thought of themselves as “Roman” until the
end of the empire. However, after the crucial
battles of Manzikert in 1071 and Myriokefalon
in 1176, the empire lost many of its minority
populations who spoke languages other
than Greek. Byzantine Greeks began to be
aware of their identity and the first awaken-
ing of a “Greek” consciousness. This is the
period that set the stage for the birth of the
“Greek” icon. After regaining Constantino-
ple from the Crusader occupation in 1261,
Byzantine art and architecture had one last
flowering.
Despite the collapse of imperial largess for
major building programs, a dedication by a
private individual bequeathed a supremely
moving example of a small church building
decorated with frescoes and mosaics of
unsurpassed beauty. Here, in the church
of “Hora” located in a northern suburb of
the city, and known as the “church of the
Living” («εκκλησια της Χωρας των Ζωντων»
in Greek, Kariye Djami in Turkish), one can
see the intellectual vigor of the last phase
of Byzantine thought. Christ is presented
with a clearly classical form and demeanor.
His unprecedented humanism far surpasses
even the “humanism” we see in the early
Renaissance paintings of Giotto, the artist
who gave medieval figures substance and
weight. The Byzantines of the last phase
found solace in the theology of Saint Niko-
laos Kavasilas, who taught that we can attain
a measure of the divine nature of Christ
when we partake of the sacrament of Holy
Communion.
Post Byzantine Icons
The fall of the imperial city on May 29,
1453, became a major wound on the Greek
22
ICONS OF THE HELLENIC WORLD
psyche, a wound reflected in the popular
culture of the day, in songs, in folklore, and
in art. This period saw the introduction of
new types of subject matter for the Greek
icon. Greek painters now focused on Christ’s
impending death, even as He is shown still
an infant in His mother’s arms. The new
themes of Greek icons depicted Christ’s
predestined death as an end that was fore-
seen, prophesied, and necessary, while
others emphasized His mother’s unbear-
able pain. In yet other newly created themes
the Theotokos is depicted as the Byzantine
Protectress, but also as the only “Hope for
the Christians.”
Other iconographic subjects appeared as
exaggerated extensions of existing Byzan-
tine typology. Military saints, like Saints
George and Dimitrios, were portrayed as
active defenders and protectors of Chris-
tians, not just defenders of the faith, while
other subjects became more graphic in
portraying the savagery of non-Christian
persons.
New themes also appeared in the iconogra-
phers’ repertoire because of the adoption of
many Western iconographic schemes. Until
this point, Byzantine theological precepts
had kept iconography within certain permis-
sible confines. Those restrictions were now
relaxed, resulting in representations that
would have been anathema under Byzan-
tine dogma. One such example is the repre-
sentation of The Holy Trinity, which had been
depicted as the three youths hosted by
Abraham, seated at the table. This iconog-
raphy is in keeping with both the strict rule
of non-representation of God the Father,
whose essence is unknowable, and the
theological precept of the table as an alle-