Byzantine empire

359 – 1453 C.E.

Constantinople

A New Roman Capital

Constantinople

Political

Constantine: 306-337 C.E.

•313 – Edict of Milan – religious tolerance for Christians •makes Christianity the official religion of Roman Empire•330 - rebuilds Greek city of Byzantium & renames it after himself: Constantinople•359 - Constantinople becomes the new capital of Roman Empire• 395 - Empire splits in two: •Western Roman Empire – Rome•Eastern Roman Empire – Constantinople

•425 - Western Empire invaded by Germanic tribes•476 - Rome falls and last Roman Emperor is dethroned

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Political

Justinian: 527 - 565 C.E.

• reconquers much of Western Roman Empire•N. Africa, Italy, Spain•Sea ports are his focus: wealth & power

• writes code of laws to unify everyone•Empire becomes the largest during Justinian’s reign

Theodora: 527 - 565 C.E.• influential wife of Justinian• women’s rights grow with Theodora’s help•Divorce and property ownership rights

•Funded many social programs•Hospitals, orphanages, schools

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•Byzantine Empire falls in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks

Justinian’s EmpireP

Post JustinianP

Reconquest of Slavic & OttomanP

Pre – 1st CrusadeP

Post – 1st CrusadeP

Just before the fallP

Ideas/Intellectual

Education•Schools for everyone: parochial, private & public•Use of classical Greek & Roman literature•Preserved Greco-Roman ideas – math, science & philosophy

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Cyrillic Alphabet•Cyril & Methodius were Christian missionaries to Slavic peoples in Eastern Europe. •The Slavs had no written language. They created a written language that is the basis for many Eastern European languages.

Cyrillic AlphabetI

Russian wordsI

Hi - PrivetHello – zdravstvujjteGood morning - Dobroe utro Good afternoon - Dobriy den' Good evening - Dobry vecher Nice to see you - Rad tebya videtGood bye - DasvidaniyaBye - PokaExcuse me – IzvinitePlease – pozhalujjstaCan you tell me please - skazhite pozhalujjstaThank you – spasiboDo you speak Russian? - vy govorite po russki ?I don't speak Russian - ja ne govorju po russki

Religious

• Christianity: official religion in 320• Division of Christian Church

•Eastern Roman Empire establishes their own pope called a “Patriarch” in 451 C.E.•Iconoclastic Controversy – 726 C.E.•Great Schism – 1054 C.E. - East & West Church formally split•West: Roman Catholic Church•East: Eastern Orthodox Church

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ISSUE Roman Catholic Eastern Orthodox

Clergy No marriage for priests

Priests are allowed to marry

Icons Allowed Not Allowed

Leadership

Pope was supreme Rejected authority of Pope

Language Latin Greek

Holy Day Christmas (Dec. 25th) Easter (Mar. 22 – April 25th)

Religious

• Crusades•Struggle over control of the Holy Lands

Jerusalem, Antioch, Palestine• Orthodox C. asks for help from RCC to wage war against Muslims controlling the Holy Land• 1st Crusade - successful in reconquering land• 2nd & 3rd Crusade - unsuccessful• 4th Crusade – Catholics plunder Constantinople

•The Crusades were the beginning of the end for Byzantine E.

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Art & Architecture

•Bigger Buildings than Rome• Art is more fancy• Everything is just “richer”

• Bath houses, aqueducts, courts of law, schools, hospitals

• Mosaics - A picture or pattern produced by arranging together small colored pieces of hard material, such as stone, tile, or glass

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Hagia Sophia - “Holy Wisdom”

Hagia Sophia - today

Hagia Sophia – gold plated ceiling

Hagia Sophia – gold plated ceiling

Unification of Empire – religious, political & military

Mosaic - Theodora

Mosiac

Byzantine influence on European Architecture

St. Marks Basilica (Roman Catholic) – Venice, Italy

Byzantine influence on European Architecture

St. Marks Basilica (Roman Catholic) – Venice, Italy

Byzantine influence on Eastern European Architecture

St. Marks Basilica (Roman Catholic) – Venice, Italy

St. Marks Basilica (Roman Catholic) – Venice, Italy

St. Marks Basilica (Roman Catholic) – Venice, Italy

Technology

•Byzantine Empire became rich•Trade with Asia – Silk Road

• Paved roads, walls, aqueducts, domes•Hagia Sophia – 184’ at height of dome

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Economy & Trade

•This rich city needed people to trade with

• As long as Empire was stable things were great• As Empire started to shrink, so did its

wealth• Ottoman Empire became the new controller

of trade routes

• Trade made these dudes rich!• B.E. was the middle man in trade b/t Asia &

Europe, Africa• Silk Road – Everyone wanted it, only one was

selling it•Diseases came from trade•Bubonic Plague•“Justinian’s Plague”

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Economy & TradeE

Social

•This was one cool city!

• Hippodrome – sports center•Horse racing•Chariot racing•Circus acts•Athletic competition

•Language – Greek not Latin•Patriarchal society – male dominated•Women – wore veils, could divorce, own property, have a business, educated, arranged marriages (mid-teens)

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Hippodrome

Decline

•All good things must come to and end.

• Internal Struggles •Rich vs. poor• poor farmers had their land taken by the powerful nobles, who turned them into serfs

•Emperor vs. Nobles• Power Struggles result in civil wars

•External Struggles• Ottoman Turks conquer territory• B.E. does not have large enough army to defend its territory

•Ottomans conquer Constantinople in 1453

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