Chapter 9, Section 1

Shade:◦ Full extent of Byzantine Empire (All purple)

Constantinople Bosporus Black Sea Mediterranean Sea Cairo Jerusalem Rome Carthage Red Sea Cordoba

At a crossroads of the world. Why?

Roman Emperor Constantine rebuilt the Greek city Byzantium and renamed it after himself.

Was considered a “New Rome.” Key trade location Cultural diffusion due to location Byzantine Empire is the East half of the old Roman Empire

Byzantine Empire reached its height under the emperor Justinian, who ruled from 527 to 565 C.E.

Rebuilt the Hagia Sophia and the city

Justinian’s Code: organized all the laws of ancient Rome into one body of law.

By the 1100s his code reached Western Europe

Unified his empire by being an autocrat (someone who has complete authority).

The Byzantine emperor also had control over the Church (religion)◦Justinian was considered Christ’s co-ruler on earth

Combined political power and spiritual authority, unlike rulers in Western Europe (who split power with the pope)

After Justinian died, the empire had to deal with attacks by Persians, Slavs, Vikings, Huns and Turks

Mostly unsuccessful, and Byz. Empire served as a “buffer” for Western Europe

Christianity was as important in the East as it was in the West, but it was practiced differently

Byzantine Christians rejected the pope

Byz. Clergy were allowed to marry Greek, not Latin, was the language in church

Less emphasis on Christmas

The two branches of Christianity grew further apart over time

There was a big disagreement over icons

Byz. Christians used icons, but one emperor outlawed it

In the West, the pope condemned him This led to the Great Schism

This disagreement eventually led both sides of Christianity to split from each other

Byzantine Church became as the Eastern, or Greek Orthodox Church

Western Empire became known as Roman Catholic

The Emperor and the Pope excommunicated each other

The two branches became rivals

After the Schism, the Byz. Empire weakened

Lots of invasions Crusades◦A disagreement with Venice led them to convince knights on their way to the 4th Crusade to plunder Constantinople along the way

◦They ruled for 57 years before a Byz. Emperor took it back, but never recovered to its original power

In 1453 the Ottoman army surrounded Constantinople and layed siege for over 2 months, eventually storming the city

The Ottoman ruler Mehmet II took over, renamed the city Istanbul, and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire