Byzantine Empire Flashcards
1
Q
The City of Constantinople
A
- AKA ‘New Rome’
- Capital moved east from Rome –> Greek city of Byzantium
- Byzantium –> Constantinople
- Emperor Constantine made it the new capital in 330
- Area chosen bc of its defensive position (surrounded by water)
2
Q
The Main Street
A
- The Mese = “Middle Way”
- Merchant stalls filled the side streets
- Products from Asia, Africa, + Europe passed through stalls - Acrobats + street musicians performed
3
Q
Hippodrome
A
- Free entertainment
- Offered wild chariot races + performance acts
- From Greek words meaning “horse” + “racecourse”
- Held 60 000 spectators
4
Q
The Walls
A
- 1st line of defence = a moat
- Stretching 4 miles (coast to coast)
- 60 ft wide & 22 ft deep
- Could flood in secs - Outer wall - 20 ft tall
- The great inner wall
- Wide enough to fit 4 rows of men - 1453: Turks took modern canon to break down walls
- Got through the rubble 1+1/2 month later - Walls preserved classical + Arab knowledge
- When they fled from the city to Europe –> brought knowledge –> intro to Renaissance
5
Q
Emperor Justinian
A
- 527: A high-ranking nobleman succeeded his uncle to the throne of the Eastern Empire
- After numerous campaigns, armies won nearly all of Italy + parts of Spain
- Rebuilt crumbling fortifications –> most ambitious public building program ever seen in the Roman world
- Workers constructed a 14-mile stone wall along city’s coastline + repaired massive fortifications along western border
6
Q
The Justinian Code
A
- Justinian set up a panel of legal of experts to regulate Byzantine’s increasingly complex society
- Panel revised 400 yrs of Roman Law
- Found numerous laws outdated + contradicting - Code decided legal questions that regulated areas of life
- Marriage, slavery, property, inheritance, women’s rights, criminal justice - Code served the Empire for 900 yrs
7
Q
Hagia Sophia
A
- Crowning glory of Justinian’s reign
- “Holy Wisdom” / “Church of Divine Wisdom” in Greek
- 537: Justinian commissioned the architects Arithemius of Tralles & Isidore of Miletus to design + construct it as a grand cathedral
- Demonstration of imperial power + challenge to the emperor’s rivals
- 558: Earthquakes collapsed the dome
- 563: Dome replaced
- 3rd church built on the site
- Grander + more resilient than its predecessors, incorporating advanced engineering + architectural innovations - Served as the religious, political, + cultural centre
- Seat of the Patriarch, the Coronation place of the emperors, a pivatol location for imperial + religious processions
8
Q
Culture & Education
A
- Families valued education, specifically classical learning
- Basic courses for students –> Greek & Latin, grammar, philosophy
- Roman & Greek classic literature = textbooks
- Students memorized Homer, learned geometry from Euclid, history from Herodotus, medicine from Gelen - Chariot racing - popular form of sport/entertainment
9
Q
Nika Rebellion - CONTEXT
A
- Chariot racing had 2 teams: Blues & Greens
- Associated w/ certain political + socio-economic groups
- Tensions erupted into gang warfare + street attacks - In the months leading up to the races, Justinian raised taxes significantly to fund military campaigns
- Angered the rich & poor - Blues & Greens teamed up to face Emperor Justinian in a public showdown
- “Nika” = victory
- Chanted by rioters to call for victory of the ppl over the emperor
10
Q
Nika Rebellion - What Happened?
A
- 532: Hippodrome fan groups felt the city officials had been to severe in putting down down previous riot
- Demanded the overthrow of Justinian
- Emperor + associates retreated to the adjourning imperial palace
- Crowd demanded the release of 7 previous rioters - rejected
- Crowd broke in + released the men, murdered the guards, set fire to the Praetorian, + set fires destroying buildings
- Tried to replace the emperor
- Justinian considered fleeing, but Theodora urged him to stay
- Belisarius broke in the Hippodrome w/ troops –> slaughtered approx. 30 000 rebels
- Justinian ruled for another 33 yrs
11
Q
Empress Theodora (500-548)
A
- Justinian’s wife + advisor
- An actress early on
- Rose deep from poverty
- 525: Married
- An empress: met foreign envoys, wrote to foreign leaders, passed laws, + built churches
- Most powerful woman in Byzantine history
- Ex. Once confiscated Belisarius’s property - Following her death, Justinian was so depressed that he passed no major laws again
12
Q
Fall of the Empire: The Plague of Justinian
A
- 565: Justinian’s death –> street riots, religious quarrels, palace intrigues, foreign damages
- Plague resembled bubonic plague + arrived from India on ships infested w/ rats
- 542: Worst yr of the plague: 10 000 ppl died/day
- Disease broke out repeatedly until around 700
- Destroyed a huge population
13
Q
Religious Division
A
- Christianity developed differently in the Western & Eastern Roman Empires
- Due to distance + lack of contact
- Differences grew –> split apart the Church - Eastern Christianity built its heritage on the works of early Church fathers
- Ex. Saint Basil - induced humility, humbleness, honour
- Ex. Saint John Chrysoston - Patriarch/leading bishop
- 1054: Pope & patriarch excommunicated each other in a dispute over religious doctrine
- Christianity split - Roman Catholic Church (West) & Orthodox Church (East)
- Competed for converts - Ex. Orthodox Church took Christianity to the Slavs
14
Q
Why Could Justinian Call Himself the New Caesar?
A
- Byzantine emperors ruled w/ absolute power
- Head of the state & church
- Appointed + dismissed bishops at will
- Politics –> brutal + deadly = Emperors under constant risk of assassination
15
Q
Justinian Code - The 4 Works
A
- Code contained nearly 5000 Roman Laws considered useful
- The Digest quoted + summarized the opinions of Rome’s greatest legal thinkers about the laws
a. The massive work ran to a total of 50 volumes - The Institutes –> a textbook telling law students how to use the laws
- 534: The Novelle (New Laws) presented legislation passed
