The document summarizes the history of the Byzantine Empire from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE through the rise of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It discusses key events like Constantine making Christianity the official religion in the 4th century, Justinian's reconquest of Italy and codification of Roman law, the establishment of the theme system of provincial government, and the East-West schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches in 1054. The Byzantine Empire flourished politically, economically, socially, and religiously for centuries before eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

1. Byzantine
Empire

2. How did we get here: Fall of Rome
• 235-284
• 285 – 305
• Crisis of the 3rd Century:
– Barracks Emperors usurped
power
– Rulers died of unnatural causes
– Revolts, plagues, fires, Christian
persecutions
• Diocletian divided Empire
• Added junior emperors  4
caesars?!
– Civil war resulted when he and
Maximian abdicated…

4. Constantine – 312 CE
Single Ruler of Rome
Converted to Christianity
Signed Edict of Toleration for
Christians, rights to own property
restored, built churches &
basilicas…
Constantinople
379 – Theodosius reunited the
Empire, declared Christianity State
Religion
410 – Vandals sacked Rome
440-454 – Huns paid not to attack
455 – Vandals sacked Rome
476 – last Roman Emperor deposed;
Odoacer ruled Italy

5. Fall of Western Roman Empire - 476
Cataclysmic one-time event, or gradual slipping with some major calamities along the way?

6. A Rich Blend of
Roman & Greek
Cultures
Byzantium Flourished:
- Politically
- Economically
- Socially
- Religiously

7. 1. Politics
• Highly centralized state
• Caesaropapism
– “one foot…”
• Large, Complex
Bureaucracy
– “Byzantine”

8. Emperor Justinian
• The Emperor Who Never Sleeps; The
Thirteenth Apostle…
• Attempted Reconquest
of Western Rome
- General Belisarius & Church at
Ravenna, Italy
• Blossoming of Byzantine
art & culture
– Rebuilt city after riot
– Built Hagia Sophia, etc.
– Last Latin-speaking and first Greek-speaking
Emperor

9. Justinian
527-565
• Codified Roman Law:
–Corpus iuris civilis

10. Justinian …& Theodora
• Adopted by Uncle Justin, Emperor – he
was a commoner, from a poor family
– Educated him
• Scandal: Theodora
– Courtesan/ actress/ daughter of a circus
owner.
– 20 years younger.
– VERY influential at court, which Procopius
did not like!
– She died relatively young of cancer; he continued on,
involving himself in Church doctrinal questions.

11. Theme System
• Themes (Provinces) under Generals
• Land for Service – peasant armies good for Ag
Economy
Forerunner of
Manrorialism /
Feudalism

12. Conquest of Byzantium
• Prolonged siege
of Constantinople
– Turkic conquest
– Islamic armies
– Western Europeans
sacked Constantinople –
4th Crusade

13. Greek Fire, Thick Walls
FORTRESSES!

14. 2. Economics
• Rural Agricultural Society
– Theme System  successful economy of free
peasants

15. Byzantine Style = Opulent
• Manufacturing & Crafts
– Glass, linen, textiles, gems, jewelry,
gold, silver
– SILK!!

16. Constantinople
Crossroads of Trade
• Location, location, location…
Bezant
• Partnerships,
Banks

17. 3. Byzantine Society

18. URBAN Constantinople!
• Drama inspired by the Greeks
• Roman Baths
• Aqueducts
• Taverns
• Libraries
• Chariot races
JUSTINIAN RE-BUILT CONSTANTINOPLE AFTER A RIOT
BY THE BLUES AND GREENS TORE IT APART… SO HE BUILT
IT OPULENTLY!!

19. Constantinople’s
Hippodrome

20. 4. Religion
Council of Nicaea (325 CE)
-Pivotal statement of doctrine &
practice, agreed upon by council of
bishops. i.e.: Set liturgical calendar,
such as Easter.
- The Nicene Creed  definitive
authority of ecumenical belief. (3rd
Ecumenical Council, the Council of
Ephesus in 431, forbad changes,
except by another Council).
- Heresies: Non-Trinitarian

21. Wait… Why was Religion so
IMPORTANT?
• Legitimization!
• Religion of the Masses
– Hope of Heaven earned
• Traditions, education, wealth, power, glory that
was Rome survived ONLY in the power and glory
of the Church…and Byzantium.

