Heir to the Roman Empire  strong government and military  prosperous economy  center of Hellenistic culture  ruled by an autocrat - sole ruler with complete authority over government, economy, and religion

Constantinople ~ capital  richest city in Europe  center of trade  great location on the shores of the Bosporus Strait  church of Hagia Sophia

Justinian ~ ruled  empire reached its peak under his reign  Code of Laws - summarized all Roman law  Theodora - wife of Justinian  took an active role in politics  worked to protect women’s rights

Decline  struggles over succession, court intrigues, constant wars  4 th Crusade - burned and plundered Constantinople in 1204  Ottoman Turks captured the city and renamed it Istanbul

Russia  ethnic background: Slavs and Vikings  “Apostles to the Slavs” - Greek monks: Cyril and Methodius  converted the Slavs to Christianity around 863  created Cyrillic alphabet to translate Bible into Slavic languages

Kiev  first Russian city  influenced by Byzantine Empire  Russians ordered to abandon Slavic gods for Eastern Orthodox

Mongols  ruled Russia for 240 years ( )  tolerant rulers who demanded heavy tribute  forced Russian princes to acknowledge them as overlords  absolute power of Mongols was a model for Russian rulers  cut Russia off from contact with Western Europe

Rise of Moscow  princes of Moscow defeated the Mongols  Moscow became spiritual capital of Russian Orthodox Church

Ivan III ~ the Great  ruled  founder of modern Russia  took the title of czar  1480 refused to pay tribute to Mongols = final break  limited power of nobles  married niece of Byz. emperor & adopted Byz. court rituals

Ivan IV ~ the Terrible  ruled  introduced laws binding the serfs to the land  established a tradition of “extreme absolute power”  1500s - renewed contact with Western Europe

Eastern Europe  mix of ethnic groups (share common language and culture)  Slavs, Asians, Vikings, Germanics  mix of religion: Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, Islam, and Judaism  during Middle Ages, Eastern Europe was a land of little kingdoms