BYZANTINE EMPIRE Capital: CONSTANTINOPLE (Byzantium) Modern Day: ISTANBUL RISE OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE The fall of the

Roman Empire paved the way to a much stronger empire in the east known as the Byzantine Empire. Its name was derived from Constantinoples ancient Greek name Byzantium. Constantinople served as a centre of culture for all people who passed through this city. It became the most famous city during the early Middle Ages. By the time the empire fell in 1453, it had already succeeded in influencing the culture of the Slavic people of Eastern Europe, most especially the Russians, that they even dubbed Moscow, the Third Rome.

TERRITORIAL DOMAIN By the year 500 the Byzantine Empire covered: Greece, Northern Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Cyrenaica. Justinians (527-565) army regained many territories to restore the former Roman Empire and conquered North Africa and the Islands of the Western Mediterranean, Southern Spain and Italy. (By 600s the Germanic Tribes regained these territories) After Justinians death, the barbarians attacked the empire from all sides. (East: Persians; Balakan Peninsula: Avars; Slavs) 600s Muslims threatened the empire. Succeeded in conquering Armenia, Syria, Palestine and much of North Africa. By 650, it had decreased in size and consisted mainly of Asia Minor, the southern Blakan peninsula, parts of Italy and the nearby islands.

STRENGTHS OF THE EMPIRE POLITICAL STRENGTH The government was highly centralized and autocratic and the emperor was very powerful. Emperor supreme military commander, highest judge, only legislator and protector of the Church; chosen by God to rule and the Christian empire was entrusted to him. Autokrator. The Byzantines were also skilful diplomats. They used gifts and bribery when dealing with other people. They keep an excellent intelligence service that keep the emperor informed of foreign developments. It is a practice of the government to provoke one neighbour to attack another neighbour to prevent either one from attacking the empire. Byzantine princesses were often married to foreign leaders to ensure the cooperation of other territories to the empire.

MILITARY STRENGTH The government had an efficient military organization. Military Science was advanced. Regiments were assigned to various districts of the empire where they can keep watch and defended the frontiers. Developed a strong navy. Strong secret weapon Greek Fire. ECONOMIC STRENGTH The east had always been the wealthy portion of the Roman Empire. Its wealth depended on income from agriculture, manufacturing and trade. Goods from all parts of Europe, as far as Sweden; and Asia, as far as China and India, found their way to the markets of Constantinople (border of Asia and Europe; entrance of the Black and Mediterranean Seas) The use of money facilitated trade and payment of taxes and enabled the empire to maintain a standing army and navy. Taxes were also used to pay government officials and to build great public buildings. RELIGION Natural learning centres of the Church were Antioch and Alexandria. Issues that increased the tensions between the West and East: 1. Emperor Leo III the Isaurian outlawed the veneration of icons in the 8th century. This policy, which came to be called Iconoclasm, was rejected by the West with the exception of Emperor Charlemagne, who commissioned the Libri Carolini which affirmed a condemnation of the veneration of icons. 2. The Western Church's insertion of "Filioque"(Latin for "and the Son") into the Latin version of the Nicene Creed without holding a council with or gaining consent from the Eastern Churches. 3. In the East, the patriarch Photius responded to the practice of certain Frankish monks in Jerusalem who attempted to impose the practice of the Filioque on their Eastern brothers. 4. Disputes in the Balkans, Southern Italy, and Sicily over whether Rome or Constantinople had ecclesiastical jurisdiction. 5. In the East, endorsement of Caesaropapism, subordination of the church to the religious claims of the dominant political order, was most fully evident in the Byzantine Empire at the end of the first millennium,while in the West, where the decline of imperial authority left the Church relatively independent,there was growth of the power of the Papacy. Which ended when the Latin churches become dominated by the Frankish kings. 6. As a result of the Muslim conquests of the territories of the patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, only two rival powerful centres of ecclesiastical authority, Constantinople and Rome, remained. 7. Certain liturgical practices in the West that the East believed represented illegitimate innovation: the use of unleavened bread for the Eucharist. 8. Celibacy among Western priests (both monastic and parish), as opposed to the Eastern discipline whereby parish priests can be married men.

