History of Civ ch. 6a

"New Rome"

"Nova Roma" is traditionally reported to be the Latin name given by emperor Constantine the Great to the new imperial capital he founded in 330 at the city on the European coast of the Bosporus strait, known as Byzantium until then and as Kōnstantinoúpolis (Constantinople) from that time to its official renaming as Istanbul in 1928. Constantinople gradually became a "New Rome."

Muslim

A follower of the religion of Islam.

[jihad]

A war or struggle against unbelievers (of Islam). The spiritual struggle within oneself against sin.

Ibn Rushd (Averroes)

An Andalusian Muslim polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy.

Muhammad

Arab prophet and founder of Islam. In c.610, in Mecca, he received the first of a series of revelations that, as the Koran, became the doctrinal and legislative basis of Islam. In the face of opposition to his preaching, he and his small group of supporters were forced to flee to Medina in 622 (the Hegira). Muhammad led his followers into a series of battles against the Meccans. In 630, Mecca capitulated and by his death Muhammad had united most of Arabia.

Ibn-Sina (Avicenna)

Arabian physician and influential Islamic philosopher; his interpretation of Aristotle influenced St. Thomas Aquinas; writings on medicine were important for almost 500 years.

Leo III

Byzantine emperor 717-741. In 726, he banned icons and other religious images; the resulting iconoclastic controversy led to more than a century of political and religious turmoil.

Ottoman Turks, 1453

Captured constantinople in 1453 and rename it istanbul; as a result the byzantine people flee to italian city-states which becomes a catalyst for the expansion of language and art.

Cyril and Methodius

Cyril and Methodius, Saints (məthō`dēəs), d. 869 and 884, respectively, Greek missionaries, brothers, called Apostles to the Slavs and fathers of Slavonic literature. Their history and influence are obscured by conflicting legends. After working among the Khazars, they were sent (863) from Constantinople by Patriarch Photius to Moravia. Cyrillic alphabet used in those countries today, traditionally ascribed to St. Cyril, was probably the work of his followers. It was based probably by Cyril himself upon the glagolithic alphabet, which is still used by certain Croatian and Montenegrin Catholics.

Cordoba

Córdoba, also called Cordova in English, is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. An Iberian and Roman city in ancient times, in the Middle Ages it became the capital of an Islamic caliphate.

Sunnis

Followers of the sunna, "tradition."

622: Hegira

Forced flight of Muhammad and his followers to Medina, 240 miles north of Mecca. This event marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar.

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey.

Heraclius

Heraclius was Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor from 610 to 641. He was responsible for abandoning the use of Latin in favor of the Ancient Greek language in official documents, further Hellenising the empire.

Justinian

Justinian I, commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire. He codified Roman law 529.

Huns: Attila

King of the Huns 434-453. He ravaged vast areas between the Rhine and the Caspian Sea before being defeated by the joint forces of the Roman army and the Visigoths at Châlons in 451.

Ostrogoths: Theodoric

King of the Ostrogoths 471-526; known as Theodoric the Great. Founded the Ostrogoth kingdom in Italy. At its greatest extent, his empire included Italy, Sicily, Dalmatia, and parts of Germany. The Ostrogoths were members of the eastern group of Goths who created a kingdom in northern Italy around 500 AD.

Moses Maimonides

Maimonides: Spanish philosopher considered the greatest Jewish scholar of the Middle Ages who codified Jewish law in the Talmud.

Islam

New religion appearing in Arabia in the sixth century in response to the work of the prophet Muhammad.

Seljuk Turks

Nomadic Turks from Asia who conquered Baghdad in 1055 and allowed the caliph to remain only as a religious leader. they governed strictly.

caliphate

Office of the leader of the Muslim community.

Ka'ba

One of Arabia's holiest shrines located in Mecca, the birthplace of Muhammed.

Al-razi (Rhazes)

Persian physician whose medical writings were a major influence during the Middle Ages.

Qur'an

Sacred book comprised of a collection of the revealed texts that God had chosen Muhammed to convey.

476

September 4—Romulus Augustus, the last traditionally accepted Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, is deposed by Odoacer. This event is traditionally regarded as the date of the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the European Dark Ages.

Shi'a

The "party" of Ali. They believed Ali and his descendants were Muhammad's only rightful successors.

Abbasid Dynasty: Baghdad

The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate from all but the al-Andalus region.

Battle of Manzikert

The Battle of Manzikert, or Malazgirt, was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuq forces led by Alp Arslan on August 26, 1071. The Battle of Manzikert in 1054 was a successful defense of the city of Manzikert by Byzantine forces under Basil Apocapes against the Seljuk Turks led by Toğrül.

Battle of Poitiers, 732

The Battle of Tours (October 732), also called the Battle of Poitiers (Battle of the Royal Palace of Martyrs) was fought in an area between the cities of Poitiers and Tours, in north-central France, near the village of Moussais-la-Bataille, about 12 miles northeast of Poitiers.

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Roman Empire during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople.

Corpus Juris Civilis

The Corpus Juris Civilis is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, issued from 529 to 534 by order of Justinian I, Eastern Roman Emperor. The most comprehensive code of Roman law, the legal system of Rome from the supposed founding of the city in 753 B.C. It is also referred to as the Code of Justinian.

Visigoths, Vandals

The Visigoths (Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, or Wisi) were one of two main branches of the Goths, an East Germanic tribe; the Ostrogoths being the other. Together these tribes were among the barbarians who disturbed the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period. Member of the western group of Goths who sacked Rome and created a kingdom in present-day Spain and southern France. Best known for their sack of Rome in 455.

Umayyad Dynasty: Damascus

This dynasty headed the Arab empire from 661 to 750; its capital was at Damascus. The 'Abbasid dynasty then took power.