**Remember: Before the Roman Empire crumbled, Emperor Constantine moved its capital from Rome to Byzantium in A.D. 330. The city of Constantinople In 527, a Byzantine nobleman named Justinian succeeded to the throne of the Empire.

Justinian and Theodora Theodora exercised considerable influence, and though she was never coregent, her superior intelligence and deft handling of political affairs caused many to think that it was she, rather than Justinian, who ruled Byzantium.

Justinian had a quest  he was going to regain all the Roman Empire that was taken over by the invading barbarian tribes. In 533, Justinian sent his best military commander, Belisarius to recover the once Roman territory in North Africa

Belisarius’ attacks in North Africa were a success and Justinian regained control of the territory Two years later, Justinian had another idea and he sent Belisarius and his army to Rome in an attempt to regain that territory as well

Belisarius and his men entered the city and retook Rome form a Barbarian group known as the Ostrogoths But it wasn’t as easy as his previous re-conquering. Justinian and the Ostrogoths fought over Rome for sixteen years.

Rome changed hands over six times, until Justinian’s forces finally stopped the Ostrogoth invasions and took control of Rome. Justinian now ruled almost all the territory that Rome had ever ruled.

The Byzantine Empire Two Empires Combined: old Rome and new Byzantium Lived in parts of the old Roman Empire Took after a lot of the older Roman traditions Spoke Greek instead of Latin The new empire focused and relied more on Christianity

Byzantine Empire in A.D. 550

The Justinian Code Justinian created a group of legal experts to create laws in this new empire. The Group of experts researched through the older Roman laws and chose to use 5,000 laws that were previously used by the Romans. Compiled these new laws into four books

The Code: Contained the 5,000 Roman laws that were used again in the Byzantine Empire. 2) The Digest: Contained opinions of Rome’s greatest philosophers about the law. 3) The Institutes: Were textbooks used by students to understand how the laws worked 4) The Novellae: Contained 534 NEWER laws, approved by the group appointed by Justinian

The Justinian Code decided legal questions that regulated whole areas of the Byzantine life. Marriage, slavery, property, inheritance, women’s rights, and criminal justice Justinian died in A.D. 565, but his code served the Byzantine Empire for 900 years Theodora is remembered as one of the first rulers to recognize the rights of women, passing strict laws to prohibit the traffic in young girls and altering the divorce laws to give greater benefits to women. 

Justinian rebuilt a lot of Constantinople that was damaged by the barbarian invasions. He also built many new buildings in the empire: Baths, aqueducts, courthouses, schools, and hospitals

Justinian placed great importance on preserving the Greco-Roman culture. He required classical teachings in the Byzantine schools: Geometry by Euclid Homer’s philosophy Livy’s and Tacitus’ historical writings

Justinian’s reign ran relatively smooth. He had several riots that were extinguished with little effort Justinian’s first crisis came in the form of disease Constantinople experienced a massive plague in the year A.D. 542 An estimated 10,000 people died daily!

These attacks intensified after Justinian’s death Justinian died in the year 565, and the Byzantine plague lasted until around 700. Like the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire underwent attacks from many different invasions The Slavs, the Persians, and the Turks These attacks intensified after Justinian’s death

The Byzantine nobles tried to stop invasions by many different ways: Bribes, political marriages, military power, and by giving away Byzantine territories

These attempts did NOT work The Byzantine Empire slowly shrank after time The city of Constantinople finally fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453

Byzantine Empire in A.D. 1400

The Church Divides During the times of the Byzantine Empire, Christianity underwent a transformation. It split because of the different cultures that emerged from the Roman Empire’s separation  Lack of communication between the east and the west

The churches in the Byzantine Empire began to focus more and more on writings from religious figures in the East NOT the Roman Empire The Pope was still seen as the head of the Church, but lack of communication made it difficult for him to oversee what was happening in the East  he remained in Rome St. Basil

He did NOT approve the changes in the religion The Pope excommunicated the Byzantine Emperor *Excommunicate: When someone is kicked out of the church. The differences in the church escalated and in 1054, the two churches split in what historian’s call the GREAT SCHISM

The East (Constantinople) made the Orthodox Church their official church The West (Rome) made the Roman Catholic Church their official church