Byzantine university
Encyclopedia
Byzantine university refers to higher education during the era of the Byzantine empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

.

Higher education was provided by private teachers, professional groups and state appointed teachers. In the early period Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 and Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

 were the main centers of learning, but were overtaken in the 5th century by the Queen of cities, Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

. After the closing of the Academy in Athens in 529, and the conquest of Alexandria and Beirut by the Arabs in the mid seventh century, the focus of all higher learning moved to Constantinople.

After the foundation of Constantinople in 330
330
Year 330 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gallicanus and Tullianus...

 teachers were drawn to the new city and various steps were taken for official state support and supervision, however nothing lastingly formal in the way of state funded education emerged. However in 425 Theodosius II
Theodosius II
Theodosius II , commonly surnamed Theodosius the Younger, or Theodosius the Calligrapher, was Byzantine Emperor from 408 to 450. He is mostly known for promulgating the Theodosian law code, and for the construction of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople...

 founded the Pandidakterion, the first school of the Byzantine era, establishing a clear distinction between teachers who were private, and those who were public and paid from imperial funds. These official teachers enjoyed privilege and prestige. There were a total of 31 teachers: 10 each for Greek and Latin grammar; 2 for law; 1 for philosophy; and eight chairs for rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...

, with five taught in Greek and three in Latin. This system lasted with various degrees of official support until the 7th century. Byzantine rhetoric
Byzantine rhetoric
Byzantine Rhetoric followed largely the precepts of ancient Greek rhetoricians, especially those belonging to the Second Sophistic that extended from the time of Augustus through the fifth century AD....

 was the most important and difficult topic studied in the Byzantine education system, forming a basis for citizens to attain public office in the imperial service, or posts of authority within the Church.

In the 7th and 8th centuries Byzantine life went through a difficult period. Continued Arab pressure from the south and the Slavs, Avars
Eurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...

 and Bulgars
Bulgars
The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....

 to the north led to dramatic economic decline and transformation of Byzantine life. However during this period higher education continued to receive some official funding, the details of which are not well known to scholars, but it is assumed the quality of the education was probably lower than before.

With improving stability in the 9th century came measures to improve the quality of higher education. In 863
863
Year 863 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Constantine I succeeds as king of Scotland ....

 chairs of grammar, rhetoric and philosophy (includes mathematics, astronomy and music) were founded and given a permanent location in the imperial palace. These chairs continued to receive official state support for the next century and a half, after which the leading role in the provision of higher education was taken up the Church. During the 12th century the Patriarchal School was the leading center of education which included men of letters such as Theodore Prodromos and Eustathius of Thessalonica
Eustathius of Thessalonica
Archbishop Eustathius of Thessalonica was a Greek bishop and scholar. He is most noted for his contemporary account of the sack of Thessalonike by the Normans in 1185, for his orations and for his commentaries on Homer, which incorporate many remarks by much earlier researchers.- Life :After being...

.

The capture of Constantinople in 1204 by Crusaders during the Fourth Crusade
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...

 ended all support for higher education, although the government in exile in Nicaea
Iznik
İznik is a city in Turkey which is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea, the first and seventh Ecumenical councils in the early history of the Church, the Nicene Creed, and as the capital city of the Empire of Nicaea...

 gave some support to individual private teachers. After the restoration in 1261 attempts were made to restore the old system, but it never fully recovered and most teaching fell to private teachers and professions. Some of these private teachers include the diplomat and monk Maximos Planudes (1260–1310), the historian Nikephoros Gregoras (1291–1360), and the man of letters Manuel Chrysoloras
Manuel Chrysoloras
Manuel Chrysoloras was a pioneer in the introduction of Greek literature to Western Europe during the late middle ages....

, who taught in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

 and influence the early Italian humanists on Greek studies. In the 15th century many more teachers from Constantinople would follow in Chrysoloras' footsteps.

See also

  • University of Constantinople
    University of Constantinople
    The University of Constantinople, sometimes known as the University of the palace hall of Magnaura in the Roman-Byzantine Empire was founded in 425 under the name of Pandidakterion...

  • universities of the later Middle Ages in Western Europe
    Medieval university
    Medieval university is an institution of higher learning which was established during High Middle Ages period and is a corporation.The first institutions generally considered to be universities were established in Italy, France, and England in the late 11th and the 12th centuries for the study of...

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