Unit 7: After Rome: Constantinople, Baghdad, and Kiev Flashcards
1
Q
Constantinople
A
- named after emperor Constantine
- made the new capital in A.D. 303c
2
Q
Justinian
A
- high-ranking Byzantine nobleman
- succeed his uncle to the throne of the Eastern Empire in 527 to 565
- 533 = sent Belisarius to recover North Africa from the invading Germanic tribes
- his armies won nearly all of Italy and Parts of Spain
- set up a panel of legal experts to regulate Byzantium’s increasingly complex society
- they combed through 400 years of Roman law and created the Justinian Code
- considered as a new Caesar
- built churches, baths, aqueducts, law courts, schools, and hospitals; rebuilt Constantinople from it’s crumbling fortifications; hired workers to build a 14-mile wall along Constantinople’s coastline; enlarged his palace into a vast complex
- rebuilt the Hagia Sophia
- after his wife, Theodora, died, he was so depressed that he didn’t pass any major laws for the rest of his reign
- died in 565
3
Q
Belisarius
A
- Justinian’s best general
- attacked Rome and seized it from the Ostrogoths
4
Q
Byzantine emperors
A
- like the old Caesars
- headed the state and church
- appointed and dismissed bishops at will
- their politics were brutal and often deadly
- always at risk of assassination
- 29 Byzantine emperors died violently and 13 abandoned the throne to live in monasteries (out of 88)
5
Q
the Justinian Code
A
- decided legal questions that regulated whole areas of Byzantine life (marriage, slavery, property, inheritance, women’s rights, criminal justice)
- served the Byzantine Empire for 900 yrs
- consisted of 4 works………
1. The Code contained 5,000 Roman laws that were still considered useful for the Byzantine Empire
2. The Digest quoted and summarized the opinions of Rome’s greatest legal thinkers about the laws (50 volumes)
3. The Institutes was a textbook that told law students how to use the law
4. The Novellae (New Laws) presented legislation pass after 534.
6
Q
Hagia Sophia
A
- means “Holy Wisdom” in Greek
- Church of the Holy Wisdom
- destroyed during riots in Constantinople
- rebuilt by Justinian
- many visited
- dome = 182 ft tall
- visitors hailed it as the greatest church in the Christian world (for 1,000 yrs)
- converted to a mosque (put in minarets)
7
Q
Preservation of the Greco-Roman Culture
A
- Byzantine families valued education (classical learning)
- basic courses for byzantine students focused on Greek and Latin grammar, and philosophy
- the classics of Greek and Roman literature survived in textbooks
- Students memorized Homer, learned geometry form Euclid, history from Herodotus, and medicine from Galen
- kept latin (read latin and kept latin docs) but they spoke greek
- architecture = looked like Roman architecture
- old Roman laws survived and were still used
- still have emperors (all powerful)
- dress silimalr to Romans
- entertainment (chariot racing)
8
Q
Mese
A
“Middle Way”
- main street running through Constantinople
- merchant stalls lined it and filled the sides of the streets
- products from Asia, Africa, and Europe passed though these stalls
- had food stands
- acrobats and street musicians performed
9
Q
Hippodrome
A
- from the Greeks words “horse” and racecourse”
- where citizens enjoyed free entertainment
- offered wild chariot races and performance acts
- held 60,000 spectators
- fans of different teams formed rowdy gangs maned for their colors worn by their heroes
10
Q
the Nika Rebellion
A
- the 2 fan groups (blue & green –> chariot racers) sparked this rebellion
- yelled “Nika!”meaning “victory”
- both sides were angry with the government and felt that city officials had been to severe in putting down a previous riot of Hippodrome fans
- didn’t like the taxation–> angry
- they packed the Hippodrome and demanded the overthrow of Justinian
- Belisarius broke in with his troops and killed about 30,000 rebels
- Justinian almost ran away but Theodora urged his to say (pg 303, theodora’s speech to Justinian)
11
Q
Theodora
A
- was an actress (stipper/exotic dancer)
- tough
- she is the reason why Justinian survived
- Justinian’s wife and steely advisor (married in 525)
- had immense power because she was his advisor
- met with foreign envoys, wrote to foreign leaders, passed laws, and built churches
- during one political crisis, she confiscated the property of general Belisarius
- 743 = restored icons to Eastern Churches
- died in 548
12
Q
the bubonic plague
A
- first crisis in the Byzantine Empire (before Justinian’s death)
- disease
- probably arrived from India in ships infested with rats
- 542= the worst year of the plague, 10,000 ppl were dying every day
- faded in 700
- destroyed a huge percentage of the Byzantine population
13
Q
Attacks from the East and West
A
- lombards overran Justinian’s conquests in the west
- Avars, Slavs, and Bulgars made frequent raids on the northern borders
- Sassanid Persians attacked in the east
- 626 = the Persians and Avars struck Constantinople against itself
- 674 and 717 = Arab armies attacked Constantinople
- between 860 and 1043 = Russians attempted invasions of Constantinople 3 times
- 11th century = Turks took over the Muslim world and fought their way slowly into Byzantine territory
- 1350 = the Byzantine Empire shrank under foreign attacks and eventually reduced to the tip Anatolia and a strip of Balkans
- 1453 = Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks
14
Q
What various methods did the Byzantines use to hold off their enemies?
A
- they used bribes, diplomacy, political marriages, and military power
- 7th century= Emperor Heraclius reorganized the empire along military lines
- provinces became themes
- each theme was run by a general who reported directly to the emperor
- these strategies didn’t last ofrever
15
Q
theme
A
military district
16
Q
Saint Basil
A
- one of the early Church fathers
- 357 = wrote the rules for the life of the monks
- look on pg 304
17
Q
patriarch
A
leading bishop (of the East) -bowed to the emperor
18
Q
Saint John Chrysostom
A
- bishop of Constantinople from 398-404
- leading bishop of the East (patriarch)
19
Q
icons
A
religious images used by Eastern Christians to aid their devotions
20
Q
Emperor Leo III
A
- 730 = banned the use of icons
- he viewed the use of icons as idol worship
- ppl responded with riots and the clergy rebelled
- excommunicated by the pope
21
Q
excommunication
A
outcasted from the Church
22
Q
Cryllic alphabet
A
- alphabet for the writing of Slavic languages, including Russian
- invented by Saint Methodius and Saint Cyril
23
Q
Eastern and Western churches
A
- East = the Orthodox Church (emperor = leader; had a period where icons were banned
- West = the Roman Catholic Church (used icons; pope = leader)
- 1050 = schism
