Chapter 8: The Byzantine Empire

Fall of Rome

The Decline of Rome

• Life after the 5 Good Emperors– Death of Marcus Aurelius led to civil war– The Severan Rulers

• Established a military government• “Enrich the soldiers and ignore everyone else”

– 235-284 AD: 22 Rulers• Most were murdered

– Sassanid Persians• Lived in the East• Began to invade Roman lands

– Plague• Decimated the Roman population

– Farms destroyed by invading people

The Decline of Rome

• Reform Movement– Diocletian (284-305AD)

• Divided the Roman Empire into 4 prefectures (Why?)• Each prefecture had a separate ruler (Tetrarchy)• All reported to Diocletian’s military power• 301 AD

– Stabilized economy and fought inflation by setting wage and price controls

– Constantine (306-337AD)• Expanded the prefectures• Constructed a capital in the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium)

– Becomes known as Constantinople (Now called Istanbul)– Built for defensive purposes (Why?)

The Decline of Rome

• Military Reform– The Army• Expanded the army to 500,000 soldiers• Included the use of German soldiers• Frontier units defended the borders• Mobile units responded to problems and provided back

up– Civil Service• Expansion required an increase in revenue• Not enough people to support current tax base• Required certain jobs to be passed down to offspring

The Fall of the Rome

• After death of Constantine, Roman Empire divided in half• The Western Roman Empire

– Facing the Germans• Visigoths

– Had been displaced from land by the Huns from Asia– Eventually culture led to conflict and revolt– Battle at Adrianople in 378 AD. (Defeated Romans)– 410AD: Invaded Rome– Later invaded other Roman provinces

• Odoacer (476AD)– Deposed Romulus Augustulus as Roman Emperor– This marked the end of the Western Roman Empire

Why did Rome fall?

• Possible Reasons for the Fall of Rome:– 1. Christianity weakened the Roman military (How?)– 2. Increase in non-Italians gaining power (How?)– 3. Lead poisoning in water system (How?)– 4. Plague killed 10% of population– 5. Lack of technological advancement (Why?)– 6. Inability to create working political system (Why?)

Chapter 8: Emerging Europe

Age of Charlemagne

The Germanic Kingdoms

• Kingdom of the Franks– Clovis (466-511AD)• First Germanic king to convert to Catholicism• Prayed to Christ during a losing battle

– Enemies fled and he converted

• Conversion gave him support from other Catholic kingdoms• Expanded kingdom from Pyrenees to modern day France• Sons carved up kingdom after death into 3 regions

German Society

• Family– Based around extended family including

grandparents and cousins– Male dominant. Woman obeys oldest male

• Wergild– System of fines for bloodshed– Certain crimes cost certain amount paid to family

of the victim– Tried to eliminate revenge

The Carolingian Empire

• Charlemagne (reigned:768-814AD)– Grandson of Charles Martel (defeater of Muslims)– Covered most of Central and Western Europe– German counts ran parts of kingdom

• Missi dominici made sure they were following rules– 800AD: Emperor of the Romans

• Showed strength of enduring idea• Empire expanded beyond Mediterranean world

– Carolingian Renaissance• Educational revival • Renewed interest in Latin and Greek works

Chapter 8: Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

Justinian and Eastern Roman Empire

• 527-565AD• Wanted to re-establish the Roman Empire• 552AD: Empire expanded to Italy, North Africa, and Spain• After his death, his empire slowly fell apart piece by piece• The Body of Civil Law

– Extension of Roman law– Became the code of law for the Eastern Roman Empire– Simplified version of Roman law

Creation of Byzantine Empire

• Grew out of Eastern Roman Empire• Early threats from Arabs brought together by Islam

– 636AD: loss of Syria and Palestine– 679AD: loss of the Bulgarian empire

• Byzantine Empire (8th century-1453AD)– Unique combo of Greek and Christian ideas– Greek became official language– Architecture done in honor of the Christian faith

• Role of Emperor– Chosen by God– Patriarch of the church

Byzantine Empire

• Economy– Exchange between East and West

• Major goods exchanged:– Silk– Ivory– Furs– Jewelry– Spices

• Hippodrome– Central amphitheater– Held up to 60K– Gladiator fights and chariot races

New Problems

• Schisms– A split between the Western Catholic Church and the Eastern

Orthodox Church– Emperor Leo III

• Outlawed the use of icons (religious images)• Felt people were worshipping them too much

– 1054AD• Pope Leo IX and Michael Cerularius (head of Byzantine Church)

– Excommunicate each other