figures of the intellectual recovery of the ninth century: Leo the Philosopher, who wrote extensively on science and mathematics and constructed an optical telegraph linking the capital with the eastern frontier, was archbishop of Thessalonica before becoming head of the philosophy school in Constantinople, and the great classical scholar Photius was a civil servant before becoming patriarch of Constantinople.
Intellectual developments therefore followed a parallel course in the Latin west and the Greek east. In both areas the audience for scholarship contracted sharply, and literary production suffered a crisis between the late sixth and early eighth centuries. An essential framework of schools and texts survived, however, and a secular element remained much more prominent than in the monastic world of northern Europe.
Art, like literature, attempted to cling to classical models, but in practice suffered a decline in quality and quantity. Nevertheless, its apparent naïvety frequently conceals a complexity of symbolical meaning, and the retreat from naturalism exerts a familiar appeal to us today. Changes were already under way in the Late Roman period both in purpose and style. Because of economic difficulties old buildings were despoiled for their capitals and other materials and an increase in state munificence at the expense of individual and personal patronage produced a monumental art which sought to impress subjects with the greatness of the ruler. The spread of Christianity encouraged the production of elaborate vestments and vessels for liturgical use and the building of lavish churches. In an increasingly hierarchical society, the individual realism of classical antiquity gave way to stereotyped full-face depictions with an idealized emphasis on the figure's dignity and rank, as in the ivory diptychs commissioned as high-class calling-cards by senators. At the same time other types of art appealed to a wider audience: frescos, mosaics, and icons proliferated as a means of conveying the Christian message to all levels of believer, and an elaborate Christian iconography was worked out by around 500.
Art also reached new heights in the circles of the rich new Germanic masters of the west. Graves and treasure hoards have
-52-