Byzantine Empire/ Fall of Roman Empires

What was Rome's culture ?

Christian, Greek, Latin

Who were the rulers patriarch of the 5 patriarchs of Rome ?

Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.

Purpose of Byzantinum

the site of Byzantium was ideally located to serve as a transit and trade point between Europe and Asia Minor.

What took place after Constantine's death?

this unity proved illusory after his death in 337. In 364, Emperor Valentinian I again divided the empire into western and eastern sections, putting himself in power in the west and his brother Valens in the east. The fate of the two regions diverged greatly over the next several centuries. In the west, constant attacks from German invaders such as the Visigoths broke the struggling empire down piece by piece until Italy was the only territory left under Roman control. In 476, the barbarian Odoacer overthrew the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, and Rome had fallen.

Iconoclasm to monasticism

During the eighth and early ninth centuries, Byzantine emperors (beginning with Leo III in 730) spearheaded a movement that denied the holiness of icons, or religious images, and prohibited their worship or veneration.... Then but did not end definitively until 843, when a Church council under Emperor Michael III ruled in favor of the display of religious images.

What was the new official language of the state?

Greek

Who took over Byzantine?

Justinian I, who took power in 527 and would rule until his death in 565, was the first great ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

When and why the Byzantine empire fell ?

The Byzantine Empire finally fell in 1453, after an Ottoman army stormed Constantinople during the reign of Constantine XI.

What happened with the crusades?

The Crusades were military campaigns sanctioned by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. In 1095 Byzantine Emperor Alexios I, in Constantinople, sent an ambassador to Pope Urban II in Italy pleading for military help against the growing Turkish threat.

What happened when emperor of Rome, Constantine, decide to create a "new rome"?

The Roman Empire crumbled and fell in 476, the eastern half survived for 1,000 more years, spawning a rich tradition of art, literature and learning and serving as a military buffer between the states of Europe and the threat of invasion from Asia.

What consisted in Byzantine Empire golden age?

Though it stretched over less territory, Byzantium had more control over trade, more wealth and more international prestige than under Justinian. The strong imperial government patronized the arts, restored churches, palaces and other cultural institutions and promoted the study of ancient Greek history and literature.

What was significant about eastern rome geographic nation?

With Constantinople located on a strait, it was extremely difficult to breach the capital's defenses; in addition, the eastern empire had a much shorter common frontier with Europe. It also benefited greatly from a stronger administrative center and internal political stability, as well as great wealth compared with other states of the early medieval period. The eastern emperors were able to exert more control over the empire's economic resources and more effectively muster sufficient manpower to combat invasion. As a result of these advantages, the Eastern Roman Empire-variously known as the Byzantine Empire or Byzantium-was able to survive for centuries after the fall of Rome.

What caused debt

Debts incurred through war had left the empire in dire financial straits, however, and his successors were forced to heavily tax Byzantine citizens in order to keep the empire afloat. In addition, the imperial army was stretched too thin, and would struggle in vain to maintain the territory conquered during Justinian's rule.

Byzantine fall and legacy

During the rule of the Palaiologan emperors, beginning with Michael VIII in 1261, the economy of the Byzantine state was crippled, and never regained its former stature. -John V unsuccessfully sought financial help from the West to confront the growing Turkish threat, but was arrested as an insolvent debtor in Venice. Four years later, he was forced-like the Serbian princes and the ruler of Bulgaria-to become a vassal of the mighty Turks. As a vassal state, Byzantium paid tribute to the sultan and provided him with military support. Under John's successors, the empire gained sporadic relief from Ottoman oppression, but the rise of Murad II as sultan in 1421 marked the end of the final respite. Murad revoked all privileges given to the Byzantines and laid siege to Constantinople; his successor, Mehmed II, completed this process when he launched the final attack on the city. On May 29, 1453, after an Ottoman army stormed Constantinople, Mehmed triumphantly entered the Hagia Sophia, which would become the city's leading mosque. Emperor Constantine XI died in battle that day, and the decline and fall of the Byzantine Empire was complete. -the culture of the Byzantine Empire-including literature, art and theology-flourished once again, even as the empire itself faltered.

What was the official religion for Rome?

Five years earlier, at the Council of Nicaea, Constantine had established Christianity (once an obscure Jewish sect) as Rome's official religion.

What was lost due to a threat from Muslim armies?

Muslim armies began their assault on the Byzantine Empire by storming into Syria. By the end of the century, Byzantium would lose Syria, the Holy Land, Egypt and North Africa (among other territories) to Islamic forces.

What was Byzantium official language

Latin Greek was also widely spoken, and students received education in Greek history, literature and culture.

Justine's accomplishments

Many great monuments of the empire would be built under Justinian, including the domed Church of Holy Wisdom, or Hagia Sophia (532-37 A.D.). Justinian also reformed and codified Roman law, establishing a Byzantine legal code that would endure for centuries and help shape the modern concept of the state.

What is so special about the Byzantine empire ?

One of the most extraordinary aspects of the Byzantine Empire was its longevity: It was the only organized state west of China to survive without interruption from ancient times until the beginning of the modern age. Hard to get attacked due to bodies of water.