Chapter 13

Commonwealth of Byzantium

What was Emperor Justinian best known for?

• The Creation of Justinian’s Code or Corpus iuris civilis- the body of civil law

• His wife Theodora• Church of Hagia Sophia?

What is the significance of this Structure?

• Hagia Sophia• “Saint Sophia”• The monument is

considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture, because of its enormous dome.

What is the significance of this picture?

What is Caesaropapism?

• The Emperor had absolute secular power and had immense religious power because he appointed the Patriarch of the Eastern church?

What happened at the Council of Nicaea?

• Constantine called the Christian churches together to discuss the teachings of Arius. They condemned his teachings.

Who were the Greens and Blues?

• Rival groups in Constantinople.• Rivals at the chariot races in the Hippodrome• Led rebellion against Justinian, but were

crushed.

What was the Schism between Eastern and Western Christianity?

• Differences in practices and rituals caused tension between East and West

• Difference in opinion over whether priests could marry, shave, what bread to use for communion, language of the mass, etc.

What were some of the patterns of interactions for the Byzantines?

• Fought the Muslim states in the 8th century, lost Syria, Egypt, N. Africa but kept Anatolia, Greece and the Balkans

• Constantinople was sacked by the Crusaders 1204

• Attacked by the Saljuqs• Constantinople was finally conquered by the

Ottoman Turks in 1453

What was the iconoclasty controversy?

• Iconoclasm is a Greek word meaning image breaking

• The Eastern Church banned the use of images, while the Western Half approved of them

• Thomas Aquinas thought people were more excited about things they could see rather than just hear

What geographic advantage did the Byzantines have?

Advantages included:• To the north lay the Black Sea and what we would now call Russia and the

Ukraine. From here came products such as iron, timber and animal furs (especially the very valuable sable).

• To the west lay the rest of Europe from which Byzantium obtained cereals, wine, flax (to make linen) and animal hides to make leather.

• To the south lay Africa and especially Egypt. The Nile valley still produced enormous quantities of food as it had done in pharaonic times. It also supplied gold and copper and precious ivory from more southern regions.

• To the east lay the most important trade route of all. From Arabia came valuable perfumes, from Persia expensive carpets, from India spices and precious stones (especially rubies and emeralds) and from China came silk.