Download Byzantine Empire - Northwest ISD Moodle

Byzantine Empire
(c. 330-c. 1453)
Eastern Rome: Survivor
Society
• Constantine established
the Eastern capital at
Byzantium.
o Constantinople
• Reasons for survival…
o Higher level of
civilization
o Fewer nomadic invasions
• Geography
o Prosperous commerce
o Stronger military
The Empire Continued…
• Continued to use many
late Roman ideas
• roads
• taxation
• military structure
• court system
• law codes
• Christianity
• Attempt to preserve
Roman legacy
• Called themselves
Romans
• Forbid German or
“barbarian” customs
• Could not wear boots,
pants, or clothing
made of animal skins
• Could not have long
hair
Beginnings
• It was Constantine the Great who began the rebuilding of Byzantium in 324, naming the city
Constantinople and dedicating it in 330. This
founding marks the early beginnings of the
empire.
• Constantinople became the sole capital of the
Eastern Roman Empire.
• The death of the complete Roman Empire in 476
AD marked the birth of the new Roman Empire in
Constantinople. Greek influences resurfaced.
• Greek thus became primary language in the 6th
century.
• The empire was renamed Byzantine after the city
Byzantium.
• The empire benefited from being the focal point
of trade from east to west and vice versa.
Constantinople
Justinian (c. 527- c. 565 CE)
• The greatest of all the eastern
emperors was clearly Justinian
(c.482-565).
• Justinian was a reformer in the
fashion of Augustus Caesar.
• It was Justinian's desire to restore
the Empire -- both East and West - to all of its former glory.
• In fact, it has been said that his
desire to restore the former
Roman Empire was an obsession
(Nova Roma).
Justinian
• His greatest accomplishment toward this end was the
revision and codification of Roman law. Justinian
understood that a strong government could not exist
without good laws.
• The Byzantine laws had grown too numerous and too
confusing.
• Justinian created a commission of sixteen men to
bring order out of all the laws.
• These men worked for six years and studied more
than 2000 texts.
• In 534, the commission produced the Corpus Juris
Civilis – the Body of Civil Law (Justinian Code).
o Contained laws pertaining to religion, anti-paganism, heresy
crimes and anti-Semitism.
Justinian (cont.)
• Temporarily regained North Africa, Italy and
southern Spain
• Wife, Theodora, had considerable power.
• Rebuilt Constantinople
o Hagia Sophia
Inside the Hagia Sophia
Byzantine Empire under
Justinian
Afro-Eurasia in 600 CE
The New Roman Empire
• Never as large as the Roman Empire.
• Arab conquests in 7th century resulted in loss of
Syria/Palestine, Egypt, & North Africa.
• Political authority centralized in Constantinople.
• Emperor claimed to be God’s representative on
Earth.
• Caesaropapism: “Peer of the Apostles”
• Borrowed Persian & Greek court rituals.
Practice Question #1
• Unlike the Romans in the western part of the empire,
the eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire
• (A) was never invaded or threatened by pastoral
nomads.
• (B) recognized the political influence of the
Pope and Catholic Church.
• (C) continued to use Latin as its chief language
until its fall.
• (D) became Muslim.
• (E) did not succumb to Germanic invasions
in the 5th century.
Practice Question #2
As had Hammurabi’s Code (Mesopotamia),
Justinian’s Code (Byzantine)
• (A) dealt primarily with church law and religious
issues.
• (B) became the basic law code for his state,
and influenced future law codes.
• (C) led to internal disruptions and faced
harsh opposition.
• (D) greatly influenced the laws of Islam.
• (E) deviated sharply from previous legal traditions
when it sought to create a new tradition.
Practice Question #3
Although Byzantine society was patriarchal,
• (A) Greek traditions accorded women great
freedom and influence.
• (B) Roman traditions granted women extensive
legal rights.
• (C) contacts with Islam led the Byzantines to protect
women’s rights.
• (D) women could inherit the imperial throne.
• (E) wars kept men and husbands away from their
traditional societal functions.
Theodora’s Influence
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Justinian was aided by his wife, Theodora
(c.500-547), the daughter of a bearkeeper at
the Hippodrome, and was no less ambitious
than her husband.
In 532, mob violence erupted in
Constantinople. These riots were called the
Nika Riots ("Nika"= "Victory!"), and grew from
political unrest over the government's fiscal
measures.
Rival factions of Blues and Greens (admirers of
rival chariot-racing teams) fought in the streets
over the results of a chariot race (kinda like
soccer hooligans).
Some Byzantine Senators saw this riot as an
opportunity to overthrow Justinian.
Justinian wanted to leave the city during the
riots, but two of his generals (Belisarius and
Narses) and his wife Theodora, persuaded him
to stay.
Theodora took it upon herself to raise a
personal army, an army that eventually killed
35,000 people in a single day and expelled the
plotting senators.
