Byzantium (East Roman Empire) Flashcards
What are the five big ideas from the eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium)?
Barbarians Sieges Heresies Monophysitism Iconoclasm
What were barbarians
They played a big part in the northwestern borders of the Byzantine empire.
What people groups laid siege during the Byzantine empire?
Persians, muslims, barbarians laid siege to Constantinople
What is Monophysitism?
Said Jesus was mostly divine and that his divinity overruled his humanity
Iconoclasm
Making icons of the saints (this was questioned)
What Christian church arose from this empire
The Eastern Orthodox
Why was religion so important politically
The popularity and affectivness of rulers was whether they agreed with Christianity on doctrinal issues (gave the church power)
Stable society can exist when…
1) there is enough power to suppress the people by the ruling few.
2) to have a middle class of people who can live and have decent lives
3) when there is hope of achieving wealth or a better life
In a monarchy what was the only way to move up in society?
The church
Why did the church become corrupt
The church became a path to status (power and wealth) and or comfort instead of being there to bring God glory.
They also used scare tactics to get what it wanted politically (armies would be afraid to fight if they thought God wasn’t on their side)
People did almost anything to be sure they wouldn’t be damned(no personal knowledge of Christ)
Justice was traded for favors, bribes, and extortion.
What made Constantinoples location strategic
It was harder to attack because water on three sides acted like a moat they also had the Theodosian walls on the side that was not guarded by water. They also have the Bosporus straight they controlled and people how to be nice to them to let them pass
The Bosporus strait
Pathway to the east and the Black Sea in Central Asia
The date of approximately when the Theodosian walls were built
400
What group of people began Byzantium
Greek colonists
What are the four names of city of Byzantium?
1) Byzantium
2) Constantinople
3) new Rome - new capital of Roman Empire
4) Istanbul- modern name after Muslim conquest
Why did the Byzantine empire survive when the western Roman Empire fell (4 reasons)
Strong monaterry system
Flourishing trade
Law and order continued
Elements of morality and virtue
Power couple Justinian and Theodoras year
527
What was theodoras influence as empress of Byzantine empire
Had good morals. She Championed monogamous marriage as the only permissible form of sexual activity. She outlawed the selling of young girls for sexual purposes and put it into legal concubinage
What icon of Byzantium was built under Justinian
The cathedral Hagia Sophia (means holy wisdom)
What was the name of the general who waged long successful wars against the barbarian ostrogoths, vandals, and visigoths and in a sense over expanded the empire
(Under Justinian)
Bellisarius
What are some negative consequences when a society doesn’t practice monogamy
- Get pregnant, stds, and kids grow up without a parent and kids have problems and follow in their parents footsteps
Invasion dates
(565-1057)
How did Heraclius delay the fall of Constantinople?
He held off a dual-siege from the Avars and the Persians between 610 and 641
The rise of Islam threatened the Byzantine empire in the
8th century
These Arabs had overrun the
Middle East including Jerusalem and staged two sieges of Constantinople as well
What weapon was instrumental in defeating the Arab sieges
Greek fire
What is Greek fire
The secret weapon of the eastern Roman emperors. It was hurled onto the ships of their enemies from siphons and burst into flames on contact. It apparently was in extinguishable and burned even on the water. The exact composition is unknown
Who was the hero of the victory in the second siege
Emperor Leo III
What did Leo the third do
He bannned all icons or images of Christ, Mary, and saints
Theologically rooted in the OT law banning the graven images and idols
What year did the second Council of Nicaea meet.
What did they do
787, they sanctioned the veneration of the cross and religious pictures which further the decent of the medieval church in the pagan and anti-scriptural practices
What was the main distinction between the western church in Rome and the eastern church in Byzantium
Church in Rome and embraced icons throughout and the banning of these images in the eastern church for extended times begin and growing rivalry
What happened in 867 to 1057 A.D.
There was a restoration of Byzantiums power as Basal I drove back the Muslims and gained back Asia minor and the Balkan territory. Basal the second reinforced these borders and his rule marked the peak of the byzantine commercial activity and economic prosperity between 976-1057
What does iconoclasm mean
Image destroyer
What year did Byzantium fall
1453
Why did the Byzantine empire decline and fall?
The empire became soft due to political corruption, excessive luxury, and personal pleasures. In this vulnerable state the Seljuk Turks attacked. The defeated the Byzantines at the battle of Manzikert and the Turks overran Asia Minor an threatened the whole empire. In response the church promoted crusades to recover the holy land from the muslims. The Ottoman Turks poured into Asia minor in the 14th century they conquered the byzantine lands and laid siege to Constantinople finally taking it in 1453 and thus ending the empire
Who were the two men that conceived a plan in the late 11th century to call on the Roman church and the people of the western Europe to help him drive off the Muslim presence in the Christian world
Emperor Alexius Comnenusand pope urban II
Byzantine contributions to civilization
- The Justinian code (law)
- Preservation of Greco roman culture
- Preservation of ancient manuscripts vital to the scholars of the renaissance including the Greek New Testament .
- Eastern Orthodox Church became the church of the Russians Slavs and bulgars
- Cyril missionary to Slavs translated religious works into the Slavs language by inventing the Cyrillic alphabet.
- Architecture (Hagia Sophia )
- Byzantine art influenced the artists of the Italian renaissance
- Byzantine empire preserved Christianity and western culture by resisting the Muslim invasions.
