The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the successor of the
Roman Empire in the Greek-speaking, eastern
part of the Mediterranean.
When the Roman Empire split into two empires,
the Eastern Roman Empire became known as
the Byzantine Empire.
The Byzantine Empire continued on for 1000
years after the Western Roman Empire
collapsed in 476 CE.
The Byzantine Empire ruled most of Eastern &
Southern Europe during the Middle Ages.

Culture
The Byzantine Empire was quite modern.
Its tax system and administration were so
efficient that the empire survived more than a
thousand years.
The culture was rich and affluent, while science
and technology also developed.
Byzantine tradition of rhetoric and public debate
Philosophical and theological discourses
Debates
Greek philosophical and scientific heritage

Byzantine Architecture

Hagia Sophia

Christianity

In the course of the fourth century,

the Roman world became increasingly
Christian, and the Byzantine Empire
was a Christian state.
It was the first empire in the world to
be founded on the authority of the
Church.
After the Great Schism of 1054 CE the
eastern (Orthodox) Church separated
form the western (Roman Catholic)
Church.

Phorphyrogenitus Dynasty

Constantine VII Phorphyrogenitus was the fourth

Byzantine emperor during the Macedonian age
(913 to 959).
His writings are one of the best sources of
information on the Byzantine Empire and
neighbouring areas.
His De administrando imperio treated the Slavic
and Turkic peoples, and the De ceremoniis aulae
Byzantinae, his longest book, described the
elaborate ceremonies that made the Byzantine
emperors priestly symbols of the state.
He succeeded to the throne at the age of 7 under
the regency of the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Emperor Constantine the Seventh

In 947, ConstantineVII ordered the restitution of

all peasant lands, without compensation; by the
end of his reign, the condition of the landed
peasantry, which formed the foundation of the
economic-military strength of the Empire, was
better than it had been for a century.
In 949 Constantine attempted to drive away the
Arabs residing in Crete but did not succeed.
In 949 the Byzantines conquered Germanicea,
repeatedly defeated the enemy armies, and in
952 they crossed the upper Euphrates.
Constantine's efforts to retake themes lost to
the Arabs were the first such efforts to have any
real success.

Emperor Justinian The First

The Reign of Justinian

In 527 Justinian I became Emperor. Under
Justinian I, the empire gained territory and would
reach the peak of its power and wealth,
concurring Italy and Africa, Libya, Egypt,
Palestine and Syria.
Justinian also established many reforms,including
Corpus of Civil Law.
Justinian also encouraged the arts including
music, drama, and art. He funded many public
projects such as: bridges, roads, aqueducts, and
churches.

Emperor Basil The Second

The Macedonian Dynasty

The Empire fell during the Macedonian dynasty ,its
apogee during 867-1057 CE.
The empire expanded again having its borders in
Armenia (east),Calabria (south),and Italy (west).
Wealthy Egypt and large parts of Syria were forever lost.
Jerusalem was not reconquered from the Muslim and
Arab people either.
In 1014 CE the Bulgarian empire was finally overcome
after a bloody war, decesively after the Battle of Kleidon,
under the command of Emperor Basil The
Second,becoming part of the Byzantine Empire.
New cultural-trading partner,the Kievan Rus ;
War against the Muslims ,resulting into the Byzantine
Empire's drawbacks by the Arab's conquering of Crete,
Palermo, Messina, Catania,Taormina,etc...

Macedonian Empire during the

reign of Manuel the First

Komnenos Dynasty
Started in 1081 and ended in 1185 ;
Komnenian emperors that reigned during this period:
Alexios the First, John the Second ,Manuel the First,
Alexios the Second and Andronikos the First.
During this dynasty,the Byzantine Empire played a major
role in the Crusades in the Holy Land which exerted a
vast amount of cultural and political influence in the
Western world.
Evolution of Byzantine art and literature as well as trade
(Italian and Venetian mercenaries resided in the
Byzantine Empire)
Emperor John the Second carried wars against the
Nomadic people from the North and against the Turks
from the South-East;
A new military reform was adopted for the sake of
restoring the empire's power and land;

The Fall of the Empire

During the Middle Ages the Byzantium Empire
fought the Muslims for control of the eastern
Mediterranean.
This included asking the Pope and the Holy
Roman Empire for help during the first
Crusade to regain control of the Holy Land.
They battled the Seljuk Turks and other Arab
and Muslim forces for hundreds of years.
Finally, in 1453, Constantinople fell to the
Ottoman Empire and with it came the end of
the Byzantine Empire.

Sources:
http://historymedren.about.com/cs/byzantin
estudies/a/forgotten.htm
http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-histo
ry/byzantine-empire
Google Images
http://www.ducksters.com/history/middle_a
ges_byzantine_empire.php
http://www.ancient.eu.com/Byzantine_Empir
e/