Download The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire
Section 1: The Byzantine Empire
Main
Idea: After Rome split, the Eastern Empire
(Byzantium) flourished for a millennium!
Why
It Matters Now: Byzantine culture deeply
influenced Orthodox Christianity, and major
branch of modern Christianity.
Terms/
Names: Justinian, Justinian Code, Hagia
Sophia, Patriarch, Icon, Excommunication, and
Cyrillic alphabet
Don’t forget what happened in the past…
The
once great Roman Empire became weak,
and was divided into two sections: West (Rome)
and East (Constantinople)
The
Western Roman Empire crumbled in the 5th
Century b/c of invading Germanic tribes.
The
Eastern Roman Empire (AKA Byzantium)
would remain a dominate force in Asia for
hundreds of years after Rome “falls”.
A new rome
Justinian,
a high ranking Byzantine nobleman,
succeeded his uncle as the new ruler of the
Eastern Empire (527).
He
sent his best general (Belisarius) to reclaim
N. Africa; his goal is to revive Rome’s glory days.
Within 16 years, Belisarius had reclaimed nearly
all of the territory of the old Roman empire:
Justinian is now the new Caesar, and ruled with
absolute power.
Byzantine emperors ruled both Church and State
w/ absolute power. Many emperors died violent
deaths
Life in new Rome
Greek
(not Latin) was spoken in New Rome
Justinian
est. a new code of laws for his empire:
Justinian Code:
1.The
Code- 5,000 old Roman laws—still useful
The Digest- A collection of Rome’s greatest legal
scholars; opinions about laws (50 volumes total)
2.
3.The
Institutes- Textbook for law students
4.The
Novellae (New Laws)- Legislation passed after
534.
Justinian
Code regulated nearly everything in
Byzantine life: marriage, slavery, property, etc…
Massive building projects in capital city…
Justinian
strongly focused on creating a capital
city that symbolized the greatness of his reign.
He
built-up the city’s infrastructure: bath,
aqueducts, courts, schools, hospitals, etc..
His
greatest focus was on building grand
churches, and the greatest church he ever
created was the church of Hagia Sophia (Holy
Wisdom); it was known as the most splendid
church of the Christian world.
The hippodrome (Greek meaning “horse”
and “Racecourse”
Much
like the Roman coliseum and Circus
Maximus, the Hippodrome was the place in
Constantinople where citizens could enjoy free
entertainment.
Rowdy
In
fans would cheer their favorite teams
532 fans rioted against one another, which
carried into the streets of the city: Justinian
crushed the riot in a brutal manner.
Hippodrome today: istanbul, turkey
The plague of justinian
A
plague hit the empire and caused massive
casualties
Continual
attacks by outside invaders:
Lombards, Avars, Slaves, Bulgars, and the
Persians.
Greatest
threat will be from the Turks, who
conquered the Muslim world, which spilled over
into Byzantium.
The
Ottoman Turks conquered the city of
Constantinople in 1453—the Ottoman Empire will
encompass this area until World War I.
The Church divides
Christianity
developed differently in the Eastern
and Western Roman Empires
The
church will eventually split into two different
denominations: Roman Catholicism and Eastern
Orthodoxy
Important figures in eastern orthodoxy
Saint
Basil- In 357 he wrote the rules for how
monks would live their life
Saint
John Chrysostom- Bishop of
Constantinople, he was the patriarch, or leading
bishop of the East.
Unlike
the Pope, the patriarch did not have
political power over kings/ emperors
The iconic controversy
In
730, the Byzantine Emperor (Leo III) banned
the use of icons (religious images) because he
viewed it as idol worship.
This
The
caused a rebellion amongst the people
Pope in the West got involved, which was
precursor to what will eventually occur in 1054…
The Schism of 1054
Christianity
officially split into two separate
religions in 1054:
Roman
Eastern
Catholic Church in the West (Pope);
Orthodox Church in the East (Patriarch)
The Cyrillic alphabet
Missionaries
from the Orthodox Church took the
religion to the inhabitants to the north known as
Slavs, who had no written language.
Two
missionaries (Cyril and Methodius) invented
an alphabet for the Slavic people in order to
teach them the religion
This
new alphabet is known as the Cyrillic
Alphabet