Byzantium

1
Chapter 7

• Byzantium

2
Decline of Rome

• By the 4th century, the Roman Empire was
  experiencing economic, political, social
  difficulties
• A.D. 330 - emperor Constantine named the Greek
  city of Byzantium his eastern capital, changing
  the name to Constantinople
• causes empire to split - East (Byzantine) West
  (Roman)
• 2 emperors/2 capitals
• Constantinople was to be a new Rome
• Advantages Constantinople had as a city
• straddled a prominent land route between Asia
  Europe
• deepwater seaport w/ natural shelter
• it guarded passage between the Mediterranean
  Black Seas
• neighboring agricultural areas of Thrace (Europe)
  Bithynia (Asia) could supply the citys food
  needs
• Because of the problems plaguing Rome, emperors
  spent less time there.
• 402 Western capital moved from Rome to Ravenna
• 476 last Western (Roman) emperor dies the
  city is occupied by the Goths of Europe

3
Literature Philosophy

• During the 4th 5th centuries, Christianity
  continued to grow expand its influence
• 2 major writers witnessed the decline of the
  West Augustine in Roman North Africa Boethius
  of Ravenna
• The writings of each had a great impact on the
  culture of Europe
• Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430)
• considered the greatest Christian writer of the
  West
• received a classical education in Africa Rome
• named bishop of Hippo in 390
• after the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410, he wrote
  The City of God
• written in response to those that blamed the rise
  of Christianity for the event
• until Thomas Aquinas in 13th century, all
  Christian theology was based on the writings of
  Augustine
• invented the genre of self-reflective writing in
  the West

4

• The Confessions is a long meditation on the grace
  of God how it shaped Augustines life until
  its appointed end.
• also presented a philosophy of history he said
  that history has a definite beginning end,
  beginning with God moving in a straight line
  until it ends with God at the Judgment.
• Boethius (480-534)
• highly educated Roman pagan
• entered the service of Goth king, Theodoric in
  522
• accused of treason by enemies, imprisoned
  executed
• while imprisoned, he wrote The Consolidation of
  Philosophy
• asked questions about free will of mortals,
  nature of God, time, eternity
• Free will vs. predestination?
• God is eternal, eternity doesnt mean a long
  time, means no time
• He lives in a constant state of now
• He said that if God does not exist in time then
  he doesnt forsee the future, he sees all
  things simultaniously
• The Consolidation was one of the most widely read
  works of the Middle Ages
• It was quoted by many major medieval thinkers
  including St. Thomas Aquinas Dante Alighieri