Byzantine Empire

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Byzantine Empire

• After the Western Roman Empire fell to German
  barbarian invasions in the 5th century, the
  Eastern Roman Empire, with its capital at
  Constantinople, repelled the invasions and went
  on to survive for 1000 more years, preserving and
  spreading the culture of ancient
• Greeks and Romans

Welcome to the Byzantine Empire
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• Located on a peninsula that overlooked the
  Bosporus Strait
• Controlled movement between Med. Black Seas
• Key trade center between East West

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The Golden Horn

• Natural protection from invaders water on 3
  sides
• Triple Walls fortified open side

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Constantinople A Strategic CityWhere Europe
Asia Meet
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Constantine and the move east

• - western Roman Empire crumbled in 5th century
  due to invading Germanic tribes from the north
• - the threat to the Roman Empire was already
  apparent in the 4th century as Emperor
  Constantine rebuilt they city of Byzantium (a
  port city) on the Bosporus straight
• - 2 reasons as to why he built here
• 1. he could respond to the danger of the
  Germanic tribes
• 2. he could be close to his rich eastern
  provinces

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• - city named Constantinople in his honor and in
  330 it was the capital of the Byzantine Empire,
  the New Rome
• - center of power for the Empire shifted east as
  a result and the eastern provinces began to
  develop independently of the declining west
• - communication difficulties officially divided
  the Empire in 395

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• - even though a split had taken place, rulers in
  the east continued to think of themselves as
  Roman emperors
• -cultural blend of people from Africa, Europe,
  Middle East
• -mainly Greeks occupied Byzantium

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Justinian and Theodora

• Justinian was a 6th century Byzantine Emperor
  considered one if its greatest rulers his wife
  Theodora was very influential in his reign
• Theodora was concerned with improving the social
  standing of women urged Justinian to give women
  more rights
• Theodora urged Justinian not to flee when
  taxpayers revolted (Nika Rebellion)
• Justinian stayed and his army crushed the rebels

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Theodora Her Attendants
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Justinian and His Attendants
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Justinian

• - in 527 he succeeded the throne from his uncle
• - described as a serious, even-tempered ruler who
  worked from dawn til dusk by Procopius, his court
  historian
• - Justinian made good on his claim to be the head
  of the whole Roman Empire, east and west
• - sent his best general Belisarius to take North
  Africa from the Vandals, Rome from the
  Ostrogoths, parts of Spain and nearly all of
  Italy
• - by this time Justinian ruled almost all the
  territory that Rome had ever ruled

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Belasarius Expands Empire

• Belasarius was a peasant with little military
  experience
• He was a friend of Theodoras.
• Led the troops that crushed Nika Rebellion
• Appointed general of Byzantine armies which
  fought a series of wars against the Vandals,
  Ostrogoths Visigoths
• Byzantines conquered these Germanic groups and
  extended their rule in the west

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Power of the Emperors

• - Byzantine emperors ruled with absolute power
  like old Caesars
• - they headed the state and the Church (appointed
  and dismissed bishops at will)
• - politics were more brutal (of 88 Byzantine
  emperors, 29 died violently and 13 abandoned
  throne to live in monasteries)

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Building the New Rome

• - the Byzantine Empire is different that western
  ones, difficulty of communications gave Byzantine
  Empire its own character
• - citizens thought they shared Roman traditions,
  but in actuality few spoke Latin (most spoke
  Greek and belonged to eastern branch of Christian
  church)

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• - such a complex society needed some regulation,
  so Justinian set up a legal panel of ten experts
  to comb through 400 yrs of Roman law and legal
  opinions
• - goal of the panel was to create a single,
  uniform code for Justinian's New Rome, as many of
  the previous laws had become outdated or
  contradicted themselves
• -result was a body of civil laws known as
  Justinian Code

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Code consisted of 4 works

• 1. The Code --gt contained nearly 5,000 Roman
  laws, which experts still considered useful for
  the Byzantine Empire
• 2. The Digest --gt quoted and summarized the
  opinions of Rome's greatest legal thinkers about
  the laws (50 volumes)
• 3. The Institutes --gt a textbook that told law
  students how to use the laws
• 4. The Novellae (New Law) --gt presented
  legislation assed after 534
• -decided legal questions that regulated whole
  areas of Byzantine life marriage, slavery,
  property, inheritance, womens rights, crimes
• -even though Justinian died in 565 his code
  served Empire for 900 years

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Justinians Code

• Justinian had Roman laws codified and classified
• Omits repetitions, inconsistencies, and statutes
  dealing with Roman religion
• Preserved Romes legal heritage and later became
  the basis for most European legal systems

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Creating the Capital

• his rebuilding of Constantinople was the most
  ambitious public building program ever seen in
  the Roman world
• church building was his biggest passion as he
  believed it help show a close connection between
  church and state
• Hagia Sophia Holy Wisdom in Greek built
  532-537 decorated in mosaics, lamps and candles
  its beauty helped convince Russian nobility that
  they should adopt Christianity remained
  Christian until Ottoman Empire took over
  Constantinople in 1453 and converted it into a
  mosque in 1935 country of Turkey made it into a
  museum

