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The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire . Remember…. Diocletian divided the Empire in half…why? Diocletian controlled the East and it was FAR more wealthy than the west

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The Byzantine Empire

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  1. The Byzantine Empire

  2. Remember… • Diocletian divided the Empire in half…why? • Diocletian controlled the East and it was FAR more wealthy than the west • Constantine will be ruler next and he will reunite the empire. His greatest downfall was when he moved the capital of the empire to Byzantium…which he later renames Constantinople…subtle.

  3. The Eastern Empire • As Western Europe gave in to the Germanic invasions, power shifted to the Byzantine Empire (the eastern part of the Roman Empire).

  4. Constantinople • Constantinople became the sole capital of the empire and remained so until the successful revival of the western empire in the 8th century by Charlemagne. • The city is named after the emperor Constantine • Constantine announced the end to all persecution of Christians

  5. The Reign of Justinian • The height of the first period of Byzantine history (324-632) was the reign of Emperor Justinian (r. 537-565) and his wife Empress Theodora (d. 548)

  6. First things first… • Justinian’s objectives as a ruler: • Justinian wanted to regain Rome’s fading glory by expanding it’s territories • And he set out to take on the task of reforming the Roman Law • Laws came first

  7. How did he do it • Justinian appointed a friend to lead a committee to go through all the laws, put them in order, and get rid of those that were unnecessary or didn’t make sense One GodOne EmpireOne Religion

  8. New Law • The panel created a single uniform code known as Justinian Code. • This became the official law of the empire. • The code consisted of four works • The code served the Empire for 900 years

  9. 1. Code • The Code contained nearly 5,000 Roman laws that were still considered useful for the Byzantine Empire

  10. 4. Novellae • The Novellae (New Laws) presented legislation passed after 534

  11. New Religion • Religion as well as law served imperial centralization. In 380, Christianity had been proclaimed the official religion of the eastern empire. Now all other religions were considered “demented and insane.”

  12. Increase in Church Wealth • Church building was the emperor’s greatest passion. • Justinian viewed churches as the most visible sign of the close connection between church and state in his empire.

  13. Hagia Sophia • The crowning glory of his reign was Hagia Sophia which means “Holy Wisdom” in Greek • It was one of the largest building in Europe for 6 Centuries

  14. New Strong Cities • During Justinian’s reign, the empire’s strength was its more than 1,500 cities. The largest with 350,000 inhabitants, was Constantinople, the cultural crossroads of Asian and European civilizations.

  15. Empress Theodora • The most powerful women in Byzantine history • As empress she met with foreign envoys, wrote to foreign leaders, passed laws, and built churches. • Through her influence, laws were made protecting women and granting them legal rights

  16. Efforts to preserve the West • Families valued education- specifically classical learning • Latin • Philosophy • Geometry (Euclid) • History (Herodotus) • Literature (Homer) • They helped to preserve many of the great works of Greece and Rome

  17. "Not since the world was made was there . . . so much wealth as was found in Constantinople. For the Greeks say that two-thirds of the wealth of this world is in Constantinople and the other third scattered throughout the world." • --Robert of Clari, a French crusader who witnessed the pillage of the city in 1204, describing Constantinople.

  18. The Empire at Its Height The empire was at its height In 565, during Justinian’s reign. It included most of the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.

  19. Justinian’s Death • After Justinian’s death in 565, the empire suffered countless setbacks. • There were street riots, religious quarrels, palace intrigues, and foreign dangers. • Each time the empire moved to the edge of collapse, it found some way to revive- only to face another crisis.

  20. What do you remember? Write the significance of the following on your paper: • Constantinople • Justinian • Justinian’s Code • Hagia Sophia • Empress Theodora

  21. Decline in the 7th Century: No Land • In the seventh century the empire lost Syria, the Holy Land, Egypt, and North Africa to invading Islamic armies.

  22. No money…. • The emperor’s constant wars and his immense building program bankrupted the treasury. • There was little money left to squeeze out of the taxpayers of the empire.

  23. Remember when…. • Constantine ended the persecution of the Christians (they were being persecuted because they believed in one God, not all the Roman gods). • In the Edict of Milan, he declared Christianity to be one of the religions approved by the emperor.

  24. The Great Divide • During the Byzantine Empire Christianity underwent a dramatic development • It had begun to develop differently in the Eastern and Western halves of the Roman Empire. • Due largely to the distance and lack of contact between the two regions.

  25. East Side • Eastern Christianity built its heritage on the works of early Church fathers. • In 730, Emperor Leo III banned the use of icons, religious images used by Eastern Christians to aid their devotions. • The emperor viewed the use of icons as idol worship

  26. West Side • In the west, the Pope became involved in the eastern dispute and supported the use of icons • One Pope even ordered the excommunication of a Byzantine emperor (he declared the emperor to be an outcast from the Church)

  27. The Great Schism • The great split in Christianity. The western church became the Roman Catholic Church, and the eastern church became the Eastern Orthodox Church.

  28. The Iconoclastic Controversy • TheIconoclastic Controversy,a movement that denied the holiness of religious images, devastated much of the empirefor over a hundred years. • During the eighth and early ninth centuries the use of such images was prohibited, but icons were restored by 843.

  29. Recovery of Territory • The Byzantines called upon the European states to push back the Muslim conquerors. The European states complied, successfully pushed back the Seljuks, returned territory to the Byzantines, and carved out kingdoms of their own in Syria and Palestine.

  30. The Fall of Constantinople • in 1204, the Crusaders attacked, conquered, and pillaged the city of Constantinople, a goal that the Muslims had been trying achieve for centuries

  31. Conquered by the Ottoman Turks • In 1453, the city was finally and permanently conquered by the Ottoman Turks and renamed Istanbul. Byzantine culture, law, and administration came to its final end.

  32. Contribution to Western Civilization • Throughout the early Middle Ages, the Byzantine Empire remained a protective barrier between western Europe and hostile Persian, Arab, and Turkish armies. • The Byzantines were also a major conduit of classical learning and science into the West down to the Renaissance. While western Europeans were fumbling to create a culture of their own, the cities of the Byzantine Empire provided them a model of a civilized society.

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