Arab
Pressures
• Justinian’s successors began to concentrate on
protecting the eastern frontier from Muslim invasions.
• The Byzantine Empire managed to withstand this threat,
but not without losses.
• Byzantine control over the Mediterranean realm began to
slip as the Arabs built a strong navy.
• Byzantium also held off a siege of
Arab ships by using a new weapon called “Greek fire.”
Combination of petroleum, sulfur, and lime fired out of
bronze tubes.
• The empire lost key points in Phoenicia, Palestine and
Egypt.
The Bulgars
• The most serious challenge to
Byzantium was Bulgaria (Slavic
peoples).
• Bulgarian kings were feisty and
resisted Byzantine rule from
Constantinople’s founding all
the way thru the 11th century.
• 1014 – Basil II finally defeated
the Bulgarian threat; he
blinded their captive soldiers
and bribed as many of their
generals to gain their favor.
Society/Politics
• Similar to early China
o Emperor ordained by God, was head of Orthodox
church
• Women held considerable authority throughout the
empire’s history.
o Theodora exerted her power as empress.
• Merchants, like in China, were wealthy but afforded no
real power.
• An elaborate bureaucracy (China similarity again)
supported the emperor, one educated in Greek
traditions/knowledge.
o Members of this bureaucracy could come from any
social class, though aristocrats dominated.
o This bureaucracy regulated trade and food prices as
well as taxed the peasants for resources.
• Military organization similar to Roman organization.
Byzantine Economy
• Byzantine coins were the
standard currency for region.
• Manufacturing center
o Glassware & mosaics
o Thriving silk industry
• Process spread from China
• Government regulated production of
silk.
• Established banks and
business partnerships
• Taxed merchandise that
passed through empire (Silk
Road clearinghouse).
The “New Rome” Constantinople
• The “New Rome”
o Political, economic, and
cultural heart of the empire
• Largest city in Europe
o Nearly 1 million people
• Important trade city
o Western anchor of Eurasian
trade routes
• Silk Roads
o Europe’s busiest
marketplace
Constantinople in Byzantine
Times
Byzantine Society
• Early emperors prevented wealthy from seizing peasant’s land
o Theme System
• Army recruited soldiers from peasant class
• Peasants received land for service
• Free peasantry (theme system unraveled) replaced by large
estates in the 11th century.
o Led to declining tax revenue
o Size of the army decreased
o Frequent peasant revolts
• Zealots of Thessalonica (1342-1350)
Byzantine Culture
• Cultural Foundations
oChristian beliefs
oGreek learning
oRoman engineering
• Byzantine Education
oState-organized schools
oWidespread literacy
• Chariot Races
oBlues vs. Greens
oRiot of 532
Orthodox Christianity
• Byzantine emperors combined political and religious
authority.
o Caesaropapism
o Appointed the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church
o Empire AND the church were essential for achieving
salvation
• Orthodox or “right thinking” provided a cultural identity
separate from Roman Catholicism.
Orthodox/Catholic
Similarities
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The Bible
Sacraments
Church hierarchy of patriarchs (bishops, priests, etc.)
Missionary activity
Intolerant of other religions
Religious Influence and Issues
• Little innovative artistic creativity emerged from
Byzantium save those in the forms of religious
arts and architecture (still influenced by Rome
and Greece).
• The construction of domed churches (ie. Hagia
Sophia) continued Roman architectural forms.
• The creation of mosaics and icon painting
flourished, enough to cause controversy…a brief
clash over iconoclasm ensued (concern that
icons were idols)…eventually it disappeared.
• What did occur was a rift between the West
(Rome and Catholicism) and the East (the
Orthodox Church of Byzantium)…the Greek
Bible was translated into Latin…popes got
involved with the iconoclasm
issue…Charlemagne becomes declared the “true
heir of Rome”.
• In 1054, the schism was made official (thanks to
an argument over bread and sex) as pope and
head of the Orthodox church excommunicated
each other.
The Great Schism - 1054
Roman Catholic Christianity
Orthodox Christianity
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Eastern Europe
Constantinople
Greek
Iconoclasm
Priests could marry
Easter
Caesaropapism
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Western Europe
Rome
Latin
Support use of icons
Priests remain celibate
Christmas
Pope
They also disagree on:
• The nature of the Trinity
• Relative importance of faith and reason
Effects of the Great Schism
Practice Question #4
The schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches
was due to all of these issues EXCEPT:
(A) papal interference in Byzantine political
and religious affairs.
(B) clerical celibacy; Catholic priests could
not marry but the Orthodox could.
(C) dispute over the type of bread to be used
in religious ceremonies.
(D) the Byzantine state controlled the church
in the eastern lands.
(E) Muslim influence on the Orthodox
branch of Christianity.
