The Byzantines

Background Information A.D. 395: the Roman Empire was divided ◦ The Eastern half was known as the Byzantine Empire Reached its height in the A.D. 500s Greeks made up the majority of the population Constantinople was the capital city Cultural diffusion of Roman and Hellenistic culture along with Persian culture. From A.D , the Byzantine civilization was one of the most advanced in the world ◦ Had a higher standard of living than the western world did

Justinian Ruler during the height of the Byzantine Empire Theodora, his wife, was intelligent, beautiful, and ambitious ◦ Wanted to improve the social standing of women ◦ During a revolt, she convinced Justinian to stay in Constantinople. He ruled there unchallenged until he died. Justinian wanted to restore the Roman Empire ◦ Began a reconquest; extended the empire west ◦ Most of the reacquired lands were lost within a generation of Justinian’s rule

The Byzantine Empire during Justinian’s Reign

The Emperors and Church Strongly linked to the church: ◦ Appointed church officials ◦ Defined the style of worship ◦ Used church wealth for government purposes. Most Byzantines were interested in church/religious matters The church began to send missionaries out to foreign lands and est. monastaries.

Icons/Iconoclasts Icons – religious images used during worship Iconoclasts – objected to the use of icons ◦ Argued that the Bible prohibited the use of images according to the 10 Commandments.

The Decline and Fall Had constantly faced outside attacks from primarily Germanic tribes Justinian died A.D. 565 Slavs attacked Constantinople in 626 Arabs began to come to power in the region during the 630s The Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantines at the battle of Manzikert (1071) The Ottoman Turks invaded in the 1300s reducing the Byzantine Empire to part of Greece and Constantinople