byzantinisch

Byzantinisch is an adjective describing things related to Byzantium, the Eastern Roman Empire, its people, culture and legacy. The term derives from Byzantion, the ancient Greek city that gave name to Byzantium and to the later capital Constantinople.

From the founding of Constantinople in 330 to the fall of the city in 1453, the Byzantine Empire preserved Roman law and Hellenistic culture while developing its own administration, art and theology. Greek was the dominant language, and the state religion was the Eastern Orthodox Church. The empire faced Iconoclasm, endured sieges, and its political and church leadership culminated in the 1054 schism with Western Catholicism.

Byzantine art is known for religious iconography, mosaics and rich gold backgrounds; architecture emphasized domed churches, such as Hagia Sophia, with centrally planned designs. The liturgy and theology of the Orthodox Church shaped Western Christianity’s later development. Justinian I’s Corpus Juris Civilis codified Roman law and influenced European legal tradition, while Greek science, philosophy and manuscripts were preserved and transmitted to the Islamic world and, later, Renaissance Europe.

In modern German, byzantinisch also denotes an ornate, intricate, or bureaucratic style. Historically, the empire’s legacy persisted in successor states, notably in Russia and the Balkans, and in Orthodox ritual and iconography. The term remains a neutral descriptor in scholarly contexts but can carry evaluative connotations depending on usage.