1. The Byzantine Empire
The new rome

2. Byzantium: The New Rome
Setting the Stage
Due to Germanic Invasions, the Western Roman Empire had collapsed
For nearly 1,000 years after the collapse of the Western Empire, Byzantium in the east would continue to thrive and build upon its Roman foundations

3. Byzantium

4. Byzantium: The New Rome
Why was Byzantium called The New Rome?
Simple: it was Roman
Byzantium had Roman emperors, architecture, culture, and Christianity
Byzantine emperors ruled with absolute power- head of church as well
There were differences such as they spoke Greek instead of Latin

5. Byzantium: The New Rome
Why was Byzantium wealthier? - LOCATION
Byzantium was located in the middle of several trade routes on the Bosphorus Strait that allowed it to prosper - crossroads of Asia and Europe, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea
Weren’t prone to the Germanic attacks like the Western Empire

6. Caesaropapism Power centralized in figure of Emperor Political rule
Involved in Religious rule as well
Authority absolute

7. Emperor Justinian (525-565 C.E.)
Justinian was one of the most influential emperors
His Wife, Theodora
Active advisor in politics, diplomacy, and theocracy – definitely a must-know in terms of gender history
Hagia Sophia – one of the most important examples of Christian architecture in the world
Corpus luris Civilis (Justinian’s Code)
Most important contribution codification of Roman Law; (basis for civil law codes that developed throughout much of western Europe)
Growth of the Empire
Major military campaigns to win back lost lands of the Roman Empire

8. Emperor Justinian: Hagia Sophia
Uses army to contain tax riots, ambitious construction program
The church of Hagia Sophia – held as the most splendid Church in the Christian world

9. Hagia Sophia

11. Byzantine Empire Government
After Justinian…loss of land
Bulgars – Turkic people from central Asia took over much of the Balkans
Germanic Tribes – Reoccupied much of Italy
Arabs – Threat to Constantinople itself – able to hold them off

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

13. Theocracy No separation of Church/State
Religious leaders = government department
Emperor appoints a Patriarch (head of church in the Byzantine Empire)
Emperor makes final decisions in the church
How would the Pope view this?

14. Byzantine Monasticism (329-379 CE)
Patriarch of Constantinople reforms monasteries
Communal living
Hierarchical structure
Center for prayer and work (not center for scholarship)
Provided aid to ppl in times of disaster
Mt. Athos
No women, female animals allowed
Missionaries
Sent missionaries abroad in hopes of
Converting non-believers (mostly Bulgars and
Others in central Europe)
Most famous was Cyril – created his own
Alphabet which would become the basis for Slavic
languages

15. Tensions with the West
Argued over: Use of icons (iconoclasm), what bread to use at communion, should priests marry, precise relationship of the holy trinity
Iconoclasts – Leo III banned the use of icons and ordered them to be covered or destroyed. Created riots.
The Pope and other monks supported the use of icons.
In the Byzantine Empire, the emperor appoints the Patriarch as head of the church
Differences in Church Language (vernacular vs. Latin)
Schism of East and West, 1054 c.e.

16. Great Schism of 1054 The West: Roman Catholic
The East: Orthodox Church
Services in Latin
The Pope has authority over all bishops
Priests can not marry
Services in Greek or vernacular (local language)
Patriarch and other bishops head the church as a group
Priests can marry

17. Byzantine Economy and Society
Constantinople largest city in Europe, 5th-13th c.
Byzantine coin, Byzant, is the standard currency for the Mediterranean for 600 years
Silk weaving was regulated by the government (Western hub of silk road)
Agriculture - Large grain production, large backbone of free peasants for army and owned and worked small farms
peasant (coercive) labor – tied to the land
Theme system – exchange of military service for freedom
Land quotas – government limited how much land a person could own
What do these two regulations attempt to do?

18. Concentration of Wealth
Land became concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people
Landowners became more powerful – and able to resist tax collection more easily
Free Peasant Revolts
“free” in that they paid rent to the land they worked.
Revolts often occurred when landowners tired to force free peasants into peasant status to increase their income or land holdings.

19. Urban Life ‘The City’ Multi-faceted economy, classes and housing
Aristocrats – palaces
Artisans – apartments
Working class- communal housing
Women had separate apartments, excluded from festivals and
parties to preserve ‘their honor’
Urban Development
Trade=Wealth
Imperial Palace
Public baths
Restaurants/taverns
Hippodrome - stadium

21. Arts Arts Emphasis on religion Literature – seeking salvation
Books/Songs – lives of religious figures
Artists – icons, mosaics, illuminated manuscripts

22. Greek Legacy - Education
Byzantines spoke Greek, but conducted their business of government in Latin
After the 6th century, Greek becomes the dominant language
A very highly literate culture, many were involved in government bureaucracy, government sponsored primary schools in addition to higher learning
Run by Orthodox Church
University of Constantinople – government jobs or copying Classical European texts
Greek Classics and Humanities were the basis of scholarship

23. Rising Problems in the Byzantine Empire
Generals of themes become allied with local aristocrats
Intermarry, create class of elite
Occasional rebellions vs. Imperial Rule
Numbers of small landowners will gradually decrease over the course of the empire’s history, as wealthy landowners gradually bought and disenfranchised the peasants. Have we seen this before?????????????
Expenses of defense
Unwillingness of the wealthy to pay taxes

24. Byzantine Commonwealth during the Postclassical Era; What does its changes reflect?

28. 1400 c.e. Byzantium

29. 1 3 2 4

30. 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

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

32. Kievan Rus Slavic peoples – hunter foragers City-states Christianity
VIKINGS!
Vikings=Rus=Russia
City-states
Tribute to the Grand Prince of Kiev
Boyars
Christianity
Vladimir I converts to Eastern Orthodoxy upon marriage (and so do his subjects – well the rich ones anyway)
Byzantine advisers, priests, teachers, churches, monasteries come to Russia (Rome Byzantine Russia)
Golden Age
Christianity, Education, Legal System (Russkaya Pravda)

33. Kievan Rus
Slave Trade
Trade with Baghdad (Abbasids) – honey, hides, fur, slaves*
*WHAT KIND OF SLAVERY? HOW WAS THIS SIMILAR TO OTHER FORMS OF COERCIVE LABOR?
Decline
Too connected to a weakening Byzantine (nomads : )
MONGOLS, MONGOLS, MONGOLS!! – Khanate of the Golden Horde
Novgorod