' Byzantium, the Half-way House '
EILEEN POWER (Professor of Economic
History in the University of London)
Today you are to hear about Byzantium' the Greek City on the Bosphorus of which Constantine the Great made a capital in A.D. 324. Then it became Constantinople, and was the centre of Greek civilisation for the next thousand years.
You will hear how the Byzantine
Empire kept alive the ancient civilisation of the Roman Empire, how it converted and civilised the barbarians in the west of Europe, and guarded it against invaders from the east .
Byzantine art and architecture flourished until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. All the influence of the East is to be seen in its style, for the Roman builders had been taught bv the Syrians. Coloured marbles, mosaics composed of glass cubes, translucent enamel and precious stones were notable in their decorations.