1. The Commonwealth of Byzantium
Chapter 13
The Commonwealth of Byzantium

2. Empire At Beginning and End of Justinian’s Reign
Compare this Map with Map 11.2 showing the Roman empire at its height. How did the territories of the Byzantine empire differ from those of the classical Roman Empire

3. The Early Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire had great geographic location
Defensible Peninsula
Magnificent harbor known as Golden Horn
Trade routes linked Byzantium to ports throughout the Mediterranean basin.
Because of its strategic value the Roman emperor Constantine designated Byzantine an imperial capital
Renamed it after himself (Constantinople)
Built in this location for its wealth and to keep a close watch on the Sasanid empire in Persia
The city kept its name Constantinople until it fell to the Ottoman Turks, renamed it Istanbul

4. The Later Roman Empire and Byzantium
Byzantine Empire inherits Roman Empire after fall of western Rome in 5th c. CE
Much of Eastern Rome remained intact: complete roads and functioning imperial institutions
Principal Challenges that confronted the early Byzantine empire:
Consolidation of the Sasanid Empire in Persia
Germanic invasions
5th century = imperial authorities built massive walls to shield Constantinople

6. Caesaropapism
Once the Empire was protected Constantine built a centralized rule w/concentrated power.
Constantine set a precedent by being a secular ruler.
Claimed himself Christian protector and even baptized himself (aura of divinity)
Could not claim divine status by intervening in all religious disputes
Authority absolute
After the 6th century Roman law stated emperors stood above the law: political, military, financial, religious, etc

7. Constanople under Emperor Constantine

8. Etiquette reinforces authority of Emperor
Royal purple
Prostration
Mechanical devices designed to inspire awe

10. Justinian (527-565 CE) The “sleepless emperor”
Wife Theodora as advisor
Background: circus performer & strip tease
Uses army to contain tax riots, ambitious construction program
Hagia Sophia
Law Code definitive for centuries
Justinian law; “Body of Civil Law”

11. Justinian’s Empire at its Height

12. The Hagia Sophia

13. Church of Hagia Sophia [Holy Wisdom]

14. Interior of the Church of Hagia Sophia

15. Byzantine Conquests
General Belisarius recaptures much of western Roman Empire under Justinian
Unable to consolidate control of territories due to lack of resources
Ravenna- Capital city in Western Mediterranean
Withdrew to defend empire from Sasanids, Slavs

17. The Byzantine Empire and its neighbors 527-554 C.E.

18. Islamic Conquests and Byzantine Revival
7th century Arab Muslim expansion
Besieged Byzantium ,
Defense made possible through use of “Greek fire”

19. Imperial Organization
Themes (provinces) under control of generals
Military administration
Control from central imperial government
Soldiers from peasant class, rewarded with land grants

20. Tensions with Western Europe
Church
Christian Church of Constantinople conducted its affairs in Greek and bowed to the emperor
Christian Church of Rome conducted its affairs in Latin and rejected involvement of emperors
Conflicts over hierarchical control began
Imperial authorities watched Germanic peoples establish successor states w/support by the Pope
Roman pope crowns Charlemagne in 800, a challenge to Byzantine authority
What did Otto of Saxony do?

21. Byzantine Economy and Society
Constantinople largest city in Europe, 5th-13th c.
Population about 1 million; large sources of grain
Dependent on small landholders, free peasants
Ability to produce abundant agricultural surpluses
Earlier large landholdings destroyed by invasions in 6th-7th centuries
Theme system rewards soldiers with land grants

22. Decline of the Free Peasantry
Large landholdings on the increase; these individuals supervised the peasantry as a dependent class.
Sharecropping supervised by lords
Rarely did peasants gain enough wealth for independence
Reduces tax revenues, recruits to military
6th 8th 10th authorities limited accumulation of land by wealthy classes

23. Manufacturing and Trade
Despite of social and economic problems, Byzantium remained a wealthy land
Constantinople was a center of trade
Trade routes bring key technologies, e.g. silk industry
Advantage of location causes crafts and industry to expand after 6th century
Tax revenues from silk route
Silk production very important; government supervised
Monopolies prevented- only one activity practiced
Banking services develop

24. Urban Life Heart of the city; imperial palace
Pg. 329 Sources from the Past
Aristocrats: palaces; artisans: apartments; working poor: communal living spaces
Hippodrome
Chariot races, “greens vs. blues”
Politically inspired rioting

25. “Whether or not a woman should give an example of courage to men, is neither here nor there.. At a moment of desperate danger, one must do what one can…If flight were the only means of safety, still I would not flee. Those who have worn the corwn should never survive its loss…Emperor, if you wish to flee, well and good, you have the money, the ships are ready, the sea is clear. But I shall stay. I accept the ancient proverb; Royal purple is the best burial sheet.” - Theodora, AD 532

26. Hippodrome

27. Orthodox Christianity
Legacy of Classical Greece
Greek replaces Latin after 6th c. CE; language of New Testament
Byzantine education sponsors development of large literate class for state bureaucracy
Training in classical canon

28. The Byzantine Church Church and state closely aligned
Council of Nicea (325) condemns Arian movement as heresy
Human/divine nature of Jesus
Constantine favors Arians, but supports Nicean condemnation
Byzantine Emperors appoint Patriarchs
Caesaropapism creates dissent in church

29. Iconoclasm Emperor Leo III (r. 717-741 CE)
Destruction of icons after 726
Popular protest, rioting
Policy abandoned 843

30. Greek Philosophy and Byzantine Theology
Attempt to reconcile Greek philosophy with Judeo-Christianity
Constantine establishes school to apply philosophical methods to religious questions

31. Ascetism Hermit-like existence Celibacy Fasting Prayer
St. Simeon Stylite
Lived atop pillar for years

32. Byzantine Monasticism and St. Basil (329-379 CE)
Patriarch of Constantinople reforms monasteries
Communal living
Hierarchical structure
Mt. Athos
No women, female animals allowed

33. Mt. Athos: Currently a World Heritage Site, is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox Monasteries

34. Tensions between Eastern and Western Christianity
Ritual disputes
Beards on clergy
Leavened bread for Mass
Theological disputes
Iconoclasm
Nature of the Trinity

35. Schism Arguments over hierarchy, jurisdiction
Autonomy of Patriarchs, or Primacy of Rome?
1054 Patriarch of Constantinople and Pope of Rome excommunicate each other
East: Orthodox Church
West: Roman Catholic

36. Social Problems in the Byzantine Empire
Generals of themes become allied with local aristocrats
Intermarry, create class of elite
Occasional rebellions vs. Imperial Rule

37. Challenges from the West
Western European economic development
Normans from Scandinavia press on Byzantine territories
Crusades of 12th-13th centuries rampage through Byzantine territory
Constantinople sacked, 1204

38. Challenges from the East
Muslim Saljuqs invade Anatolia
Threatens grain supply
Defeat Byzantine army in 1071 battle of Manzikert, creates civil conflict
Period of steady decline until Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople in 1453
Renamed Istanbul

39. The Byzantine empire and its neighbors about 1100 C.E.

41. Influence on Slavic Cultures
Relations from 6th c. CE
Bulgaria influenced culturally, politically
Saints Cyril and Methodius
Create Cyrillic alphabet
Slavic lands develop orientation to Byzantium

42. Kievan Rus’ Conversion of Prince Vladimir, 989
Byzantine culture influences development of Slavic cultures
Distinctively Slavic Orthodox church develops
Eventual heir to Byzantium

43. St. Basil’s Cathedral and Spasskaya Tower of Kremlin, Red Square, Moscow