1 / 15

Chapter 9

Chapter 9. Section 3 The Byzantine Empire. I. The Rise of the Byzantines. The Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire reached a high point in the A.D. 500’s and stretched west to Italy, south to Egypt, and east to the border of Arabia. Many groups of people made up the empire,

Download Presentation

Chapter 9

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Chapter 9 Section 3 The Byzantine Empire

  2. I. The Rise of the Byzantines • The Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire reached a high point in the A.D. 500’s and stretched west to Italy, south to Egypt, and east to the border of Arabia. • Many groups of people made up the empire, including: Egyptians, Syrians, Arabs, Armenians, Jews, Persians, Slavs, Turks, and the largest group, Greeks

  3. Why is Constantinople Important? • Constantinople became the capital of the Byzantine Empire and by the A.D. 500’s, it had become one of the world’s greatest cities. • Constantinople’s location was one reason for its success. • It lay on the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea and sat at the crossroads of trade routes between Europe and Asia. • Constantinople was also easily defended, being protected on three sides by water and a huge wall guarding the fourth side.

  4. Influence of Greek Culture • At first, the Byzantine Empire followed Roman ways and was known as the “New Rome.” • As time passed, the Byzantine Empire became less Roman and more Greek. • The ideas of non-Greek peoples, like the Egyptians and Slavs, also shaped the Byzantine Empire. • Between A.D. 500 and A.D. 1200, the Byzantines had one of the world’s richest and most advanced empires.

  5. II. Emperor Justinian • Justinian (juh*stih*nee*uhn) became emperor of the Byzantine Empire in A.D. 527 and ruled until A.D. 565. • Justinian was a strong leader who made laws, controlled the military, and was supreme judge. • Justinian’s wife, the empress Theodora (thee*uh*dohr*uh), helped Justinian run the empire and convinced him to give women more rights.

  6. Justinian’s Conquests • Justinian wanted to reunite the Roman Empire and bring back the glory of Rome. • To accomplish this, he would have to conquer western Europe and northern Africa. • He ordered a general named Belisarius (beh*luh*sar*ee*uhs) to reorganize and strengthen the Byzantine army.

  7. Belisarius reorganized the army making primarily cavalry, soldiers mounted on horses. • During Justinian’s reign, the Byzantine military conquered most of Italy, northern Africa, and the Persians in the east. • However, after Justinian’s death, the empire did not have enough money to maintain an army large enough to hold the territory to the west.

  8. Justinian’s Law Code • Justinian decided that the empire’s laws were disorganized and too difficult to understand. • He ordered a group of legal scholars headed by Tribonian (truh*boh*nee*uhn) to reform the law code. • This new simplified code was now more easily understood and became known as Justinian Code. • The Justinian Code has had a great influence on the laws of almost every country in Europe.

  9. III. Byzantine Civilization • The Byzantine Empire lasted approximately 1,000 years. • Constantinople was the largest and richest city in Europe for much of that time. • They preserved and passed on Greek culture and Roman law to other peoples. • They gave the world new methods in the arts and spread Christianity to the people in Eastern Europe.

  10. The Importance of Trade • From the A.D. 500’s to the A.D. 1100’s, the Byzantine Empire was the center of trade between Europe and Asia. • This enormous trade made the Byzantine Empire very rich.

  11. Most people in the empire were farmers, herders, laborers, and artisans. • One of the major Byzantine industries was weaving silk. • Byzantine travelers smuggled silkworm eggs out of China and weavers would used silk threads to make the silk cloth

  12. Byzantine Art and Architecture • Justinian and other Byzantine emperors supported artists and architects. • Constantinople was known for its hundreds of churches and palaces.

  13. One of Justinian’s greatest achievements was building the huge church called Hagia Sophia (hah*jee*uh soh*fee*uh), or “Holy Wisdom.” • Inside Hagia Sophia were walls of beautiful mosaics, pictures made from many bits of colored glass or stone.

  14. Byzantine Women • The family was the center of social life for most Byzantines. • Byzantine women were expected to stay home and take care of their families. • However, thanks to Empress Theodora, some Byzantine women became well educated and involved in politics. • Several royal women served as regents. • A regent is a person who stands in for a ruler who is too young or too ill to govern.

  15. Byzantine Education • Learning was highly respected in Byzantine culture and the government supported the training of scholars and government officials. • In schools, boys studied religion, medicine, law, arithmetic, grammar, and other subjects. • Most Byzantine authors wrote about religion and stressed the need to obey God and save one’s soul. • They also copied and passed on the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

More Related