The Byzantine Empire

1. The Byzantine Empire

2. Eastern Roman Empire • Capital moved to Constantinople by Constantine • Called selves Romans—but spoke Greek • Closer contact to the east—Persia • Able to hold off barbarians • Roman law and bureaucracy survived

3. Justinian • Attempted to recover the West • Building projects—Hagia Sophia • Revised codification of Roman law

4. Stable Borders (kind of) • Survived Arab (Umayyad and Abbasid) advances (but lost some in the Eastern Mediterranean) • Survived Bulgarian threat, but constant Slavic pressures • Even survive the Mongols

5. Politics and Military • Kinda, sorta, comparable to China • Emperor ordained by God • Emperor head of church and state • Elaborate court ritual • Women occasionally on the throne • Large bureaucracy, trained in traditional mores (Hellenistic and Confucian) • Well organized military • Troops given land for service (brings in Slavs, Armenians…) • Officer corps eventually becomes hereditary, acquire regional power

6. Economy and Society • Centered on Constantinople • Regulated trade and food prices (note about Justinian!) • Low food prices satisfy urban class • Trade extended from Scandinavia to Russia, Western Europe to Africa, the Middle East to the Far East (i.e. the known world) • Peasants supply grain and tax revenues • Extremely large merchant class had no political power. • Culture based on Hellenistic secular traditions and Orthodox Christianity • No innovations in literature, but architecture and art flourish.

7. The Great Schism • Latin Bible in the west; Greek in the east. • Spawns different rituals • Conflict between the Pope’s religious power and the emperor’s political power • 1054 C.E. formal break over bread and celibacy of priests.

8. Decline • Muslim Turks seize most Asian territory—important source of grain and taxes • Lose Battle of Manzikert to Slavs in 1071. • Independent Slavic states pop up all over. • Venetian Crusaders come to “help” but sack Constantinople instead. • Conquered in 1453 by Ottomans.

9. Influence on Eastern Europe • Conquest, Commerce, Christianity • St. Cyril and Methodius—Cyrillic—writing for the Slavic language. • Orthodox church allowed use of local languages in Church service • Competition with Catholic missionaries in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland.

10. East Central Regional Monarchies • Poland, Bohemia, Lithuania • Powerful land-owning aristocracies. • Like the rest of Eastern Europe, lots of Jews • Fled persecution from the West and Middle East • Usually barred from agriculture, so involved in commerce—See the origins of a stereotype? • Maintain own, separate traditions • Emphasize education for males.

11. Kievian Rus • Slavic peoples from Asia • Mixed with locals, brought iron and agricultural practice to Ukraine and western Russia • Politically centered in family tribes and villages • Animistic religion • Highly developed musical taste and oral legends

12. The Rus Rise • Scandinavian traders introduce them to trade with Constantinople • Kievan monarchy under Rurik emerges as a growing power c. 855 C.E. (and until… wait for it… the Mongols) • Vladimir I (980-1015) converts to Orthodox Christianity. • Formal law code (influence of Byzantines?) • Largest single European state at the time

13. Rusian/Russian Culture • Adopt much but not all of Byzantine patterns • Yes to strong ruler, religion, architecture, and ceremony • No to central bureaucracy and education system • Different from West • Not catholic • Most peasants were free farmers; boyars less political power

14. Kievan Decline • Rival princes vie for succession • Asian invaders seize territory • Trade with weaker Byzantines declines then collapses • Mongols! • Orthodoxy preserved, but much else wrecked. • Reemergence after decline of Romans.

15. The End of the World (as we know it) • Mongols and Turks • Russia falls • Constantinople, Near East, North Africa, the Balkans • Thus Eastern Europe will develop separately from the West.