The Commonwealth of Byzantium

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Chapter 13

• The Commonwealth of Byzantium

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Byzantine Empire

• -After the collapse of the western half of the
  Roman Empire the Byzantine eastern section
  survived for another millennium.
• - Byzantium dominated the eastern Mediterranean
  world politically and economically for centuries.
  
• - Even after its collapse the Byzantine Empires
  influence could be seen in the Slavic peoples of
  Eastern Europe and Russia.

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The Early Byzantine Empire

• At its height Byzantium included Greece,
  Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, northeast
  Africa, and the Balkans.
• Byzantium faced threats from the Sasanid dynasty
  in Persia but managed to escape the Germanic
  invasions that had devastated the western half of
  the empire.

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Political Structure

• the Byzantine state was marked by a highly
  centralized rule centered around a remarkably
  powerful emperor.
• Byzantine emperors wielded a mixture of political
  and religious authority known as caesaropapism.
• In theory, the emperor possessed absolute
  authority in all political, military, judicial,
  and religious affairs

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Justinian

• Justinian, despite humble origins, became the
  most influential of the Byzantine emperors.
• attempted to re-create the Roman Empire.
• Justinians codification of Roman law, as seen in
  the Corpus iuris civilis, was the emperors most
  influential legal and political contribution.
• The general Belisariuss conquests reconstructed
  most of the Roman Empire.

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Did it last???

• A combination of limited Byzantine resources and
  Arabic expansion made holding the old empire
  together impossible.
• The former western half of the empire
  increasingly fell to successor states.
• The Frankish king Charlemagne received an
  imperial crown from the pope in 800 and Otto of
  Saxony claimed to rule the west in 962.

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Byzantine Economy and Society

• While its political authority fluctuated over the
  centuries, Byzantium remained an economic power.
• Byzantium was at its strongest when free peasants
  formed the engine that drove the state.
• free peasants were bolstered by the theme system
  that provided land in return for military
  service.

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Byzantine Economy and Society

• The consolidation of power and land in the hands
  of the nobles not only hurt the peasants but also
  damaged the Byzantine empire militarily.
• Constantinople remained the major center of trade
  and industry in the Mediterranean world.
• major innovation was the rise of a silk industry
• Byzantiums domination of trade is best shown in
  the bezant, which became the standard currency in
  the Mediterranean for centuries.
• Constantinoplethe largest city in Europe, with a
  population of around one millionstood in the
  center of everything and was a worthy successor
  to Rome as the city of the Mediterranean basin.

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Classical Heritage and Orthodox Christianity

• Byzantium was most strongly influenced by Greek
  culture.
• Greek became the official language
• Byzantine education clearly showed the Greek
  influence
• a state-supported school system provided for
  widespread literacy.
• A school for the study of law, medicine, and
  philosophy in Constantinople survived for a
  thousand years.

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Classical Heritage and Orthodox Christianity

• Big difference between the western and eastern
  halves of the empire in ecclesiastical matters
• The Byzantine emperors played a very active role
  in religious issues
• Constantine calling together the Council of
  Nicaea to attack Arian views on the nature of
  Jesus
• Leo IIIs iconoclasm is a classic example of
  imperial meddling in religious affairs.

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Council of Nicaea, 325 CE
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Classical Heritage and Orthodox Christianity

• Monasticism
• Byzantine monasteries were known for their
  spiritual and social aid to their communities
• Tensions over issues ranging from doctrine to
  power led to the patriarch and pope mutually
  excommunicating each other in 1054,
• the beginning of the schism between the Eastern
  Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.

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The Influence of Byzantium in Eastern Europe

• Byzantine power was threatened by internal social
  problems and challenges from the west and east.
• The sacking of Constantinople by the Fourth
  Crusade in 1204 devastated Byzantium and
  increased tensions between the old halves of the
  Roman Empire.

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The 4th Crusade and Constantinople falls
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The Influence of Byzantium in Eastern Europe

• The victory of the Saljuq Turks at Manzikert in
  1071 led to the loss of Anatolia and economic
  devastation.
• After centuries of decay, Constantinople fell to
  the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
• While Byzantiums direct hold on the
  Mediterranean world threatened by Islamic
  expansion,
• its influence on the Slavic peoples of Eastern
  Europe and Russia only increased.

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The Influence of Byzantium in Eastern Europe

• Greek Orthodox missionaries spread the faith
  northward
• Two missionaries, Saints Cyril and Methodius,
  adopted the Greek alphabet to the Slavic tongue
  to create the Cyrillic alphabet,
• which allowed for the further spread of religious
  as well as secular thought.

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The Influence of Byzantium in Eastern Europe

• Prince Vladimirs conversion turned Kiev, the
  first center of Russian power, into a center of
  Byzantine culture.
• By the sixteenth century Russians spoke of
  Moscow as the worlds third Rome.

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