretty safely say that Christian works were not high on Julian's shopping list and may have in fact helped heat his chambers on those cold drafty days (Ilie 2007 p. 5).

Despite his strong personal views and unique methods for collection acquistion, and thanks to his less interested predecessors, Julian, was to be the Library's greatest benefactor for quite some time.

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'library' 2012. Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, viewed 19 September, 2012

'Byzantine Empire' 2012. Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, viewed 19 September, 2012

Ilie, B 2007, 'Libraries and Book Culture of the Empire', Master's, University of North Carolina

 

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Byzantine Fact: Before his death at the hands of Michael II and his supporters Leo V was obsessed with small signs and portents. He was convinced they were signs Michael was going to kill him. I don't suppose being right gave him much consolation in the end.