Byzantine Empire - Ancient History - HISTORY.com Byzantine Empire A+E Networks Introduction The origins of the great civilization known as the Byzantine Empire can be traced to 330 A.D., when the Roman emperor Constantine I dedicated a “new Rome” on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium. Though the western half of 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. The Byzantine Empire finally fell in 1453, after an Ottoman army stormed Constantinople during the reign of Constantine XI. Google A New Rome The term “Byzantine” derives from Byzantium, an ancient Greek colony founded by a man named Byzas. Located on the European side of the Bosporus (the strait linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean), the site of Byzantium was ideally located to serve as a transit and trade point between Europe and Asia Minor. In 330 A.D., Roman Emperor Constantine I chose Byzantium as the site of a new Roman capital, Constantinople.

Five years earlier, at the Council of Nicaea, Constantine had established Christianity (once an obscure Jewish sect) as Rome’s official religion. The citizens of Constantinople and the rest of the Eastern Roman Empire identified strongly as Romans and Christians, though many of them spoke Greek and not Latin. Did You Know? 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. Though Constantine ruled over a unified Roman Empire, 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.

Survival of the Byzantine Empire The eastern half of the Roman Empire proved less vulnerable to external attack, thanks in part to its geographic location. 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. Though Byzantium was ruled by Roman law and Roman political institutions, and its official language was Latin, Greek was also widely spoken, and students received education in Greek history, literature and culture. In terms of religion, the Council of Chalcedon in 451 officially established the division of the Christian world into five patriarchates, each ruled by a patriarch: Rome (where the patriarch would later call himself pope), Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.

The Byzantine emperor was the patriarch of Constantinople, and the head of both church and state. (After the Islamic empire absorbed Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem in the seventh century, the Byzantine emperor would become the spiritual leader of most eastern Christians.) The Byzantine Empire Under Justinian Justinian I, who took power in 527 and would rule until his death in 565, was the first great ruler of the Byzantine Empire. During the years of his reign, the empire included most of the land surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, as Justinian’s armies conquered part of the former Western Roman Empire, including North Africa. 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. At the time of Justinian’s death, the Byzantine Empire reigned supreme as the largest and most powerful state in Europe.

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. During the seventh and eighth centuries, attacks by Persians and Slavs, combined with internal political instability and economic regression, threatened the empire. A new, even more serious threat arose in the form of Islam, founded by the prophet Muhammad in Mecca in 622. In 634, 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. From 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.

Known as Iconoclasm–literally “the smashing of images”–the movement waxed and waned under various rulers, but did not end definitively until 843, when a Church council under Emperor Michael III ruled in favor of the display of religious images. During the late 10th and early 11th centuries, under the rule of the Macedonian dynasty founded by Michael III’s successor, Basil, the Byzantine Empire enjoyed a 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. Greek became the official language of the state, and a flourishing culture of monasticism centered on Mount Athos in northeastern Greece. Monks administered many institutions (orphanages, schools, hospitals) in everyday life, and Byzantine missionaries won many converts to Christianity among the Slavic peoples of the central and eastern Balkans (including Bulgaria and Serbia) and Russia.

Byzantium and the Crusades The end of the 11th century saw the beginning of the Crusades , the series of holy wars waged by Western Christians against Muslims in the Near East from 1095 to 1291. With the Seijuk Turks of central Asia bearing down on Constantinople, Emperor Alexius I turned to the West for help, resulting in the declaration of “holy war” by Pope Urban II at Clermont (France) that began the First Crusade. As armies from France, Germany and Italy poured into Byzantium, Alexius tried to force their leaders to swear an oath of loyalty to him in order to guarantee that land regained from the Turks would be restored to his empire. After Western and Byzantine forces recaptured Nicaea in Asia Minor from the Turks, Alexius and his army retreated, drawing accusations of betrayal from the Crusaders. During the subsequent Crusades, animosity continued to build between Byzantium and the West, culminating in the conquest and looting of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. The Latin regime established in Constantinople existed on shaky ground due to the open hostility of the city’s population and its lack of money.

Many refugees from Constantinople fled to Nicaea, site of a Byzantine government-in-exile that would retake the capital and overthrow Latin rule in 1261. The Fall of the Byzantine Empire & Its Legacy During the rule of the Palaiologan emperors, beginning with Michael VIII in 1261, the economy of the once-mighty Byzantine state was crippled, and never regained its former stature. In 1369, Emperor 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. In the centuries leading up to the final Ottoman conquest in 1453, the culture of the Byzantine Empire–including literature, art and theology–flourished once again, even as the empire itself faltered. Byzantine culture would exert a great influence on the Western intellectual tradition, as scholars of the Italian Renaissance sought help from Byzantine scholars in translating Greek pagan and Christian writings. (This process would continue after 1453, when many of these scholars fled to Italy from Constantinople.) Long after its “end,” Byzantine culture and civilization continued to exercise an influence on countries that practiced its Orthodox religion, including Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece, among others. Tags What Language Did They Speak in Ancient Constantinople? Greek Language in Byzantine Empire What Language Did They Speak in Ancient Constantinople? Ancient/Classical History Expert By N.S.

Gill Constantinople , the new capital that Emperor Constantine developed in the East in the early fourth century A.D., lay in a largely Greek -speaking area of the Roman Empire. That doesn't mean that before the Fall of Rome the emperors headquartered and the people living there were native Greek speakers or, even if they were, incompetent Latin speakers. Both languages, Greek and Latin, were part of the repertoire of the educated. Until recently, those who considered themselves educated might be native English speakers but could piece out a short passage of Latin in their literary reading and get by speaking French. Peter and Catherine the Great ushered in an era where the politically important, the nobility of Russia, knew the French language and literature as well as Russian. It was similar in the ancient world. Greek literature and themes dominated Roman writing until the mid-third century B.C., which is about a century after Alexander the Great had started the spread of Hellenism -- including the Greek Koine language -- throughout the vast areas that he had conquered. continue reading below our video 10 Facts About the Titanic That You Don't Know Greek was the language Roman aristocrats demonstrated to show their culture. They imported Greek pedagogues to teach their young.

