Download The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire
Chap. 13 – Lesson 1
- The City of Constantinople
Objectives:
Identify Roman ideas that shaped the
Byzantine Empire’s culture.
 Analyze how Justinian I and Theodora
changed the empire.
 Summarize the disagreements that
divided the Christian Church.

Key Content:
The Emperor Justinian I expanded the Byzantine
Empire to its greatest size, improved the empire’s
economy, made Constantinople a “New Rome”,
wrote a new code of laws to better govern the
empire, subdued rebellions, and followed the advice
of his wife, Theodora, who shred his duties.
 In 1054 A.D., after years of conflict over religious
issues, the Christian Church split into the Eastern
Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
 Constantinople’s location made it a center for trade
and easy to defend, but Ottoman Turks captured it
in 1453 A.D., thus ending the Byzantine Empire.

Justinian I and Theodora
In A.D. 527 Justinian I
became emperor of
the Byzantine
Empire.
 Justinian sent
powerful armies into
northern Africa and
western Europe to
reclaim many of the
lands that the Roman
Empire had lost.


By A.D. 565 much of
the land along the
Mediterranean Sea
was part of the
Byzantine Empire.
MAP OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
Justinian I and Theodora
To Better control the
Empire, Justinian ordered
a code, or set of written
laws, to be assembled.
 This new code was
known as the Justinian
Code.
 It organized the old code
of Roman laws and was
all in one book to be
easily understood. Some
laws in code were
influenced by the
empress Theodora, the
wife of Justinian.


She was one of the first
rulers to work for the
right of women.
◦ She helped women to get
rights to own property.

Theodora was Justinian's
most trusted advisers
because she was
intelligent and had
political skills.
Justinian I and Theodora

She shared many od
the duties usually
performed only by the
emperor.
◦ Ex: She met with envoys,
official visitors from
other lands.
◦ She wrote letters to the
leaders of government.
◦ She took part in
choosing government
leaders,

Theodora and Justinian
believed that jobs
should be given based
on a person’s ability,
not on his or her
social class.
Justinian I and Theodora
During Justinians
rule, he realized that
with a growing
empire he needed a
stronger economy.
 He welcomed
traders into
Constantinople and
encouraged the start
of new businesses
and industries.


The Byzantine silk
industry was started
by Justinian himself.
◦ He had silkworm eggs
smuggled out of china.
◦ The empire was then
able to produce silk.
◦ This ended China’s
monopoly, or
complete control, of
the silk trade.
Justinian I and Theodora



Money from trade and
taxes allowed Justinian
to make Constantinople
a “New Rome”.
Buildings, roads, bridges,
and aqueducts were built
throughout the city.
With all these
achievements, Justinian
was not that popular
with the people of the
empire.
In A.D. 532, the people of
Constantinople rebelled.
 Some government
officials also wanted him
to leave the city.
 With all these pressures,
Justinian was persuaded
to stay by Theodora,
 The Byzantine army
soon ended the rebellion
and Justinian remained
emperor.

The Division of the Christian Church.



Christianity was
important to the
people of the
Byzantine Empire.
However, different
branches of
Christianity developed
over time which led to
conflict.
Theodora and
Justinian, were both
Christians, but even
they didn’t agree about
Christianity.


Justinian wanted all
people in the
Byzantine Empire to
follow orthodox, or
officially accepted,
Christianity.
Theodora did not
follow orthodox
Christianity. As a
result she wanted to
protect Christians who
were not orthodox.
The Division of the Christian Church.


Although Theodora
and Justinian didn’t
agree Christianity, they
did work together to
keep all Christians
loyal to the empire.
One of the arguments
within Christianity
centered around icons,
holy artworks
depicting Jesus and the
saints.


Some Christians liked
to look at the icons as
they pray. Others felt
that using icons in this
way was like
worshiping idols, which
is forbidden in the Ten
Commandments.
The disagreement over
the use of icons
continued for many
years and other
religious issues caused
further division within
the Christian Church.
The Division of the Christian Church.



Due to these conflicts
the Christian Church
split into two parts in
A.D 1054.
The Christian Church in
the Byzantine Empire
became the Eastern
Orthodox Church.
The leaders of this
church were called
patriarchs.



The Christian Church in
western Europe became
the Roman Catholic
Church.
The church’s followers
are called Catholics.
Overtime, the two
branches of Christian
Church gained political
power and wealth. Both
churches contributed to
the cultures of their
societies.
Life in Constantinople.


Byzantine come from
Byzantium, the name of
an ancient Greek city,
which later was renamed
Constantinople in the
honor of Constantine,
and Roman leader.
Many people of the
Byzantine Empire did not
think of themselves as
Byzantines; instead they
called themselves
“Romans”.



Like Rome,
Constantinople was the
base of the empire’s
governments, and was
filled with treasures.
Constantinople was in a
good location to be a
center of the empire.
It was surrounded by
water on three sides
which made it easy to
defend and good for
trade.
◦ It was close to major trade
routes between the
Mediterranean sea and the
Black sea.
Life in Constantinople.


The main road that
crossed
Constantinople, the
Mese, or Middle Street,
was filled with traders
and merchants from
many lands.
Because of this many
languages were spoken
in the city; but still the
common language of
the empire was Greek.


As in the Roman
Emipre, the wealthy
were mainly
government leaders,
owners of large farms,
and merchants.
Most people worked
long hours and earned
just enough for food,
clothing, shelter, and
taxes.
Life in Constantinople.


Public events were an
important part of life
for both the rich and
poor.
Women were not
allowed to attend
these public events,
especially at the
Hippodrome ( A huge
stadium modeled after
the Circus Maximus in
Rome).


Women were also not
allowed to hold public
office.
Although the Justinian
Code did much to
improve the lives of
Byzantine women, they
still had fewer rights
than men.
Life in Constantinople.
Constantinople's
location brought
much wealth to the
empire, the city was
a target for invaders.
 The Ottoman Turks
finally captured
Constantinople in
1453, ending the
Byzantine Empire.
