File:The Open court (1887) (14587970550).jpg

Identifier: opencourt_oct1911caru (find matches)
Title: The Open court
Year: 1887 (1880s)
Authors: Carus, Paul, 1852-1919 Open Court Publishing company, Chicago
Subjects: Religion Religion and science
Publisher: Chicago : The Open Court Pub. Co.
Contributing Library: Morris Library, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Digitizing Sponsor: CARLI: Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois

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ut it took buta man, some mastering genius, or a great cause, to awaken to fulllife, and refreshed by that rest, all the splendor and grace of old.Such an art was easily resuscitated. The building of Constantinoplefurnished the occasion, the awakening; the result we have seen allover the world and still feel. 604 THE OPEN COURT. And Byzantium or Constantinople was but the way-station, soto speak, for that grand Oriental art on its way to a world-influence.Persia and its art were too far from, too completely separated fromEurope, to affect it at one bound. Constantine was thus the interme-diary of that powerful Asiatic influence. He employed Metrodorus tobuild his church, his palaces. Later Anthemese of Tralles, and Isi-dorus of Milet rebuilt the church as it has been preserved to us. Allthree were Orientals, two of them Persians. Even Justinian II em-ployed a Persian architect in beautifying his capital. Other peoplesof the Occident came to Constantinople, as visitors, as captives, as
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TAJ MAHAL (GEM OF BUILDINGS) AGRA, INDIA. merchants, and, admiring the grandeur and beauty of its marvelousworks, carried the seed back with them, scattering it about in everydirection. Byzantium was truly the pivotal point from which thatOriental influence radiated. There was much traveling and visitingthose days ; that influence spread and bore fruit with astonishingrapidity. You see, as we have before noted, the Orient, or perhapsmore properly speaking, India, was the great treasure-house. Therewas a constant stream of travel toward and from it. Naturally allthe lines of travel westward contracted and passed through the newcapital, hence the wide range of that astonishing Byzantine influence. THE INFLUENCE OF ORIENTAL ART. 605 Mentioning Indian trade calls to mind what a lodestone thatcommerce has ever been to the entire world ; a bone of contention,too. Its possession has always been looked upon as absolutely essen-tial to any nation desiring to be a world-power. Egypt and Assyria

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