1. Byzantium

2. The Early Byzantine Empire
Great location
Constantinople=capital in 340 C.E. (kept name until controlled by Ottoman Turks in 1453 C.E. when it was renamed Istanbul)
Named Byzantium after Byzantion, fishing village
Eastern half of classical Roman Empire that remained intact after the fall in 476.

4. Tightly centralized rule under a highly exalted and absolute emperor
Caesaropapism=emperor not only over secular affairs but also religious affairs

5. Justinian 527-565 “the sleepless emperor” wife Theodora
built Hagia Sophia
codified Roman law
reconquered some of the western Roman empire for a time

8. Constantinople “the City” Imperial palace, palaces of aristocrats
Women often were not at parties
Apartments, tenements
Baths, taverns, restaurants, theatres, stadiums, chariot races

9. Classical Heritage Local inhabitants spoke Greek
Scholars didn’t learn to read Latin, read New Testament and Greek philosophy
Private tutors for the rich, others had state school system that taught Greek philosophy and literature

10. Basic literacy was widespread
School of higher learning in Constantinople
Focused on humanities
Saw themselves as direct heirs of classical Greece

11. Orthodox Christianity
Constantinople and Rome were the centers of Christian authority
They did not see eye to eye on all issues including iconoclasm, shaving of beards, the marriage of clergy, jurisdiction of the papacy of Rome, etc.

12. In 1054, the patriarch and the pope excommunicated each other
This schism created two churches, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic.

13. The end Constantinople was captured by Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Renamed Istanbul
Became a great center of Muslim culture.