The Byzantine empire

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Late in the third century A.D, the Roman empire was divided into eastern and western regions. The eastern provinces thrived while the western regions we re weakened by the Germanic tribes. The new civilization that took shape in the east was called Byzantine civilization

A New eastern empire y y A new capital was built for the Roman Empire In AD 330 the emperor Constantine founded a new capital city for the empire called Constantinople. It was built on the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium.

Byzantine civilization develops in a new empire. -Constantinople became the center of the new Byzantine empire. - Its language and traditions we re Greek. And its system of law and administration is Romans. - Its religion followed the beliefs and practices of the early Christian communities in the Eastern Mediterranean. - Byzantine artist we re influenced by Greek, Asian, and early Christian sources. -The Byzantine emperors considered themselves the successor of the Roman emperor and so claimed to rule all the lands. They we re also absolute rulers. y Justinian and Theodora lead the empire. The first great Byzantine ruler was Justinian who reigned nearly forty years. His long lasting achievement is the field of law. He often relied on the advice of his wife Theodora. Theodora had been an actress a profession most people look as degrading. When she became Justinian s wife she showed great political skills.

y Justinian tries to restore the grandeur of Rome Early in his reign, Byzantine forces retook North Africa, Sicily and Southern Spain from the Goths and Vandals. Later they recaptured all of Italy, establishing a western capital at Ravenna in about 585. y Invaders threaten Byzantine lands.

Early in the 600 s, the Balkans we re invaded from the north, first by Slavic tribes from lands around the Black sea. Then by Avars, a people originally from Central Asia. They try to capture the city but could not break throught the thick city wall. From the east, the Persians attacked Syria, Palestine and Egypt. The Germanic Lombards conquered much of the Byzantine lands in Italy and by 631 the Visigoths recaptured the Sapin. The Bulgars from Central asia conquered the Slavic tribes and became a constant threat to Byzantine. y A new power threatens the Byzantine empire. The greatest threat to the Byzantines comes from the Arabs who followed the new religion Islam. The Muslim Arabs had taken Egypt, Syria and Palestine from the Byzantium. By 673 they regularly attacked the Byzantine empire, but the Byzantium is equipped with a new invention called Greek fire .

y Byzantium protects Christian Europe. In 717-718. A massive naval Arab attack on Constantinople failed. If Constantinople was fallen, the Muslims would have overrun the Balkans and sailed up the Danube river into the heart of Europe. After this defeat and the defeat by the franks at Tours 732, the Muslim invaders made no more conquers in Europe. y The Byzantine and the Roman churches grow apart The two churches differed over ceremonies, holy days and the display of religious images and the rights of the clergy. Western Christians learn to accept the Pope at Rome as the head of all Christians. While the Byzantine regarded the Patriarch of Constantinopleas leader of the Eastern Orthodox. Byzantine emperors objected when the Pope crowned Charlemagne as Holy roman emperor. In 1054, the Christian church split into Latin church in the west, (Roman Catholic Church) and the Orthodox church in the east ruled from Constantinople. y The Byzantine empires prospers. The Byzantine empire remained the center of wealth and culture Byzantine artisans contributed to the empires prosperity. After traders smuggled silk worms from China, the Byzantine learned the carefully guarded secret of making paper from rags. Taxes also provide money needed to run the government.

The decline of Byzantium y New enemies weaken the empire To protect their lands the emperor relied on shrewd diplomacy in addition to well-trained military forces. In the early eleventh century a formidable new enemy appeared in the east , the Seljuk Turks, originnaly from Central Asia, conquered Islam. They destroyed the Byzantine army at the town of Manzikert on the empire s eastern frontier. In 1204, during the fourth Crusade, the western European knights and the venetian merchants decided to capture to the cioty of Constantinople. For themselves rather than fight the muslims. The crusaders devastated the city of Constantinople. They destroyed sacred books, vandalized churches and carried gold and jewels and works of art back to western Europe. y Constantinople falls to the Turks. The deathblow to the empire dealt by another group of Turks. The Ottoman Turks had accepted Islam and begun to build an empire in Asia minor. By the beginning of 15th century, the Byzantine empire consisted of only the city of Constantinople and two small territories in Greece. In 1453 the Turks attacked the Constantinople itself, outnumbering the Byzantines sixteen to one. The invaders looted the city and slaughtered thousands of people.

The influence of Byzantium y The Byzantine influence history Although they made few original contributions, the Byzantine kept much ancient knowledge from being lost. Two Byzantine missionaries Cyril and Methodjus invented an alphabet for writing Slavic language so the slavs could read the bible. A form of this Cyrillic alphabet is still used in Russian and other Slavic languages.

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Byzantine arts blends several traditions. Byzantine arts we re influenced by classical Greco-Roman style and the arts of near east They often use religious themes and symbol. They we re specially noted for their skill in making mosaics from thousands of stones and glass. Another typical form of Byzantine art was the icon, a small religious image usually painted on wood. This were regarded as holy and kept in homes and Orthodox church.

The city s new cathedral finished in five years was Hagia- Sophia or the church of the holy wisdom . It was the most magnificent church in the mediterranean world at that time. In designing it,the Byzantine developed a new way of placing a dome over a rectangular building.

Early Russia y Russia has ties with Constantinople. In the 9th century,A band of Vikings called Rus moved into this area of Slavic people and set up a string of fortified towns along rivers. One of this forts was at Kiev and another was at Novrogod. The Vikings first attack the Constantinople but later became traders. Furs, amber and slaves we re the basis of the Rus trade with the Byzantine.

