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byzantine

more about byzantine

byzantine

 

  4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Byzant  \Byz"ant\,  Byzantine  \Byz"an*tine\  (-[a^]n"t[imac]n) 
  n.[OE.  besant,  besaunt,  F.  besant,  fr  LL  Byzantius, 
  Byzantinus  fr  Byzantium.]  (Numis.) 
  A  gold  coin,  so  called  from  being  coined  at  Byzantium.  {See 
  Bezant}. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Byzantine  \By*zan"tine\  (b[i^]*z[a^]n"t[i^]n),  a. 
  Of  or  pertaining  to  Byzantium.  --  n.  A  native  or  inhabitant 
  of  Byzantium,  now  Constantinople;  sometimes  applied  to  an 
  inhabitant  of  the  modern  city  of  Constantinople.  [  Written 
  also  {Bizantine}.] 
 
  {Byzantine  church},  the  Eastern  or  Greek  church,  as 
  distinguished  from  the  Western  or  Roman  or  Latin  church. 
  See  under  {Greek}. 
 
  {Byzantine  empire},  the  Eastern  Roman  or  Greek  empire  from  a. 
  d.  364  or  a.  d.  395  to  the  capture  of  Constantinople  by 
  the  Turks,  a.  d.  1453. 
 
  {Byzantine  historians},  historians  and  writers  (Zonaras, 
  Procopius  etc.)  who  lived  in  the  Byzantine  empire.  --P. 
  Cyc. 
 
  {Byzantine  style}  (Arch.),  a  style  of  architecture  developed 
  in  the  Byzantine  empire. 
 
  Note:  Its  leading  forms  are  the  round  arch,  the  dome,  the 
  pillar,  the  circle,  and  the  cross.  The  capitals  of  the 
  pillars  are  of  endless  variety,  and  full  of  invention. 
  The  mosque  of  St  Sophia,  Constantinople,  and  the 
  church  of  St  Mark,  Venice,  are  prominent  examples  of 
  Byzantine  architecture. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  Byzantine 
  adj  1:  of  or  relating  to  the  Eastern  Orthodox  Church;  "Byzantine 
  monks";  "Byzantine  rites"  [syn:  {Byzantine}] 
  2:  of  or  relating  to  or  characteristic  of  the  Byzantine  Empire 
  or  ancient  Byzantium;  "Byzantine  art  and  architecture" 
  [syn:  {Byzantine}] 
  3:  highly  involved  or  intricate;  "the  Byzantine  tax  structure"; 
  "convoluted  legal  language";  "convoluted  reasoning";  "an 
  intricate  labyrinth  of  refined  phraseology";  "the  plot  was 
  too  involved";  "a  knotty  problem";  "got  his  way  by 
  labyrinthine  maneuvering";  "Oh,  what  a  tangled  web  we 
  weave"-  Sir  Walter  Scott;  "tortuous  legal  procedures"; 
  "tortuous  negotiations  lasting  for  months"  [syn:  {Byzantine}, 
  {convoluted},  {intricate},  {involved},  {knotty},  {labyrinthine}, 
  {tangled},  {tortuous}] 
  4:  characterized  by  elaborate  scheming  and  intrigue;  devious; 
  "Byzantine  methods  for  holding  on  to  his  chairmanship";  "a 
  fine  hand  for  Byzantine  deals  and  cozy  arrangements"  [syn: 
  {Byzantine}] 
  n  :  the  style  of  architecture  developed  in  the  Byzantine  Empire; 
  massive  domes  with  square  bases  and  rounded  arches  and 
  spires  and  minarets  and  much  use  of  mosaics  [syn:  {Byzantine}, 
  {Byzantine  architecture}] 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  Byzantine 
 
    A  term  describing  any  system  that  has 
  so  many  labyrinthine  internal  interconnections  that  it  would 
  be  impossible  to  simplify  by  separation  into  loosely  coupled 
  or  linked  components. 
 
  The  city  of  Byzantium,  later  renamed  Constantinople  and  then 
  Istanbul,  and  the  Byzantine  Empire  were  vitiated  by  a 
  bureaucratic  overelaboration  bordering  on  lunacy:  quadruple 
  banked  agencies,  dozens  or  even  scores  of  superfluous  levels 
  and  officials  with  high  flown  titles  unrelated  to  their  actual 
  function,  if  any 
 
  Access  to  the  Emperor  and  his  council  was  controlled  by 
  powerful  and  inscrutable  eunuchs  and  by  rival  sports  factions. 
 
  [Edward  Gibbon,  "Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire"]. 
 
  (1999-01-15)




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