The Byzantine Empire

Oh No!! Rome Has Fallen!

• Eastern and Western halves were officially split into two distinct empires in 395 CE

• 5th century (476 CE): Rome is sacked by the invading Germanic tribes, but only the Western Empire falls.

• The Eastern Empire exists for 1,000 more years.• Capital is Constantinople (modern name:

Istanbul)• Split of the Catholic Church (1054) Great Schism

Characteristics of Byzantine Empire

• Elegant buildings

• Christian churches

• Language: Greek

• Commerce

• Armies based on barbarian recruits

• Emperor separate from society

Emperor Justinian(r. 527- 565 CE)

• Successes:– Law Code– Rebuild Constantinople– Reclaims some Roman

provinces:• North Africa, city of Rome

(temporarily), parts of Spain

• Failures:– Unable to retake Italy for

good– Weakened empire through

expansion

Justinian Code

• Created between 528-533 CE by a panel of ten legal experts– Preserved and reformed/updated Roman law that had

existed for 400 years.– Ultimate Goal: Create a single, uniform law code for the

Byz. Empire.– Forms the basis of modern legal systems.

• Covered all aspects of life: marriage, slavery, property, inheritance, women’s rights and crimes

• Code is used for over 900 years

Four Parts of the Justinian Code

1. Code: 5,000 Roman laws2. Digest: quoted and summarized

Rome’s greatest legal opinions and thinkers about laws (50 volumes)

3. Institutes: textbook for law students; handbook on how to use laws

4. Novellae (New Laws): any legislation (laws) created after 534

Empress Theodora• Justinian’s wife• Very powerful in her own

right:– Met with foreign leaders,

passed laws, built churches

• Theodora pushes for women’s rights:– Man couldn’t beat wife– Women could sue for

divorce.– Women could own property

Byzantine Politics

• Emperor head of church and state

• Make religious and secular laws

• Bureaucracy– Trained in Greek

classics– From all classes– Spies– Emperor appointed

local leaders to be sent throughout the empire

Constantinople (Istanbul)

• Founded by Constantine and established as the capital of the Byzantine Empire in 330 CE

Constantinople• Naturally protected by waterways on either

side– Coasts were lined with a 14-mile stone wall– Controlled the water between the Aegean and

Black Sea.

• Only land border is protected by a moat and three other walls– 70 feet tall; 25 feet thick

• Constantinople is in middle of trade routes.• City became rich from taxes on trade.

• With the money made from trade, Justinian was able to fund and complete great architectural projects

– Hagia Sophia

• (“Holy Wisdom”)

– Palace

– Aqueducts

– Schools

– Hospitals

Life in Constantinople• Great trade, shopping and cultural attractions in the

city– Offered goods from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle

East

• Entertainment:– Hippodrome: chariot races; circus; held 60,000 people

• Intellectual Life: – education highly prized, influenced by ancient Greek

literature and historical writings– passed on Greco-Roman mathematics and geometry to

the Arabs who adopted and improved it

Problems in the Byzantine Empire

• The Plague– Originated in rats on an Indian trading ship– 542: 10,000 die per day– Occurred every 8-10 years – Smaller population caused empire to be an easy target

for outside groups

• Outside Attacks:– Several groups attempted to attack the empire: Slavs,

Persians, Arab armies, Russians, Turks, knights from Western Europe

– The Crusaders– Finally falls in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks