The Byzantine Empire

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The Byzantine Empire
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• The ancient Greeks had built a colony named
  Byzantium overlooking the BOSPORUS the narrow
  strait that connects the Aegean Sea with the
  Black Sea.
• 330 C.E. the Roman emperor Constantine dedicated
  the city New Rome eventually called
  Constantinople Constantines City.

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• Constantine

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• After the western part of the Roman Empire fell
  to the Germanic tribes in 476 C.E. the emperors
  in the east continued to claim control over the
  lost empire.
• The eastern emperor JUSTINIAN reclaimed much of
  the land around the Mediterranean
• Justinian used his general BELISARIUS to make his
  gains in north Africa and Italy
• Justinian was a powerful emperor who was aided by
  his wife THEODORA

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• Justinian
• mosaic

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• Theodora

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• Justinian codified the laws of the empire into
  the JUSTINIAN CODE the corpus juris civilis
• In the Middle Ages Justinians Code was
  rediscovered and used as the basis for western
  law

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Pressure Against Byzantium by Arabs and Slavs

• In the 7th century the Byzantines reclaimed
  land lost to the Persians and forced reconversion
  to Christianity
• Arab Muslims developed navies to challenge
  Byzantine control of the eastern Mediterranean
  the Byzantines used GREEK FIRE for battle the
  Arab fleets.
• Increased military offenses dramatically
  increased the tax burden of the peasantry.

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Slavs

• Indo-European language group that originated near
  the Black Sea and migrated north and west often
  occupying lands abandoned by Germanic tribes
  fleeing the Huns.

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• By the 630s the BULGAR Slavs moved into the
  Balkans and established their own kingdom or
  KHANATE
• In the 10th century the leader of the Bulgars
  took the title TSAR Slavic term for Caesar
• The Bulgarians and the Byzantines were in
  conflict for control of the Balkans.

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Basil II Bilgaroktonos Bulgarian slayer

• 1014 the Byzantine emperor Basil II fought the
  Bulgars and captured 15,000 men. 14,850
  Bulgarian prisoners were blinded and 150 were
  left with one eye to guide the blinded prisoners
  home.
• Bulgaria was added to the Byzantine Empire

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Powerful Byzantine Women Rulers

• Justinians wife Theodora was the namesake of
  Empress Theodora who ruled with her sister Zoe.
• The Byzantine court ruled through a massive and
  complex bureaucracy BYZANTINE (adjective)
  meaning complex in structure.

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Byzantine Culture

• The Byzantine Empire successfully used the best
  of both worlds as it sat between the European
  and Roman west and the Islamic, Indian, and
  Chinese east.
• Economics linked the Byzantine Empire with
  Eurasia even trade routes north into modern
  Russia and Scandinavia

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The Orthodox Church

• Justinian and other emperors used Christianity as
  a weapon to stop invasions from Germanic peoples.
  The east was often attacked by the Slavs,
  Croats, Bulgars and Serbs
• The early church was ruled by the leaders of the
  churches in Rome (pope) and Constantinople,
  Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem (patriarchs).
  They were the PENTARCHY
• By the 600s, Arab Muslims had conquered much of
  the Middle East leaving only the pope in Rome
  and the patriarch of Constantinople to exert real
  power over the Christian world.

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• The church in the east became known as the
  ORTHODOX church
• ICONOCLAST MOVEMENT a debate among Christians
  developed in the 700s over whether icons
  constituted worship of idols. Eventually, icons
  were approved but the word iconoclast remained
  meaning the shattering of traditions

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• Icon of Christ

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• St. Sofia
• Hagia Sophia

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Orthodox Saints Cyril and Methodius

• These Byzantine missionaries traveled among the
  Slavs attempting to convert them to Christianity.
• Cyril developed an alphabet for the Slavs. It is
  known today as the CYRILLIC ALPHABET and is used
  in Russia and other nations.

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• St. Cyril
• St. Methodius

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• Over time, the church in Rome and the church in
  Constantinople grew apart. In 1054 the GREAT
  SCHISM officially separated the Orthodox Church
  from the Roman Catholic Church.
• The Byzantine Empire lasted until 1473 but
  they were years battling the Muslims and northern
  invaders.

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The Rus

• The Rus were northern people who moved through
  conquest from the Baltic Sea along the Dnieper
  River. RURIK of Denmark began prince of the
  Kievian Rus in 855 C.E.
• Their capital was the city of KIEV (capital of
  Ukraine today). They were traders and
  conquerors. Loosely linked settlements along
  trade routes from Scandinavia to the Byzantine
  Empire.
• The name RUS eventually produced the name of the
  area - RUSSIA

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• The Rus organized the Slavic peoples of
  southeastern Europe into a confederation under
  the direction of the Rus
• The Kievan Russia was in conflict with the
  Byzantine Empire until both groups realized
  that cooperation was best for both. The Rus and
  Byzantines traded with each other and sometimes
  joined forces to defeat common enemies.

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• In the 900s, Vladimir I of the Russians converted
  to Orthodox Christianity (all because of
  alcohol?) linking Russia to the Byzantine
  Empire. Kievian Russia established landed
  aristocrats - BOYARS
• Russian influence grew under the reign of
  Yaroslav the Wise in the early 1000s. He married
  his children into the royal families of Europe.
  Russian and Byzantine art flourished under his
  PATRONAGE.

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• Yaroslav

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• Internal weakness and weaken trade left the
  Kievan Russians vulnerable when the MONGOLS
  attacked destroying Kiev by 1240 C.E. TARTARS
  Russian term for the Mongols (using a Turkish
  word that c.d. for you!)
• Eastern Europe was under pressure from the
  Mongols and the Muslim Arabs.
• What will happen????? Well, we are still dealing
  with the problems of this period to this very day.