Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Note on transliteration and citation
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART I FOUNDERS AND BENEFACTORS
- 1 The resurgence of the monastic life
- 2 Groups, communities and solitaries
- 3 Monastic founders
- 4 Monasticism and society
- 5 Piety, patronage and politics
- PART II PROTECTION AND SURVIVAL
- Appendix: Imperial privileges to monasteries, c. 900–1118
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Piety, patronage and politics
from PART I - FOUNDERS AND BENEFACTORS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Note on transliteration and citation
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART I FOUNDERS AND BENEFACTORS
- 1 The resurgence of the monastic life
- 2 Groups, communities and solitaries
- 3 Monastic founders
- 4 Monasticism and society
- 5 Piety, patronage and politics
- PART II PROTECTION AND SURVIVAL
- Appendix: Imperial privileges to monasteries, c. 900–1118
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The tradition of patronage and donation in Byzantium was one of the most obvious aspects of its classical heritage. The coming of Christianity to the empire in the fourth century did not bring with it a new ethic of donation, though it emphasised the virtues of charity towards the less fortunate and taught that the offerings of the poor, however small, were just as admirable as those of the rich. But it did, however, change the direction of patronage, and, to a certain extent its milieu. In the ancient world, the activities of patrons – the ‘good rich men’ identified by Aristotle – were mainly confined to cities and chiefly comprised monumental donation: walls, theatres, temples, baths and what might broadly be summed up by the phrase ‘bread and circuses’: conspicuous expenditure to demonstrate high rank in society and the possession of wealth. With the coming of Christianity, ‘monumental’ donation, which had declined in the late antique period, once more became a favoured form of patronage, especially for the imperial power and the senatorial aristocracy; the plethora of churches and other religious and charitable institutions which sprang up throughout the empire is eloquent testimony to this tendency.
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- Information
- Monks and Laymen in Byzantium, 843–1118 , pp. 120 - 142Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995