Greek Christian literature; Religious prose. It was in the fourth century that Greek Christian prose literature reached its height. Among its leading representatives were Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria who fought the Arian heresy; Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, the founder of church history; Gregory of Nazianzus, church orator and poet; and Basil, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, the organizer of Greek monasticism. Above them all in personality and literary ability stood John Chrysostom (the Golden-mouth), patriarch of Constantinople under Arcadius. With the fifth century came a decline in theological prose; men resorted to excerpts and collections. But at this time began the development of the popular monastic narratives and lives of the saints which served as the novels and romances of the time.
Religious poetry. It was subsequent to the fourth century also that Christian religious poetry attained its bloom. Here a break was made with classical tradition in the adoption of accentual in place of [pg 401]quantitative verse. This was in harmony with the disappearance of distinctions of syllabic quantity from popular speech. The use of rhythm in verse was introduced by Gregory of Nazianzus, but the chief and most productive representative of the new poetry was Romanus, a converted Syrian Jew whose activity falls in the reign of Justinian.
Greek profane literature. Contemporary profane Greek literature exhibits less originality and interest. Historical writing was continued in strict imitation of classical models by both Christian and pagan writers. Of exceptional historical value are the works of Procopius, the historian of the wars of Justinian, who like Ammianus Marcellinus shared in an official capacity in the events which he described. A more popular form of historical writing was the compilation of chronicles of world history, collections of excerpts put together for the most part by men who failed to understand their sources. The profane verse of the time is represented by narrative poems, such as the Dionysiaca and the metrical version of the Gospel of St. John composed by Nonnus in Egypt (c. 400 A. D.), and by a rich epigrammatic literature.
In the eastern empire literary productivity continued, although on the decline, slightly longer than in the West, but by the middle of the sixth century there also it had come to an end.
Art. The art of the late empire exhibits the same general characteristics as the literature. Not only was there a general lack of originality and creative capacity, but even the power of imitating the masterpieces of earlier times was conspicuously lacking. The Arch of Constantine erected in 312 A. D. affords a good illustration of the situation. Its decoration mainly consists of sculptures appropriated from monuments of the first and second century, beside which the new work is crude and unskilful. A comparison of the imperial portraits on the coins of the fourth century with those of the principate up to the dynasty of the Severi reveals the same decline in taste and artistic ability.
In the realm of art as in literature Christianity supplied a new creative impulse, which made itself felt in the adaptation of pagan artistic forms to Christian purposes. The earliest traces of Christian art are to be found in the mural paintings of the underground burial vaults and chapels of the Roman catacombs, and in the sculptured reliefs which adorned the sarcophagi of the wealthy. These [pg 402]were popular branches of contemporary art and the influence of Christianity consisted in the artistic representation of biblical subjects and the employment of Christian symbolical motives. These forms of Christian art decayed with the general cultural decline that followed the third century.
The most important and original contribution of Christianity to the art of the late empire was in the development of church architecture. To meet the needs of the Christian church service, which included the opportunity to address large audiences, there arose the Christian basilica, which took its name from the earlier profane structures erected to serve as places for the conduct of public business, but which differed considerably from them in its construction. In general the basilica was a long rectangular building, divided by rows of columns into a central hall or nave and two side halls or aisles. The walls of the nave rose above the roof of the aisles, and allowed space for windows. The roof was flat or gabled, and, like the wall spaces, covered with paintings or mosaics. The rear of the structure was a semicircular apse which held the seats of the bishop and the lower clergy. To the original plan there came to be added the transept, a hall at right angles to the main structure between it and the apse. This gave the basilica its later customary crosslike form.
While the basilica became the almost universal form of church architecture in Italy and the West, in the East preference was shown for round or polygonal structures with a central dome, an outgrowth of the Roman rotunda, which was first put to Christian uses in tombs and grave chapels. A rich variety of types, combining the central dome with other architectural features arose in the cities of Asia and Egypt. The masterpiece of this style was the church of St. Sophia erected by Justinian in Constantinople in 537 A. D. Another notable example from the same period is the church of San Vitale at Ravenna.
In the mosaics which adorn these and other structures of the time are to be seen the traces of a Christian Hellenistic school of painting which gave pictorial expression to the whole biblical narrative. These mosaics and the miniature paintings employed in the illuminated manuscripts survived as prominent features of Byzantine art.