The important rhetorician of the first century A.D., Quintilian, advocated education in Greek, since Roman children would naturally learn Latin on their own. (Inst. Oratoria i.12-14) From the second century B.C., it became common for the wealthy to send their already Greek-speaking, but native-Latin-speaking Roman sons to Athens, Greece for higher education. Before the division of the Empire first into the four parts known as the Tetrarchy under Diocletian in 293 A.D. and then into two (simply an Eastern and a Western section), the second century A.D. Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote his meditations in Greek, following the affectations popular with philosophers. By this time, however, in the West, Latin had gained a certain cachet. A bit later, a contemporary of Constantine, Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 330-395 A.D.), from Antioch, Syria , but living in Rome, wrote his history not in his familiar Greek, but in Latin. The first century A.D. Greek biographer Plutarch went to Rome to learn the language better. (p.

85 Ostler, citing Plutarch Demosthenes 2) The distribution was such that Latin was the language of the people to the west and north of a dividing line beyond Thrace, Macedonia and Epirus down to northern Africa west of western Cyrenaica. In rural areas, the uneducated would not have been expected to know Greek, and if their native language were something other than Latin -- it might be Aramaic, Syriac, Coptic, or some other ancient tongue -- they might not even have known Latin well. Likewise on the other side of the dividing line, but with Greek and Latin reversed In the East, they probably knew Greek in rural areas, to the exclusion of Latin, but in urban areas, like Constantinople, Nicomedia, Smyrna, Antioch, Berytus, and Alexandria, most people needed to have some command of both Greek and Latin. Latin helped one advance in the imperial and military service, but otherwise, it was more a formality than a useful tongue, begining at the start of the fifth century. The so-called "Last of the Romans," Constantinople-based Emperor Justinian (r.

527-565), who was an Illyrian by birth, was a native Latin-speaker. Living about a century after the Edward Gibbon -driven date of 476 for the Fall of Rome, Justinian made efforts to regain sections of the West lost to European barbarians. (Barbarian was a term the Greeks had used to mean "non-Greek speakers" and which the Romans adapted to mean those who spoke neither Greek nor Latin.) Justinian may have been trying to retake the Western Empire, but he had challenges closer to home, since neither Constantinople nor the provinces of the Eastern Empire were secure. There were also the famous Nika riots and a plague (see Lives of the Caesars ). By his time, Greek had become the official language of the surviving section of the Empire, the Eastern (or later, Byzantine) Empire. Justinian had to publish his famous law code, the Corpus Iuris Civile in both Greek and Latin. This sometimes confuses people who think the use of the Greek language in Constantinople means the inhabitants thought of themselves as Greeks, rather than as Romans.

Particularly when arguing for a post-5th century date for the Fall of Rome, some counter that by the time the Eastern Empire stopped legally requiring Latin, the inhabitants thought of themselves as Greeks, not Romans. Ostler asserts that the Byzantines referred to their language as romaika (Romanish) and that this term was in use until the 19th century. In addition, the people were known as Rumi -- a term obviously much closer to Roman than "Greek". We in the West might think of them as non-Romans, but that is another story. By the time of Justinian, Latin was not the common tongue of Constantinople, although it was still an official language. The Roman people of the city spoke a form of Greek, a Koine. Sources: "Chapter 8 Greek in the Byzantine Empire: The Major Issues" Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers, Second Edition, by Geoffrey Horrocks; Wiley: © 2010. The Latin Language, by L. R. Palmer; University of Oklahoma Press: 1987. Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin, by Nicholas Ostler; Walker: 2007.

10 Interesting Facts About The Byzantine Empire - Listverse 10 Interesting Facts About The Byzantine Empire Theodoros II April 20, 2013 The Byzantine Empire existed for nearly 1,125 years, and it’s one of the greatest empires of all time. Yet many people know little about it, other than the word “byzantine” being synonymous for highly intricate, complex, and devious dealings. Beginning its adult life as the capital for the Eastern part of the Roman Empire, the city of Constantinople—later Byzantium, and Istanbul today—became the center of an extremely vibrant society that preserved Greek and Roman traditions while much of Western Europe slipped into the Dark Ages. The Byzantine Empire protected Western Europe’s legacy until barbarism waned, when finally the preserved Greek and Roman masterworks opened the eyes of Europeans and stoked the fires of the Renaissance. Many historians have agreed that without Byzantium to protect it, Europe would have been overrun by the tide of Islamic invaders. The purpose of this list is for the readers to take an accurate historical journey—based on real facts—very much worth taking.

10 Origin of the Empire’s Name The origins of Byzantium are clouded by mystery, but for our list we will follow the generally accepted version. Around 660 B.C., a Greek citizen, Byzas , from the town of Megara near Athens, consulted the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. Byzas requested advice on where he should found a new colony, since the mainland of Greece was becoming overpopulated. The oracle simply whispered, “opposite the blind.” Byzas didn’t understand the message, but he sailed northeast across the Aegean Sea. When he came to the Bosphorus Strait, he realized what the oracle must have meant. Seeing the Greek city of Chalcedon , he thought that its founders must have been blind, because they had not seen the obviously superior site just half a mile away on the other side of the strait. So he founded his settlement on the better site, and called it Byzantium after himself. 9 Geopolitics Favored Byzantium Byzantium had an excellent harbor and many good fishing spots in its vicinity. It occupied a strategic position between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, and therefore soon became a leading port and trade center, linking the continents of Europe and Asia.

Occupation, destruction and regeneration became the rule for the city. In 590 B.C., Byzantium was destroyed by the Persians. It was later rebuilt by the Spartans, and then fought over by Athens and Sparta until 336 B.C. From 336 to 323 B.C., it was under the control of the famous Greek general, Alexander the Great . After the death of Alexander, Byzantium finally regained its independence. In the following years, right before the city became the capital of one of the greatest empires ever, it was attacked by various invaders such as the Scythians, the Celts, and of course the Romans. 8 The Byzantine Empire Is Born In A.D. 324 the Emperor of the West, Constantine I , defeated the Emperors of the East, Maxentius and Licinius, in the civil wars of the Tetrarchy . Constantine became the first Christian emperor of the Roman Empire—though the complete conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity was not accomplished during his lifetime.

There’s no doubt that during the rule of Constantine, Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire—but it’s very possible that Constantine’s biggest regret was that he was never able to achieve a unified Christian Church. The construction of the city of Constantinople, however, was one of his absolute triumphs. While other Ancient Greek and Roman emperors built many fine cities during their reign, Constantinople exceeded them all in size and magnificence. It soon became the capital of the Byzantine Empire, and thus marked the dawn of a new era. 7 The Split of the Empire Most historians today have trouble deciding exactly which event or date signifies the fall of the Roman Empire. One of the most common conclusions is that when the Empire was split in two, it would never be able to reach its former glory again. There’s even more debate on the religions of the age, which were probably the decisive factor separating the Byzantine Empire from the spirit of Classical Rome. Theodosius I was the last emperor to rule over the whole Roman Empire. He was also the one who split it right down the middle, giving Rome (West) to his son Honorius and Constantinople (East) to his other son Arcadius.

The more classical, Western part of the Roman Empire weakened significantly when the land was divided, while the Greek-influenced Eastern half continued to develop the oriental aspects of its culture. The Roman Empire, as the world had known it, no longer existed. 6 The Golden Era of Justinian I One of the most widely known contributions of Justinian I was the reform of the laws of the Byzantine Empire, known as “ The Justinian Code .” Under his rule the Byzantine Empire flourished and prospered in many ways. Justinian gained power and fame for his buildings and architecture. One of his most famous buildings was the Hagia Sophia , which was completed in A.D. 538. It became the center of the Greek Orthodox Church for a number of centuries. This massive cathedral still stands today in Istanbul, and remains one of the largest and most impressive churches in the world. Justinian also encouraged music, arts, and drama. As a masterful builder himself, Justinian commissioned new roads, bridges, aqueducts, baths, and a variety of other public works. Justinian is considered a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church nowadays, even though a good amount of Orthodox Christians don’t agree with his sanctification.

5 The Greek Element Takes Over Most historians agree that after the accession to the Byzantine throne of Heraclius in 610 A.D., the Byzantine Empire became essentially Greek in both culture and spirit. Heraclius made Greek the official language of the Empire, and it had already become the most widely spoken language of the Byzantine population. The Byzantine Empire, having had its origins in the Eastern Roman Empire, now evolved into something new—something different from its predecessor. By 650 A.D., only a very few lingering Roman elements remained alongside the pervasive Greek influence. According to various historical sources, a large majority of the Byzantine population from 650 A.D. onwards was of Greek cultural background. Additionally, the Byzantine army fought in a style which was much closer to that of the Ancient Athenians and Spartans than that of the Roman Legions. 4 The Byzantine Navy Uses Greek Fire The Byzantine Navy was the first to employ a terrifying liquid in naval battles. The liquid was pumped onto enemy ships and troops through large siphons mounted on the Byzantine ships’ prows. It would ignite upon contact with seawater, and could only be extinguished with great difficulty.

The ingredients of “ Greek fire ” were closely guarded, but historians think it was a mixture of naphtha, pitch, sulfur, lithium, potassium, metallic sodium, calcium phosphide and a petroleum base. Other nations eventually came up with similar version of the stuff, but the fact that it was dangerous for their own troops, too, made it go out of military fashion by the mid-to-late fifteenth century. 3 Byzantine Cuisine When we hear the term “Greco-Roman,” we automatically think of culture, architecture, philosophy, the Olympic sport of wrestling—but not of Byzantine cuisine. To learn about Byzantine cuisine properly, we need to go back to its roots. It involved a mix of Greek practices and Roman traditions. Byzantine culinary tastes focused on the regions where Hellenism flourished: cheese, figs, eggs, olive oil, walnuts, almonds, apples, and pears, were all staples of the Byzantine diet, indigenous to the lands of the empire and appreciated by aristocracy and common people alike. The Byzantines also loved honey, and often used it in cooking as a sweetener, since sugar was not available.

Bread was an essential staple of the Byzantine table, and a guarantee of stability for the government in Constantinople. And it was a massive enterprise—the bakeries of Constantinople regularly producing over 80,000 loafs per day. The Byzantines could count on a steady diet of bread, cheese, meat, and fish, much of it cured and preserved in salt and olive oil. But just like in modern Greece, this diet was supplemented with vegetables that were produced in small gardens. Despite the limited information we have today, our knowledge of Byzantine cuisine is like the restoration of a damaged mosaic; even though a lot of the pieces are still missing, the picture still has a beautiful quality to it . Today, the aromas and ingredients of Greek and other Mediterranean food gives us a little taste of what Byzantine food must have been like. 2 Byzantium’s Economy Was The Most Powerful In Europe The Byzantine Empire was mainly comprised of an array of small towns and seaports connected by a developed infrastructure. Production was very high, and there was a notable growth in land ownership. The Byzantines followed a Christian lifestyle which revolved around the home, where women dedicated themselves to the upbringing of their children.

