Introduction to Fourth Century Christian Art - Christian Art History

Fourth Century Christian Art

Christian Art and Paintings History > Early Christian and Byzantine Art > Art of The Early Christian Period c. 300-750 AD > Fourth Century Christian Art
> Introduction to Fourth Century Christian Art

1) Introduction to Fourth Century Christian Art
2) Painting and Mosaic Decoration in Fourth Century Christian Art

Introduction to Fourth Century Christian Art*

In AD 313 the Emperor Constantine the Great, by the so-called Edict of Milan, proclaimed religious toleration, and Christianity assumed a privileged position. Christianity thus became the favoured religion of a vast empire, stretching from the Atlantic to Mesopotamia and from the entire length of the North African coast to Britain. In Europe this empire extended eastwards to the Rhine and the Danube.

In AD 330 the capital was moved from Rome to the Creek city of Byzantium on the shores of the Bosphorus. This "New Rome" became known as Constantinople, named after its founder, Constantine. This removal of the capital to the Eastern Mediterranean was dictated by the pressures of invading barbarians: Rome was no longer able to defend her Empire or herself. From its inauguration Constantinople was a Christian city, and its bishops and patriarchs were to compete for preeminence with the bishops of Rome, the popes. The Eastern and Western halves of the Roman Empire maintained a semblance of unity, but in 395, on the death of Theodosius the Great, the separation became definite. The Eastern Empire was to last until 1453; the Western half had ceased to exist by 476.

*Based on notes compiled by Karin M. Skawran for the University of South Africa.

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