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• City of Byzantium, rebuilt

• Capital of Byzantine Empire

(Eastern Roman Empire)

• Excellent geography

– easily protected

– good harbor

– trade crossroads

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Bosporus Strait

Byzantium = Constantinople = Istanbul

Hellespont = Dardanelles

• Byzantine emperor

from 527-565

• Wanted to revive the

glory of Rome

• Conquered former

Roman territories

(from Germanic tribes)

• Held absolute power

over church & state!

• Body of civil laws & reference guide

• Huge influence on European law

• 4 parts:– Code: 5,000 Roman laws still useful

– Codification of Laws: collected, revised, &

organized all of Rome’s laws

– Digest: Summaries from Rome’s greatest

thinkers on law

– Institute: textbook for law students

• Novellae (New Law): legislations

made after 534 C.E.

• Wife of Emperor Justinian

• Raised in poverty and

became an actress

• Most powerful woman in

Byzantine history

• Met with foreign envoys

& leaders, passed laws

• Protected women’s rights

• Heavily fortified the

capitol Constantinople

• Public Works

– Aqueducts, Baths, Courts,

Schools, Hospitals

• The Hagia Sophia: with

its onion dome, most

splendid church in all

of the Christian world.

Differences emerged in the Christian

Church regarding:

• the church leader

• Location

• Language

• lifestyle of priests

• The use of icons

The Great Schism – permanent

split – occurred in 1054

• Eastern Orthodox Church

• Roman Catholic Church

• Religious images used by

Christians for devotion

• Thought to connect

believer to image in the

icon

• The Pope supported

icons but in the east idol

worship was banned

Christianity

Roman Catholic

Roman Catholic

Protestant

Eastern Orthodox

The Split

occurred in 1054

Split occurred in

the 16th century

• A gradual downfall began around 600 and would

last the next 600 years

• Barbarian invasions from the North

• Arab Muslim invasions from the South

• The Crusades to retake the Holy Lands

• Constantinople was first

sacked during the 4th

Crusade in 1204

• The Ottoman Empire, led by

21-year-old Sultan Mehmed

II siege the city in 1453

• After 7 weeks, the Ottomans

finally take the city

• City is renamed Istanbul

and changes culturally to a

Muslim/Arab city

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• Greek & Roman

traditions preserved

– Greek language

– libraries

– Justinian’s Code

• Scholars fleeing the

city help start the

Renaissance in Italy

St. Basil’s

Cathedral is

located in

Moscow, Russia.

It is a Russian

Orthodox

cathedral.

Mehmed II’s next conflict was with Vlad the

Impaler (Dracula) who refused to pay tribute

to the Ottomans. Vlad had the Turkish envoys

turbans nailed to their heads for refusing to

raise their “hats” to him.

Vlad’s brother, however, allied with the

Ottomans and helped defeat him in 1462.

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