There were also various public places where men sought relaxation in their leisure hours. From A.D. 500 to A.D. 1200, Byzantium was the wealthiest nation in Europe and western Asia. Its standard of living was unrivaled by other nations in Europe , and it led much of the world in art, science, trade, and architecture. We could even say that the “Byzantine Dream” existed long before the American one. 1 The Great Schism Most historians of Byzantium agree that the Empire’s greatest and most lasting legacy was the birth of Greek Orthodox Christianity . Eastern Orthodoxy arose as a distinct branch of Christianity after the “ Great Schism ” of the eleventh century between Eastern and Western Christendom. The separation was not sudden. For centuries, there had been significant religious, cultural, and political differences between the Eastern and Western churches. Many historians assure us today that religion was the main reason why Roman culture lost all its influence on the Byzantine Empire. There were major theological differences between Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox Christians, on topics such as the use of images, the nature of the Holy Spirit, and the role (and identity) of the Pope.

Culturally, the Greek East has always tended to be more philosophical, abstract, and mystical in its thinking, whereas the Latin West tended towards a more pragmatic and legal-minded approach. All these factors finally came to a head in 1054 A.D., when Pope Leo IX excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople, who was the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church. In response, the Patriarch condemned the —and nearly one thousand years later, this division in the Christian church has still not been healed. Theodoros II is a budding author and a law graduate. He loves History, Sci-Fi culture, European politics, and exploring the worlds of hidden knowledge. His ideal trip in an ideal world would be to the lost city of Atlantis. Chronology of Byzantine Empire (330-1453 A.D.) Chronology of Byzantine Empire (330-1453 A.D.) 330 AD: Constantine founds the new capital of the Roman Empire on the existing site of the ancient Greek city Byzantium: Byzantium was renamed Constantinople and it would become the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

395: The Roman Empire divides in half, with the Eastern Roman Empire based in Constantinople and the Western Roman Empire based in Rome/Ravenna. 476: The Western Empire Falls: The Eastern Empire survives and now is labeled as the Byzantine Empire. 526: Justinian's reign begins. He reconquers parts of the fallen Western Empire (Africa and Italy, Spain). He codifies the Previous Roman Laws into one document. Constantinople is the most glorious city in europe, with 500,000 inhabitants. The Hagia Sofia is constructed. Justinian is the last emperor to use the title "Caesar". 568: Lombards invade Italy, eventually taking Northern Italy from the Byzantines. 610: Heraclius becomes emperor. Temporary possession of Mesopotamia. The theme system is installed. The Empire's language changes to Greek. Eventual Lost of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt to Muslims. 693: Muslims attack Constantinople. 690: Loss of North Africa to Muslims. 717-718: A large Muslim force besiege Constantinople by land and sea. The attack is held off.

721: Regains control of Asia Minor from the Muslims 726: Emperor Leo III bans the use of Icons. 800: Charlemagne, king of the Franks, is crowned "Emperor of the Romans" by Pope Leo III in Rome. For the first time in 300 years, there is an emperor of the "East" and an emperor of the "West". 843: The use of Icons is restored. 917: Bulgars under Symeon overrun Thrace. 924: Bulgars unsuccessfully attack Constantinople unsuccessfully. 941: Prince Igor of Kiev attacks Bithynia and later attacks Constantinople: The Byzantines destroys the Russian fleet. 976: Basil II becomes Emperor. 992: Venetians granted extensive trading rights in the Byzantine Empire 995: Basil II reconquers Syria from the Muslims. 996: Basil II reconquers Greece from Bulgars. 1014: Basil II destroys the Bulgar army, earning the epithet Bulgaroktonos ("Bulgar Slayer"). 1055: Loss of southern Italy to the Normans.

1071: Defeat at Manzikert to the Seljuk Turks. Permanent loss of most of Asia Minor. 1075: Loss of Syria to Muslims. 1054: The Great Schism: The Latin Roman Church and the Greek Orthodox Church excommunicate each other. 1087: Byzantines defeated in Thrace. 1095: Alexius appeals to Urban II at Council of Piacenza for help against the Turks. The First Crusade is proclaimed at Council of Clermont. 1096: Crusaders arrive at Constantinople. The Crusaders are successful, but eventually withdraw from cooperation with the Byzantines. 1121: Reconquest of southwestern Asia Minor. 1179: Byzantine Army defeated by the Sultanate of Rum at Myriokephalon. Hopes of regaining Asia Minor are lost. 1202: Fourth Crusade is assembled at Venice. 1204: Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople. The Latin Empire of Constantinople is formed as well as many Byzantine successor states. The capture of Constantinople in 1204 was a blow from which the Byzantines never fully recovered.

1261: The successor state of Nicaea recaptures Constantinople and restores the Byzantine Empire. 1453: Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans. End of the Byzantine Empire. (adapted from the chronology found at All Empires .) HISTORY OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE Enjoy the Famous Daily A new Rome: AD 330 Constantine, now in firm command of the entire Roman empire (the first man for a long while to be in that position), is planning another initiative as significant as his adoption of Christianity. Immediately after the defeat of Licinius he sets about rebuilding Byzantium as a Christian capital city - one in which pagan sacrifice, the central rite of imperial Rome until this time, is specifically forbidden. The city is ready by AD 330 for a ceremony of inauguration. Byzantium acquires two new names - New Rome and Constantinople, the city of Constantine. The Roman empire, within eighteen years of Constantine's first victory, has a new religion, a new centre of gravity and a significant change of culture. Greece has always been the main cultural influence on Rome, and Greek is the language of the inhabitants of Byzantium.

With the founding of Constantinople, the older culture effectively absorbs its vigorous younger challenger. Even the name Constantinopolis is Greek (polis meaning city). Yet Constantinople is also the new Rome, capital of the Roman empire. The Greeks of this city will long continue to describe themselves as Romans. For several centuries Constantinople represents both the end of the Roman empire and the beginning of the Byzantine empire. Meanwhile Rome gradually establishes a new identity - as the seat of the Christian pope. Byzantium offers the Roman emperor a clear strategic advantage as a centre of operation, for it is much closer than Rome to the threatened regions of the empire. The main problems in the past century have been defending the Balkans from invaders beyond the Danube and protecting the Middle East from the Persians. Byzantium , renewed now as Constantinople, sits firmly between these troubled regions. Constantine and his city: from AD 330 The emperor wastes no time in building monuments to proclaim Byzantium a Christian city. The focal point is a structure called the milion or milestone, from which all distances in the empire are now to be measured. It consists of four triumphal arches supporting a dome. Nearby is the first church built here by Constantine.

In this Greek city it is dedicated not to a martyr but to a concept, Holy Peace - the church of St Eirene. Probably before the end of Constantine's life, work begins on its famous neighbour, complete by 360 and sacred this time to Holy Wisdom - St Sophia . Falling ill in AD 337, Constantine is at last baptized - only a few days before his death. It has often been asked why he left this necessary act of Christian commitment so late. The answer is probably so as not to waste the magic of baptism, which washes away sins. An emperor can hardly live a blameless life, and there are many blots on Constantine's record - such as his unexplained execution of his eldest son and his second wife in 326. A late baptism guarantees a clean record on the day of judgement. Three sons of Constantine: AD 337-361 On the death of Constantine, in AD 337, the empire is divided between his sons Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans. Since the time of his father, Constantius, the family has had a streak of constancy in its choice of names.

The sons inherit the parts of the empire which they have already ruled, on behalf of their father, as Caesars. Constantius II, though not the eldest, has the lion's share - Greece, Constantinople and the entire eastern empire. His elder brother, Constantine II, has Spain, Gaul and Britain. The youngest, Constans, controls Italy and Spain. Peace and wisdom , in honour of which churches are now rising in Constantinople, do not make the brothers any more loving than other imperial families. Large numbers of their male relations are butchered at the start of the reign, and Constantine II meets his death in Italy in 340 when marching against Constans. Ten years later Constans is murdered in Gaul by an army commander with an eye on the throne. From AD 350 Constantius II is the only legitimate emperor. With difficulty he recovers control of the entire empire. But from the point of view of Christianity, on which he is as keen as his father, he makes one cardinal error. He gives command of the west to his cousin Julian.

Julian the Apostate: AD 337-361 Son of a half-brother of Constantine the Great, Julian escapes the massacre of male members of the family which follows Constantine's death - probably because he is only six at the time. In his early 20s he studies in Athens , which still retains its status as the centre of Greek learning and pagan philosophy. Brought up strictly as a Christian, Julian now becomes a devotee of Greek culture. He is himself a talented writer in Greek, and several of his works survive. Little of this would be remembered today, but for the unexpected accident of his becoming emperor. Subsequent events, in the two brief years of the 'apostate' on the throne, have mesmerized Christian historians. In AD 356, when Julian is twenty-five, the emperor Constantius II appoints him Caesar in command of the Roman armies in Gaul. To everyone's surprise the young intellectual proves a brilliant general, winning a succession of victories over powerful tribes along the Rhine border. In 359, needing reinforcements against Persia, Constantius orders many of Julian's best legions to march east.

Instead, the troops stationed near Paris mutiny and proclaim Julian emperor. He moves slowly eastwards with them to what would have been a rebellious confrontation. But in 361 Constantius, moving westwards to meet him, dies in Asia Minor. Julian is emperor. The revival of the pagan cult: AD 361-363 It is not known exactly when the new emperor, Julian, decides to reinstate the ancient gods of Rome and Greece . At first he behaves with religious tolerance - returning to their sees, for example, Catholic bishops who have been exiled by Constantius, a committed follower of Arius . But by 362 Julian is making a prominent display of the ritual sacrifices which he carries out personally at revived pagan temples. When Christians protest, he removes their relics from ancient shrines, imposes special taxes on Christian priests and gives preference to pagans in the civil service. Julian is repeating, in reverse, the actions of his uncle Constantine in favouring Christianity. He intends to put in place a network of pagan priests and officials throughout the empire of the kind established by the Christians. This view of tomorrow does not appeal to yesterday's elite.

To what extent the young emperor might have achieved his aim is one of history's interesting speculations. In Christian eyes God gives a swift and decisive answer when Julian is killed, in 363, in a skirmish against the Persians. A rumour, first heard a century later, offers wry satisfaction. It is said that in his dying words the apostate cedes victory to Christ: Vicisti, Galilaee (Thou hast conquered, Galilean). The frontiers of empire: AD 364-378 The death of Julian in warfare with Persia leads indirectly to a rare spell of peace on that frontier. The army selects as emperor a member of the royal household, by the name of Jovian, who extracts the Roman legions from a dangerous situation by making major concessions. Large tracts of territory in Mesopotamia and Armenia, long disputed, are abandoned to Persia . Jovian dies of natural causes less than a year after becoming emperor. His concessions are regarded as shameful in Constantinople, but it is another forty years before war with Persia resumes. On the other permanently threatened frontiers of empire, the Danube and the Rhine, the situation is very different.

The pressure of barbarian tribes, themselves suddenly under threat from the Huns , is at last about to break down the barriers and flood the western empire. The catastrophe begins when the emperor Valens is defeated and killed by the Visigoths at Adrianople in 378. His successor, Theodosius - an emperor subsequently accorded the title 'the Great' - solves the problem in the short term by settling the Visigoths as federates within the empire, or allies. But the intrusion of Goths, Vandals and Huns will over the next century disturb and finally destroy the Roman empire in the west. Christian emperor and Christian bishop: AD 379-390 Theodosius becomes the eastern emperor in AD 379 and rapidly settles the religious splits within the empire by declaring pagan worship and Christian heresies (such as Arianism ) to be illegal. A law of 380 orders all citizens to subscribe to the Catholic doctrines agreed under the chairmanship of Constantine the Great at the Council of Nicaea in 325. A close link between church and state, with the state giving the lead, becomes a characteristic of the eastern or Byzantine empire.