EAST AND WEST SCHISM (1054) formally divided medieval Christianity into Eastern (Greek)(Eastern Orthodox Church) and Western (Latin)(Roman Catholic church). Prominent issues: Filioque Use of whether leavened or unleavened bread should be used in Eucharist. Pope's claim to universal jurisdiction. Place of Constantinople in relation to the Pentarchy. Pope Leo IX and Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cerularius heightened the conflict by suppressing Greek and Latin in their respective domains. 1054, Roman legates traveled to Cerularius to deny him the title Ecumenical Patriarch and to insist that he recognize the Church of Rome's claim to be the head and mother of the churches. Cerularius refused. The leader of the Latin contingent, Cardinal Humbert, excommunicated Cerularius, while Cerularius in return excommunicated Cardinal Humbert and other legates. Efforts were made in subsequent centuries by Popes and Patriarchs to heal the rift between the churches. However, a number of factors and historical events worked to widen the separation over time. CULTURE The Byzantine Empire did a great service to world civilization. Although the scholars did not contribute anything new, they preserved classical learning for future generations. While Western Europe was struggling to have a decent life at that time, Constantinople was the center of a magnificent civilization. ART Byzantine art emphasized color and ornamentation. Artists sold tapestries which were embroidered in gold. Enamels framed in gold, carefully carved ivory and jewelry made of bronze and inlaid with silver. Centered primarily on religion. Mural on walls and ceilings of churches. Colored Mosaics in floors, walls and arches. Paintings were presented in formal manner and had an other worldly appearance intended to inspire church-goers on the holiness of the saints.

ARCHITECTURE Religious architecture has been regarded as the greatest contribution of the Byzantine. HAGIA SOPHIA (Holy Wisdom) built by emperor Justinian in 532 and was finished in 537. Its main attraction was its huge dome measuring 50 meters high. Byzantine architects were the first to experiment on putting a dome over a rectangular building. LITERATURE Byzantine literature is the expression of the intellectual life of the Hellenized populace of the Eastern Roman Empire during the Christian Middle Ages. It is a multiform organism, combining Greek and Christian civilization on the common foundation of the Roman political system, set in the intellectual and ethnographic atmosphere of the Near East. Four Different Cultural Elements: Greek, Roman, Christian and Oriental.

CONSTANTINES CITY: CONSTANTINOPLE (Nova Roma Constantinopolitana-New Rome City of Constantine) Situated in the southern end of the Bosporus, jutting out from Europe toward Asia. South: SEA OF MARMORA North: GOLDEN HORN (a long harbour) The Greek city of Byzantium enlarged by Constantine and was formally christened the New Rome in 330AD. This city controlled the waterway connecting the Mediterranean and Black Seas and separating Europe and Asia. PRESERVATION OF CLASSICAL LEARNING When Greek was formally adopted as the official city language during the early part of the Byzantine Empire, it encouraged the preservation of classical learning. Byzantine scholars are mainly concerned with recovering and classifying Hellenic and Hellenistic learning. CODIFICATION OF ROMAN LAW 528, Justinian Code, Corpus Juris Civilis. Justinian formed a committee of scholars to gather and classify the vast, disorganized set of laws that had accumulated under the Roman Empire. The document was divided into four parts: The Codex, a compilation of the laws issued under the Roman Empire. The Digest, covered the writings of republican and imperial juries The Institutes, presented discourses on the principles behind the laws. The Novels, a listing of the laws issued by Justinian. These laws stressed the following principles: 1. The emperor was the source of law. 2. The judge was the emperors representative in interpreting the law and equity is the basic principle of law. By the 12th century, its contents had been slowly adapted by western monarchs. Today, it forms the basis of many European legal system. DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE 1000s Seljuk Turks (Central Asia) succeeded in conquering most of Asia Minor. 1096 1097 First Crusade the Byzantine emperor turned to the West for assistance when Turks prepared to attack Constantinople. The Europeans captured West Asia from the Byzantines. 1204 - Fourth Crusade attacked against the Byzantine Empire instead of coming to its defense. 1207 Constantinople was captured by the Crusaders. After a half century of Western rule, the Byzantines regained their city. It lasted for another two centuries. 1453 Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople.