Byzantium Empire
The Byzantine empire had a large influence on eastern Europe. Byzantine converted many Slavic people to Christianity. Russians adapted some of the byzantine culture such as art, music, and architecture. Also parts of Russia such as Kiev became important commercial centers involved with the byzantine empire. They also spread Cyrillic writing and literature and orthodox missions. The byzantine participated in wars with eastern Europe to expand their territories.
5. Even though the Byzantine Empire fell in 1453 and was in decline for centuries before that, it left a strong legacy behind. What was the most important contribution that Byzantium made to world history? Why is that the most important?
6. The book states that Byzantium was the only classical empire to survive. Why did it survive
when all the others did not?
The eastern part had more commerce, higher population density, more urban centers and centers of learning. Constantinople was at the center of the major crossroads so it could cash in on trade and it was also by its location hard to conquer with the city walls towering over the Bosphorus Strait. This helped in war. They had political, military, and administrative skills. Also, access to technologically advanced weapons helped to resist the Arab empire.
Walls were never breached until 1453 when the Turks came with gunpowder
7. What role did geographic location play in the history of Byzantium? What were its advantages and disadvantages?
Advantage:Its central location offered ready sea & overland access to: Asia, Europe, and Africa
which was easily defendable /Capital of Constantinople was strategically located
revived the Vast network of silk roads for trade
Disadvantage:Prolonged seizes by Islamic rule & eventual conquest by Ottoman Turks in 1453
competition between Orthodox and Catholic forms of religion
Pressure from Sasanids In Persia / Germanic Groups & Frankish Kings ,
THE EARLY BYZANTINE EMPIRE
The Byzantine Empire, sometimes called the Byzantine Commonwealth, existed for nearly one thousand years as the "economic and political powerhouse of the postclassical era." During that millennium, it dominated the wealthy and productive eastern Mediterranean region, led to the formation of large, multicultural zones of trade and communication, and sustained interactions with Slavic, Arab, European, and Asian peoples and traditions. Geographically, Byzantium's location offered ready sea and overland access to Asia, Europe, and Africa which as easily defendable site overlooking the Bosporus Strait including a magnificent harbor which allowed huge trading vessels ease of entry. The capital city, first known by the Greek name "Byzantine," was renamed Constantinople in 340 C.E. by the Roman Emperor Constantine and then renamed Istanbul by the conquering Ottoman Turks in 1453.
The Later Roman Empire & Byzantium (Theme: Political Structures)
The early Byzantine Empire, more accurately called the Eastern Roman Empire, struggled against pressure from the Sassanid Dynasty in Persia and the migratory peoples of the east and north. But, it survived the fall of Rome in the west in 476 C.E. and served as the "powerhouse of the eastern Mediterranean basin" into the thirteenth century.
Two elements of Byzantine tradition seem most responsible for its survival and longevity: the concept of Caesaropapism and the development of an elaborate government bureacracy. Caesaropapism imbued the emperor with absolute secular power as well as immense religious power as he appointed the patriarch of the Eastern Christian Church. The Byzantine government bureaucracy was large and intricate. Further, this bureaucracy was essential in enforcing the complex Byzantine legal tradition.
Justinian & His Legacy (Theme: Political Structures)
Justinian is memorable for three reasons: his wife, his building, and his laws. Theodora, his wife, was his active advisor in politics, diplomacy, and theology. She encouraged the military suppression of rebellion, the rebuilding of Constantinople, the construction of the Church of Hagia Sophia, and the recodification of Roman law to fit the demands of the Byzantine world. Justinian's Code, known as "Corpusiuris civilis" (Body of the Civil Law), served as the source of legal inspiration in the Byzantine empire for nearly one thousand years and influenced civil law codes throughout western Europe as well.
Islamic Conquest & Byzantine Revival (Theme: Patterns of Interaction)
Relations were strained between the Byzantine empire and western Europe. Though both Christian, differences in church language, ecclesiastical practices, and secular ties provoked conflict between these two branches of Christianity. The Byzantine maintained their claim to the remains of the Roman empire in the west despite the rising power of Germanic groups, especially Charlemagne and the Franks. The rise of the Holy Roman Empire after 962 served and antagonized both formerly connected empires.
BYZANTINE ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
The location at a crossroads for trade, the abundant agricultural surpluses, and the tradition of a strong craft and artisan class provided a strong economic base for the Byzantine empire.
Rural Economy & Society (Themes: Economics & Social Structures)
Constantinople was the largest city in Europe for nearly 800 years. First Egypt, then Anatolia and the Danube basin produced enough grain to feed populations in large Byzantine cities. This robust agricultural economy was made possible largely through a large class of free peasants who served as the backbone of the Byzantine army and who also owned and worked their small farms. Though the Byzantine government worked in sixth through tenth centuries to limit landholdings of wealthy families on large estates as a way of protecting small landowners, over time landholding was consolidated into fewer and fewer hands and the former free peasants became an increasingly smaller class within Byzantine society. The decline of the free peasantry reduced the imperial tax coffers and diminished the number of potential soldiers in the themes.
Industry & Trade (Themes: Economics & Trade)
The agricultural productivity of the land and the importance of Constantinople as a trade center guaranteed that the Byzantine empire would remain prosperous despite the worsening plight of the free peasants. Byzantine craftsmen maintained their historic reputation for producing glassware, textiles, gems, jewelry, fine gold and silver metalwork. After the sixth-century Byzantines smuggled silkworms and silkworm technology out of China, the government in Constantinople worked hard to control the production and supplies of silk to European markets.
Byzantium served as the center of trade for western Eurasia working in direct commercial relationships with all of northern Europe, the Black Sea region, Persia, Syria, Egypt, and Palestine. The Byzantine gold coin, the bezant, became the standard currency of the Mediterranean basin for six hundred years. Banks and businesses partnerships developed to encourage trade and make huge profits from the goods which flowed through the empire on their way east and west.
The Byzantine empire revived the silk roads of classical times and served as the western anchor of these Eurasian trading networks. Silks, precious gems and metals, spices, timber, furs, honey, and slaves all passed through the Byzantine empire. The collection of taxes and tariffs from these goods and the value added to raw materials turned into luxury products made the Byzantines very wealthy.
Urban Life (Themes: Social & Gender Structures)
Constantinople was the heart of the Byzantine empire. At the heart of "the City," the opulent imperial palace reflected the empire's wealth. Aristocrats also built elaborate homes for their extended families, servants, and slaves including separate apartments for women who were frequently excluded from festivities and parties in order to preserve their "honor."
Artisans and merchants frequently lived above their shops, while government workers and lower level employees lived in multistoried apartment houses. The poor lived in multifamily tenements. In these classes, women were part of the economic realm of the family.
Like their Roman ancestors, the City provided entertainment for her citizens. Horse races, baths, taverns, restaurants, theaters, circuses, and gaming houses provided entertainment and distractions.
CLASSICAL HERITAGE AND ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY
The philosophy and literature of classical Greece had major influence on Christianity in Byzantium. By the mid-eleventh century, differences in doctrine, ritual, and church authority had led to a formal split between Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Roman Catholic Christianity.
The Legacy of Classical Greece (Themes: Changes & Continuities & Intellectual Developments)
Though the common people of the Byzantine empire spoke Greek, in the earliest centuries of the Byzantine empire of the businesses of government was conducted in Latin. After the sixth century, however, Greek became the official language of government, religion, and education. Most people in the Byzantine empire were literate. The size of the Byzantine government demanded educated workers, so the government sponsored primary schools to teach reading and writing which were essential skills for the imperial bureaucracy. The state also sponsored a school of higher learning in law, medicine, and philosophy. Aristocrats hired their own tutors to provide private instruction for their sons and daughters. Merchants and people of other middle-class occupations almost always had some primary education. Greek classics and the humanities were the basis of Byzantine scholarship.
The Byzantine Church (Theme: Religious Developments)
Caesaropapism defined the relationship between church and state in Byzantium; emperors treated the church as part of their government. They appointed the patriarch of Constantinople and instructed church officials to preach obedience to imperial authority as obedience to God. The use of icons in ceremony and worship had long been a part of religious practice in the Orthodox Church. Emperor Leo III tried to eradicate their use as items of contemplation as he feared the icon itself was being worshipped; he sparked a controversy that plagued the Byzantine church for more than one hundred years. Byzantine theologians sought to reconcile Christian theology and classical Greek philosophy through a series of councils and conferences designed to clarify theological matters. The most famous of these meeting was the Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E.
Monasticism & Popular Piety (Theme: Religious Developments)
Orthodox Christianity has a strong tradition of asceticism and monasticism. The "pillar saints" and the ascetic monks who followed St. Basil sought mystical union with God through meditation and prayer. Some orthodox monks and nuns served God by providing social services such as providing food and medical care in times of crisis.
Tensions between Eastern and Western Christianity (Themes: Religious Developments & Changes & Continuities)
With the spread of Islam in the seventh century, only Constantinople and Rome remained as the principal centers of Christian authority, but the two soon clashed over religious and theologian issues: the use of icons, what type of bread to use during communion, whether priests should marry or even shave, the precise relationship between God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, autonomy of individual regions, and the language of the Mass. The split between the Greek Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church was finalized in 1054 C.E. with the great schism of east and west.
THE INFLUENCE OF BYZANTINE IN EASTERN EUROPE
By the eleventh century, Byzantium was in a period of decline. Surrounded by Islamic and western European societies, Byzantium turned its politician, social, and cultural attention to Russia and eastern Europe where it had an enduring impact on the Slavic peoples of that region.
Domestic Problems & Foreign Pressures (Theme: Patterns of Interaction)
After the eleventh century, the corruption of the theme system through intermarriage of theme administrators with local nobility produced an elite class which mounted rebellions against imperial power, undermined local economies, and reduced the amount of land available to the free peasants. The results were fewer recruits available for military service and lower tax revenues for the imperial government.
Coupled with domestic problems, the rise of western powers like the Normans threatened the Byzantine empire. The fourth crusade and the near destruction of Constantinople in 1204 permanently weakened the empire. The eleventh century also saw invasion from the east by the Saljuks who captured most of Anatolia; the rest of that region came to be held by the western European crusaders. Loss of the agricultural and human wealth in Anatolia dealt a blow to the Byzantines. When Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the thousand-year-old Byzantine empire ended.
Early Relations between Byzantium and Slavic Peoples (Theme: Patterns of Interaction)
Orthodox Christianity and the ensuing development of the Cyrillic alphabet helped to promote and sustain relations between Byzantium and the Slavic peoples of eastern Europe: Serbs, Croats, Bulgarians, and Moravians.
Byzantium and Russia (Theme: Patterns of Interaction)
The city of Kiev, located on the trade route linking Scandinavia and Byzantium, emerged as a thriving city in the ninth century. In 989, Prince Vladimir of Kiev and his subjects converted to Orthodox Christianity and opened the doors for Byzantine influence throughout his realm. The Russian Orthodox Church was created by the Kievian princes who sought to cement their own caesaropapist positions. The Cyrillic alphabet and ensuing literacy as well as icons and "onion domes" reflect this cultural tie. Moscow is sometimes called the third Rome.