End of Byzantine Empire Reflection

Imagine someone saying to you, "Learning about the Byzantine Empire isn't very important since it's long gone!" What would you tell them in order to change their mind? (include at least 2 visuals in your post)


I would tell me that without learning about the past, humans can't improve the future or in this case know about our ancestors or how Christianity and the Eastern Orthodox Church came to be. We need to learn about these things so that we can be educated to know what are the differences between religions and how they came to be. For example, Constantine introduced Christianity to Constantinople and then the church broke off into two branches of Eastern Orthodox. Justinian then built the Hagia Sophia which is one of the biggest orthodox churches to have ever been built and one of the oldest to be still standing. Lets say you go for a holiday, you choose to go to Istanbul. While your sight seeing, your family member asks you what is that giant building. How would you know what it is? Aren't you curious? You can't forget important happenings in history because it shapes our future. Also, learning about the Byzantine Empire will give you a perspective on how democracy and laws were made. For example, we still use the Justinian code. We also use the Jurist's decision which is when a judge can grant a privilege to make a law on court cases. These two are called statutory laws and common laws which are still used today. If you choose to become a lawyer as your future career motive, then you must know these laws and if you were taught in school about the Byzantine Empire then you will have less struggles in learning about the laws. In addition to that you need to know how cities came to be. For example, Istanbul was a Christian city which then changed to an Eastern Orthodox city and then finally the Ottoman Turks conquered the city and named it Istanbul which it is today. Lastly, learning about the past makes you an intelligent person. You never know when you might need to talk about the Byzantine Empire, or when you are applying for college or taking an IQ test, you might need to know these things. 
Below: Hagia Sophia and a view of Istanbul

My Mosaic

The cross that I chose is called the Slavonic Cross or the Slavic Cross. It is mostly used by Eastern Catholics and Russian Orthodox, it is also the Byzantine cross with the footrest diagonal. The slant is said to represent heaven which is the top of the cross and the bottom is for the sinners or hell. The "X" shape also symbolizes the cross which St. Andrew was crucified. The first bar on the cross is where Jesus's head was. The top of it that has three sides one to the left, right and up means the father, the son and the holy spirit. The middle bar was where the hands were nailed. The lower bar, as I mentioned, has many meanings but I think the most logical one is who is on Jesus's right side will go to heaven and those on the left will go to hell.

Mosaic Field Trip

Questions:
1. Describe the mosaic you have chosen to include details about figures, colours, clothing, objects etc.
2. Does the mosaic follow the "rules" according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art?
3. Is this mosaic a good example of Byzantine Art? Why/not?


Answers:
1. The mosaic I have chosen is Jesus being put on the crucifix. On the mosaic there are a lot of shadowing. For example the cloth that Jesus wearing is blue and white with some brown to make it look like it is folded. The stars are gold and the back round is light blue. To make the stars look like they are shining, there is a circle around the star which is dark blue, making it look like it shines and is a holy star. Around the crucifix is a brown boarded to make it look 3D, but the original colour is green. There are four objects which are nails in Jesus's hands and feet. They are also made to look 3D and brown with red. The red is the blood dripping. The details on this mosaic are Jesus's facial features, his upper body and knees. His hair has different shades and his torso has different shades. His knees also have different shades to show they are facing another way that shows a shadow. Below the crucifix isa pile of rocks that are different colours to show different kinds of rocks. The grass is green with different shades to indicate shadows and where the grass is.
2. This mosaic does follow the rules but lacks the floating feet. It has a frontal figure in full length, a meaningful gesture which is the famous one of Jesus being on the cross, the placement shows he is hanging on the cross, the shadows are define by outlines, the composition is balanced, the natural setting is not as important as the scene itself,  the colours are strong and brilliant along with the patterns on the cloth which are blue and white lines and the story is clear.
3. This mosaic is a good example of Byzantine Art because it depicts an important story in history. It also follows the rules of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is also interesting and also made up to mosaic expectations.