Society/Politics
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Empire depended on control over
countryside (rural base).
o A large, controlled peasant class
was crucial to providing tax
revenue to the empire’s treasury.
o The empire was not very
urbanized; Constantinople was
only large city.
Trade was crucial.
o Held together the network of trade
that linked China/India to the
newly emerging European
kingdoms.
Life was centered on secular Greek
traditions.
o Orthodox Christian artwork took
mosaic form, which even brought
controversy (icons were
considered graven idols).
Spreading Byzantium
• Emperors realized they could gain
influence over other areas by
spreading Orthodox faith in Slavic
“Cyrillic” language translation to
various “barbaric” societies.
• Missionaries like St. Cyril and
Methodius went into Eastern
Europe and Kievan Russia and
brought them a new language and a
new faith.
• Each area was absorbed into the
Byzantine Empire through this
conversion.
The Rise of Eastern
Europe and Russia
• Slavic peoples migrated into Russia and eastern Europe during
the Roman Empire…they were simple agriculturalists organized
in tribes and villages.
• They practiced animism, had rich oral traditions and songs to tell
their histories
• Some established trade on rivers, and began interacting with
Byzantium…the traders gained political control/influence.
• A monarchy emerged in Kiev in the 9th century and flourished as
a center of commercial trade…Byzantine influence began with
the conversion of Vladimir the I to Orthodox Christianity in the
late 10th century.
o Vladimir preferred orthodox Christianity because it gave him
direct power as ruler/controller of the faith…Roman
Catholicism beckoned for control by the papacy.
Institutions and Culture
in the Kievan Rus
• Kiev borrowed much from Byzantium, but was
unable to duplicate the bureaucratic system.
• Rulers favored the Byzantine style of rule, a godlike king who was leader of the church, devotion
to God’s power, to saints, churches and iconic
figures…even polygamy stopped and Russian
priests were allowed to marry and have children.
• Literary styles emphasized religion and politics
while art mainly depicted religion.
• Peasants were free farmers and the landed
aristocracies (boyars) had less political power.
Kievan Decline
• Began in the 12th century when rival princes
established competing governments.
• Asian invaders seized territory as trade diminished due
to Byzantine decay…the Mongols were sweeping in
from central Asia, blocking commercial contacts with
the West.
• The culture, however, survived, because the tolerant
Mongols did not interfere with local customs, just
politics and trade…as long as tribute was paid, the
Russians were left alone.
Practice Question #5
The first state in Russia arose when
• (A) nomadic pastoralists established a sedentary
Jewish state.
• (B) Byzantine missionaries converted Russian
farmers.
• (C) Scandinavian traders set up a government
along their trade route.
• (D) Arabs who conquered the area established
province of the Muslim empire.
• (E) Catholic influences from western Europe
invaded the region.
Practice Question #6
• Christianity spread to the Balkans and Russia
through
• (A) mass migration by Greeks to these regions.
• (B) forced conversions of the Slavs by the victorious
Byzantine armies.
• (C) military conquest.
• (D) Christian merchants who intermarried and
settled amongst non-Christians.
• (E) missionary activities.
Decline of the Byzantine
• Begins to decline in 1085
o Expansion by rising
European powers
o The Crusades
• The Fourth Crusade (1204)
o Turkish Muslims – Seljuks
• Decline slowed by
“Greek fire”
• Empire falls in 1453
o Constantinople conquered
by Ottoman Turks.
Byzantine Challenges
Afro-Eurasia in 1400 CE
Union of Kalmar
Russian
States
Scotland
England
France
Portugal
PolandKhanate of the
Holy
Lithuania Golden Horde
Roman
Empire Hungary
Castile
Jagatai
Khanate
Ottoman Emp.
Timurid Empire
Granada
Marinids Hafsids
Korea
Ming
China
Ashikaga
Japan
Mamluk
Sultanate
Mali
Oyo Benin
Ethiopia
Vijayanagara
Zanj City-States
Siam
Majapahit
Zimbabwe
States and Empires in 1400 CE
Short Answer
• Choose #1 and either #2 or #3 with a partner at your table to answer
in class…3-5 sentences for each (applies to #1). Provide at least
three pieces of evidence and analysis (why?? What larger
connections can be found between these things??). Fill out the charts
with examples for all three themes. Be thorough! Stearns: 204-218
^^ANSWER IN YOUR JOURNALS!!! I will select three to
share out at the beginning of class on Wednesday.
1. How is Russia a stepchild of the Byzantine Empire?
2. Compare the political, religious, and economic
structures of the Arab & Byzantine empires in the postclassical period. *may use PERSIAN chart.
3. Discuss the Byzantine religious, political and social
structure. Is it “truly” a second Rome? You can make a
double bubble thinking map or T-chart for this one.
Arab & Byzantine
Empires
Political
Religious
Economic
Roman Catholic vs.
Orthodox