History 323 The Middle Ages

1. History 323The Middle Ages The Byzantine Empire and Islam

2. Heir of Rome: Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire is a continuation of the Eastern Roman Empire. It is Greek-based and oriented around Constantinople. Geographically, the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century consists of modern-day Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and Egypt. In the mid-900s (a period of expansion), the Byzantine empire became Greece, Turkey, Southern Italy, and Syria. The Byzantines are remembered for preserving Greek philosophy and art, connecting Europe to Eastern trade goods, and developing a unique form of Christianity.

3. Byzantine Chronology: Justinian The Roman Empire was divided into Eastern and Western parts by Diocletian After the Western Empire had fallen in the 5th century, the Eastern Emperor Justinian (r. 527-565), fought to win back the West Justinian looked West because he was from Serbia and spoke Latin We was very interested in law, and compiled several law codes Justinian�s general, Belisarius, was successful in his �reconquest� at first. But the campaign exhausted the eastern treasury and allowed the Persian empire to gain momentum Italy, North Africa, and Southern Spain were recaptured, but soon feel into �barbarian� hands again

4. Justinian tried to recapture the West

5. Early Byzantine Art

6. Byzantine Architecture

7. The Byzantines abandon the West Three years after Justinian�s death (568), the Lombards, a new Germanic group from Northern Italy, conquered Italy The other western lands were also lost, and the Persians began to attack from the East These developments forced the Eastern emperors to abandon the West and preserve themselves After the 7th century, the Byzantine world would go off in its own cultural and political direction

8. Byzantines and Islamic Civilization Heraclius ruled 31 years (from 610 to 641) and brought in a new and distinctive dynasty Heraclius pushed back the Persians By the 620s, however, a new political and religious group had begun to emerge in the Middle East and Near East�Islam. The history of the Byzantines is thus connected to the Rise of Islam.

9. Islamic Civilization: An Overview Who is the founder of the Islamic religion? Islam began c. 610 A.D. when Muhammad, a merchant from Mecca (modern Saudi Arabia) had a vision The angel Gabriel spoke to him and said �Read�read in the name of thy Lord who creates man from a clot� This is the first of many messages from God that Muhammad received for his contemplation. They form the Qur�an, which in Arabic means �reading� or �recitation� The Qur�an is considered by Muslims to be a book of divine revelation

10. Early Islam Muhammad began to preach in Mecca, telling the people to give up their idols and submit to the one and indivisible God This message was unpopular among the leaders of Mecca, whose prosperity was tied to guardianship of the Ka�ba, a polytheistic sanctuary Muhammad moved to Medina, and his followers grew Muhammad became involved with political, legal, and military issues. The parts of the Quran written in Medina therefore concerned with practical problems of living together in community

11. Early Islam The house of the Prophet in Medina was the first communal gathering place for prayer, and it served as a prototype for the earliest mosques In congregation the act of prayer, which is intended to create a sense of unity and cohesion, is led by a prayer leader. The first of these prayer leaders was Muhammad� Later, Muhammad returned to Mecca, and one of his first acts was to cleanse the Ka�ba of its idols and to rededicate the shrine to Allah. It has remained important for Muslims ever since

12. The Qur�an, Hadith, and Art The Qur�an is the cornerstone of Muslim faith, practice, and law It provides guidelines for social welfare, family and inheritance laws, and proper behavior within the framework of a just and equitable society The Qur�an does not speak against the creation of figural images, only the making of idols Restrictions on figurative arts are, however, found in another body of literature known as Hadith, or "tradition� Hadith includes accounts of the sayings, deeds, and thoughts of the Prophet and is superseded in importance only by the Qur�an

13. Doctrine: Five Pillars of Islam The creed: belief (Iman) in God, his angels, his books, his prophets, and the last judgment. Core statement: �There is no God but God and Muhammad is the Prophet of God�. If you can say this, you can be regarded as a minimalist Muslim Prayer or worship (Salat) five times a day (rising, early afternoon, late afternoon, sunset, and before bed). Friday prayers as a group. Prayer symbolizes humility of men and women in the presence of God Fasting (Sawm) during daylight hours during the month of Ramadan�fasting from eating, drinking, smoking, and sex. This is a time of discipline like Christian �Lent�; encourages a focus on God and unity in the community Giving of alms (Zakat)�a Muslim should give 1/40th of his revenue per year in cash or kind to the poor or those �striving in the way of God� Pilgrimage (Hajj)�A trip once in a lifetime to Mecca, if a person is physically able. Only Muslims can participate. Ritual acts recall great events in early Hebrew and Islamic history

