Byzantine Empire

The Byzantines

• Constantine– Constantinople– Christianity

• Justinian– Empress Theodora– Justinian’s Code

• Schism• Fall of Constantinople

• Geography often plays an important role in history—especially when it comes to government and society.

• Constantinople was the fortress capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, which later became the Byzantine Empire.

• For hundreds of years, many enemies tried to capture the city, but all of them found this to be very difficult.

• Ottoman Turks finally captured it in 1453 CE and renamed it Istanbul.

Constantinople

Constantinople became a crossroads for religion, trade, and government.

Where was Constantinople?(Istanbul today)

Why might this location have been important?

Why would this city be difficult to conquer?

A Highway Bridge across the Bosporus

Making Connections (aka “The Batman and Robin Method”)

A writing strategy starring your very own

Fact and Fact Commentary

“Batman”• Fact• Directly related to the topic of the body paragraph• Bridges from the topic sentence and/or previous

commentary• For Example:– Constantinople was built at a major crossroads of land

and sea trade routes, called the Bosporus Strait.

“Robin”• Fact Commentary• Provides detail about the fact by making a

connection to something else we studied this year• For Example:– Constantine established Constantinople as the new

capital of Rome after Diocletian divided the Roman Empire in half about 100 years earlier (Source: Ancient Rome Notes, Unit 6).

– Trade Routes…(Source: Muslim Merchants PowerPoint, Unit 8).

– Christianity…(Source: Christianity Prezi, Unit 7).

– Silk Road…(Source: India and China Prezi, Unit 3).

Batman and Robin• Constantinople was built at a major crossroads of

land and sea trade routes, called the Bosporus Strait. Constantine established Constantinople as the new capital of Rome after Diocletian divided the Roman Empire in half about 100 years earlier (Source: Ancient Rome Notes, Unit 6).