Eastern Empires

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Eastern Empires
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Roman Empire

• 14 - 80 CE
• Power given to Senate (by Augustus)
• Taken back by successors of Augustus
• Successor Openly ruled as Emperors
• Overextending Empire
• 120s 300s CE
• Emperors recognized need for retrenchment
• Reinforcing borders
• Barbarians

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Hadrians Wall
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Barbarians Push / Pull Factors

• Not strangers to empire
• Neighbors for centuries
• Germanic peoples consolidating power
• Attracted to Empires wealth / power
• Came too fast for Empire to handle

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Huns

• Pastoral peoples of Mongolia
• Preyed on China / until met stiffer resistance
• Pushed westward
• Ostrogoths / Visigoths pushing at Roman empires
  border
• Allowed admittance
• BUFFER to Huns

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Constantine

• Expanded imperial control
• Enlargement of military
• Construction of new capital
• Constantinople (Byzantium)
• Eastern empire
• New Rome
• Edict of Milan (313 CE)
• Outlawed persecution of Christians
• Emperor Theodosius (378-395 CE) - Made official
  religion of Empire

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Justinian (527 565 CE)

• Germanic kingdoms developing
• Justinian re-establish strength of Empire
• Reclaiming Mediterranean world
• Roman power re-established
• Justinian Codification of Roman Law

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Code of Law

• Simplified roman laws for imperial use
• Written in Latin (translated into Greek)
• Basis for imperial law for Byzantine Empire
• Basis for legal systems throughout medieval Europe

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Justinian Rule

• Western Empire declining
• Wealthy move to Constantinople
• Bring money / collections with them!!!
• Rebuilt to become eastern trading center
• Largest urban center during Middle Ages
• Silk
• Most lucrative product for State
• Rulers encouraged to earn a living
• Vast Building projects encouraged

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Hagia Sophia
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Hippodrome
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Scholarship

• Library inventories
• Vast since westerners bringing own collections
• Scholarship produced encyclopedias
• Translating classics
• Insatiable desire for religious text / debate

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Eastern Religion

• Peter The Bishop of Rome (Pope)
• Constantinople Center of Christianity
• Influx of Religious Iconography
• Charges of Idolatry
• Greek Orthodox
• Iconoclasts those against icons / adornments
• Patriarch of Constantinople
• 730s Emperor Leo II outlaws all religious icons

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Pre-Islamic Arabia

• Bedouin Arabs
• Nomadic desert people
• Trade Route exposure
• Contact with all kinds of people
• Jews / Christians / Persians / Greeks / Romans /
  Asians
• Politically chaotic

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Pre-Islamic Arabia (cont.)

• Scarcity of goods
• Culture of Blood Kin loyalties
• Raiding
• Mecca
• Holy site of the Kaaba
• Believed put there by Prophet Abraham
• Respected / sacred place
• KaAba
• Repository for relics

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Muhammad (570-632 CE)

• Orphaned at young age
• Work ethic at young age
• Married a wealthy widow (older)
• FATIMA heir
• 610 CE
• Visited by angel Gabriel
• Koran (Qur'an) recitation
• Divine messages (suras) of Allah
• Muhammads poetic recitation shocked audiences

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Rise of Islam

• Visions alarmed Muhammad
• Concerned about growing materialism
• Return to traditional social values
• Rich to care for unfortunate
• Favored Egalitarianism (all followers on same
  level)
• Embraced monotheism
• Declared Allah sole god
• Alarmed polytheistic society

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Islam

• Initially not widely accepted
• Later he / followers settled in Medina
• Organized into a community Umma
• 603 CE
• Muhammad returned to Mecca
• Kaaba sacred site of Islam

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Islam and other Religions

• Muhammad acquainted with Judaism / Christianity
• Accepted validity ---- to a point
• Acknowledge Hebrew prophets / Jesus as spokesmen
  for God
• Messages were misinterpreted

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(cont.)

