Review Fall of Rome

  Roman emperor, Diocletian (284 AD) divided the Roman Empire into east and west

Review Fall of Rome

  Constantine (312 AD) rejoined the east and west, moving the capital from Rome to Byzantium, re-naming the city Constantinople

The Byzantine Empire   The western half of the empire continued to suffer from invasion and

was too weak to withstand it and the last Roman emperor was ousted in 476 BC

  The eastern empire became known as the Byzantine Empire.

Emperor Justinian   In 527, a Byzantine nobleman

named Justinian took control of the throne of the eastern empire

  He spent much of his reign fighting to regain control of Rome and the Italian peninsula

  He called himself the new Caesar and ruled the Byzantine empire much like the famous emperors of Rome   He was head of both the church and

state and exercised absolute power

Roman influence in Byzantine Culture   Byzantine citizens continued to

value the classical learning of Greco-Roman culture

  Students in the empire learned Greek and Latin grammar, as well as philosophy, and read classic literature written by the Greeks and Romans.

  Many Roman laws remained intact, but even more were discarded

  Christianity was the official religion

Rise of Constantinople Justinian launched the most ambitious public building projects ever seen in the Roman world.   14-mile wall around the city

  Built numerous churches (see the Hagia Sophia)

  Built courts, schools, and hospitals

  Market of Constantinople offered trade goods from as far away as Africa, Asia, and Europe

Rise of Constantinople

Empress Theodora   The most powerful woman in

Byzantine history

  Justinian’s wife and advisor

  Rose from poverty and gained fame as an actress

  Met with foreign envoys, wrote to foreign leaders, passed laws, and built churches

  Some of the laws she passed were designed to protect women and grant them more benefits

Justinian’s Code   Some of Roman law was maintained in Justinian’s new

system of law. The legal system established in Justinian’s Code served as law in the Byzantine Empire for 900 years.

  The new system of law became known as Justinian’s Code and consisted of four works 1.  The Code contained 5,000 Roman laws 2.  The Digest quoted and summarized the opinions of Rome’s

greatest legal thinkers and consisted of 50 volumes 3.  The Institutes was a text that told law students how to use

the laws 4.  The Novellae (New Laws) presented all new legislation

Impact on Russia   Byzantium had always

actively traded with Slavic peoples to the north. As the Greek Byzantines interacted with Slavs, Russian culture was born.

  Slavic peoples had culturally similar but politically disjointed communities settled along the rivers running through the Black Forest.

Impact on Russia Trade

  Around 880, the city of Kiev was settled on the Dnieper River. People living in Kiev could sail by river to Constantinople to trade.

Dnieper River

Location of Constantinople

Impact on Russia Politics and Religion

  In 957, a princess named Olga from Kiev converted to Christianity. Her grandson, Vladimir, converted the entire population of Kiev to Eastern Christianity in 989, by baptizing them in the Dnieper River.

  Vladimir imported teachers from Byzantium to teach his people about the new religion.

  When Ivan III came to power in Moscow, he declared that he would make Russia the “third Rome” and took the title of “czar”, the Russian word for “Caesar”

The Great Schism   Christianity had developed quite

differently in the eastern and western empires.

  The Eastern (Greek) Church and the Western (Latin) Church eventually became the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches, respectively.

The Great Schism Religious Differences

  Main religious differences that led to the break was the western church’s addition of “and the son” to the Nicene Creed in 589, defining the Holy Trinity as “The father, the son, and the holy spirit”. The original Greek form says that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the father.

  They also disagreed about the Pope’s claims to universal jurisdiction.

  The Pope of the western church and the Patriarch of the eastern church eventually suppressed Greek and Latin in their respective domains.

  In 1054, the Pope and Patriarch excommunicated each other (they outcast one another from the church).

Central Differences Greek Orthodox

(East)   The Emperor claims

authority over the Patriarch and bishops

  The Patriarch and bishops share power and administer the church as a group

  Priests are allowed to marry

  Divorce is permitted in certain cases

Roman Catholic (West)

  The Pope claims authority over all bishops, kings and emperors

  Priests may not marry

  Divorce is not permitted