Question: Explain the development and the nature of the Byzantine institutions (church and state), social and urban life, and cultural achievements?
Answer: Byzantine art is the term commonly used to describe the artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire from about the 5th century until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. (The Roman Empire during this period is conventionally known as the Byzantine Empire.)
The term can also be used for the art of states which were contemporary with the Byzantine Empire and shared a common culture with it, without actually being part of it, such as Bulgaria, Serbia or Russia, and also Venice, which had close ties to the Byzantine Empire despite being in other respects part of western European culture. It can also be used for the art of peoples of the former Byzantine Empire under the rule of the Ottoman Empire after 1453. In some respects the Byzantine artistic tradition has continued in Greece, Russia and other Eastern Orthodox countries to the present day. The finest work, the most elegant, and the most accomplished technically, was, naturally enough, associated with the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, which was the very hub of the civilized world from the foundation of the city as capital around 330 till its conquest by the Turks in 1453. But there were other great centers too. In Rome, Milan, Ravenna, and elsewhere in the West works of the greatest importance that were in no way provincial were executed in the early years of Christendom, though little of quality was produced there that belongs to the period covered by this essay. In Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and elsewhere in the East a great deal was also being done in early times and production continued there till Syria, Palestine, and Egypt were overrun by the Moslems just before the middle of the seventh century. Though little remains on the spot, quite a large