Architecture & Engineering
This city was inaugurated as the new eastern capital on May 11, 330 AD and later became the center of Byzantine culture.
What is Constantinople?
his medium—small pieces of glass and stone set in cement—was used extensively in Byzantine churches to create bright, distant-viewable images.
What is mosaic?
Before Christianity was legalized in 313 AD, followers sometimes worshiped and buried their dead in these underground networks.
What are catacombs?)
This wife of Justinian appears in San Vitale mosaics and is shown with halo and imperial robes.
Who is Theodora?
The division of the Roman Empire produced two halves commonly referred to as these.
What are the Western Roman Empire and Eastern (Byzantine) Empire?
Name the centrally planned Byzantine church built under Justinian between 532–537 AD, famous for its enormous dome.
What is Hagia Sophia?
In Hagia Sophia mosaics, a figure holding a small church symbolizes this emperor who supported church-state unity.
Who is Justinian?
Early Christian art focused less on physical beauty and more on this main goal related to Christ’s life.
What is to illustrate the power and glory of Christ and teach the story of his life for salvation?
In the San Vitale mosaic grouping, the archbishop placing his leg in front of the emperor’s cloak suggests what about spiritual authority?
What is that the archbishop held precedence in spiritual matters over the emperor?
The Great Schism of 1054 divided Christianity into Roman Catholic and this branch.
What is the Eastern Orthodox Church?
These triangular curved supports transfer the weight of a dome to four piers, allowing lighter walls and more windows.
What are pendentives?
In Byzantine and early Christian symbolism, a bird like the goldfinch could remind viewers of this object from Christ’s Passion.
What is the crown of thorns?
In the Good Shepherd catacomb image, the central shepherd represents this figure.
Who is Christ?
Justinian’s ambition in Ravenna was expressed by building this church to rival ancient Roman achievements.
What is San Vitale?
Name one major theological or institutional issue that contributed to the Great Schism.
(students may name Filioque, papal authority/infalibility, or the doctrine of purgatory)
Answer: What is the Filioque clause (and/or papal authority, purgatory)?
The Byzantine alternative to pendentives, formed by bridging a square corner to create an octagon, is called this.
What are squinches?
The mosaic technique and gold backgrounds in Byzantine art primarily created this spiritual visual effect in church interiors.
What is a supernatural/heavenly glow or dreamlike, weightless space?
Name one symbolic meaning for ivy or a dog used in early Christian imagery.
What is ivy = eternal life; dog = faithfulness?
The San Vitale mosaics show figures overlapping; this stylistic choice contributes to which visual quality described in the document?
What is harmony/flat, floating figures with little depth?
Ravenna served as a refuge and later as a contested city; which Eastern emperor recaptured Ravenna in 540 AD?
Who is Justinian?
Explain one structural reason the Hagia Sophia's dome appeared lighter than the Pantheon dome while having a larger diameter
What is that pendentives transfer dome weight to piers allowing thinner walls and more fenestration (the design, specification, and arrangement of windows, doors, and skylights within a building's envelope )?
Name two purposes of large, brightly colored mosaics in Byzantine churches (students should mention: visible from distance, teach biblical stories/symbols, inspire devotion).
What are to be seen from far distances and to visually teach biblical stories/symbolically inspire worship?
The story of Jonah in catacomb imagery most directly illustrates this theological idea about God’s relation to the faithful.
What is God’s power to protect the faithful from danger / deliverance?
Briefly describe one political or religious controversy associated with Justinian and Theodora mentioned in the text.
What is Theodora’s sympathy toward Monophysitism and Justinian's entanglement in heresy disputes?
Explain one way Byzantine art influenced Western Europe up to the 12th century
student answers might mention: set artistic standards, diffused mosaics and icon styles, religious visual language
Answer: What is Byzantine art set the standard for ecclesiastical decoration—use of mosaics, symbolic imagery, and centralized-plan church ideas influencing Western artists and patrons?