The Byzantine Empire (450 CE)

One God, One Empire, One Religion

Remember…

The Eastern Empire

As Western Europe

succumbed (gave in) to

the Germanic invasions,

imperial power shifted to

the Byzantine Empire

(the eastern part of the

Roman Empire).

ConstantinopleConstantinople became

the sole capitol of the

empire and remained so

until the successful revival

of the western empire in

the 8th century by

Charlemagne.

The city is named after the

Emperor Constantine

Constantine announced

the end to all persecution

of Christians

The Reign of Justinian

The height of the first period of Byzantine history (324-632) was the

reign of Emperor Justinian (r. 537-565) and his wife Empress

Theodora (d. 548)

First things first…

Justinian’s objectives as a ruler:

– Justinian wanted to regain Rome’s fading glory by

expanding it’s territories

• And he set out to take on the task of reforming the

Roman Law

• Laws came first

How did he do it

Justinian appointed

a jurist friend to

lead a committee to

go through all the

laws, put them in

order, and get rid of

those that were

contradictory.

One GodOne Empire

One Religion

New Law

The panel created a single uniform code known as Justinian Code.

This became the official law of the empire.

The code consisted of four works

Justinian’s Code

The Code contained nearly 5,000

Roman laws that were still considered

useful for the Byzantine Empire

Hagia Sophia

The crowning glory

of his reign

“Holy Wisdom” in

Greek

It was one of the

largest building in

Europe for 6

Centuries

Efforts to preserve the West

Families valued education- specifically classical learning– Latin

– Philosophy

– Geometry (Euclid)

– History (Herodotus)

– Literature (Homer)

They helped to preserve many of the great works of Greece and Rome

Empress Theodora

The most powerful women in Byzantine history

As empress she met with foreign envoys, wrote to foreign leaders, passed laws, and built churches.

After she died, Justinian was so depressed that he passed no major laws for the rest of his reign.

The Empire at Its Height

The empire was at its height In 565, during Justinian’s reign. It

included most of the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.

The Great Divide

During the Byzantine Empire Christianity

underwent a dramatic development

It had begun to develop differently in the Eastern

and Western halves of the Roman Empire.

Due largely to the distance and lack of contact

between the two regions.

East Side

Eastern Christianity built its heritage on the

works of early Church fathers.

In 730, Emperor Leo III banned the use of

icons, religious images used by Eastern

Christians to aid their devotions.

The emperor viewed the use of icons as idol

worship

West Side

In the west, the Pope became involved in the

eastern dispute and supported the use of

icons

One Pope even ordered the excommunication of

a Byzantine emperor (he declared the emperor

to be an outcast from the Church)

The Great Schism

The great split in Christianity. The western

church became the Roman Catholic Church,

and the eastern church became the Eastern

Orthodox Church.

Recovery of Territory

The Byzantines called upon

the European states to push

back the Muslim

conquerors. The European

states complied,

successfully pushed back

the Seljuks, returned territory

to the Byzantines, and

carved out kingdoms of their

own in Syria and Palestine.

Conquered by the Ottoman Turks

In 1453, Constantinople

was finally and

permanently

conquered by the

Ottoman Turks and

renamed Istanbul.

Byzantine culture, law,

and administration came

to its final end.

Contribution to Western Civilization

Throughout the early Middle Ages, the Byzantine

Empire remained a protective barrier between

western Europe and hostile Persian, Arab, and

Turkish armies.

The Byzantines were also a major conduit of

classical learning and science into the West down

to the Renaissance. While western Europeans were

fumbling to create a culture of their own, the cities of

the Byzantine Empire provided them a model of a

civilized society.