The empire in the West collapsed• Due to invasion

The empire in the East was stable • It considered itself

the “Roman Empire” with a new name “Byzantine Empire”

• Byzantium was an old name for Constantinople

For a couple of reasons:• By the 5th century, the

bulk of population and wealth fell in the Eastern part, so they were better prepared to face hard times

The invasions eventually divided East from West

Justinian came to power in 527

Dreamed of uniting the empire as well as the church under his rule

He was able to make his dream come true

Last strong Emperor Kept out barbarians But the reunion did not

last long, it was almost immediately destroyed after Justinian’s death

They were co-rulers

It was uncommon for women to rule

He was faced with a challenge: the heresy of Monophysitism

The council of Chalcedon in 451 had dealt directly with the question of Christ’s human and divine natures, but its decision that Christ is both fully human and fully divine was not accepted everywhere.

Justinian stood firmly on the side of Chalcedon

Theodora was a supporter of the monophysites (supporters of Monophysitism)

The church was divided Justinian was never able to re-unite

the church

Hagia Sophia

In the year 1453 the Turks conquered Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul

They converted Hagia Sophia into a mosque• A symbol of Christian faith

changed into a symbol of the conqueror’s power

• It remained a mosque for five centuries

Today it remains as a museum

All Decorations were destroyed when Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque