The Byzantine Empire

Lesson Summary

• The Byzantine Empire started as the Eastern Roman Empire in 330 and lasted more than 1100 years until its fall to the Ottomans in 1453. It was founded by the Roman emperor Constantine through the creation of the city of Constantinople on the ancient site of Byzantium. The history and culture of Byzantium is a continuation of the Roman period and way of life.
• The emergence of Christianity played a major role in Byzantine history and culture. 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. Eventually, emperors such as Theodosius the Great promoted Christianity to the point that it replaced Roman Paganism.
• The language of the Byzantine Empire also changed during this time, moving from the official court language of Latin to Byzantine Greek. However, Western Europe still spoke Latin, which caused communication problems, especially in terms of religious terminologies and laws. Communication problems and religious differences eventually led to the Great Schism in 1054, when the two factions officially split, forming two separate religions that still exist today: Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic.
• Tensions further rose in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, when the Western European Crusaders sacked Constantinople. In 1261, Michael VIII Palaeologos recaptured Constantinople, setting off a rebirth of classical studies and traditional Byzantine education known as the Palaeologan Rennaissance.
• 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. However, these changes, among many others, drastically and permanently changed the history, culture, religion, and way of life of the Byzantine world again, and thus the Byzantine Empire was no more.