Celebrating St. Nicholas: the Story of the Three Condemned Innocents. | If It Happened Yesterday, It’s History

The reign of Constantine The Great was not always stable. Borders had to be protected, laws enforced and if unrest broke out or even a sniff of conspiracy surfaced, Constantine also dealt with these matters seriously and harshly. Often though he left law enforcement in regional centres to be carried out by governors and local authorities. In this setting Church leaders or bishops would also come to play an important role in Constantine’s new world by acting often as imperial officials to administer law and justice. The people of the empire then not only looked to their prefects, but to their local Bishops to help maintain law and order. In some Christian legends, Bishops like St. Nicholas would play an important role in…

Source: Celebrating St. Nicholas: the Story of the Three Condemned Innocents. | If It Happened Yesterday, It’s History

Empress Pulcheria: A woman truly ahead of her time. – If It Happened Yesterday, It’s History

One might wonder what the early fifth century Byzantine world would have been like if Aelia Pulcheria was not around and her younger brother Theodosius II was led by other ambitious men? Sometimes,…

Source: Empress Pulcheria: A woman truly ahead of her time. – If It Happened Yesterday, It’s History

Empress Pulcheria: A woman truly ahead of her time. – The History of the Byzantine Empire

One might wonder what the early fifth century Byzantine world would have been like if Aelia Pulcheria was not around and her younger brother Theodosius II was led by other ambitious men? Sometimes,…

Source: Empress Pulcheria: A woman truly ahead of her time. – The History of the Byzantine Empire

Masterclass in Byzantine Mosaics (Part 1) – The History of the Byzantine Empire

Who would have thought that a tiny small square piece of stone, glass or pottery called tesserae would have such an important impact on culture and art history? As far back as the fourth millennium, on the walls of the Uruk in Mesopotamia, pieces of coloured stone cones were inlaid in a pattern, that bear a resemblance to mosaics. In the period of ancient history, more familiar to us though, the Greeks and pre-Christian Romans, enriched the floors of Hellenistic villas and Roman dwellings with magnificent mosaics. Mosaics were made almost always strictly for the rich, in painstaking detail, by the best artists of the day. Some of the most popular subjects for mosaics in ancient Greece and Rome were…

Source: Masterclass in Byzantine Mosaics (Part 1) – The History of the Byzantine Empire

Valentinian I: The last of the triumphant Roman emperors in the west.

The Maccabees, a long-lost tomb and that curious Byzantine mosaic cross that adorns it.