Byzantine And Mongol Empires Flashcards
The Roman Empire divided into? By who?
Western and eastern empires by Diocletian
Capital of Byzantine moved east from Rome, to the Greek city of? Later became?
Byzantium, later became Constantinople (after emperor Constantine) because he was the one who moved the capital in 330 A.D.
When did the Western Roman Empire crumble? How?
5th Century because it was overrun by invading German tribes (the Huns)
Byzantium (name of the entire eastern empire) and its flourishing capital city, Constantinople, carried on the glory of Rome for how many more years?
1,000 years
Who was Justinian?
High ranking Byzantine nobleman who succeeded his uncle to the throne in 527
Justinian’s accomplishments?
- gained control of almost all the territory that Rome had ever ruled
- creation of the Justinian Code
- rebuilt Constantinople
- built Hagia Sophia
- head of both church and state
Justinian’s Code
After sifting through 400 years of Roman Law, many laws were outdated, so they created a single, uniform code known as the Justinian Code
Justinian’s Code consisted of which 4 works?
- the Code (nearly 5,000 Roman laws are still considered useful)
- The Digest (quoted and summarized the opinions of Rome’s greatest legal thinkers about the laws)
- The Institutes (textbook that told law students how to use the laws)
- The Novellae (New Laws)
Some areas that Justinian’s Code addressed?
Marriage, slavery, property, inheritance, women’s rights, and criminal justice
Justinian’s Code served the Byzantine Empire for how many years?
900 years
Who was Theodora?
An actress, stage dancer, and mistress toa governor
Theodora converted to monophysitism. What is it?
branch of orthodox Christianity that says Christ maintains one nature - human to divine
Who’s mistress, and later wife was Theodora?
Justinian’s
Theodora’s political influence
- met with foreign diplomats
- wrote to foreign leaders
- passed laws
- built churches
Nika rebellion
a mob demanded Justinian be overthrown.
Justinian considered fleeing, but theodora said it is not a good idea to flee
Theodora and woman’s rights
- laws that let a women on stage were abandoned
- allowed daughters to have equal rights
- made sure that the children of female slaves were not slaves
When and how did Theodora die?
she dies of cancer in 548
What happened to Justinian’s rule after Theodora’s death?
Justinian’s rule declined steadily and he passed no major laws for the rest of his reign
Byzantine art was marked by?
frescoes and mosiacs
Justinian had workers who?
rebuilt Constantinople’s crumbling fortifications
Justinian’s passion
church-building
Hagia Sophia
“Holy Wisdom” in Greek
Justinian also built?
baths, aqueducts, law courts, schools, hospitals, and expanded his palace into a vast complex
Mese
middle way (main street)
Constantinople as a center for trade:
- merchant stalls lined streets
- products sold from Asia, Africa, and Europe
- food stands sold different types of food
- acrobats and street musicians performed
What did the Hippodrome offer?
chariot races and performance acts
Hippodrome held how many spectators?
60,000
Constantinople as a center for religion
numerous churches (most famous is the Hagia Sophia)
In 1204, crusading knights from Europe did what?
robbed and sacked Constantinople
What happened to Constantinople in 1453?
falls to Ottoman Turks (Constantinople was renamed Istanbul)
In 312, Constantine legalized?
Christianity (Also moved capital to Byzantium
Who made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380?
Theodosius
Christianity became the dominant religion in?
The byzantine empire when the western Roman empire fell
Byzantine Christianity
Latin Christianity developed in such a way that the Pope became the solidified leader in religious affairs
Byzantine Christianity differences
- enormous religious authority was given to the emperor
- led to eventual problems between the western and eastern churches
Why did Christianity begin to develop differently in the Western and Eastern empires?
because of the lack of contact between the 2 regions
Eastern Orthodox Christianity
built heritage on the works of early church fathers (even the patriarch bowed to the emperor)
Emperor Leo III
Banned the use of icons
Who supported the use of icons?
western pope
the pope and patriarch did what to each other?
threw each other out of the church in a dispute over religious doctrine
Christianity split into east and west. Who was in each?
East = eastern orthodox church West = Roman orthodox church
Orthodox missionaries took their form of Christianity to the?
Slavs - a group that lived in the forests north of the Black Sea
The alphabet that missionaries invented for the Slavic languages so they could read the Bible in their native tongue, was called?
the Cyrillic alphabet
Vikings in Russia
Small bands of adventurers from the north (called Varangians, or Rus) mixed with the Slavic people living in modern-day Russia - [they were Vikings]
The vikings built forts along which rivers?
Dnieper, Don, and Volga rivers
What does legend say about the Viking chief?
Slavs invited the viking chief Rurik to be their king
Where did the Viking Chief live after becoming king?
Novgorod (Russia’s first important city)
Who was Oleg?
A nobleman from Novgorod who moved south to Kiev (city in Dnieper)
What did vikings do in Constantinople, and how did they get there?
