1. The Byzantine Empire

2. Eastern Roman Empire Capital moved to Constantinople by Constantine
Called selves Romans—but spoke Greek
Closer contact to the east—Persia
Able to hold off barbarians
Roman law and bureaucracy survived

3. Justinian Attempted to recover the West Building projects—Hagia Sophia
Revised codification of Roman law

4. Stable Borders (sorta)
Survived Arab (Umayyad and Abbasid) advances (but lost some in the Eastern Mediterranean)
Survived Bulgarian threat, but constant Slavic pressures
Even survive the Mongols

5. Politics and Military Kinda, sorta, comparable to China
Emperor ordained by God
Emperor head of church and state
Elaborate court ritual
Women occasionally on the throne
Large bureaucracy, trained in traditional mores (Hellenistic and Confucian)
Well organized military
Troops given land for service (brings in Slavs, Armenians…)
Officer corps eventually becomes hereditary, acquire regional power

6. Economy and Society Centered on Constantinople
Regulated trade and food prices (note about Justinian!)
Low food prices satisfy urban class
Trade extended from Scandinavia to Russia, Western Europe to Africa, the Middle East to the Far East (i.e. the known world)
Peasants supply grain and tax revenues
Extremely large merchant class had no political power.
Culture based on Hellenistic secular traditions and Orthodox Christianity
No innovations in literature, but architecture and art flourish.
Learned silk production from china to add a luxury export.
Domed buildings, colored mosaics, painted icons.

7. The Great Schism Latin bible in the west; Greek in the east.
Spawns different rituals
Conflict between the pope’s religious power and the emperor’s political power
1054 C.E. formal break over bread and celibacy of priests.
Sometimes what seem like little differences matter big time. Think about all they had in common.

8. Decline
Muslim Turks seize most Asian territory—important source of grain and taxes
Lose Battle of Manzikert to Slavs in 1071.
Independent Slavic states pop up all over.
Venetian Crusaders come to “help” but sack Constantinople instead.
Conquered in 1453 by Ottomans.

9. Influence on Eastern Europe
Conquest, Commerce, Christianity
St. Cyril and Methodius—Cyrillic—writing for the Slavic language.
Orthodox church allowed use of local languages in Church service
Competition with Catholic missionaries in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland.

10. East Central Regional Monarchies
Poland, Bohemia, Lithuania
Powerful land-owning aristocracies.
Like the rest of Eastern Europe, lots of Jews
Fled persecution from the West and Middle East
Usually barred from agriculture, so involved in commerce—See the origins of a stereotype?
Maintain own, separate traditions
Emphasize education for males.

11. Kievian Rus Slavic peoples from Asia
Mixed with locals, brought iron and agricultural practice to Ukraine and western Russia
Politically centered in family tribes and villages
Animistic religion
Highly developed musical taste and oral legends

12. The Rus Rise
Scandinavian traders introduce them to trade with Constantinople
Kievan monarchy under Rurik emerges as a growing power c. 855 C.E. (and until… wait for it… the Mongols)
Vladimir I ( ) converts to Orthodox Christianity.
Formal law code (influence of Byzantines?)
Largest single European state at the time

13. Rusian/Russian Culture
Adopt much but not all of Byzantine patterns
Yes to strong ruler, religion, architecture, and ceremony
No to central bureaucracy and education system
Different from West
Not catholic
Most peasants were free farmers; boyars less political power

14. Kievan Decline Rival princes vie for succession
Asian invaders seize territory
Trade with weaker Byzantines declines then collapses
Mongols!
Orthodoxy preserved, but much else wrecked.
Reemergence after decline of Romans.
Question: How did Russians come to call Russia the Third Rome?

15. The End of the World (as we know it)
Mongols and Turks
Russia falls
Constantinople, Near East, North Africa, the Balkans
Thus Eastern Europe will develop separately from the West.