Download The Byzantine Empire

I. Background Info.
A. Rome divided 395 CE - East and
West
B. 330 CE Emperor Constantine made
Byzantium the capital of the Roman
Empire in the East
1. He renamed the city Constantinople
2. City was Christian and the
language Greek not Latin
3. City combined both Eastern and
Western ways of life
4. City became center of world trade
and wealthy through trade
a. Constantinople = strategic city with multicultural
character
b. Located near centers of early Christianity & trade
routes @ the crossroads of Europe and Asia
c. People spoke Latin, Greek, and had influences from
Persia – blended Christian beliefs with Greek science,
etc.
C. Byzantine Empire was rich and powerful
1. Unified
2. Educated (University of Constantinople est. 850 CE)
3. Trade center
4. Cultural blending
5. Most advanced city in world btwn 500 CE & 1200 CE =
highest standard of living
D. Rulers had:
1. Absolute power
2. Headed church
3. High risk of assassination
E. Byzantine Empire promoted Christianity
1. appointed church leaders
2. defined style of worship
3. unified empire under Christianity at expense of nonChristians and Jews
II. Eastern Empire - A New Rome
A. Justinian, Greatest Byzantine Emperor - took throne 527 CE (died 565 CE)
1. Greek - official lang.
2. Expanded empire to greatest size
3. Strong central government
4. Head of the Church
5. Wife Theodora - powerful – helped him rule
a. Responsible for women gaining the right to own
land
b. Women gained right to manage
late husband’s property
c. Widows could raise their
children as they wished
d. Taxpayers revolted, she told
Justinian not to flee  he then
ruled w/0 challenge
III. Byzantine Empire under Justinian
B. Justinian Code
1. Justinian gathered
and organized 400
years of Roman Law
and Byzantine Law
2. Code Served empire
for 900 years
3. Through this code the
basic ideas of Roman
law passed into the
legal system of most
nations of western
Europe
C. Architectural achievements; Justinian’s most
lasting architectural achievement = building
program
1. Built bridges, churches, forts & fortified walls
2. Greatest success = Church of Hagia
Sophia huge dome & mosaics lined the
marble walls
3. Schools
4. Hippodrome - horse races - free
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia
D. Byzantine Church
1. Church was combined with the state = theocracy
a. Church leader appointed by the emperor
2. Believed that faith, not reason, was the way to find
God’s truth
3. Used icons in their worship
4. Church united the empire
E. Stable Society
1. Efficient government: well organized with educated
people working for the government
2. Strong economy
a. wealthy from trade btwn Europe, Asia, and Middle East
b. industries of its own: farming did not depend on slave
labor
IV. Muslim invasions: 630s & 640s Muslims took
over many parts of the Byzantine Empire
A. Wanted to spread their religion and gain
wealth
B. 717 Muslims attacked Constantinople
C. Emperor Leo stopped attack with secret
weapon called Greek Fire
D. Leo’s victory in 717
important… STOPPED
Muslims from invading
Europe, which was too
weak to resist
V. The relationship between the Roman Empire and the
Byzantine Empire
A. The Byzantine Empire adopted Christianity from
the Roman Empire
B. Byzantine Empire was created from the division of
the Roman Empire into the Eastern and Western
Empires
C. Byzantine Empire adopted and modified Roman
Law Code under the rule of Justinian (Justinian’s
Code)
VI. Religious disputes
A. Dispute over the use of Icons
1. 726 Emperor Leo forbade the use of icons.
a. Issue of icons divided the empire
b. 787, Council of Bishops said that use of icons was
heresy
c. 843, compromise reached– people could worship
pictures, not statues
d. Icon issue increased split btwn Byzantine and
Roman Catholic Churches
2. 1054 Christian Church split = Schism over use of icons
1. separation of church into Roman Catholic (western
empire) and Eastern Orthodox church (eastern empire)
B. Source of religious authority
1. Pope in Rome & Patriarch in Constantinople
a. Charlemagne given title of emperor by Pope…
Patriarch ticked = his job
C. Conversion of the Slavs: 800s missionaries from Byzantine
Empire went to eastern Europe to convert the Slavs
1. Only converted the
Bulgarians and Russians
2. Cyril and Methodius,
missionaries, invented
Cyrillic alphabet
3. Russia and Byzantine
Empire developed strong
ties
VII. Decline of the Empire: 1000s Byzantine Empire weakened
A. lost trade with European cities
B. 1071 Seljuk Turks from central Asia and Normans from
Europe captured Byzantine lands
1. Pope sent armies of crusaders to save the Byzantine
Empire from Turks, instead armies took Byzantine
lands and attacked Constantinople
2. 1255 Byzantines retook Constantinople and held it
for about 200 years
C. 1347 Bubonic Plague “Black Death” killed two–thirds
of the people of Constantinople
D. 1453, the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople
(changed the name to Istanbul)
1. Used new weapon – the canon = End of Byzantine
Empire