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Byzantine Architecture

• Greatest form of Byzantine art
• Greatest masterpiece is church of Hagia Sophia,
  meaning holy wisdom
• Huge building in form of a cross includes
  murals, mosaics, stone carvings and insets of
  ivory, silver and jewels
• Capped by huge dome that rests on massive columns

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Inside Hagia Sophia
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Constantinople

• in time city became unparalleled with its baths,
  aqueducts, law courts, schools and hospitals
• the main street running through the center was
  Mese (MEH-see) or Middle Way lined with
  merchants, here shoppers could buy wine from
  France or tin from England, city seen as a
  vibrant mercantile area and Byzantine currency
  was widely accepted around Europe and Asia Minor

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• free entertainment was at the Hippodrome horse
  track which held 60,000 people
• fans cheered on their teams, such as Greens and
  Blues, in 532 a city-wide riot sparked called the
  Nika Rebellion (nika is what they yelled,
  meaning conquer)
• the quelling of this revolt is often attributed
  to the quick thinking and eloquent speaking of
  Theodora

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Justinians Accomplishments

• Expanded the Empire
• Created Justinians Code
• Commissioned rebuilding of Hagia Sophia
• Helped spread Christianity
• Increased womens rights

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Conflict in the Christian Church

• Argument over use of icons (religious images) in
  worship
• AD 726 Emperor Leo III ordered all icons removed
  from churches b/c he believed they encouraged
  superstition and the worship of idols
• Emperors supporters known as iconoclasts (image
  breakers)

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• Church leaders resisted order and were supported
  by the Roman Pope
• Christian church in east and west argued over
  source of religious authority
• Pope in Rome said he was supreme leader of church
• Patriarch of Constantinople opposed this claim
• Eventually led to a schism (separation) in 1054
• Roman Catholic Church in West and Eastern
  Orthodox Church in East

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The Church Divides

• the distance and communication difficulties led
  the West and East (Byzantine) to split on
  doctrines and rituals
• outcome Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic
  Churches
• Eastern Orthodox built on the early works of
  church fathers, such as St Basil and St John
  Chrysostom (KRIHS-uh-stuhm) who later became the
  patriarch or leading bishop of the east
• even patriarchs bowed to emperors authority
  which led to controversy
• the use of icons (religious images used by
  eastern Christians to aid their devotions) was
  banned by Emperor Leo III b/c he believed it led
  to idol worship

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• this led to iconoclasts or icon-breakers who
  broke into churches to destroy images
• 1054 dispute b/t east and west came to head when
  pope and patriarch excommunicated each other over
  religious doctrine
• after this schism (split) Christianity was
  permanently divided between the Roman Catholic
  Church in the west and the Orthodox Church in the
  east

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Differences Between Two Christian Traditions
Roman Catholic Eastern Orthodox
Services are conducted in Latin Services are conducted in Greek or local languages
The pope has authority over all other bishops The patriarch and other bishops head the church as a group
The pope claims authority over all kings and emperors The emperor claims authority over the patriarch and other bishops of the empire
Priests may not marry Priests may be married
Divorce is not permitted Divorce is allowed under certain conditions
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• now both churches competed with one another for
  converts
• eastern missionaries tried to convert the Slavs,
  they invented an alphabet for the Slavic
  languages so they could read the Bible in their
  native tongue
• this led to the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet

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Orthodox Clerics Get Papal Apology May 5, 2001

• Pope John Paul II, in a sweeping statement of
  regret aimed at healing Christianitys East-West
  divide, begged forgiveness for sins committed by
  Roman Catholics
• Pope John Paul II singled out the plunder of
  Constantinople, now Istanbul, as an example of
  Catholic sin. In an animated voice, he called it
  disastrous and tragic that assailants, who
  had set out to secure free access to Christians
  to the Holy Land, turned against their own
  brothers in faith.

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Byzantine Art

• Glorified religion
• Icons in homes, churches shrines
• Mosaics - pictures made of many tiny pieces of
  colored glass or flat stone set in plaster
• Illuminated manuscript
• Subjects of Byzantine art appeared stiff and
  artificial with calm, meditative faces to inspire
  reverence

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Hagia Sophia
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11th Century Crusaders

• Came from western European kingdoms to help
  defend the Empire from invading Muslims, the
  Seljuk Turks
• Butfor three days crusaders burned and looted
  the city, stealing destroying priceless
  manuscripts and works of art
• Established a Latin Empire in Constantinople
  (lasts until 1261AD)

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Fall of Constantinople

• Ottoman Turks from central Asia attacked the
  Eastern provinces
• In AD 1453 the Ottomans laid siege to
  Constantinople

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