Lectures 26 - 30

Question 1

Huns

Answer 1

Fierce nomadic warriors from the frontiers of China who appeared on the Roman scene around 370 and pressured the western empire until their defeat in 451.

Question 2

Cisalpine Gaul

Answer 2

Roman name for the Italian area between the Alps and the Rubicon River, literally “Gaul on this side of the Alps.”

Question 3

Franks

Answer 3

Germanic peoples who gradually moved south from the Rhine mouth toward Paris, and built powerful kingdoms under the Merovingian and Carolingian families of kings.

Question 4

Ostrogoths

Answer 4

Germanic people who built a kingdom in Italy under their king, Theodoric (r. 493–526), only to fall to the armies of Justinian.

Question 5

Visigoths

Answer 5

Germanic federates who crossed the Danube into Roman territory in 376, defeated a Roman army in 378, sacked Rome in 410, settled in Gaul under Roman auspices in 418, lost to the Franks in 507, and migrated into Spain and created a kingdom that finally fell to the Muslims in 711.

Question 6

Justinian

Answer 6

(r. 527–565)

East Roman emperor who reconquered some western provinces, overhauled the administration, issued the Corpus Iuris Civilis, failed to find religious unity, and built Hagia Sophia.

Question 7

Barbarian (Key Points)

Answer 7

1. Spoke Germanic languages
2. Thousands of encounters with Romans
3. The people who entered Rome were a polyethinic confederations
4. Can only assign a history to barbaric people after they enter Roman history

Question 8

Edict of Milan

Answer 8

Decree in 313 whereby Constantine granted legal toleration to Christianity.

Question 9

patristic era

Answer 9

The period of the church fathers (300-600 west), (300-750 east)

Question 10

Petrine theory

Answer 10

Idea advanced by Roman bishops that as Peter was leader of the Apostles, the successor to Peter is the leader of the church. Based on Matthew 16.16–19.

Question 11

Ambrose

Answer 11

(339–397)

High-born citizen of Milan who became bishop of the city and wrote extensively, bringing to Latin theology the conceptual frameworks of Greek thought. church father.

Question 12

Augustine

Answer 12

(354–430)

Prolific Christian theologian and greatest of Latin church fathers. One of the most influential writers in Christian history.

Question 13

Gregory I

Answer 13

(r. 590–604)

Pope who wrote influential books and ruled Rome as temporal overlord in the absence of effective Roman rule.

Question 14

monk

Answer 14

Christian ascetic who in principle lives alone but in practice lives in some form of community.

Question 15

Benedict of Nursia

Answer 15

(c. 480–c. 550)

Italian ascetic who founded a community at Monte Cassino where he wrote his Rule, eventually the most influential of all monastic rules.

Question 16

Muhammad

Answer 16

(570–632)

Meccan merchant who became the prophet of Islam.

Question 17

sunna

Answer 17

The “good practice,” or the habits and customs of the prophet Muhammad, studied in the Islamic world as a guide to life but not on a par with the Quran.

Question 18

Quran

Answer 18

The sacred book of Islam. A series of recitations, gathered in chapters called surahs, given by the angel Gabriel to the prophet Muhammad.

Question 19

Islam

Answer 19

From al-Islam, “the surrender,” the customary name for the faith taught by the prophet Muhammad and involving a complete surrender of the self to Allah.

Question 20

hadith

Answer 20

The sayings of the prophet Muhammad. Collected and written down, they are studied in the Islamic world as a source of religious guidance, although not on a par with the Quran.

Question 21

Hijra

Answer 21

The “flight,” or pilgrimage, of the prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622. Taken in the Islamic world to inaugurate a new era.

Question 22

monophysitism

Answer 22

Christian heresy prominent in the eastern Mediterranean holding that Jesus Christ had only one true (divine) nature. Condemned by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Still influential among West Asian Christians.

Question 23

Heraclius

Answer 23

(r. 610–641)

East Roman emperor who defeated the Persians only to lose to the Arabs. Failed to achieve religious unity. Began to promote a more Greek culture. Initiated theme system as a new form of administration.

Question 25

themes

Answer 25

Byzantine military districts having soldiers settled on the land who were mustered by local generals. Themes developed gradually after 600 and partially replaced the professional standing army paid by general tax revenues.

Question 26

Isaurians

Answer 26

Ruling dynasty in Byzantium (717–802). Defended frontiers, issued new laws, carried on with development of the theme system, and promoted iconoclasm (the removal or destruction of devotional images).