But Theodosius discovers, in a famous clash, that western bishops have authoritarian ideas of their own. The cleric who sets a high standard for the western church in its relationship to the secular powers is Ambrose, bishop of Milan. In AD 390, when Theodosius is in Milan, there is a riot in Greece by supporters of a popular charioteer. A city governor is killed, and Theodosius sends orders for a brutal reprisal. The charioteer's fans are invited into a circus for a special performance. Then the gates are locked. More than 5000 are slaughtered by troops in a massacre lasting three hours. When news of the atrocity reaches Milan, Ambrose refuses to give communion to the emperor unless he does public penance for the crime. Theodosius at first stays away from church. But eventually he appears, bare-headed and wearing sackcloth in place of his sumptuous imperial robes. He repeats the performance on several occasions before Ambrose relents, finally giving his emperor the sacrament on Christmas Day. In the threat of excommunication the western church discovers a powerful weapon for dealing with wayward rulers.

Rome and Constantinople: 4th - 5th century AD The balance between Rome and Constantinople, and the potential for an upset, is becoming more clearly defined. Two imperial courts , east and west, have been a familiar part of the empire's history. In effect they are more like two army camps, permanently on the move. If they come too close to each other, the result has often been war. With two rival cities, both interested in political and religious priority, the situation is more complex. In the mid-4th century, under Constantius II, the senate in Constantinople is given equal authority with that of Rome. A few years later, at the Council of Constantinople in 381, it is stated that the bishop of Constantinople is of equal status to the bishop of Rome. On the religious front an uneasy truce is maintained for several centuries. The final schism between Rome and Constantinople, acknowledging the separate Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches, becomes only gradually evident during the Middle Ages. In the military sphere the pace is forced by events largely beyond the emperors' control.

Theodosius rules the entire empire with considerable skill until 395, and his descendants remain at least nominally in control of both east and west until 455. But any measure of peace in the west has been bought by compromise with German tribes. Odoacer, king of Italy: AD 476-493 German mercenaries by now form an important part of any Roman army, and Roman armies play a major role in the making and breaking of emperors. This is the case in a fairly normal putsch of AD 476, but it is followed by an unusual demand from the mercenaries. They want to settle in Italy. They suggest that a third of every landowner's estate should be made over to them. The suggestion is not as unreasonable as it sounds. Roman soldiers have in the past been rewarded with land , and barbarian tribes have been settled in provinces of the empire as federates . But it is a shocking thought to Romans that this provincial system might apply to Italy itself. The mercenaries' demand is rejected. There is an immediate mutiny. The tribesmen elect one of their number, Odoacer, as their king.

He leads them to a rapid victory, but immediately makes it clear that his intention is not to destroy the western empire. He wants to be part of it. He sends ambassadors to the emperor Zeno in Constantinople, acknowledging the emperor's rule but asking to be allowed to govern Italy as king of his own people. Zeno reluctantly agrees, subject to certain points of protocol. The senate in Rome accepts the fait accompli with better grace, for Odoacer proves an effective ruler within the traditional Roman system. He even finds land for his German tribesmen without causing undue upheaval. The end of the Roman empire? AD 476 The acceptance of Odoacer as king of Italy in 476 causes this year to be seen as the end of the Roman empire. And in a real sense it is. Kings and popes, neither of them part of Roman imperial tradition, will henceforth wield power in the Italian peninsula. But this is the perspective of hindsight. To historians Constantinople is by this time the capital of the young Byzantine empire. To Europeans in the 5th century it is still the centre of the very ancient Roman empire.

In imperial terms there is nothing new about chaos and upheaval in the west, and Roman emperors in Constantinople will continue to take active steps to reassert their authority. In 488 this is done with the help of the Ostrogoths . Theodoric the Ostrogoth: AD 487-526 The Ostrogoths have as yet intruded less than the Visigoths upon the imperial territories of Rome and Contantinople. In recent times, in their region north of the Black Sea, they have been subdued by the Huns . But after the collapse of the Huns, in the mid-5th century, the Ostrogoths press down across the Danube into the Balkans. In 487, under the leadership of Theodoric, they almost succeed in capturing Constantinople. The Byzantine emperor, Zeno, finds a brilliant short-term solution to this immediate problem. Having recently had to relinquish Italy to one barbarian, Odoacer , he now invites Theodoric to invade Italy and take Odoacer's place. Theodoric arrives in Italy in AD 489.

In the twelve months from August 489 his Ostrogoths confront Odoacer in three separate battles. In each they are victorious, but they fail to dislodge Odoacer from his stronghold at Ravenna . This is eventually achieved by negotiation, with the bishop of Ravenna as the intermediary. It is agreed that Theodoric and Odoacer will rule Italy jointly. On 5 March 493 the gates of the city are opened to Theodoric. Ten days later Theodoric invites Odoacer to a banquet. During it he kills his guest with his own hand, after which Odoacer 's retinue is murdered. Theodoric's long reign in Italy begins with this treachery, but the murder of Odoacer proves untypical of the Ostrogothic king. His thirty-three years on the throne bring a period of calm to turbulent Italy, justifiably earning him the title Theodoric the Great. He is the first barbarian king from the Germanic tribes of northern Europe to establish a settled and civilized rule - to which his buildings in Ravenna still bear witness. His achievements win him a lasting place in legend, as Dietrich von Bern .

