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CHAPTER FOCUS

SECTION 1Constantinople

SECTION 2 Justinian I

SECTION 3 The Church

SECTION 4 Decline of the Empire

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• Byzantium

• Hagia Sophia

• relics

• theology

• Greek fire

• icons

• Constantine I

• Justinian

• Theodora

• Leo III

Terms to Learn People to Know

• Constantinople

Places to Locate

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Constantinople• When Constantine first chose the old Greek

city of Byzantium as the place for his new capital, he was aware of its advantages.

• Byzantium was located near a waterway between the Black and Aegean seas.

• It was located at the crossroads of the trading routes between Europe and Asia.

• Invaders would not easily be able to take the new capital.

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Constantinople (cont.)

• Byzantium, renamed Constantinople, took over four years to build and was modeled after Rome except that it was aChristian city.

• Government and church leaders gathered relics, or valued holy objects from the past, to be placed in public monuments, palaces, and churches.

• About 600,000 people lived in Constantinople during Constantine’s rule.

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Justinian I• After Constantine died, his sons, generals,

and emperors ruled the empire.

• Finally, in 527, a strong, Macedonian ruler named Justinian came to the throne. He came to be considered the greatest Byzantine emperor.

• Justinian was well trained in the army, law, music, architecture, and theology, or the study of religion.

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• Justinian’s wife, the empress and actress Theodora, was a great help to him.

• Theodora helped fill political offices and convinced Justinian to allow women more rights.

• Women finally were allowed to own land equal in value to their dowry, or the wealth they brought with them when they married.

• In 532, a revolt arose by protesters of high taxes, who were prepared to crown a new emperor.

Theodora

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Section 2-3

• Theodora urged Justinian to stay, and together they crushed the uprising.

Theodora (cont.)

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• Justinian chose ten men to work out a simpler and better legal system.

• Tribonian developed a legal code, known as the Justinian Code, that became the law of the land.

• Another of Justinian’s greatest accomplishments was the church called Hagia Sophia, or “Holy Wisdom.”

• The church had a gold altar and colorful mosaics, or pictures made up of many bits of colored glass or stone, everywhere.

Law and Public Works

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• Hagia Sophia, later called St. Sophia, served the Byzantine Empire for more than 900 years and still stands today.

Law and Public Works (cont.)

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• Justinian appointed an officer named Belisarius to reorganize and lead the Byzantine army to help reunite the eastern and western parts of the empire.

• Belisarius set up loyal and heavily armed cavalry soldiers and developed a series of battle moves that greatly strengthened the army’s striking power.

• During this time, the first secret weapon in history, called Greek fire, was developed.

Conquest

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• Greek fire was a chemical mixture that ignited when it came into contact with water. Its exact formula is still unknown.

• With army improvements and Greek fire, the Byzantines were able to control more of the Mediterranean.

• The Byzantines also won back much of Italy and North Africa, defeated the Persians, and ensured the security of the empire’s eastern borders.

Conquest (cont.)

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The Church• Church and government worked closely

together in the Byzantine Empire.

• The leader of the Church in Constantinople was called the Patriarch, chosen by the emperor.

• Under him were the metropolitans, or church officials in charge of the empire’s important areas.

• Some missionaries, including a man named Cyril, traveled among the Slavs, a people who had settled in eastern Europe.

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The Church (cont.)

• Religion was very important to the Byzantines and the use of icons, or religious images used in worship, became controversial for over 100 years.

• In 726, Emperor Leo III ordered a stop to the use of icons, but in 843, the emperor once again allowed their use.

• The fight over icons damaged the empire’s relations with western Europe.

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• The Pope broke his ties with the Byzantine emperor and turned to the Frankish kings for military protection.

• This and other disputes helped pave the way for the break between Western and Eastern Christianity in 1054.

The Church (cont.)

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Decline of the Empire• The Byzantine Empire lasted for about

1,100 years.

• Forces from both inside and outside the empire led to the downfall of the Byzantine Empire.

• Early Byzantine farmers served in the army in return for land, but when they lost their land they had little reason to join the army.

• The empire also began to have problems with trade.

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Decline of the Empire (cont.)

• Meanwhile, when Christians from the West and Muslims from the East attacked the empire, Asia Minor was lost to these invaders.

• The population dropped to less than 100,000, and when Turkish armies attacked Constantinople in 1453, they easily conquered the Byzantines.