A report on Cyrillic script, Glagolitic script and Byzantine Empire

Example of the Cyrillic script. Excerpt from the manuscript "Bdinski Zbornik". Written in 1360.

A page from the Zograf Codex with text of the Gospel of Luke

The Baška tablet, found in the 19th century on Krk, conventionally dated to about 1100.

The empire in 555 under Justinian the Great, at its greatest extent since the fall of the Western Roman Empire (its vassals in pink)

View of the cave monastery near the village of Krepcha, Opaka Municipality in Bulgaria. Here is found the oldest Cyrillic inscription, dated 921.

The first page of the Gospel of Mark from the 10th–11th century Codex Zographensis, found in the Zograf Monastery in 1843.

Constantine the Great was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity and moved the seat of the empire to Byzantium, renamed Constantinople in his honour.

A page from Азбука (Букварь) (ABC (Reader)), the first Russian language textbook, printed by Ivan Fyodorov in 1574. This page features the Cyrillic alphabet.

The first page of the Gospel of John from the Codex Zographensis.

A page from the Church Slavonic Grammar of Meletius Smotrytsky (1619)

In a book printed in 1591, Angelo Rocca attributed the Glagolitic script to Saint Jerome.

Restored section of the Walls of Constantinople

Letters Ge, De, I, I kratkoye, Me, Te, Tse, Be and Ve in upright (printed) and cursive (handwritten) variants. (Top is set in Georgia font, bottom in Odessa Script.)

Glagolitic script in the Zagreb Cathedral

The last Glagolitic entry in the baptismal register of the Omišalj parish on the island of Krk by the parishioner Nicholas in 1817.

After the death of Theodosius I in 395, the empire was again divided. The west disintegrated in the late 400s while the east ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

The Lord's Prayer shown in (from left) round, angular, and cursive versions of Glagolitic script.

Empress Theodora and attendants (Mosaic from Basilica of San Vitale, 6th century)

Alternate variants of lowercase (cursive) Cyrillic letters: Б/б, Д/д, Г/г, И/и, П/п, Т/т, Ш/ш.
Default Russian (Eastern) forms on the left.
Alternate Bulgarian (Western) upright forms in the middle.
Alternate Serbian/Macedonian (Southern) italic forms on the right.
See also:
Cyrillic cursive.svg Special Cyrillics BGDPT.svg

Hagia Sophia built in 537, during the reign of Justinian. The minarets were added in the 15th–16th centuries by the Ottoman Empire.

The Byzantine Empire in c. 600 during the reign of Maurice. Half of the Italian peninsula and most of southern Hispania were lost, but the eastern borders expanded, gaining land from the Persians.

Battle between Heraclius and the Persians. Fresco by Piero della Francesca, c. 1452

By 650 (pictured) the empire had lost all its southern provinces, except the Exarchate of Africa, to the Rashidun Caliphate. At the same time the Slavs invaded and settled in the Balkans.

Greek fire was first used by the Byzantine Navy during the Byzantine–Arab Wars (from the Madrid Skylitzes, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid).

Constantine IV and his retinue, mosaic in Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe. Constantine IV defeated the First Arab siege of Constantinople.

The Byzantine Empire at the accession of Leo III, c. 717. Striped indicates areas raided by the Umayyads.

Gold solidus of Leo III (left), and his son and heir, Constantine V (right)

A Simple Cross: An example of Iconoclast art in the Hagia Irene Church in Istanbul.

The general Leo Phokas defeats the Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo at Andrassos in 960, from the Madrid Skylitzes

10th century military successes were coupled with a major cultural revival, the so-called Macedonian Renaissance. Miniature from the Paris Psalter, an example of Hellenistic-influenced art.

Rus' under the walls of Constantinople (860)

Varangian Guardsmen, an illumination from the Skylitzis Chronicle

Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe throughout late antiquity and most of the Middle Ages until the Fourth Crusade in 1204.

Mural of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 19th century, Troyan Monastery, Bulgaria

The seizure of Edessa (1031) by the Byzantines under George Maniakes and the counterattack by the Seljuk Turks

Alexios I, founder of the Komnenos dynasty

The Chora Church, dating from the Komnenian period, has some of the finest Byzantine frescoes and mosaics.

The Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm before the First Crusade (1095–1099)

A mosaic from the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople (modern Istanbul), depicting Mary and Jesus, flanked by John II Komnenos (left) and his wife Irene of Hungary (right), 12th century

Byzantine Empire in orange, c. 1180, at the end of the Komnenian period

The Lamentation of Christ (1164), a fresco from the church of Saint Panteleimon in Nerezi, North Macedonia, considered a superb example of 12th-century Komnenian art

The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople, by Eugène Delacroix (1840)

The partition of the empire following the Fourth Crusade, c. 1204

The siege of Constantinople in 1453, depicted in a 15th-century French miniature

The Eastern Mediterranean just before the Fall of Constantinople

Flag of the late Empire under the Palaiologoi, sporting the tetragrammic cross symbol of the Palaiologos dynasty

The embassy of John the Grammarian in 829, between the emperor Theophilos and the Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun

Italian sketch of Emperor John VIII during his visit in Ferrara and Florence in 1438

Interior of the Hagia Sophia, the patriarchal basilica in Constantinople designed 537 by Isidore of Miletus, the first compiler of Archimedes' various works. The influence of Archimedes' principles of solid geometry is evident.

The frontispiece of the Vienna Dioscurides, which shows a set of seven famous physicians

Bas-relief plaque of Tribonian in the Chamber of the House of Representatives in the United States Capitol

Many refugee Byzantine scholars fled to North Italy in the 1400s. Here John Argyropoulos (1415–1487), born in Constantinople and who ended his days in north Italy.

Ceramic grenades that were filled with Greek fire, surrounded by caltrops, 10th–12th century, National Historical Museum, Athens, Greece

As a symbol and expression of the universal prestige of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Justinian built the Church of the Holy Wisdom of God, Hagia Sophia, which was completed in the short period of four and a half years (532–537).

Mosaic of Jesus in Pammakaristos Church, Istanbul

Triumphal arch mosaics of Jesus Christ and the Apostles. In Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy.

Earliest known depiction of a bowed lyra, from a Byzantine ivory casket (900–1100) (Museo Nazionale, Florence)

The double-headed eagle, a common Imperial symbol

Distribution of Greek dialects in Anatolia in the late Byzantine Empire through to 1923. Demotic in yellow. Pontic in orange. Cappadocian in green. (Green dots indicate Cappadocian Greek-speaking villages in 1910. )

A game of τάβλι (tabula) played by Byzantine emperor Zeno in 480 and recorded by Agathias in c. 530 because of a very unlucky dice throw for Zeno (red), as he threw 2, 5 and 6 and was forced to leave eight pieces alone.

Golden Solidus of Justinian I (527–565) excavated in India probably in the south, an example of Indo-Roman trade during the period

Christ Pantocrator mosaic in Hagia Sophia, circa 1261

Christ as the Good Shepherd; {{circa}} 425-430; mosaic; width: {{circa}} 3 m; Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (Ravenna, Italy)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fortenberry|first1=Diane|title=THE ART MUSEUM |date=2017|publisher=Phaidon|isbn=978-0-7148-7502-6|page=108|language=en}}</ref>

Diptych Leaf with a Byzantine Empress; 6th century; ivory with traces of gilding and leaf; height: {{cvt|26.5|cm}}; Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna, Austria)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fortenberry|first1=Diane|title=THE ART MUSEUM |date=2017|publisher=Phaidon|isbn=978-0-7148-7502-6|page=114|language=en}}</ref>

Collier; late 6th–7th century; gold, an emerald, a sapphire, amethysts and pearls; diameter: {{cvt|23|cm}}; from a Constantinopolitan workshop; Antikensammlung Berlin (Berlin, Germany)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fortenberry|first1=Diane|title=THE ART MUSEUM |date=2017|publisher=Phaidon|isbn=978-0-7148-7502-6|page=115|language=en}}</ref>

Page of the Gospel Book with Commentaries: Portrait of Mark; 1000–1100; ink, tempera, gold, vellum and leather binding; sheet: {{cvt|28 x 23|cm}}; Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, Ohio, US)

Icon of the New Testament Trinity; c. 1450; tempera and gold on wood panel (poplar); Cleveland Museum of Art

The Early Cyrillic alphabet was developed during the 9th century AD at the Preslav Literary School in the First Bulgarian Empire during the reign of tsar Simeon I the Great, probably by disciples of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius, the two brothers who created the earlier Glagolitic script.

