Chapter 10

1. Chapter 10 Byzantine and Muslim Civilizations

2. Constantinople • The city of Constantinople was a crossroads of trade routes, located between Europe and Asia on the Bosporus strait, that linked the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. • It was renamed after emperor Constantine in A.D. 330 • It was located in the eastern part of the Roman Empire • The city contained two type of religion peoples: Christians Byzantines and Muslim Arabs and Turks • These groups sometimes shared power, but other times fought for power.

3. Constantinople • Constantinople had large markets, forums/public squares, paved roads, cathedral, a palace, public baths, and a circus. • An estimated half a million people lived there. • See page 285 in your text to review a picture of the city’s layout.

4. Constantine • Constantine began his rule in A.D. 306 • He became the first Christian ruler of the Roman Empire. • He is known for: allowing freedom of religion and for moving the imperial capitol to Byzantine and renaming in Constantinople. • Constantine chose Constantinople, an ancient city founded by the Greeks, and put great amounts of money into building the city, in order to secure the city.

5. The Age of Justinian • Justinian was remembered as a good emperor. • His rule began in 527 A.D. • Justinian was born into a poor family and listened to the ideas of all his subjects. • He was known as an energetic rule r. • During this age, Byzantine scholars kept and copied works of the ancient Greeks. • Byzantine civilization blended cultures such as Roman, Greek, and Christian influences at the peak of it existence.

6. The Justinian Code • One of his most lasting contributions was his creation of the Justinian Code. • The system of laws used before were unorganized and difficult to enforce. • Justinian appointed members to research centuries of Roman laws and summarize them. • These laws eventually became the basis for legal systems for modern day European countries.

7. The Decline of Constantinople • After the death of Justinian in 565 A.D., the empire began to decline. • Emperors after Justinian were forced to fight wars against neighboring enemies such as the Turks, Persians, Arabs and Germanic peoples. • The empire began to shrink in size and power. • Due to disagreements in both the religious and political areas, the empire was weakened from within as well.

8. The Decline of Constantinople • Religious disputes arose over the authority of the pope, the leader of the church in Rome. • Greek was the language of the Byzantine church, while Latin was the language of the Roman church • The two branches of Christianity became to grow apart. • An emperors in the 700’s outlawed the use of icons, or saints; however, the pope disagreed and banned the emperor from the church. • This act led to the schism, or split, in the Christian church in 1054. This resulted in Roman Catholic Church in the west, and the Eastern (Greek) Orthodox church in the east.

9. Basil II • The economy grew and strengthened during the long reign of Basil II (976-1025) • This was the most exceptional period in Byzantine history since Justinian. • During his reign, the empire regained land lost in wars. • The empire also saw a burst of creativity in the arts.

10. The Fall of Constantinople • Muslim people in the east and the Turks took away the inland areas of Asia Minor; this weakened the already weak byzantine empire. • Europeans were also threatening the empire with disagreements over trade. • Constantinople was attacked by Christian crusaders in the early 1200’s. • After being a fortress for more than 1,000 years, the empire finally fell in 1453, when a force of 70,000 Turks surrounded Constantinople. • Just as other times before, the city was rebuilt and renamed Istanbul and became the center of Muslim center and the capital of the Ottoman Empire.