Chapter 9Section 3

The Byzantine Empire

I. The Rise of the ByzantinesA. The Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire reached a high point in the A.D. 500’s and stretched west to Italy, south to Egypt, and east to the border of Arabia.

Many groups of people made up the empire, including: Egyptians, Syrians, Arabs, Armenians, Jews, Persians, Slavs, Turks, and the largest group, Greeks

Why is Constantinople Important?Constantinople became the capital of the Byzantine Empire and by the A.D. 500’s, it had become one of the world’s greatest cities.

B. Constantinople’s location was one reason for its success.

C. It lay on the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea and sat at the crossroads of trade routes between Europe and Asia.

D. Constantinople was also easily defended, being protected on three sides by water and a huge wall guarding the fourth side.

Answer in complete sentences

• What was the general cause for the success of Constantinople? What is one reason why?

Influence of Greek CultureE. At first, the Byzantine Empire followed Roman ways and was known as the “New Rome.”

• As time passed, the Byzantine Empire became less Roman and more Greek.

• The ideas of non-Greek peoples, like the Egyptians and Slavs, also shaped the Byzantine Empire.

F. Between A.D. 500 and A.D. 1200, the Byzantines had one of the world’s richest and most advanced empires.

Answer in complete sentences

• What did Byzantine become known as?

II. Emperor JustinianG. Justinian (juh*stih*nee*uhn) became emperor of the Byzantine Empire in A.D. 527 and ruled until A.D. 565.

• Justinian was a strong leader who made laws, controlled the military, and was supreme judge.

H. Justinian’s wife, the empress Theodora (thee*uh*dohr*uh), helped Justinian run the empire and convinced him to give women more rights.

Answer in Complete Sentences

• Who is Justinian’s wife? What is she best remembered for?

Justinian’s ConquestsI. Justinian wanted to reunite the Roman Empire and bring back the glory of Rome.

• To accomplish this, he would have to conquer western Europe and northern Africa.

J. He ordered a general named Belisarius (beh*luh*sar*ee*uhs) to reorganize and strengthen the Byzantine army.

K. Belisarius reorganized the army making primarily cavalry, soldiers mounted on horses.

L. During Justinian’s reign, the Byzantine military conquered most of Italy, northern Africa, and the Persians in the east.

M. However, after Justinian’s death, the empire did not have enough money to maintain an army large enough to hold the territory to the west.

Justinian’s Law CodeN. Justinian decided that the empire’s laws were disorganized and too difficult to understand.

O. He ordered a group of legal scholars headed by Tribonian (truh*boh*nee*uhn) to reform the law code.

P. This new simplified code was now more easily understood and became known as Justinian Code.

Q. The Justinian Code has had a great influence on the laws of almost every country in Europe.

Study Questions• What type of landmass is Constantinople?• These are a set of laws created during the

Byzantine empire. • What did the Byzantine Empire become known as?• What general was ordered by Justintian to reorder

the army? • One of the legal scholars who helped create the

Justinian Codes. • What caused the Justinian empire to stumble after

his death?

Bell Ringer

• Nine Weeks ends next Friday. • Only a few grades left. Some are missing

things and I will let you know what then keep post it on my desk.

• Come to me to complete these assignments when you are ready to take them otherwise it is a zero.

III. Byzantine CivilizationA. The Byzantine Empire lasted approximately 1,000 years.

• Constantinople was the largest and richest city in Europe for much of that time.

B. They preserved and passed on Greek culture and Roman law to other peoples.

C. They gave the world new methods in the arts and spread Christianity to the people in Eastern Europe.

The Importance of TradeD. From the A.D. 500’s to the A.D. 1100’s, the Byzantine Empire was the center of trade between Europe and Asia.• spices gems, metals , cloth from China for fur honey, and slaves. E. This enormous trade made the Byzantine Empire very rich.

F. Most people in the empire were farmers, herders, laborers, and artisans.

G. One of the major Byzantine industries was weaving silk.

• Byzantine travelers smuggled silkworm eggs out of China and weavers would used silk threads to make the silk cloth

Byzantine Art and Architecture• Justinian and other Byzantine emperors supported artists and

architects.

H. Constantinople was known for its hundreds of churches and palaces.

I. One of Justinian’s greatest achievements was building the huge church called Hagia Sophia (hah*jee*uh soh*fee*uh), or “Holy Wisdom.”

J. Inside Hagia Sophia were walls of beautiful mosaics, pictures made from many bits of colored glass or stone.

Byzantine Women• The family was the center of social life for most Byzantines.

• Byzantine women were expected to stay home and take care of their families.

K. However, thanks to Empress Theodora, some Byzantine women became well educated and involved in politics.

L. Several royal women served as regents.

A regent is a person who stands in for a ruler who is too young or too ill to govern.

Byzantine EducationM. Learning was highly respected in Byzantine culture and the government supported the training of scholars and government officials.

N. In schools, boys studied religion, medicine, law, arithmetic, grammar, and other subjects.

O. Most Byzantine authors wrote about religion and stressed the need to obey God and save one’s soul.

• Most importantly they also copied and passed on the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Study Questions• The huge church known as one of the greatest

achievements of the Justinian empire. • What helped make the Byzantine empire so rich and

powerful? • The name for a person who fills in for a ruler who is

either too young or too ill to rule. • About how long did the Byzantine empire last? • One of the most popular industries of the Byzantine

empire.