- Cyrillic script

The script is named in honor of the Saint Cyril, one of the two Byzantine brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius, who created the Glagolitic alphabet earlier on.

- Cyrillic script

Both the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets were used until 13th-14th century in Bulgaria.

- Glagolitic script

After the adoption of Christianity in Bulgaria in 865, religious ceremonies and Divine Liturgy were conducted in Greek by clergy sent from the Byzantine Empire, using the Byzantine rite.

- Glagolitic script

Cyril and Methodius, two Byzantine Greek brothers from Thessaloniki, contributed significantly to the Christianisation of the Slavs and in the process devised the Glagolitic alphabet, ancestor to the Cyrillic script.

- Byzantine Empire

2 related topics with Alpha

First Bulgarian Empire

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Medieval Bulgar-Slavic and later Bulgarian state that existed in Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded in 680–681 after part of the Bulgars, led by Asparuh, moved south to the northeastern Balkans.

Slavic tribes and states in Early Middle Ages

The Bulgar colonies after the fall of Old Great Bulgaria in the 7th century.

Zones of control by Slavic tribes and Bulgars in the late 7th century

Territorial expansion during the reign of Krum

Bulgarian Empire during the reign of Simeon I

Emperor Simeon I: The Morning Star of Slavonic Literature, painting by Alfons Mucha

Bulgaria under the rule of Emperor Samuel

Above: The Byzantines defeat Samuel at Kleidion; below: the death of Samuel, Manasses Chronicle

Khan Omurtag was the first Bulgarian ruler known to have claimed divine origin, Madrid Skylitzes

The symbol ıYı is associated with the Dulo clan and the First Empire

A replica of a Bulgarian sabre found near the town of Varbitsa

A battle scene of the Byzantine–Bulgarian war of 894–896, Madrid Skylitzes

Slavic mythology: Sadko (1876) by Ilya Repin

The Pliska rosette dated from the pagan period has seven fingers representing the Classical planets

Bulgarian soldiers kill Christians during the persecutions, Menologion of Basil II

Baptism of Boris I and his court, painting by Nikolai Pavlovich

A medieval icon of Saint Clement of Ohrid, a high-ranking official of the Bulgarian Church, scholar, writer and enlightener of the Bulgarians and the Slavs

Expansion of Bogomilism in medieval Europe

The ruins of Pliska, the first capital of Bulgaria

Ceramic icon of Saint Theodore, Preslav ceramics, c. 900.

A page with the Alphabet Prayer by Constantine of Preslav

There they secured Byzantine recognition of their right to settle south of the Danube by defeating – possibly with the help of local South Slavic tribes – the Byzantine army led by Constantine IV.

Its leading cultural position was further consolidated with the adoption of the Glagolitic alphabet, the invention of the Early Cyrillic alphabet shortly after in the capital Preslav, and the literature produced in Old Bulgarian soon began spreading north.

The Christianization of Bulgaria, the establishment of Old Bulgarian as a language of the state and the church under Boris I, and the creation of the Cyrillic script in the country, were the main means to the final formation of the Bulgarian nation in the 9th century; this included Macedonia, where the Bulgarian khan, Kuber, established a state existing in parallel with Khan Asparuh's Bulgarian Empire.

Old Church Slavonic

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The first Slavic literary language.

Example of the Cyrillic alphabet: excerpt from the manuscript "Bdinski Zbornik" written in Old Slavonic, 1360

A page from the Gospel of Miroslav, Serbian medieval manuscript, a 12th-century Byzantine-Slavonic book, National Library of Serbia.

The Introduction of the Slavonic Liturgy in Great Moravia (1912), by Alphonse Mucha, The Slav Epic

"Simeon I of Bulgaria, the Morning Star of Slavonic Literature". (1923), by Alphonse Mucha, The Slav Epic

Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with standardizing the language and using it in translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek ecclesiastical texts as part of the Christianization of the Slavs.

Byzantine missionaries standardized the language for the expedition of the two apostles, Cyril and his brother Methodius, to Great Moravia (the territory of today's western Slovakia and the Czech Republic; see Glagolitic alphabet for details).

Both schools originally used the Glagolitic alphabet, though the Cyrillic script developed early on at the Preslav Literary School, where it superseded Glagolitic as official in Bulgaria in 893.