You may recall from our earlier study of the Roman Empire that the empire had fractured and split into several parts as a result of the barbarian invasions. Emperor Constantine the Great had established his capital in the ancient city of Byzantium, (the modern city of Constantinople in Turkey) in 324AD.
Evidence of this may be seen in how the Eastern Roman emperors solved a difficult problem. After the death of Attila in 453AD, his forces had scattered in many different directions. One of his strongest allies was a tribe known as the Ostrogoths. They decided to settle in lands inside the Eastern Roman Empire. This created a difficult problem for the Eastern emperor who did not want these powerful barbarians to settle in his land where they might cause all sorts of troubles. Instead, the Eastern emperor suggested to the Ostrogoths that much richer lands lay to the west in Italy and could be his for very little trouble. So, taking the emperor’s advice, Theodoric, the king of the Ostrogoths, took his rough and rowdy army into Italy in 493AD where they easily defeated Odoacer (he was captured and then murdered at a banquet in his honor) and set up their own empire with its capital at the port city of Ravenna. However, within a hundred years the Ostrogoth Empire were themselves conquered by another barbarian tribe, the Lombards.
All of this may seem confusing now but just think how confusing it would have been to the people living at this time! Maybe it will help you realize how easy our life is today when war and all of its misery are just something we see on TV. Only rarely does it affect our daily lives. Yet, for people living in 5th century Europe it would have been the complete opposite. Peace would have been a rare event which most would have never experienced. Life for them would have been just one long anxious nightmare with very few, if any, periods of stability.
Now students, I could spent the next few pages telling you about all of these wars and troubles but after a while it all just blends together and in the end you will be just as confused as I usually am. So, let’s just look at the important points that you need to have a basic understanding of the Byzantine Empire.
- The Byzantine Empire is also known as the Eastern Roman Empire.
- The language was Greek rather than Latin as it was in Rome.
- Their religion was Christian, the same as Rome but eventually the two groups split over various differences. The church in Rome became the Roman Catholic Church and in Byzantium it became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church.
- A popular sport was chariot racing in the famous Hippodrome between rival teams wearing either blue or green colors. Rivalry between team supporters often led to much bloodshed and even a rebellion in 532AD in which 30,000 people died.
- One of the most famous emperors was Justinian I who ruled from 527 to 565AD. He rebuilt the city after the “chariot rebellion” in 532AD. His most famous construction project was the Hagia Sophia, which is one of the most famous cathedrals in the world. He also attempted to recapture Rome and the Western Empire from the barbarians but was only partially and temporarily successful. Justinian also standardized Roman law in what has become known as Justinian's Code. This code became the foundation for all western law.
- During the reign of Justinian a great plague killed 40% of Constantinople's residents and over 25% of the people in the eastern Mediterranean. The plague would return again and again over the next 300 years decimating the population of Europe. It is thought that about 50% of the entire population of Europe died from this disease during this time.
The Byzantines considered the emperor to be not just a political leader but also the supreme head of the church so religious and political authority was inseparable in Byzantium. In Rome, the Pope was the supreme religious authority and considered himself to be the leader of all Christians everywhere. This caused trouble with Byzantium.
Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610-641) repels a Sassanid Persian invasion and later destroys their army at Niniveh in 627AD. The once great Persian empire crumbles.
In 632AD, Islamic armies attacked the Byzantine Empire occupying its territories in the Middle East and North Africa. In 677AD and 717AD, Islamic armies attacked Constantinople but failed to capture the city. Territories lost to the Muslim armies are finally retaken by Byzantine armies in the 10th century.
Religious differences between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church dominate much of Byzantine history. Iconoclasm was one such problem. It was a violent reaction against the worship of religious icons in Christian worship. In 730AD, the Eastern Orthodox Church banned this practice and many important religious icons were smashed. This caused many Roman Catholics to protest this interference in their religious practices. Pope Gregory III even excommunicated the Byzantine Emperor! This divisive policy was ended in 843AD.
In 800AD, Pope Leo III refused to accept the Byzantine empress Irene because she was a woman. Instead, he crowned Charlemagne, the king of the Franks, as the Holy Roman Emperor. This angered the Byzantines who naturally believed they were the center of the true Roman Empire.
1071AD the Byzantine army is defeated by Seljuk Turks at Manzikert and almost all Byzantine territory in the East is lost.
The Byzantine Emperor, Alexius Comnenius, calls on European rulers to help fight the Turks beginning the age of Crusades.
In 1204, Crusader armies in search of gold and treasure attack and loot the city of Constantinople in one of the most shocking and traumatic events in European history.
In 1453, Constantinople is conquered and occupied by the Ottoman Turks and renamed Istanbul in the final chapter of the Byzantine Empire.
