The Byzantine Empire

• 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 – “Constantine’s City.”

• Constantine

• 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

• Justinian

• mosaic

• Theodora

• Justinian codified the laws of the empire into the JUSTINIAN CODE the corpus juris civilis

• In the Middle Ages – Justinian’s Code was rediscovered and used as the basis for western law

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.

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.

• 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.

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

Powerful Byzantine Women Rulers

• Justinian’s 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.

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

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.

• 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

• Icon of Christ

• St. Sofia

• Hagia Sophia

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.

• St. Cyril

• St. Methodius

• 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.

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

• 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.

• 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.

• Yaroslav

• 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.