Byzantine Empire and Orthodox Christianity

Europe During Post- Classical Period  Following fall of Roman Empire, 2 Christian societies emerged in Europe  Western Europe: Roman Catholicism  Eastern Europe: Orthodox Christianity

Map of Byzantine Empire

Origins of the Byzantine Empire  324: Rome established an eastern capital at Constantinople (formerly Byzantium)  Attempt to keep empire from collapsing  Roman Empire eventually split into eastern and western halves  East began to thrive, west experienced decline

Rome Falls  476: Roman Empire falls  Eastern half of empire continues on  Became known as the Byzantine Empire  527: Justinian came to power  Dreamed of reuniting the old Roman Empire  failed

Emperor Justinian  Byzantine Empire flourished under Justinian’s rule  Art, architecture, construction projects  Hagia Sophia- church with world’s largest dome (at the time)  Engineering marvel  Created standardized system of law codes (Justinian Law Code)  Maintain stability, unity, consistency

Mosaic of Emperor Justinian ge:Meister_von_San_Vitale_in _Ravenna_004.jpg

Byzantine Society  Emperor was ordained by God to be head of Church and state  Patriarchal rule, but some women were able to hold throne temporarily  In early days, women enjoyed some freedom, but became more restricted as time passed  Practiced veiling and confinement of women  Muslims later adopt these practices

Religion in Byzantine Empire  Initially, the Byzantines were under the authority of the Pope  Over time, conflict arose between the Pope in Rome and the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople  Began to develop differences in religious practices  1054: Great Schism  Official split in Church  Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox  Byzantines were Orthodox Christian

Art and Architecture  Strong Hellenistic Influence  Greek culture was incorporated into Byzantine life  Greek most common language  Domed buildings (adopted from Rome)  Mosaics: use of small, colored pieces of glass, tile, stone to create an image  Icon Painting: paintings of religious figures  Often used rich colors such as blue and gold to signify the purity and brilliance of heaven

Mosaic of Christ from Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia

Decline of Byzantine Empire  Long decline  Muslim Invasions  Turkish Troops seized territory in Asia  Slavic peoples rebelled and created independent kingdoms in Balkan Peninsula  Crusaders  1453: Turkish Sultan and his army attacked Constantinople and seized the city  Established the Ottoman Empire under Muslim control

Kievan Rus

Legacy of the Byzantine Empire  Byzantine Empire behind a cultural legacy in Eastern Europe  Missionaries sent to Eastern Europe  Cyrillic Alphabet  Still used by many cultures of Eastern Europe

Russia  6 th -7 th Centuries: ppl. From Scandinavia navigated the rivers of Russia on their way to trade with the Byzantine Empire  Established cities along major rivers  Trade was major measure of wealth  Kiev- most important city

Kievan Rus  Kiev maintained close ties to the Byzantine Empire  Adopted many cultural practices from the Byzantines  Use of Cyrillic alphabet (created by Byzantine Missionaries)  988: Vladimir I converted to Christianity  Most Russians were polytheistic before this conversion  Model art & architecture after those of Byzantine Empire

Government in Kievan Rus  Series of independent, rival kingdoms  Local, decentralized rule  Most people lived on communes, very little private ownership of land  Created strong sense of community  Kiev most powerful city  Close tie between church and state after the conversion to Orthodox Christianity

Kievan Rus  Religion became the center of life for people of Kievan Rus  Scientific thought was overshadowed by the teachings of religious leaders  Art was centered around religious figures

Decline of Kievan Rus  Over time, Kievan Rus went into decline  Rivalry among various kingdoms  Decline of Byzantine Empire affected the Russians  1240: Kiev and Russia fell under Mongol rule  Russia forced to take orders from and pay tribute to the Mongol rulers (known as the Golden Horde)  Mongols maintained rule until mid-1400’s  MORE ON MONGOLS IN CHAPTER 12

Ivan the Great  Under the rule of Ivan III, Moscow began campaign to end Mongol rule in Russia  Quit paying tributes in mid-1400’s  Conquests in Russia to unite major cities under Muscovite rule  Mongol rule over by end of 1400’s  More on Russia in next unit!