From Kiev, vikings could sail by river and sea to Constantinople, and trade for products
Who married viking nobles?
vikings married their Slavic subjects and eventually , the line between Slavs and viking vanished
How did Kiev become linked to Constantinople?
- Princess Olga, a member of the Kievan nobility, visited Constantinople
- She publicly converted to Christianity
- Governed until her son was old enough to rule
What did Vladimir, princess Olga’s grandson, do when he came to the throne?
He sent teams to observe the major religions of the time
Vladimir converted to?
Byzantine Christianity (made his subjects convert too)
How did Yaroslav (Vladimir’s son) help Kiev after he came to power?
- married his daughters and sisters with kings and princes of western Europe to create trade connections
- created a legal code
- built libraries and churches
Kiev’s decline
- Yaroslav’s sons tore the state of Kiev apart fighting against each other for territory
- Crusades disrupted trade
- Mongols attacked and demolished Kiev and took over
Mongol influence in Russia
Isolated Russia from the west thus developing differently
After Russia was occupied by the mongols for 200 years, Russians?
finally broke free
Ivan III
Openly challenged mongol rule, took the title of “Czar” (Caesar), claimed to make Russia the “3rd Rome”
Ivan refused to?
pay tribute to the Mongols
Rise of the mongols led to?
Problems between steppe nomads and settled communities
Because of scarcities and hardships of their lifestyle, steppe nomads?
Raided towns and villages to get pasture lands for their herds and resources for survival
Another name for Genghis Khan?
Temujin
Genghis khan accepted what title?
“Universal ruler”
Genghis khan defeated?
His rivals one by one
3 Characteristics of Genghis khan’s success?
- brilliant organizer
- gifted strategist
- used cruelty as a weapon
Genghis khan - brilliant organizer
- Armies of 10,000
- 1,000-man brigades
- 100-man companies
- 10-man squads
Genghis khan - gifted strategist
- used various tricks to confuse the enemy
- attack, pretend to gallop away, enemies chase, come back and fight
- gifted horseback riders (ride backwards, shoot bow and arrows)
Genghis khan - cruelty
- terrified enemies into surrender
- if a city refused to open their gates to him, he might kill the entire population when he finally captured it
The Khanates
- Mongols who ruled ruthlessly at first, destroying the land and wiping out populations
The khanates later adopted aspects of the cultures they ruled and imposed?
Stability, law, and order
The khanates eventually split up due to?
Cultural differences
Pax Mongolia
Mongol peace, a period of peace from mid - 1200s to the mid - 1300s
What did the pax Mongolia affect?
- Made travel and trade safer
- promoted the exchange of goods and ideas
End of pax Mongolia led to?
Disorder
Kublai khan
- Grandson of Genghis khan
- gained control of China in 1279 and united them for the first time in 300 years
- called his dynasty the “yuan dynasty”
What is Kublai khan known as?
The great khan
What did Kublai Khan call his dynasty?
Yuan dynasty
What did Kublai khan do?
- Built palaces in Shangdu and modern-day Beijing
- moved his capital from Mongolia to China
- kept mongol identity, but tolerated Chinese culture, and kept Chinese officials in local gov’t
- gave most high gov’t positions to foreigners (because they believed they were more trustworthy)
Marco Polo
- Venetian trader
- traveled to China and visited Kublai Khan’s court
- served Kublai khan for 17 years
- when returning to Italy, he was imprisoned during a war with a rival city
Mongol Empire: expanded trade
- made caravan routes across Asia
- established mail routes to link China with India and Persia
- greatly improved trades
- invited foreign merchants to visit China
Legacy of Yuan dynasty for China
- united china
- expanded foreign companies contacts
- made few changes to Chinese culture and system of gov’t
Reasons for the fall of Yuan dynasty
- Civil discontent: because of famine, floods, and disease
- economic: problems and official corruption
- power: struggles among Yuan family members
- rebellions: of Chinese
Which Russian city was the first to establish major trade connections with Constantinople?
Kiev
Superior military skills were primarily responsible for the success of the mongol Empire
True or false
True
After 200 years of mongol occupation became the first czar of Russia
Ivan III
When the Mongols took control of Russia, the capital was moved from Kiev to?
Moscow
Genghis khan, use of the stirrup, and excellent horsemanship skills contributed directly to the?
Rise of the mongol Empire
Towns refusing to give in to the mongols were brutally killed and the towns burned down
True
How were religious differences treated under mongol rule?
They tolerated all religions in their Empire
How did peter the great inherit the throne of Russia?
Family origin
Economically, early Modern Russia was?
Largely agricultural and dependent on Western trade
Yaroslav the wise help Kiev rise to power with all of the following except?
- created a legal code
- Married off sisters and daughters
- married a mongol princess
- built libraries and churches
Married a mongol princess
Vladimir, olga’s grandson, sent teams to study which 4 foreign religions?
Islam, Judaism, eastern and western Christianity
