Byzantine Empire

How did the Byzantine Empire preserve the spirit of Rome?

Do Now How can a leader establish an effective succession plan?

Who gets to lead? Why is that the case?How do you enforce the plan? How do you ensure that the government continues to function?

The New Rome Diocletian resigned in 305

C.E and the empire became chaotic as many tried to claim the title of emperor

The eventual winner was Constantine who reunited the entire empire under his sole rule by 324.

Who was Constantine? Constantine was born in 272 AD to Helena and Constantius

Chlorus who was Caesar and then eventually Augustus of the western half of the Roman Empire.

When Constantius Chlorus died, Constantine tried to take his place - this went against the system of succession established by the Tetrarchy of Diocletian.

Constantine engaged in civil wars against his rivals from 306 to 325 AD, was successful in battle, and became the sole ruler of the Roman Empire.

Ends the Persecution of Christians

- Constantine won a key battle against Maxentius in 312 AD

- Constantine had a dream or vision and ordered his soldiers paint the labarum (a symbol for Christ) on their shields

- He believed that the Christian God had helped him achieve victory and legalized Christianity with the Edict of Milan in 313 AD

This ended the persecution of Christians in the empire

Constantinople Constantine moved the capital from

Rome to Constantinople in 324 AD - it was an ancient Greek city on the Bosporus Strait between the Black and the Mediterranean Seas

The new location had several key advantages

- the city was closer to the geographic center of the empire

- the city was surrounded almost entirely by water making it easy to defend

- the city was an excellent harbor creating trade opportunities!

Other Reforms Constantine undermined many of Diocletian’s policies -

especially when he legalized Christianity and dismantled of the Tetrarchy

- Constantine continued some of Diocletian’s policies- expanded the bureaucracy, created a mobile field army, and made sure to balance the power of the military and government officials

- Constantine reformed and stabilized the Roman currency, making the gold solidus the standard unit.

Question Why do you believe that Constantine was so accepting of Christianity?

Constantine and the Church - Donated the imperial property to the bishop of Rome,

where the Constantinian Basilica was constructed- Sponsored many new churches, promoted Christians

to high offices in the government, and gave special rights to the clergy

- Invited all the bishops of the Church to meet in 325 AD the Council of Nicaea and deemed that Arianism was seen as heretical

Question How should Constantine ensure that his empire continues its success after his death?

Succession Plan?- Constantine divided his empire among his three sons

and a nephew and based it on Diocletian’s Tetrarchy - How is this ironic?

- It is speculated that he thought the plan would work because it kept power in the same family.

- After his death civil war erupted once again and most of his family died in the conflict (though the Constantinian Dynasty would rule the empire until 363 AD)

Do Now: Why do empires typically fail? Please list at least 5 reasons and rank them in order of importance.

Theodosius - Constantine died in 337 CE and

family members battle each other for the title of emperor

- Theodosius is the last emperor to rule the entire empire under his sole rule

- Eventually Theodosius divided the empire into two parts west and east

Germanic Tribes •Western Empire was unable to hold off German tribes on its borders•German tribes wanted warmer area, Roman riches, and to flee the Huns

Attila the Hun 376 to 476 AD - a large number of Germanic tribes poured

into Rome to get away from the fierce HunsAttila the Hun was a powerful chieftain who swept through

the west and ruled over the Hun Empire Attila negotiated with Pope Leo I and withdrew from Rome

- he died in 453 and was no longer a threatThe Germanic tribes and other barbarians continued to

invade and finally the west was no longer Rome

Visigoths - Rome agreed to allow the Visigoths to live inside of Roman

boundaries but were treated badly by Roman provincial governors

- Visigoths rebelled and defeated the Romans during the Battle of Adrianople in 378 CE (historians mark this as the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire)

- Visigoth leader, Alaric, captured Rome in 410 CE but died shortly thereafter

Vandals - Sack of Rome 455 AD - Vandals followed Visigoths and

spent several days stripping Rome of valuables (vandalism) during the Sack of Rome during 455 AD

- Finally, a German general named Odovacar defeated the western emperor Romulus Augustulus (who was only about 16 years old at the time)

Rome Ends!- When Augustulus was defeated in 476 CE this date is

given as the official fall of the Western Roman Empire - Western Empire was divided into many kingdoms that

adopted many of the customs of Rome

- The Eastern Roman Empire continued to prosper for 1,000 more years and became known as the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire was named after the Greek city-state Byzantium where Constantinople was founded

The empire was originally the eastern half of the classical Roman empire- which survived the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century C.E.

In the early days, the Byzantine Empire included Greece, the Balkan region, Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Northern Africa.

Justinian - Justinian (527-565) makes it

his mission to reunify the empire once again

- Under his authority armies were sent out to regain control of lost territories

- He successfully regains some of the areas lost in prior wars against the barbarians

Byzantine Empire During the Reign of Justinian

Justinian’s Empire

Christianity - Christianity practiced in Byzantium was called Eastern Orthodox and

was led by the the Patriarch of Constantinople - The emperor had tremendous control over church affairs in the Eastern

Empire - emperors even appointed the patriarch of Constantinople - The emperors would use this power to their advantage to control

certain decisions made by Church officials

Although Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic are both Christian they often argued and had battles with each other because the pope, the spiritual leader in Rome and the Catholics in the West, and the patriarch of Constantinople did not always agree.

Law Codes - Justinian wanted to develop a consistent law code to

create order throughout the empire - Addressed marriage, parents, slaves and freedmen,

guardianships, adoptions, etc.- The laws and the punishments were harsh (similar to

Hammurabi’s code “an eye for an eye…..”) - For example anyone who was caught gambling in any

way had a “minor” penalty of both of their hands cut off.