Byzantine Empire

By: Gabriel Dattilo, Miguel Rodriguez, Jenna Zilic

Survival of Eastern Empire

Survival of the Eastern Empire

• The origins of the Byzantine Empire traces back all the way to 330 A.D, and

fell in 1453

• The Eastern Empires had a tradition of art, literature, learning and serving as

a military buffer

• The eastern half of Rome prove to be less vulnerable to external attacks

thanks to the Constantinople being located on a strait

Survival of the Eastern Empire (cont.)

• The Byzantine Empire was ruled by Roman law and Roman political institutions,

and its official language was Latin

• Students were educated on Greek history, literature and culture and for religion, the

council of Chalcedon in 451 established the division into five patriarchates each

ruled by a patriarch, also the head of both church and state

During the rule of the Palaiologan emperors, the economy of the Byzantine Empire

crippled, the Byzantine empire had no more military and no more support and

eventually died out

Justinian Code

Justinian Code

• Justinian's code is a collection of laws and interpretations of the law written in mid-early 500

B.C.E, by the current Byzantine leader of that time, Justinian.

• The purpose was to bring a state of unity among the empire after the western empire had

collapsed.

• Justinian consulted with administrative representatives and appointed counsel members to revise

and examine Justinian code.

• It consisted of four parts; the Digest (533 BCE) , the Code (534 BCE), the Institutes (535 BCE),

and the Novella (556 BCE).

• Each section collected, summarized and outlined the laws of the Roman empire.

• "The Codex Justinianus was the first book to be completed and is the foundation for the Justinian

Code" (Holohan, April 17 2015)

Justinian Code (cont.)

• The Codex was first written in 529 BCE, though the final revised edition was not until 534 BCE.

• Justinian's code influenced other developing societies' political arrangement such as; Western continental Europe, Latin America, and parts of Africa. The work is considered a remarkable contribution to the empire and one of Justinian's most memorable accomplishment.

• The code gave some countries a foundation for their political system.

• Justinian consulted with administrative representatives and appointed counsel members to revise and examine Justinian code.

Reconquest much of

the west

Reconquest of the West: Justinian's victories

Rome, Africa, and the East were separated for hundreds of years

on both political and cultural fronts. Naturally being different they

were broken into the Western Empire and the Byzantine

Empire(Eastern Empire).The Western Empire experienced many

Germanic invasions preceding its fall in 476 CE. Justinian I wasn’t

the Emperor of the West, no, he was the ruler of the East and he

wanted bring Rome back to one large empire again.(8)

Justinian the first from the Byzantine Empire (East

Empire) tried to take back the eastern lost land such

as Italy Illyria Sicily, Carthage Corsica, Sardinia,

northern Libya, and the Balearic Islands.(5)

Justinian launched an attack, trying

to bring Rome whole again ,against

the Vandals in 533C.E. Due to his

successfulness

Justinian reconquered Africa in

534CE.(4)

In 535 Justinian 1 felt lucky enough after

taking Africa to take Italy and Sicily. In

535 he took Sicily and in 540 after many

wins and losses he took Italy.(4)

Reconquest of the west: Justinian's

hardships

Italy was a struggle to hold

due to the new Gothic leader

Totila who rose to power in

541C.E., but his general,

Narses, defeated Totila in

553C, even without the help

of Justinian's supplies, and

Italy became Roman influence

again.(4)

Justinian 1 had to deal with

a split empire and the

Justinian 1 plague in

542CE.(4)

Painting of the Justinian plague

found in Constantinople.

Reconquest of the west: the hardships

continued

Justinian also faced trouble holding onto

Palestine. In 529 Julius ben Sabar started a

revolt against the empire for Sumaritans. In

532 Constantinople the people faced "civil-

discontent" due to the Nika riots which

lasted a week left thousands of people dead.

In 559CE another Sumaritan revolt began

holding much more influence didn't stop

until Justinian's death.(4)

Soapstone method

The Twelve Tables

Primary source

• From http://www.archive.org/stream/thetwelvetables14783gut/14783.txt, a

translation, and notes on the Twelve Tables

S.O.A.P.S. Tone

Speaker: Two commissions each of 10 men (Decemviri), who wrote the laws of the Plebians. The

Patricians were bias towards men, for there was a lack of confidence between woman social status or

female political jobs. This was because of the lack of education and constraints society put upon

women of ancient Rome.

Occasion: 455 and 450B.C.E. The Plebians later revised and added an additional two tables to the

original.

Audience: The audience are for judicial and political members, students being educated on Roman

laws, Justinian Code, and/or Twelve Tablets. Specifically Republic political systems, for that is how

Rome government was set up. The translation reads "he", "man", "his, ect., displaying the audience

of that time were specifically to the men of society, which not coincidentally, were the political

representatives in the government.

S.O.A.P.S. Tone (Cont.)

Purpose: Purpose is to inform future political members and generations , for of

how the document was organized. A monotoned and factual document.

Subject: Roman Laws which can be seen by how debts were proposed and paid in

law section number three.

Tone: Serious based on the numerous accounts of the term killing, burning, or

murder as well as the word slaves and debt appear in the laws .

References

• Full text of "The Twelve Tables". (2005, January 24). Retrieved from http://www.archive.org/stream/thetwelvetables14783gut/14783.txt

• Holohan, T., & Kite, D. (2015, April 17). The Justinian Code and Its Influence - Global Connections. Retrieved from http://globalconnections.champlain.edu/2015/04/17/the-justinian-code-and-its-influence/

• Kreis, S. (2009, August 3). The Laws of the Twelve Tables, c.450 B.C. Retrieved from http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/12tables.html

• PBS. (n.d.). The Roman Empire: in the First Century. The Roman Empire. Social Order. Women | PBS. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/women.html

• Spodek, H. (2006). The world's history: Volume 3. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

• University of California at Berkely. (n.d.). Roman Legal Tradition and the Compilation of Justinian. Retrieved from https://www.law.berkeley.edu/library/robbins/RomanLegalTradition.html

• Wyeth, W. (2012, September 8). Justinian I - Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.ancient.eu/Justinian_IH