22. Iconoclasm Controversy
• 726 – 843
• Leo III
• Idolatry – or - aid to
concentration and
prayer?
• Possible effect of beliefs
from a neighboring
empire?

26. HAGIA SOPHIA
“Holy
Wisdom”
Justinian

29. San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy

36. St. Mark’s in Venice – Byzantine Architecture

37. Modern Byzantine / Eastern Orthodox Church

41. Monasteries

43. Away from Society

44. Mt. Athos

45. “Popular Piety”
• MONASTIC movement
Monks / Nuns
– Very Popular “calling”
– Earned own salvation and
served community
– Opposed Iconoclasm
• Ascetics / Hermits
– Inspired b y east, Egypt…
• Pillar Saints

46. July 16, 1054
Afternoon prayers were about to begin in the Hagia Sophia, the grandest Christian church
in the Eastern Roman Empire. Suddenly the main doors were flung wide and a cold breeze
snuffed out the candles at the back of the church.
Cardinal Humbert, official representative of the Roman Church and legate to Pope Leo IX,
a stern expression on his face, strode into the cathedral, up the main isle, and paused to
genuflect before the main altar. On that altar he placed a parchment that he had carried
all the way from Rome: a Papal Bull declaring the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael
Cerularius, to be excommunicated.
Without a word, he genuflected again, turned , and marched back down the main aisle to
the amazement of the assembled faithful. Just before he exited the great doors, never to
return again, he glanced back. Shaking the unholy dust of Eastern Christianity from his
Roman boots, and adjusting his cloak, some witnesses were sure they heard a great sigh.
A week later the patriarch solemnly condemned the cardinal, and in turn
excommunicated Pope Leo.
Centuries later, this dramatic incident was thought to mark the beginning of the schism
between the Latin and the Greek churches, a division that still separates Roman Catholics
and Eastern Orthodox (Greek, Russian, and other). Today, however, no serious scholar
maintains that the schism began in 1054. The process leading to the definitive break was
much more complicated, and no single cause or event can be said to have precipitated it.

47. Mounting East/West Tensions
Rome -West
• POPEas heir to Peter, so absolute
head of the Church
• Barbarian Invasions in West
centralization of power
• Filioque UNILATERALLY ADDED to
Nicene Creed – Holy Spirit proceeds
from the Father AND the Son.
• Uneducated masses
• Rituals changed over time in isolation
ie: UNLEAVENED bread
• Celibate (by tradition, by law only after
1139, 1533) priests shaved in “civilized”
Roman fashion. Monks added “tonsure” as
symbol of piety.
• Latin (Language of Civilization, Roman
Empire, Strength)
• Viewed Eastern clerics as sneaky, overly
educated snobs
Constantinople - East
• All Bishops shared Peter’s
responsibility
• Sieges, but no invasion in East power
shared by bishops under auspices of
Emperor
• NO additions to agreed-upon Nicene
Creed – so Holy Spirit proceeds ONLY
from the Father
• More educated populace
• Rituals seen as remaining true, standard; ie:
Leavened bread
• Priests could be married (unless in
monastery) and grew manly beards and had
full heads of hair.
• Greek (much of Bible in Greek, language of
Byzantine Emperors, Classical Greeks)
• Viewed Western clerics as uneducated,
vulgar, barbarians

48. Missionaries to the Slavs
• Sts. Cyril & Methodius
• 9th c.
• Education tied to
Religion
– Cyrillic writing
– Teaching aid for religion
– Organization &
Administration
– Written Law, History

49. Byzantine Culture Espoused by Russia…
…through
missionary work
– Byzantine & Greek
literature, history,
philosophy
– Byzantine culture:
art, architecture,
music, values
• Conversion of
Prince Vladimir,
989 
– Kiev – earliest
organized state
– Caesaropapism
– Russian Orthodox
Church

50. St. Basil:
“Father of the
Monastic
Movement”
Softened
aesthetic
practices
Proper
balance:
manual
labor &
prayer
Care for
sick, poor

51. St. Basil’s Cathedral
Red Square
Moscow
Moscow as “Third Rome”

53. Inside St. Basil’s Cathedral

64. Next Stop…
The Rise of Islam