Transcript Unit 5, Preface, Byzantium and the Turks

Chapter 11 Section 1
Byzantium Becomes the New
Rome
The City of Byzantium
 Constantine: first
Christian Roman emperor
 Rebuilt port city of Byzantium:
 dangers of the Germanic Tribes invading
east.
 rich trade of the east.
Students recall:
In what year did the
Western Roman empire
finally collapse
due to the invasions
by Germanic tribes?
476 A.D.
Emperor Constantine
moved the capital out of
Rome and to the eastern
capital of Byzantium, a
city he renamed for
himself –
Constantinople.
The eastern half of the
old Roman empire
would now become
the Byzantine Empire.
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.
Constantinople
 330: Constantinople founded
 Planned as
new capital Empire
 Eastern empire centered in Constantinople
 developed independently of west
Europe c. 530 AD
Justinian
 Emperor

of the Eastern Empire 527
Sent military to retrieve Roman lands lost
 550:
Ruled most of land Rome ever ruled
Byzantine Emperors
 Absolute
power/total authority
State
Church
 88 Byzantine emperors
29 assassinations
13 abandoned throne to live in
monasteries

Building a New Rome
Most Byzantines spoke Greek, not Latin.
 Justinian Code
 Four works
 outlined laws of Byzantine Empire

The Justinian Code

Code—5,000 Roman laws useful to new empire.

Digest—Summarized Rome’s greatest legal minds

Institutes—Told law students how to use the laws

Novellae—New laws passed after 534
527 – Justinian becomes ruler
of the eastern empire
Justinian I
Ruled 527-565 A.D.
What did Justinian accomplish during his reign?
Conquered new lands and retook former Roman lands so that
his new Byzantine empire almost as big as Rome’s had been.
Belisarius was Emperor Justinian’s head general and
one of the greatest military commanders of his time.
He spearheaded Byzantium's attempts to rebuild the
Roman Empire, retaking North Africa from the
Vandals. His very successes, however, made him many
enemies. Incriminated in a plot against Justinian, his eyes
were put out on the Emperor's orders in 561 A.D.
Belisarius
According to a historian named
Procopius,
Belisarius was stripped of all his
possessions and was reduced to
begging in the streets
of Byzantium.
“Belisarius,” by Jacques-Louis David,
French Neoclassical painting, 1781.
BYZANTINE WEALTH
From Trade
What can you infer
about
Constantinople’s
location that made
it a strategic
location to benefit
from Trade?
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.
BYZANTINE WEALTH
From Trade
Very typical
Byzantine Art:
Church
adornments &
Religious icons
Left:
Icon depicting
“Presentation of
Christ in the
Temple,”
Byzantine wood
painted, with goldleaf background.
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.
“Empress Theodora and her attendants”
From a collection of mosaics in the presbytery of the Church of San Vitale,
The Glories of Constantinople
The Hippodrome—60,000
seat stadium
The center median of the
former Hippodrome
racetrack in
Constantinople is today a
city park in modern-day
Istanbul, Turkey
The Glories of Constantinople

Hagia Sophia
Theodora and Justinian preside over the dedication
of the magnificent church Hagia Sophia (Church of “Holy
Wisdom”)
Empire Confronts Enemies
 542-about 10,000
people/day died of
plague
 Constant attacks from Avars, Slavs,
and Bulgars.
 1483, Constantinople finally fell the
Ottoman Turks
The Church Divides
 Great
Schism – Division of Roman
Catholic and Eastern Orthodox
Christianity
Byzantine Art

Icons
Chapter 11 Section 3
Turkish Empires Rise in
Anatolia
The Turks
 Nomadic
herders
 Roamed Anatolia (modern Turkey)
 Converted to Islam
Incorporated into Abbasid Empire
The Mamelukes
 Abbasids noticed
military skills of Turks
 bought/raised Turk child slaves
 These slaves=mamelukes
 Gained power in Baghdad
Mameluke
Sultanate
Turkic Art
Arab Culture
The Rise of the Seljuks
 Abbasid empire crumbled
Turks migrated to their land
 Seljuk Turks conquered Baghdad 1055

Seljuk Victories
 1075,
Seljuks attacked Byzantine Empire
 Almost captured Constantinople
 Conquered Anatolia, Persia
The Crusades
Pope Urban II-1095
 ordered Christian knights drive Turks from
Jerusalem
 1099, Christian armies captured Jerusalem
 slaughtered Muslims, Jews in city
 1187, Turks recaptured Jerusalem
