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Chapter 13

Chapter 13. The Commonwealth of Byzantium. The Early Byzantine Empire. Capital: Byzantium On the Bosporus Commercial, strategic value of location Constantine names capital after himself (Constantinople), moves capital there 330 AD 1453 falls to Turks, renamed Istanbul.

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Chapter 13

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  1. Chapter 13 The Commonwealth of Byzantium

  2. The Early Byzantine Empire • Capital: Byzantium • On the Bosporus • Commercial, strategic value of location • Constantine names capital after himself (Constantinople), moves capital there 330 AD • 1453 falls to Turks, renamed Istanbul

  3. The Later Roman Empire and Byzantium • Byzantine Empire inherits Roman Empire after fall of Rome in 5th c. AD • preserved Greco-Roman culture and advancements • Eastern territories remain major power until 13th c. AD

  4. Shifts of the Byzantine Empire

  5. The Later Roman Empire • Roman infrastructure in place • Roads, institutional hierarchies • Challenges from strong Persian empire (Sassanid dynasty, 224-641 AD) • Invasions of Germanic peoples

  6. Caesaropapism • Power centralized in figure of emperor • Christian leader cannot claim divinity, rather divine authority • Political rule • Involved in religious rule as well • Authority absolute

  7. The Byzantine Court • Etiquette reinforces authority of Emperor • Royal purple • Prostration • Mechanical devices designed to inspire awe

  8. Justinian (527-565 AD) • The “sleepless emperor” • Wife Theodora as advisor • Background: circus performer • Uses army to contain tax riots, ambitious construction program • The church of Hagia Sophia • Codification of Roman Law • Justinian’s Code

  9. Mosaics of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora and her retinue, from Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna

  10. The Hagia Sophia

  11. The Hagia Sophia

  12. The Hagia Sophia

  13. Constantinople

  14. Byzantine Conquests • General Belisarius recaptures much of western Roman Empire under Justinian • Unable to consolidate control of territories • Withdrew to defend empire from Sassanids, Slavs

  15. The Byzantine Empire and its neighbors 527-554 AD

  16. Islamic Conquests and Byzantine Revival • 7th century Arab Muslim expansion • Besieged Byzantium 674-678 AD, 717-718 AD • Defense made possible through use of a weapon “Greek fire”

  17. Imperial Organization • Themes (provinces) under control of generals • Military administration • Control from central imperial government • Soldiers from peasant class, rewarded with land grants

  18. Tensions with Western Europe • Church • Byzantine: Greek; Roman: Latin • Conflicts over hierarchical control • Fealty of Germanic peoples • Roman pope crowns Charlemagne in 800, a challenge to Byzantine authority

  19. Byzantine Economy and Society • Constantinople largest city in Europe, 5th-13th c. • Dependent on small landholders, free peasants • Earlier large landholdings destroyed by invasions in 6th-7th centuries • Theme system rewards soldiers with land grants

  20. Decline of the Free Peasantry • Despite economic and social benefits of small peasants landholdings, large landholdings on the increase • Reduces tax revenues, recruits to military • Last three centuries indicate steady decline of economy

  21. Manufacturing and Trade • Trade routes bring key technologies, e.g. silk industry • Advantage of location causes crafts and industry to expand after 6th century • Tax revenues from silk route • Banking services develop

  22. Urban Life • Aristocrats: palaces; artisans: apartments; working poor: communal living spaces • Hippodrome • Chariot races, “greens vs. blues” • Politically inspired rioting • Role of Theodora & Justinian

  23. “Whether or not a woman should give an example of courage to men, is neither here nor there…At a moment of desperate danger, one must do what one can…If flight were the only means of safety, still I would not flee. Those who have worn the crown should never survive its loss…Emperor, if you wish to flee, well and good, you have the money, the ships are ready, the sea is clear. But I shall stay. I accept the ancient proverb: Royal purple is the best burial sheet.” Theodora, AD 532

  24. Orthodox Christianity • Legacy of Classical Greece • Greek replaces Latin after 6th c. AD; language of New Testament • Byzantine education sponsors development of large literate class for state bureaucracy • Training in classical canon

  25. The Byzantine Church • By 6th C. Christianity is the dominant cultural community • Church and state closely aligned • Council of Nicea (325) bans Arian movement • Human/divine nature of Jesus • Constantine favors Arians, but supports Nicean condemnation • Byzantine Emperors appoint patriarchs • Caesaropapism creates dissent in church

  26. Iconoclasm • Emperor Leo III (r. 717-741 AD) • Icons seen as a heresy • Destruction of icons after 726 AD • Popular protest, rioting • Policy abandoned 843 AD

  27. Greek Philosophy and Byzantine Theology • Attempt to reconcile Greek philosophy with Judeo-Christianity • Constantine establishes school to apply philosophical methods to religious questions

  28. Ascetism • Hermit-like existence • Celibacy • Fasting • Prayer • St. Simeon Stylite • Lived atop pillar for 37 years in Syria

  29. Byzantine Monasticism and St. Basil (329-379 AD) • Patriarch of Constantinople reforms monasteries • Communal living • Hierarchical structure • Mt. Athos • No women, female animals allowed • Currently a World Heritage Site, is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries

  30. The church at the Monastery of Great Lavra was the first monastery built on Mount Athos in 963.

  31. Tensions between Eastern and Western Christianity • Ritual disputes • Beards on clergy • Leavened bread for Mass • Right for clergy to marry (West - yes, East - no) • Services in Latin in West, Greek in East • Theological disputes • Iconoclasm • Nature of the Trinity

  32. Schism • Arguments over hierarchy, jurisdiction • Autonomy of Patriarchs, or Primacy of Rome? • 1054 Patriarch of Constantinople and Pope of Rome excommunicate each other • East: Orthodox Church • West: Roman Catholic

  33. Social Problems in the Byzantine Empire • Generals of themes become allied with local aristocrats • Intermarry, create class of elite • Occasional rebellions vs. Imperial Rule

  34. Challenges from the West • Western European economic development • Normans from Scandinavia press on Byzantine territories • Crusades of 12th-13th centuries rampage through Byzantine territory • Constantinople sacked, 1204

  35. Challenges from the East • Muslim Saljuqs invade Anatolia • Threatens grain supply • Defeat Byzantine army in 1071, creates civil conflict • Period of steady decline until Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople in 1453 • Renamed Istanbul

  36. The Byzantine empire and its neighbors about 1100 AD

  37. Influence on Slavic Cultures • Relations from 6th c. AD • Bulgaria influenced culturally, politically • Saints Cyril and Methodius • Create Cyrillic alphabet • Slavic lands develop orientation to Byzantium

  38. Kievan Rus • Conversion of Prince Vladimir, 989 AD • Byzantine culture influences development of Slavic cultures • Distinctively Slavic Orthodox church develops • Eventual heir to Byzantium

  39. St. Sophia Cathedral

  40. St. Basil's Cathedral and Spasskaya Tower of Kremlin, Red Square, Moscow

  41. Kievan Russia

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