• Honored Jesus as major prophet
• Did not accept Divine Jesus
• Jesus only a man / mortal
• Muhammad refused divine honors for himself
• Insistence
• loyalty to Allah superceded all other tribal
  allegiances
• Meant to transcend tribal divisions
• Umma
• Centralized a governing body where none existed
  before

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Five Pillars of Islam

• Profession of Faith There is no God but God and
  Muhammad is the Messenger of God."
• Prayer 5x a day Facing Mecca
• Required to contribute to community charities
  that care for poor (all poor --- not just Muslim)
• Fast during Ramadan
• The Hajj - Pilgrimage to Mecca at least once

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Islam Christianity

• Both claim Hebrew ancestry
• Arabs believed descendants of Ishmael
  Monotheistic
• Reliance upon Creeds to proclaim faith
• Required Daily prayer for church clergy
• Tithing
• Christian fasting during Lent (40 Days)
• Medieval Christians enthusiastic pilgrims
• Many more sites in Christian faith

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Declining Roman Empire

• Justinians projects raised taxes
• Surrounding regions welcomed Islamic Arabs (Syria
  / Egypt)
• Continued upheavals drained resources
• Plagues
• Slavic invaders
• Persians overwhelmed Mediterranean coast
• 614 CE sacked Jerusalem

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Rising Tension in Umma

• Caliph
• Muhammad did not name a successor
• Abu Bakr close friend
• assumed role of caliph
• Close associates of Muhammad assumed position of
  caliph
• Agreement reached for succession (after
  Muhammads generation died out)

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Tension

• Fatima daughter of Muhammad rightful heir
• Ali son-in-law to assume position of Caliph
• Descendant of Muhammads family
• Uthman
• wealthy and connected Umayyad family
• little aptitude for position
• Assassinated
• Fighting broke out in UMMA
• Judges declared that head of Umayyad family
• Muawiya now Caliph

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Muhammad
Fatima
Ali
Umayyad Family
Muawiya
Uthman
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Divisions

• Shiia Party of Ali / Partisans of Ali
• Refused to acknowledge Umayyad Caliph
• Championed rights of those connected with
  Muhammads family
• Centered in Iran
• Sunni Orthodox believers
• Accepted legitimacy of Islams historic dynasties

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Islamic Empire

• Umayyads settled in Damascus, Syria
• More centrally located
• Wars of Conquest
• 698 Carthage
• 711 Indus River Valley / Pakistan
• 714 Spain / probing China
• 717 attacked Constantinople
• 718 France ---- stopped in Pyrenees
• Expansion too fast / unable to control
• Resulted in independent Muslim states
• 750 CE Revolt of Abu al-Abbas

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Areas of the Muslim Empire
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Muslim Control

• Not a restrictive occupier
• Did not force conversion (unlike Christians)
• Tolerant of other faiths
• Non-Muslims paid special taxes
• Allowed conversion of non-Arabs
• 2nd class citizens
• Provided separate Mosques

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Abbasid Dynasty (750-1258)

• Faith above ethnic differences
• Intermarrying
• Adoption of Arab identity
• Ethnic unity through conversion
• Baghdad new Abbasid capital

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Early Abbasid Dynasty800s

• Culturally diverse
• Continual cultural exchanges
• Economic prosperity of region
• Baghdad major trading center
• Strategically located along trade-routes
• Abbasid caliphs more regal than spiritual
• Rampant corruption / greed of wealthy
• Leading to internal divisions / states

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Seljuk Turks

• From Central Asia
• Nomadic people
• Abbasid empire weakening providing opportunity
  for Seljuk Turks
• 11th century occupied eastern province of
  Abbasid empire
• 1055 CE capture Baghdad

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Byzantine Empire

• Seljuk Turks advancing
• Byzantine empire force conflict
• Result in need for western assistance
• Pleas to Papacy
• call on Frankish pilgrims to defend Christendom
• THE CRUSADES
• Turks destroyers of faith / civilization
• Growing resentment of Islamic Turks
• Despite unifying Sunni / Shiite Muslims

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Mongols

• Invaders from northern Asia (13th century)
• Pushing against territorial borders everywhere
• Conquest objective / not settlement
• Eventually settlement / conversion occurs among
  elite Mongol ruling class