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The Russian state forms around Kiev. Located in a high bluff overlooking the Dnieper, the fortified town of Kiev became the center of the first Russian state. Its ties with the byzantine strengthened in 957 when the princess Olga visited Constantinople and became Christian. In about 988 her grandson Vladimir I converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity and all the Kievans became Christians In Kiev, landownerships counted less than control of trade ; feudalism as practiced in the western Europe was unknown. The rulers of Kiev who had the title of grand prince we re merchant warriors. Wirth their aristocratic followers called Boyars, they collected tribute from their subjects and profited from trade.

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Invaders attack Kiev and Novgorod By 1240 the city was devastated and all Kievan Russia has fallen under the Mongol rule. The other early Russian river town, Novrogod, lay farther north and escaped the Mongol s destruction. Novrogod had close trade towns with the towns of Hanseatic League. Protected by wide marshes the Novrogods was able to resist the attempts of Swedes and the Teutonic knights to expand to Russia. Prince Alexander of Novrogod defeated the invading Swedes at the Neva, then he became known as Alexander Nevsky.

Mongol s rule Russia

During this period of isolation from both Byzantium and Western Europe, there was little political, economic and cultural development. The wealth and influence of Orthodox church grew, for the Mongols did not interfere with the church or demand tributes from it. Not until the late 14th century did the princes of Moscow, leaders in the northeast become strong enough to bring Russians together to resist Mongol rule.

Islam spreads in Asia and Africa y Most Arabs are nomads The Arabian peninsula is mainly a dry and rocky plateau. Most people of Arabia are nomads called Bedouin who spoke semitic language, Arabic. They from tribal groups moving their tents from one oases to another. Not all Arabs we re nomads. Towns grew up around oases on the coast where ocean winds brought moisture in the land.

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Arabs follows different Religions The trading town of mecca was a holy city. Many arabs travels to Mecca to worship at an Ancient holy well and shrine called the Kaaba. The Shrine contained statues of many deities as well as a black stone that the arabs believed was sacred.

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Mohammed establishes a new faith Mohammed was an Arab born in Mecca about year 570. Mohammed married Khadija, a widow who ran her own prosperous business and became a successful trader. When he was 4o hebelieved that he had a vision of the angel Grabiel who ordered him: Recite in the name of thy Lord . Mohammed was convinced that he had been chosen a prophet and bring the Arabs to new faith. Mohammed rejected the many deities of the tribal religion s. The new faith that he offered to Arabs was monotheistic, like Judaism and Christianity. It is called Islam which in Arabic means surrender to Allah or God. The followers of Islam we re called Muslims those who submit to Allah s will.

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The Koran outlines Muslim beliefs. The Koran is the holy book of Islam. Muslim believes that it contains the word of Allah as it was revealed to Mohammed.

Muslims view Allah as the ruler of heaven and earth, an all-powerful god who is merciful, compassionate and just. Muslims believes that Islam is the completion of the beliefs of Judaism and Christianity. They regard Jesus and the Hebrew prophets as messengers of God but they believe that Mohammed is the last and greatest of the prophets.

y Muslim have religious obligations - Muslim have five religious duties called the Five Pillars of Islam : 1. A Muslim must accept and repeat the statement of faith: There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is His prophet. 2. At least five times a day,the Muslims faces the city of Mecca and pray. 3. They have a religious duty to be generous to the poor. 4. During the holy month of Ramadan (the ninth month of the Muslim calendar), believers do not eat or drink between sunrise and sunset. 5. Muslim s are expected to make at least one pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca if they can afford to do so.

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Mohammed flees from Mecca. To escape persecution , Mohammed and a small band of followers left Mecca in 622 for Medina, a town about 280 miles away. Their flight is known as Hegira or breaking of former ties Not all people of Medina accepted Mohammed s leadership. The jews of Medina in particular would not accept Mohammed as a prophet. Although Mohammed had adopted some Jewish customs, he now began to persecute Arabian Jews, seizing their farmlands they held around Medina.

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Islam makes converts by force Mohammed began to preach a holy war against pagans and nonbelievers. In 630 Mecca surrendered to a Muslim army without a fight. Bedouin tribes all over Arabia began to accept Islam and recognized the authority of the Prophet, as Mohammed came to be called. Mohammed s successors extends Islamic power After Mohammed s friend, Abu Bakr became his successor and wasn given the titlen of caliph. The caliph was regarded the Defender of faith who was given Authority by Allah. Under the four caliphs, who ruled 632-661, Muslim armies conquered Palestine, Syria and Egypt and most of Persia. Arab warriors went into battle with a sword and a militant faith. They believe they we re engaged in a holy war to spread ISalm to non-believers, or infidels.

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According to Koran, those who died in the holy war or jihad we re assured of a special place in Paradise.

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New rulers cause a division in Islam;. The fourth caliph Ali, was married to Mohammed s daughter Fatima. When he was murdered in 661, a member of powerful Umayyad family claimed the caliphate. Rivalry broke out between the Umayyad supporters and the Shi a, those who thought that only directs descendants should rule. Over time the Shi ite Muslims developed some beliefs and traditions Muslims , known as Sunni.

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The Umayyad s create an empire Islam s territory extended to India and the borders of China. To the west, Arabs and Moors took north Africa and Byhzantines and most of sapins Visigoth.The Muslims began to move farther northward in Europe but we re stopped by the franks at the The Battle of Tours in 732. The Umayyads move the capital to Damascus, Syria. In 750, several discontented groups, both Arabs and Non-Arabs, rebelled against the Umayyad rulersand put a new dynasty in power.

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The Muslim empire flourishes The new ruling family was the Abbasids who remain the ruler of Islam for 500 years. They move the capital to Baghdad in 763.