The Byzantine Empire Tradition in the East

Byzantium

•  330 – Rome split into Eastern and Western •  476 - Western Roman Empire Falls

– Western Europe weakened and unable to defend self – Organized government in the west virtually

disappeared (“Dark Age”) •  Stronghold of Christianity against the ‘threat’ of

Islam •  Even though Eastern Roman Empire, will

ultimately become more Greek than Roman

Justinian and the Byzantine State •  Justinian: “the emperor who never

slept” –  Restore territory, power and prestige

of Roman Empire –  Restored Roman territory held by

Augustus and Constantine –  Justinian Code – Served for 900 years –  Church of Holy Wisdom (Hagia

Sophia) •  Bankrupted Empire •  Divided successors •  Poorly defended borders

Lands During Justinian’s Reign

Emperors and Individuals •  Classic age of Byzantine society:

~ 700s-900s •  Emperor had absolute power

(autocracy) –  Emperors above and beyond their

subjects –  Separated from the “people” by an

unbridgeable gulf –  Traditional Roman political bodies

simply for show •  Only used to emphasize the dignity

and power of the Emperor

Families and Villages •  Daily life focused on

family and home –  Shelter & workplace

•  Countryside Villages –  Individual families worked

their own enclosed fields –  “good fences make good

neighbors”

Constantinople

Religion •  Most “Christian Empire” in the world

–  Citizens discussed theology in the streets –  Christianity was a part of every moment of Byzantine life

•  Eastern Orthodox Christianity was the cultural “cement” that bound together the emperor and his subjects

•  Emperor held power over the Church •  Ceremonies provided a “foretaste (preview) of heaven”

–  Adoration of Emperor, Veneration of God joined as one –  “We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth, for on earth

there is no such splendor or such beauty.” •  Long at odds with Catholicism, Constantinople split

permanently in 1054 (The Great Schism)

Apogee and Disintegration (1000-1054) •  10th & 11th centuries: dominate

Mediterranean world for the final time –  Recover some lands lost to Islam

•  Culturally: –  Goal of art was to reflect the permanent,

classic values of Greco-Roman –  Language, style and themes of classical

Greek literature, philosophy and history dominated Byzantine culture

–  Innovation was rarely appreciated in the arts, literature, or religion

Conquest of Constantinople •  While Islam threatens from

the outside, internal conflict threatens within –  Of 88 Byzantine Emperors, 29

died violently and 13 abandoned the throne for monestaries

•  West also presented a threat religiously and militarily –  1204 crusade detours from

Palastine and instead sacks Constantinople

•  Constantinople pillaged for three days

Ottoman Conquest of Constantinople •  Constant attack from both East and

West •  Used bribes, diplomacy, political

marriages, and military power to keep enemies at bay

•  Following the fall of Islam to the Mongols, many small Turkish principalities arose –  Islamic Ottoman Empire began to

quickly expand •  1453: Ottoman conquest complete,

city renamed Istanbul (Greek - “the city”)