The Byzantine Empire (330 – 1453)

Chapter 9 (1 of 3)

Click here for intro video on Byzantine Empire

Rome Empire Spans Across Europe• Roman Empire had west Europe

and east Europe part• Constantinople capital of eastern

part of empire• Even had separate emperor

Mediterranean Sea

North Africa

The eastern part of the now defeated Roman Empire

became Byzantine Empire

Germanic invaders conquered Roman Empire,

but eastern part held off the invaders

Rome Falls, Byzantium Rises

The New Rome?Byzantine Empire took the mantle of the Roman Empire

While Roman culture affected Byzantines, they were influenced more by Greek culture

Example: Replaced Latin with Greek as the main language

Greek language

Latin language

Byzantines Advance Civilization in Eastern Europe

Trade increased

Merchant class lost power b/c

government controlling trade

TradeByzantine Empire

ruled by an emperor

Had huge bureaucracy of well

trained bureaucrats to help him rule (similar to dynasties of China)

Emperor

Byzantines Fended Off Many Invasions

Germanic invaders from western Europe

Sassanian Empire from the Middle East

JustinianBecame emperor

of Byzantine Empire in 533

Many people in empire against his

expansion, and this would cause problems for him

Tried to expand west to regain land and restore Roman

Empire

Wife Theodora urged him to

expand – she later became empress (showed women

could rise to power)

Justinian’s Accomplishments

1) Rebuilt Constantinople with beautiful Roman style domes (it had been destroyed during riots over high taxes)

2) Hagia Sophia – Huge new church built by Justinian, was biggest domed building in world

3) Legal Code – Justinian made a uniform set of laws for the empire (by coordinating existing Roman laws)

Click picture above for tour of the Hagia Sophia

Flavius Belisarius

Great Byzantine general for Justinian

Gained land for Byzantines

in north Africa and

Italy

Justinian’s Military FailureCouldn’t hold land he

conquered

Constant warfare hurt empire at home where it was invaded

Persians got land in Middle East, Slavic groups took land in

Balkans

War expensive, led to extremely high taxes

Balkans

Arab Attacks

Main concern for emperors after Justinian was

defending the empire from invasions

Though they lost land to the Arabs, the Byzantines were able

to hold them off

Arabs had built large navy and were constantly

invading Constantinople

While they held off the Arabs, it was very costly,

and taxes rose

Greek Fire – form of napalm used by

Byzantines to fight off Arab navy

Click image above for more on Greek fire

The Byzantine Yo-YoAfter Arab invasion was stopped,

Byzantines went through alternating times of prosperity

and weakness

Bulgaria - a Slavic kingdom in the north

Balkans that often attacked Byzantine

Empire

Arab pressure continued

Byzantine emperor who defeated Bulgaria

in 1014

He blinded over 15,000 captives

Bulgaria becomes part of Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire Shines

Despite constant invasions, Byzantine

Empire grew large and was pretty successful

For a brief time in the late 900s, Byzantine

emperor was the strongest monarch on

earth

Wonderful popular entertainment in

Constantinople that awed visitors

Constantinople was a beautiful city with

great buildings