The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire

1. Leaders

   • Justinian
     • -Emperor that led the Byzantine empire to its peak -rebuilt Constantinople -made "Justinian's Code" -married Theodora -worked to build a strong economy
   • autocrat
     • -a sole leader than exercises complete power over secular matters and religious matters
   • Theodora
     • -Justinian's wife and a shrewd politician -started at the bottom of society as an actress, or prostitute -played big role in government with husband:        -encouraged laws to help women, children, and the poor         - assisted Justinian in choosing leaders -believed jobs should be given based on ability rather than social class
   • Patriarch
     • -the highest church official in Eastern Christianity -appointed by the Byzantine emperor

2. Constantinople

   • the capital of the Byzantine Empire
   • protection
     • Constantinople was well protected because:     -surrounded by water on 3 sides (served as natural wall against invaders)      -built large systems of walls and towers to keep out invaders
   • economy
     • -focused mainly on trade -location put them on prime trade route b/c they were between Europe and Asia and people could meet there in the middle -were able to collect a lot of taxes on trade which were used to build New Rome -also, started making silk (only other country that could make it was China)
   • location
     • -located where what is now Istanbul -surrounded by water on 3 sides -on the border of Europe and Asia -Constantinople's location helped it with trade because it was in a central location on land and it had access to water
   • fall of Constantinople
     • -began when Seljuk Turks invaded and blocked the Eastern Christians' pilgrimages to the Holy Land (igniting the Crusades) -the Crusades ended in a trade rivalry with Venice that left Constantinople burned and in Western Christianity's rule -Eastern Christians regained control, but eventually Constantinople was taken over by the Ottoman empire and turned into Istanbul

3. Justinian's Code

   • a body of civil law
   • What was the process?
     • -Justinian chose 10 men to review 1600 books full of Roman Law -they condensed the laws to the 4000 that make up Justinian's code -Theodora influenced some of the laws included in the code
   • why is it important?
     • Writers of other countries modeled their laws and constitutions from Justinian's code
   • what is it composed of?
     • -laws passed by Roman assemblies -laws declared by Roman emperors -legal writings of Roman judges used as a handbook for students
   • What does it stress the importance of?
     • Natural Law => philosophy that certain rights or values should be laws because they are understood to be right by virtue of human nature

4. Military

   • key events
     • -fougth against invaders from Persians, Vikings, Slavs, and Huns (won) -fought in the crusades; at the beginning fought on the same side as Western Christians but they eventually turned against eachother (loss)
   • weapons
     • -had secret weapon called Greek fire which was fire that could not be put out with water -used by the Byzantine Navy  
   • soldiers
     • peasants were the backbone of the economy and made up a large percentage of the soldiers
   • strengths
     • -city was surrounded by strong fortifications that kept invaders out -military was made up of ships and sailors and also an army on land