THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE THE BYZANTIUM EMPIRE QUICK FACTS

THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE

THE BYZANTIUM EMPIRE: QUICK FACTS � Capital Constantinople � Created as the Eastern half of the Roman Empire � From 500 AD to 1200 AD it was the richest nation in Western Asia and Europe � Lead advances in scholarship, art, and science.

BYZANTINE EMPIRE AND TRADE Center of world trade � Most trade routes came through Constantinople � A complex system of advisers and officials in specialized departments helped run the nation and control the trade. � The empire became wealthy off of the taxes collected on products coming through Constantinople. � The Byzantines sold and produced many goods; grapes, olives, wheat in rural areas. Glassware, enamel, ivory, and silk were produced in the capital. � The trade and wealth attracted many to live there. 1 million lived there by the year 1000 AD. �

LIFE AS A BYZANTINE � Farmers and urban dwellers � Most were poor, except for government officials and wealthy merchants. � Women had little freedom. � Government had set up schools & libraries, in addition to those set up by the church � Higher rate of literacy than Western Europe � Studied of the classical Greek writers � Hagia Sofia = holy wisdom

CHRISTIANITY AND BYZANTIUM The seat of the Christian religion in the East � People believed that the emperor’s authority came from God and extended to all matters of church and state. � Bishop of Constantinople, the Patriarch, sat under the emperor. � Byzantines tolerated debate and discussion about religious matters � Services in Byzantium were conducted in Greek, the language of the people. �

BYZANTIUM AND THE CHURCH � Plain exteriors, extravagant interiors. � Highly iconic; carvings, painted tiles, murals � Icons; non-realistic images of Jesus and saints meant to put the viewer in a spiritual mood. � Icons were used to worship and honor those religious figures they represented.

DIVISIONS OVER AUTHORITY In the west, the Pope claimed authority over all of Christendom. � Clashes existed over the use of iconography. � � Some feared that devotion to the icons was too strong. 726, B. Emperor Leo III ordered icons destroyed. � In Rome, Pope Gregory III condemned the action; � � icons were important to honor holy people of the past, and helped the illiterate Gregory allied with Charlemagne and the Franks, and crowned him the holy Roman Emperor. � This angers the Byzantines, who saw their emperor as the only rightful Roman emperor. �

A SCHISM IN THE CHURCH � 1054 the big question – who was supreme? � � � Western Pope or Eastern Patriarch? Climax of the argument arose over responsibility of Southern Italian churches. Partiarch Cerularius lost, and closed any churches that celebrated mass in the western style. Pope Leo fought back by excommunicating Cerularius, who excommunicated the pope. This leads to the split, or schism, into two separate churches: Roman Catholic in the West and Eastern Orthodox in the East. � In 1964, the pope and patriarch met in Jerusalem. In 1974, they made a statement to undo the excommunications.

EMPIRE UNDER ATTACK � Like the rest of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire endured several attacks on its borders. � People wanted her wealth and the territory. � Thus, they needed great armies and defensive walls around Constantinople. � Walls could protect the city, but not the empire. � After the greatest expansion by Justinian in the 500 s, the decline began in the 600 s.

EMPIRE UNDER ATTACK � � � Persians attached from the east and south, taking Egypt and then marched north to try and take the capital. Muslim Arabs too Palestine and Syria in the south. The Byzantine Empire saw regrowth in the 800 s and 900 s, but it was not to last long. 1071, the Seljuk Turks, from Turkestan in Central Asia, defeated the Byzantines at the battle of Manzikert. Continuing to capture land, the Turks established their own capital at Nicea; 200 miles southeast of Constantinople. 1095, risking humiliation, the B. Emperor sent a message to Pope Urban for help. Despite the excommunication, only 40 years earlier, he pleaded for help against the Turkish invaders.