The Byzantine EmpireBY:

MARCELLA KINGMAN

BREEYONNA WILLIAMS

ZAKARIYE HASSAN

Slavery In The Empire

The empire had a system of slavery and slave markets

Slavery wasn't based on race, their were black and white slaves

Slavery wasn't permanant, a slave can buy his freedom by fighting battles or serving a high-class citizen for many years

Slaves built buildings like the Bazilla cistern that took over 7,000 slaves to build Slaves working for their masters

Rise And Fall

The Byzantine empire rose when the west part of the Roman empire fell and the east continued as the Byzantine empire

They had conqured Italy, the Southeastern coast of Spain, much of Northern Africa, and Rome

The empire fell when struggles for power happened and crusaders attacked.

The crusaders conqured the empire

The Byzantine empire was surrounded by water so they could escape and have a better chance of not being conqured Picture of where Byzantine empire

stood

Government

The Byzantine empire had emperors for rulers and a bureaucrat government where state officials made decisions

The imperial court was the heart of the empire and represented the Byzantine empire

They used Justinian's code, a revision of the Roman law, and the later codex of 534 which had 12 books and 4652 laws

Image of the Byzantine Imperial court

Economy

The bulk of the economy was trade since Constantiople was a main trading city and because they had close access to water pathways

The economy also affected the social classes for the poor and the entrepreneurs since both classes were directly affected by money

Image of Byzantine trade routes

Contributions

The Byzantines left us with many buildngs to admire such as the Hagia Sophia. Because of their location on the coast, the empire kind of was a sheild for Europe during that time

The Byzantines helped preserve Roman objects and culture

The Byzantines left us witn lots of art and architecture that helps us learn about their lifes style and religion

They also helped spread and preserve Christian religion

Map of Byzantine empire

Golden Age

The empire had 3 golden ages

All were centered around art and architecture

The first golden age lasted from 527-726, during that golden age the Hagia Sophia was built

The first golden age declined because church officials thought that the artwork would inspire people into a Greek or Roman polyheistic religion

The next golden age lasted from 843-1204, the capitol Constinople was very rich so the Byzantines could afford great art

The golden age ended in 1204 when Venetian crusaders captured the capitol, the were driven out in 1261 begining a new golden age where things were rebuilt. This golden age ended with the civilizations decline in 1453

The Hagia Sophia created in the first

golden age

Writing

The Byzantines used the Greek language and alphabet

It developed since their current alphabet had too many consants

Their alphabet was transformed into Latin and then to English which explains how we can understand their language today

This is the Greek alphabet which was used by the Byzantines

Art and Architeture To show their devotion to God, the

Byzantines built elaborate works of art

Some of their finest works of art included mosaics, some had gold, silver, or jewels embeddded in them

They pained frescos, water based paints on freshly applied plaster, the result is the colors are permanlty attached to the floors, walls, roof, etc.

On the outside churches were richly deorated

From their art we can learn that religion is VERY important to the Byzantines

A fresco from a Byzantine church

Religion/Belifs

The Byzantine were faithful Christians, religion was the center of their life

They were monotheistic, only beliving in God

The eastern king had both political and religious power

The Western king only had political power

The split between the east and the west beame official in the 1000's

The priests in the east could get married while the priests in the west couldn't

This is a Byzantine church

Technology

One innovation that they made was the fire/flamethrowers, which was used as a weapon in wars and battles

The Byzantines did have a calander which was used by the Orthodox church in the empire

Their irragation system involved switching around farmland

The Byzantines did build a dome (which was very challenging) even though the original idea wasn't theirs

The buildings were usally two stories and box shaped

The roads were based off the Romans, they used either marble or regular stone

The Hagia Sophia dome

Sources

Cooper, Kennth S. "Byzantine Empire." The New Book Of Knowledge. Grolier Online, 2014 Web. 28 Apr. 2014

Martell Bahn, Hazel Paul M. "The Kingfisher Book of The Ancient World" New York, Kingfisher Publication 1995 Print

Salter, Christopher L. "Eastern World Africa, Asia, and Australia" Austin, Texas, Holt, 2008, Print

Cooper, Kenneth S. "Byzantine Empire" The New Book Of Knowledge, Grolier Online, 2014 Web, April 24, 2014, go.grolier.com

Jenkins, Romilly, JH. "Byzantine Empire" Encyclopedia Americana, Grolier Online, 2014 Web, April 28, 2014, go.grolier.com

Rowland, Benjamin, Jr. "Byzantine Art and Architecture" The New Book of Knowledge, Grolier Online, 2014 Web April 28, 2014, go.grolier.com

Nees, Lawrence "Byzantine Art and Architecture" Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, go.grolier.com