Chpt. 6, Cross-Cultural Exchange in Byzantium

Question 1

iconoclasm

Answer 1

a movement that opposed the use of icons based on the belief that worship should not be given to images, only god (even though the images weren’t actually being worshipped)

Question 2

Justinian

Answer 2

one of the strongest of the Byzantine emperors, he came to the throne of the eastern empire in 527 AD

Question 3

Justinian Code

Answer 3

a compilation of Roman laws, legal treatises, and Byzantine laws passed after 534 AD

Question 4

Theodora (wife of Justinian)

Answer 4

she supported her husband and also championed women’s rights; she restored the use of icons, against the wishes of iconoclasts

Question 5

Seljuk Turks

Answer 5

hostile nomads who in the 11th century conquered most of the Asian territories of the Byzantine Empire, cutting off major sources of tax income and food supply

Question 6

Eastern Orthodox Church

Answer 6

the eastern variant of Christianity that existed in the Byzantine Empire

Question 7

patriarch

Answer 7

the leader of the Eastern Orthodox (Byzantine) Church; he is the same thing as the Pope, except he is not believed to have been appointed by God over the Byzantine Church, and does not have infallibility

Question 8

Cyrillic alphabet

Answer 8

the language devised by Saint Cyril to teach the Slavs the Bible; it remains the alphabet of the Russian language and other Slavic languages even today

Question 9

Slavs

Answer 9

peoples who by the mid-9th century lived north of the Black Sea and in the general area of the Balkans

Question 10

steppes

Answer 10

the geographical setting for the future Russian state

Question 11

Huns, Magyars, and Avars

Answer 11

nomadic peoples for whom the loosely organized Slavs made easy prey

Question 12

Viking invasions

Answer 12

these occurred in the 800s and brought the Vikings into trading contact with eastern Europe

Question 13

Kiev

Answer 13

a city located along the Viking trading routes; the Vikings defended this, and another city (Novgorod), against the incursion of steppe nomads (barbarians); Slavs began to refer to the Vikings and the territory they controlled as Rus, from which would come the term Russian

Question 14

Prince Vladimir

Answer 14

as Kiev prospered and grew into a state, this prince had a great influence when he chose to adopt Eastern Orthodox Christianity; rather than doing so for religious motives, he did so because he believed that a more sophisticated religion was needed for political success, he knew that Islam prohibited alcohol, and he thought that Judaism lacked the political power he wanted

Question 15

Russian Orthodox Church

Answer 15

a new church that developed when Prince Vladimir brought Byzantine Christianity into Russia

Question 16

mameluks

Answer 16

military slaves who fought in the armies of the Abbasids; eventually their military proficiency made them stronger than their Abbasid masters; in 1055 they took it over, while keeping the Abbasid ruler in place as a figurehead

Question 17

shah

Answer 17

the Seljuk’s adoption of the Persian language led to the near disappearance of Arabic in Persia; for example, they began referring to their rulers as this word, which is the Persian word for king

Question 18

Malik Shah (1055-1092)

Answer 18

a Seljuk ruler who supported Persian architects and artists, further gaining the appreciation of the Persian people

Question 19

Pope Urban 2

Answer 19

in 1095, this Pope called for Christians to unite to drive the Seljuks out of Anatolia and Palestine, and to recover the city of Jerusalem; in 1099, the first Crusade succeeded; by the mid-13th century, the Seljuks had regained control of the Holy Land but granted Christians the right to make pilgrimages

Question 20

Crusades after the 1st

Answer 20

no Crusade after the 1st succeeded in retaking Palestine, and many turned aside from their main purpose; for example, 4th Crusade sacked the city of Constantinople, another Christian city, in 1204