Theodoric never deviates from his arrangement with Constantinople. He rules in Italy as the emperor's appointed military governor - becoming thereby an accepted part of the Roman empire rather than its enemy. Theodoric has the good sense to leave the administration of Italy virtually unchanged and in the hands of Romans. They are prevented from serving as soldiers, but similarly Goths may not join the bureaucracy. The arrangement suits even the papacy. Though himself an Arian , Theodoric makes no attempt to interfere in Roman Catholic affairs. Indeed he is so much trusted that when there are two rival claimants to the papal see, in 498, he is invited to choose between them. Nevertheless the rule of a barbarian Arian in Italy is unacceptable in the longer term. The inadequacy of Theodoric's immediate successors prompts the campaign of 535 by Justinian to recover Ravenna. The Byzantine Empire: History, Culture & Timeline - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com The Byzantine Empire: History, Culture & Timeline Watch short & fun videos Start Your Free Trial Today An error occurred trying to load this video. Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support.

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Lesson Transcript Instructor: Paul Brazinski In this lesson, you'll learn about the historical and cultural timeline of the Byzantine Empire and a bit about its famous emperors, Constantine and Justinian, seeing just how this 'New Rome' was established. Origin of the Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire started as the Eastern Roman Empire in 330 CE when Constantine, a Roman emperor, founded Constantinople, the Roman Empire's new capital, on the ancient site of Byzantium. 'Byzantine' is a 19th century term that modern scholars have applied to this culture and its people. Byzantines, on the other hand, called themselves 'Romans' from the beginning of the Byzantine Empire until its fall to the Ottomans in 1453, which was long after the Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 CE. Thus, most of the history of Byzantium is a continuation of the Roman period, and most of the culture of Byzantium is a continuation of the Roman way of life. History and Culture of the Byzantine Empire One of the major changes in Byzantine culture from late Roman culture is the emergence of Christianity.

After Constantine issued the 313 Edict of Milan, which made Christianity a tolerable religion, the practice of Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire at an unprecedented rate. Churches and other meeting places quickly developed and changed the landscape. As the years passed, emperors such as Theodosius the Great took it upon themselves to promote Christianity throughout the empire to the point where it overtook Paganism. For example, Theodosius the Great closed the famous philosophical schools in Athens, where Plato and Aristotle had taught centuries earlier. The language of the Byzantine Empire also shifted during this time. From the reign of Constantine to Justinian, the official court language was Latin. This meant that laws and official documents were written in Latin. However, Greek was the primary spoken language. After Justinian's reign, Byzantine Greek became the primary language for both spoken and official written documents. However, Western Europe still spoke Latin, which caused a language divide in communication. This led to difficulties and confusion in terms of religious terminologies and laws. Think of a language barrier you might have encountered; now imagine that for the communications between the Eastern Greeks and the Western Latins in the Middle and Late Byzantine periods.

Given the differences in language and customs, among other things, that developed over Byzantium's history, the Eastern Greeks and Western Latins endured what is known as the Great Schism in 1054. The two Churches, now the Greek Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, had different beliefs concerning Jesus Christ, the nature of God, and the date of Easter. The two factions split, forming two separate religions that still exist today. Tensions further rose in 1204, when the Latins launched the Fourth Crusade. The Fourth Crusade was intended to re-capture Jerusalem from the Muslims; however, the majority of the Latin forces did not make it to the Holy Land. Instead, they sacked Constantinople, which marked a major turning point in the history of the East-West Christian Schism. End of the Byzantine Empire In 1261, Michael VIII Palaeologos recaptured Constantinople from the Latins. Michael VIII's return to Constantinople also marked a rebirth in classical studies and traditional Byzantine education, which is called the Palaeologan Renaissance. The Byzantine Empire continued to flourish until the final sack of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks.

The Ottoman Turks sacked Constantinople in 1453 and renamed the city Istanbul. The Ottomans were also primarily Islamic, so the majority of earlier churches were converted into mosques. In this period, people were still speaking Byzantine Greek, but the language would eventually evolve into Modern Greek in the 19th century. Ultimately, Turkish culture took over, and the Byzantine Empire was no more. Timeline of the Byzantine Empire Early Byzantine Period (330-726 CE) 330 CE: Constantine founds Constantinople, the new capital of the Roman Empire, on the ancient site of Byzantium. 476 CE: Visigoths sack Rome, which causes the fall of the Western Roman Empire. 526 CE: Justinian becomes the Byzantine Emperor. Justinian wants to revive the Empire to its earliest and greatest form and reconquers North Africa and Italy. 568 CE: After Justinian's re-conquest, the Lombards sack Northern Italy and besiege Rome. 610 CE: Persian forces take major sections of North Africa and Asia Minor from the Byzantines. However, Emperor Heraclius manages to win some of these territories back.

614 CE: Persians sack Jerusalem. Middle Byzantine Period (726-1204 AD) 726-787 CE: First Iconoclasm. Emperor Leo III decrees that idols are sinful and that God's wrath is why the empire is losing territory so quickly. 815-843 CE: Second Iconoclasm. The use of Icons is restored. 1054: Start of the Great Schism. Late Byzantine Period (1204-1453) BYZANTINE CHURCH AND CULTURE by Archbishop Joseph Raya Archbishop Rayaï¿½s important work deserves greater attention as the Byzantine Christian Churches seek to relate to and to evangelize our contemporary societies around the world at the beginning of the Third Millennium.

These excerpts (pages 13-18, 27-29, and 63) reflect some of the key Christian values that are at the heart of Byzantine Spirituality, namely respect for diversity in unity and tolerance, which are born of Christï¿½s second great commandment of love (John 14:34-35, 15:12, 17), and which are vital values for the success of our evangelization in todayï¿½s world. Far to often, Byzantine Christianity is viewed as monocultural or ghettoized, and thus is dismissed by those who do not feel welcomed to enter the Body of Christ through our doors because of our excessively ethnic or nationalist expressions of our faith in Christ. In his work Archbishop Raya examines the very diverse roots of the Byzantine Church and its culture, and demonstrates convincingly that, far from imposing one view or tradition, the Byzantine Churchï¿½s worldview both valued and provided the means for synthesis of what was useful and good from diverse cultures and languages in the worship and mission of the Church.

