•Remember one of Rome’s biggest problems? •Its SIZE •Why was this a problem? •It was too big for the government to take care of! •Emperor Diocletian decided to split Rome in half! •WESTERN HALF: Europe/North Africa (and the city of Rome •EASTERN HALF: Turkey/parts of Asia (and the city of Byzantium

Orange- Western Roman Empire Green- Eastern Roman Empire

AD 306- Constantine begins his rule of the enormous Roman Empire

There were 2 big changes during Constantine’s rule

1. He became a Christian

2.He decided to build a new imperial capital

Because he became a Christian, Constantine stopped persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire

AD 330- Constantine decided to set up his capital in Byzantium– an ancient Greek city

He built markets, forums (public squares), paved roads, a cathedral (Hagia Sophia), a palace, public baths, and a hippodrome (circus)

500,000 people lived in Constantinople

Mosaics are an art form that use small pieces of glass or stone to make beautiful pictures

The Hagia Sophia was a cathedral in Constantinople… it was later turned into a mosque.

The Hippodrome was a circus… chariot races, meetings, and riots took place here.

Constantinople was built at a major crossroads of land and sea trade routes

It’s on the Bosporus Strait It the Black Sea and

the Sea of Marmara (which flows into the Mediterranean Sea)

It also links Europe and Asia

Goods came to Constantinople from Kiev (north), Egypt(south), across Central Asia and China

The diverse people, goods, and ideas made Constantinople an interesting and exciting place to be.

Byzantines charged taxes on all goods that came through the city… this made them very rich.

After Constantine, other emperors ruled from Constantinople…

The Byzantine Empire was a mainly Christian empire– a change from the other empires of the day.

Eventually the Roman Empire officially split into 2 halves (as mentioned before) and the Eastern half remained stronger due to military and trade strength

In AD 476, the western Roman Empire collapsed

While the western part of the Roman Empire was falling apart, a strong army and a strong wall protected Constantinople.

Constantinople had strong, popular leaders who promoted education and reformed laws

Introduction Justinian came to

power in AD 527 He was born poor, so

he listened to all of his subjects, not just the rich ones

He created a code of laws

Before Justinian’s code, the empire was ruled using a disorganized system of old Roman laws.

What kinds of problems do you think there were with these laws?

There were TOO MANY laws and they were hard to understand

Justinian’s code consolidated laws from other empires and made them easy to enforce and understand.

Read the primary source document with a group of 3.

Annotate the article– you can use the questionson the side to guide your annotations. Add in 3 or more reactions, opinions, or definitions on the side.

Discuss these questions and have one person jot down answers

How did Justinian’s laws keep things in order?

How were Justinian’s laws similar to laws today?

How were Justinian’s laws different from laws today?

Video introduction

Heraclius ruled between AD 610-641 Reorganized and

strengthened the imperial administration and army

Lost Syria, Palestine, & Egypt to the Arab Muslims

The empire was being invaded on all sides– Persians and Turks to the east, Arabic to the south, and Germanic people to the north and west.

Land was shrinking smaller and smaller.

Byzantines did not practice Christianity in the same way as the other people in Western Europe.

CHRISTIANITY IN WESTERN EUROPE

Pope, who lived in Rome, was the highest religious leader

Latin was the language of the church

Prayed to saints or holy people represented by icons (pictures of the holy people)

CHRISTIANITY IN BYZANTINE EMPIRE

Patriarch, who was chosen by the emperor and who lived in Constantinople, was the highest religious leader

Greek was the language of the church

Icons were banned by the emperor because he thought they violated the 10 commandments

Because of the argument over icons, the pope banished the Byzantine emperor from the church.

Byzantines were angry about this.

This argument lead to a schism (split) between the Roman Catholic Church in the west and the Eastern (Greek) Orthodox Church in the east.

Known as the Macedonian Dynasty

Between AD 900- AD 1100, trade increased and things started growing again.

They traded with places as far away as Kiev (Russia) and Venice.

The relationship with Kiev and their leader (Vladimir the Great) brought Christianity to Russia

The population grew, arts advanced, they regained some lost land.

AD 1000’s- Muslims to the East started gaining power

AD 1100’s- Turks had taken land in Asian Minor away from Byzantines

AD 1171- war with Venice AD 1200’s- Christian crusaders attacked

Constantinople and took over AD 1453- 70,000 Turks surrounded the

land by sea and by land and took over

Constantinople was rebuilt and named Istanbul– the center of the Ottoman Empire and the center of Muslim culture.

You may use your notes and the book as needed

This is homework if not completed in class.