Entertainment
Byzantine Entertainment
Ever thought that the Byzantine Empire enjoyed any entertainment in those days? Well here is a lot of information about entertainment and what was considered entertainment in the days. A lot of the entertainment that they had was the clothes, fashion and they also had sports which is hard to believe. You could also consider arts as part of the entertainment. They did have a variety of sports in the Byzantine Empire but they had a different type of entertainment that they considered enjoyable.
Have you ever heard of the chariot races? What about polo? These were the types of sport games that they had back then. Nowadays we have social media, sports, electronics, friends, and ETC... Not only did we have more entertainment but we also took entertainment into a different direction then the Byzantine Empire. For example, instead of enjoying chariot races we would usually go on a computer and watch a Youtube video because of the entertainment of it. Chariot races were one of the most popular ancient Greek, and Roman sports and was very popular. In chariot races they had different teams and would compete against each other. Polo was another sport that they considered “entertainment”. Polo was a sport that appears only as a game of the nobility in the Byzantine Empire and it can be assumed that this sport, like chariot racing, was incorporated into the imperial ceremony; participation, by emperors was frequently reported and since all imperial activities in the later periods were bound in ritual, polo would also have been granted this treatment.
Fashion and clothing was also considered entertainment in the byzantine empire. The byzantine costumes tradition took its form from the Roman Empire and it’s color and decorative tradition from the orient and in the Middle East. One fabric, silk, was especially beloved by the Byzantines. Silk first came to the west in about 139 B. C. E, via the long trade route that crossed the Middle East and reached China, and the supply was limited. Most of the clothing was usually hand-made or a merchant would bring the silk from China. The Byzantines did not have clothing that we have today and if you look at the difference it is a BIG difference in clothing.
In the Byzantine Empire they had also considered art as entertainment. Lots of people had freedom to draw whatever they wanted to draw and it was a great way to make new friends. Painting and making mosaics were one of the main things that they focused on in the arts. They also worked on other things such as metalwork, ivory, and enamel. When they were painting they had to have a lot of focus and technique. Nowadays some of the arts are found in some of the churches around the world.