Byzantine Christians today, both Orthodox or Catholic, need to cherish, revive, restore and develop further these values in their living of their faith as they spread the Gospel of Christ 1. ORIGIN Until recently the common expression by which we identified the Orthodox Church and ourselves who belong to it was the word "Greek," or the word "Eastern." We called ourselves, and everyone else called us "Eastern" or "Greek," "Greek Catholics," or "Greek Orthodox," rather than Byzantine. The word Byzantine was given a pejorative connotation by some Western standards to signify a state of inferiority of both mind and spirit. The first vilification of the name came from the Carolingian officials when their King, Charlemagne, was refused by Constantinople the title of "Emperor of the Romans." Since that time disputes, antagonism, misunderstanding, even hatred and wars grew ever-bitter between Byzantium and the West, until they reached their apex in the Crusades which fought relentlessly both the Orthodox Church of the East and the Byzantine Empire. The fourth Crusade was the death-blow to the Empire, and the final breakdown of relations between East and West.

Furthermore, because the word Byzantine represented the essentially Christian culture of an essentially Christian Empire, the atheists and anti-Christian encyclopedists of the eighteenth century, especially Voltaire, Montesquieu and after them the famous English historian Gibbon, created an aura of disgust and horror around it. Under their influence, the word "Byzantine" came to be, in European languages, synonymous with "barbarous," "futile," and "inane," so everyone shied away from its use. Bertha Diener remarks: "For centuries after the Crusades, it was the fashion in Europe to regard the Empire whose seat was beside the Bosphorus as a grotesque ruin, a crumbling relic, an outworn survival which cumbered the ground only because the servants had been too lazy to sweep it away" (Imperial Byzantium, p.47). It was not until the late nineteenth century, and especially in the twentieth, that this word and what it represents were vindicated, and rehabilitated to honor and glory. Great scholars and historians, such as A. Rambaud, C. Bayet, G. Schlumberger, and their successors, L. Brehier, G.

Millett, C. Diehl, and a great churchman, Cardinal J. B. Pitra, brought out its luster and brilliance. By contrast, the word "Greek" had always enjoyed popularity and general acceptance. It connoted harmony of thought, artistic taste, poetry, beauty and human dignity. The official language of the Empire was Greek. The word "Greek" represented the most refined paganism with its marvelous culture. Even that most astonishing discovery in chemistry made by the Syrian Callinicus of Heliopolis (Baalbek today) was called "Greek Fire" (A chemical substance that caught fire on contact with any object, and could not be put out. Water--especially sea water--seemed to increase its burning power. It contributed to several Byzantine naval victories, and its secret was so well guarded that no outsider ever knew its formula). Melkites and Slavs, Rumanians and Ruthenians and others used the word "Greek" to characterize the Byzantine Church and its Christian culture. Since the beginning of Christianity, and for a long time later, Greek was the official language of both East and West. The Western or Roman Church used it exclusively until the days of Pope St.

Victor in 199. Later, it adopted the language of the people, the vernacular, which was Latin. It was then called the Latin Church. The Eastern Church, presiding over the development of the Byzantine Empire and its culture, kept Greek as its official language until the fall of Constantinople in 1453, and became known as the "Greek" Church. 2. LANGUAGE AND CULTURE Language is merely the instrument and sign through which a culture is expressed. It is not an essence of being, but only an outward sign of being. After so much historical transformation and national diversification, the Byzantine Church should not be called "Greek" without qualifications. Are Americans English because they speak the English language? The American culture and civilization are an amalgamation of many cultures, civilizations, peoples and mentalities. The Byzantine culture contained Greek elements, but it also shows considerable Eastern, Latin or Roman and Nordic influence. Slavs, Ruthenians and others enjoy the Byzantine culture in their own Churches and in their own languages.

The state of mind, the forms of worship, the spirituality and theology of the Orthodox Church are not merely a matter of rite: they imply a specific vision of life and eternity, uniting Easterners and Westerners of many different backgrounds, Melkites and Russians, Ruthenians and Ukrainians and other Slavs in one Church, under one Lord, Jesus Christ. Finally, this Church and its culture are not truly Eastern, although born and developed in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. The words "East" and "Eastern" are historical and geographical terms designating a rather nebulous reality with uncertain contours. They encompass nations and cultures from the Bosphorus to the Far East, passing through Asia, China and Japan, and from the Ural mountains in Russia to the peninsula of Kamtchatka on the Pacific Ocean. For Americans, these words are so confusing that when applied to the Byzantine Church, they may submerge its identity in a shadow of unreality, since in our language these terms are generally applied to Far Eastern countries, and not to the Near-East, or Levant to which this Church belongs.

It is the Near-Eastern nations, or Levantines, which Hellenic civilization penetrated, without dispossessing them completely of their original ethnic characteristics. Both Syria and Palestine, which occupied very special places and positions in the formation of the Byzantine Church, used the Syriac language, which was later replaced by Arabic. Georgia and Armenia spoke the Armenian language. Near-Eastern nations, with their particular cultures, were in some way united by a common element, the Greek language, without becoming Greek themselves. In later history, they all converged on Byzantium to contribute to its formation and development without making it Eastern. The definitive history of Byzantine science and philosophy, literature and theology has yet to be written, but the main lines stand out in sufficient details to reveal their attractive beauty and diversity in their harmonious unity. 3. GREEK INFLUENCE

Question: What was the primary language of the Byzantine Empire?
Answer: Greek