14. A Trip to Mecca (hajj): The once-in-a-lifetime trip to Mecca is a requirement for all Muslims who are able During the five day trip, people dress in white (to stress equality) and visit holy sites, including the Grand Mosque and Ka�aba Muslims believe that Abraham built the Ka�aba out of black granite to honor God and then initiated the hajj Livestock is also sacrificed in commemoration of Abraham's readiness to offer his son Ismail About two million Muslims go each year (all at once!) The 2004 hajj took place last January 31 to February 4

15. The Qur�an (Koran) The two foundations of Muslim faith are God's revelations to Muhammad, known as the Qur�an, and reports about Muhammad's life and deeds, known as the hadith The central miracle of Islam is God's revelation to Muhammad, whose human fallibilities as a mere mortal are repeatedly mentioned in the Qur�an The revelations that comprise the Qur�an were revealed over a period of more than two decades in two places The first revelations from the period of Muhammad's residence in Mecca are short and incantatory verses of extraordinary poetic beauty The later revelations from the period after Muhammad immigrated to Medina are longer, legalistic texts appropriate to a developing community of believers in need of rules and regulations

16. The Qur�an The Qur�an is comparable in length to the Christian Gospels. It contains 114 Arabic chapters (suras) of varying length. The opening sura is called the Fatiha, a short prayer or invocation for many situations: In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate Praise belongs to God, Lord of all Being the All-merciful, the All-compassionate the Master of the Day of Doom Thee only we serve; to Thee alone we pray for succor Guide us in the straight path the path of those whom Thou hast blessed, not of those against whom Thou art wrathfulnor of those who are astray.

17. The Expansion of Islam Although Muhammad died in 632, Islam became a motivating force in the formation and conversion of Arabia and much of Palestine (634) By the 640s, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Egypt were unified by the Muslim religion and government By 711, Islam had spread into central Asia, India, North Africa, & Spain The Byzantine Empire stopped the expansion at Constantinople in 717-718, and would battle Muslims until the 15th century European expansion of Islam stopped in 732 (Poitiers, France, Charles Martel) but Spain remained partly Muslim until 1492 Islamic leaders called Caliphs in this early period Various dynasties arose that controlled different geographic regions, so the Islamic world was rarely united Arabic remained the only accepted language of religious expression in Islam, and even to this day the Qur�an cannot be translated if it is to be used for religious purposes

19. Islamic Artwork and Illustration

20. Byzantine view of art: The Iconoclastic Controversy Muslims, Western Christians, and Byzantine Christians differed about how to view religious art Byzantines Christians came to believe in the 8th century that images were a danger in religious piety because �nothing made by human being should be worshiped by them� This stemmed from the idea that God was so divine that he could not be conceived of in terms of human art To support this, Christians pointed out that in the Ten Commandments, the Hebrews were not allowed to worship �graven images� (Ex. 20:4).

21. The Iconoclastic Controversy Byzantines were probably influenced in this by local Muslim communities; the Koran (V. 92) suggests that images in art are �works of Satan� Emperor Leo the Isaurian adopts this position in the early 8th century when Islamic influence was high So early Byzantines avoided representing Christ in art, using gilded images but rarely people

22. The Iconoclastic Controversy In the 8th century, some zealous groups committed Iconoclasm against images (destroying them) Western Christians did not follow this guideline, and this created a split between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism Later Byzantines create icons but avoid extensive scene painting Muslims never accept ornamentation and stick with using passages from the Koran to illustrate, or geometric patterns-

23. A Byzantine and Muslim Stalemate In 717, the Byzantines under Leo the Isaurian (717-741) only narrowly defeated the Muslims in a land and sea battle The decisive military technology the Byzantines used was �Greek Fire�, a mixture of sulfur, naphtha, and quicklime that clung to ships and burned The Byzantine victory was crucial in the ancient world�without this defeat, the Muslims could have easily swept into Western Europe and later civilization might have looked very different What followed was a stalemate of sorts between Byzantines and Muslims for several centuries In the second half of the 10th century, the Byzantines won back Syria, but in 1071 the Seljuk Turks swept through Turkey and took control of Asia Minor. After this point, the Byzantines were in decline The Turks finally defeated Constantinople in 1453 using artillery for the first time in history�large cannons that shot out great rocks using gunpowder