Download The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire
One God
One Empire
One Religion

Diocletian splits the empire into the East and West
Rome: The Western Empire
Rome: The Eastern Empire
1. Spoke Latin
1. Spoke Greek
2. Includes Italy, Gaul, Britain, and
Spain
2. Includes Greece, Asia Minor, Syria,
and Egypt
3. Not as wealthy
3. More wealthy
4. Conquered by Germanic tribes in
476 A.D.
4. Lasted until 1453 A.D.
The Eastern Empire

As Western Europe
succumbed to the
Germanic invasions,
imperial power shifted
to the Byzantine
Empire (the eastern
part of the Roman
Empire).
Constantinople

Constantinople
became the sole
capitol of the empire
and remained so until
the successful revival
of the western empire
in the 8th century by
Charlemagne.
Reasons for Success



Political Strength – centralized, autocratic,
loyal officials, shrewd diplomacy, royal
marriages, provocation of enemies
Good Defenses – infantry, cavalry, engineering
corps, medical care and land grants for soldiers,
Greek Fire
Prosperous Economy – abundant trade, good
location on trade routes - Bosphorus
Constantinople
The Reign of Justinian

The height of the first period of Byzantine history (324-632) was
the reign of Emperor Justinian (r. 527-565) and his wife
Empress Theodora (d. 548)
Theodora



Difficult early life
Inspired Justinian to write laws that helped
women
Role in the Nika Rebellion – famous speech
documented by Procopius
Belisarius



Was a peasant who Justinian
appointed as his commander in
chief of the military
Helped Emperor Justinian try
to take back the Western
Empire
Brought back old Roman law
tablets that had not been
destroyed by the invading
Germanic people. Justinian
would use these tablets to make
his own set of laws
The Imperial Goal: Unity

The imperial goal in
the East was to
centralize government
and impose legal and
doctrinal conformity.
One God
One Empire
One Religion
st
1


Justinian collated and revised
Roman law.
Formed the Justinian Code



Method: Law
Codified Roman law
This code of law became the
basis for both the European
and American legal systems
Regulated all aspects of
Byzantine society
nd
2


Method: Religion
Religion as well as law
served imperial
centralization.
In 380, Christianity had
been proclaimed the
official religion of the
eastern empire. Now all
other religions were
considered “demented
and insane.”
The Iconoclastic Controversy





Christianity is the belief in Jesus Christ and his
teachings
First Christian faith was Catholic meaning “universal”
The Roman Empire practiced Christianity since the
days of Constantine
There was controversies between the two different
sides about Christianity
The Roman Empire would influence the development
of the Catholic Church and its division
The Iconoclastic Controversy


The Iconoclastic Controversy,
a movement that denied the
holiness of religious images,
devastated much of the empire
for over a hundred years.
In 730, Byzantine Emperor Leo
III banned the use of icons


Icon- a religious image
The Western Church wanted the
use of icons to help explain the
Bible
The Iconoclastic Controversy

The Great Schism occurs in 1054
Schism- a split
 Permanent division of the Christian Church



The West becomes the Roman Catholic Church
The East becomes the Eastern Orthodox
Church
Two Faiths

Roman Catholic

Eastern Orthodox

Services in Greek

Services in Latin until
1965
Pope over bishops


Pope higher than kings


Priest may not marry
Divorce is not permitted

Patriarch and bishops rule
together
Emperor is higher than
patriarch
Priest may marry
Divorce is permitted



Increase in Church Wealth

Between the 4th and 6th
centuries, the patriarchs
of Constantinople,
Alexandria, Antioch, and
Jerusalem acquired
enormous wealth in the
form of land and gold.
Increase in Clergy

The prestige and
comfort that the
clergy enjoyed swelled
the ranks of the clergy
in the Eastern
Church.
Contributions of the Byzantine Empire


Kept the Greek and Roman culture,
traditions and learning alive
Cyril and Methodius- two brothers
sent out as missionaries to convert
the barbaric Slavic people


Spread Byzantine culture to the Slavic
people.
Cyrillic Alphabet- invented an alphabet
for the Slavic language



Now the Slavic people could read the Bible
Many Slavic languages, including Russian,
are now written with the Cyrillic Alphabet
Codified Roman laws
Extensive Building Plans

Justinian was an ambitious builder and undertook
massive building projects

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Market places
Imperial palaces
Hagia Sophia- Holy Wisdom

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Justinian’s greatest monument
Took only 5 years to build
Was meant to serve two goals


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To be a monument to Justinian’s reign
To make people who entered the cathedral get feel that they were in
God’s world
The Hagia Sophia was built in Constantinople, now Istanbul
Hagia Sophia
The Empire at Its Height
The empire was at its height In 565, during Justinian’s
reign. It included most of the lands surrounding the
Mediterranean Sea.
Decline in the

In the seventh
century the empire
lost Syria, the Holy
Land, Egypt, and
North Africa to
invading Islamic
armies.
th
7
Century
Recovery of Territory

The Byzantines called upon
the European states to push
back the Muslim
conquerors. The European
states complied, successfully
pushed back the Seljuks,
returned territory to the
Byzantines, and carved out
kingdoms of their own in
Syria and Palestine.
The Fall of Constantinople

In 1204, the Crusaders
attacked, conquered,
and pillaged the city of
Constantinople, a goal
that the Muslims had
been trying achieve for
centuries
Conquered by the Ottoman Turks

In 1453, the city was
finally and permanently
conquered by the
Ottoman Turks


Renamed it Istanbul.
Byzantine culture, law,
and administration came
to its final end.
Why the Byzantine Empire Falls:



Invasions from the East and the West
Disease- Plague
The rise of Islam and religious disputescrusades
Contribution to Western Civilization

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Throughout the early Middle Ages, the Byzantine
Empire remained a protective barrier between
western Europe and hostile Persian, Arab, and
Turkish armies.
The Byzantines were also a major conduit of
classical learning and science into the West down
to the Renaissance. While western Europeans
were fumbling to create a culture of their own,
the cities of the Byzantine Empire provided them
a model of a civilized society.