Download The Byzantine Empire - Fort Thomas Independent Schools

The Byzantine Empire
Oh No!! Rome Has Fallen!
• Eastern and Western halves were officially
split into two distinct empires in 395 CE
• 476 CE: Fall of Western Rome
• Eastern Empire dates from 395 – 1453 CE
• Capital is Constantinople (modern name:
Istanbul)
• Called the Byzantine Empire
Characteristics of Byzantine
Empire
• Elegant buildings
• Christian (Roman Catholic, then
Eastern Orthodox)
• Language: Greek
• Strong Commercial Focus
• Armies based on barbarian recruits
• Emperor separate from society
Emperor Justinian
(r. 527- 565 CE)
• Successes:
– Law Code
– Rebuilt Constantinople
– Reclaims some Roman
provinces:
• North Africa, city of Rome
(temporarily), parts of Spain
• Failures:
– Unable to retake Italy for
good
– Weakened empire through
expansion
Justinian Code
• Created between 528-533 CE
– Preserved and reformed/updated Roman law
– Ultimate Goal: Create a single, uniform law
code
– Forms the basis of modern legal systems.
• Covered all aspects of life: marriage, slavery,
property, inheritance, women’s rights and
crimes
• Code is used for over 900 years
Empress Theodora
• Justinian’s wife
• Very powerful in her own
right:
– Met with foreign leaders,
passed laws, built churches
• Theodora pushes for
women’s rights:
– Man couldn’t beat wife
– Women could sue for
divorce.
– Women could own property
Politics in the Byzantine
Empire
• Emperor head of church
and state
• Make religious and
secular laws
• Not uncommon for
women to hold throne
temporarily
• Troops given land for
service
• Government keeps food
prices low
• Bureaucracy
– Trained in Greek
classics
– From all classes
– Spies
– Emperor appointed
local leaders to be
sent throughout the
empire
Constantinople (Istanbul)
• Founded by Constantine and
established as the capital of the
Byzantine Empire in 330 CE
Constantinople
• Naturally protected by waterways on either
side
– Controlled the water between the Aegean and
Black Sea.
• Only land border is protected by a moat and
three other walls
• Constantinople is in middle of trade routes.
• City became rich from taxes on trade.
• Revenue from trade
funds governmentsupported building
projects:
– Hagia Sophia
• (“Holy
Wisdom”)
– Palaces
– Aqueducts
– Schools
– Hospitals
Life in Constantinople
• Great trade, shopping and cultural attractions in
the city
• Entertainment:
– Hippodrome: chariot races; circus; held
60,000 people
• Intellectual Life:
– education highly prized, influenced by ancient
Greek literature and historical writings
– passed on Greco-Roman mathematics and
geometry to the Arabs who adopted and
improved it
Problems in the Byzantine
Empire
• The Plague
–
–
–
–
Originated in rats on an Indian trading ship
542: 10,000 die per day
Outbreaks continued around every 8-10 years
Smaller population caused empire to be an easy target
for outside groups
• Outside Attacks:
– Several groups attempted to attack the empire: Slavs,
Persians, Arab armies, Russians, Turks, knights from
Western Europe
– The Crusaders (sacked Constantinople in 1204 CE)
– Battle of Manzikert (1071 CE) – army defeated and
destroyed by Muslim Turkish invaders
– Finally falls in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks