Byzantine Empire

Examples of Byzantine Empire in the following topics:

• Naming of the Byzantine Empire

  • While the Western Roman Empire fell, the Eastern Roman Empire, now known as the Byzantine Empire, thrived.
  • The Byzantine Empire, sometimes referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire in the East during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, originally founded as Byzantium).
  • Both "Byzantine Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" are historiographical terms created after the end of the realm; its citizens continued to refer to their empire as the Roman Empire and thought of themselves as Romans.
  • Just as the Byzantine Empire represented the political continuation of the Roman Empire, Byzantine art and culture developed directly out of the art of the Roman Empire, which was itself profoundly influenced by ancient Greek art.
  • These are all based on medieval stereotypes about the Byzantine Empire that developed as Western Europeans came into contact with the Byzantines and were perplexed by their more structured government.

• The Double Disasters

  • A number of wars between the Normans and the Byzantine Empire were fought from 1040 until 1185 when the last Norman invasion of Byzantine territory was defeated.
  • A Byzantine defeat in 1071 proved decisive for the disintegration and collapse of the Empire.
  • Guiscard was incredibly successful and he turned his eye to conquering the entire Byzantine Empire.
  • Anatolia had been the heartland of the Byzantine Empire, the home of most of its soldiers and farmers.
  • The Byzantine Empire was now vulnerable to conquest.

• The Last Byzantine Dynasty

  • Michael VIII recaptured Constantinople and restored the Byzantine Empire, giving rise to the last dynasty of the Empire and a brief time of cultural flourishing.
  • In addition, the disintegration of the Byzantine Empire allowed the Bulgarians, the Serbs and the various Turcoman emirates of Anatolia to make gains.
  • Still, Michael VIII returned to the city and was proclaimed emperor there, marking the restoration of the Byzantine Empire.
  • A decisive change had taken place: among the citizens of the restored Byzantine Empire, the "Latins" of Western Europe were more hated than even the Muslims.
  • By 1380, the Byzantine Empire consisted of the capital Constantinople and a few other isolated exclaves, which only nominally recognized the Emperor as their lord.

• Byzantium's Legacy

  • The Byzantine Empire has had a lasting legacy in religion, architecture, art, literature, and law.
  • The Byzantine Empire had kept Greek and Roman culture alive for nearly a thousand years after the fall of the Roman Empire in the west.
  • The Byzantine Empire had also acted as a buffer between Western Europe and the conquering armies of Islam.
  • Thus, in many ways the Byzantine Empire had insulated Europe and given it the time it needed to recover from its chaotic medieval period.
  • Give examples of how the Byzantine Empire continued to have an impact even after its collapse

• Crisis and Fragmentation

  • Although Western Europe had a history of religious disagreements with the Byzantines, they now realized that the Byzantine Empire was all that was holding back the Muslims from invading Europe.
  • The sack was a disaster for the Byzantine Empire, which for all purposes ceased to exist.
  • Although the Greeks retook Constantinople after 57 years of Latin rule, the Byzantine Empire had been crippled by the Fourth Crusade.
  • They fought each other and the Latins for control of the former lands of the Byzantine Empire.
  • Analyze the relationship between the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire

• The Fall of Constantinople

  • The restored Byzantine Empire was surrounded by enemies.
  • The Bulgarian Empire, which had rebelled against the Byzantines centuries earlier, now matched it in strength.
  • A new empire arose in the western Balkans, the Serbian Empire, who conquered many Byzantine lands.
  • By 1400 CE, the Byzantine Empire was little more than the city-state of Constantinople.
  • Describe the political situation leading up to the Turkish conquest of the Byzantine Empire

• The Macedonian Dynasty

  • He was perceived by the Byzantines as one of their greatest emperors, and the Macedonian dynasty, which he founded, ruled over what is regarded as the most glorious and prosperous era of the Byzantine Empire.
  • It was under this dynasty that the Byzantine Empire would recover from its previous turmoil and become the most powerful state in the medieval world.
  • The time of the Macedonian Dynasty's rule over the Byzantine Empire is sometimes called the Byzantine Renaissance or the Macedonian Renaissance.
  • A long period of military struggle for survival had recently dominated the life of the Byzantine Empire, but the Macedonians ushered in an age when art and literature once again flourished.
  • The Macedonian Dynasty also oversaw the expansion of the Byzantine Empire, which went on the offensive against its enemies.

• The Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars

  • The Byzantine Empire had a long and tumultuous relationship with the Bulgar Empire to its north.
  • As the state solidified its position in the Balkans, it entered into a centuries-long interaction, sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile, with the Byzantine Empire.
  • The Byzantine–Bulgarian wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Byzantines and Bulgarians which began when the Bulgars first settled in the Balkan peninsula in the 5th century, and intensified with the expansion of the Bulgarian Empire to the southwest after 680 AD.
  • Since both became part of the Ottoman Empire, this was the end of the long series of Bulgarian-Byzantine Wars.
  • A map of the First Bulgarian Empire in the 10th century

• The Theme System

  • The themes (themata in Greek)  were the main administrative divisions of the middle Byzantine Empire.
  • The successors of Heraclius had to fight a desperate war against the Arabs to keep them from conquering the entire Byzantine Empire, known as the Byzantine-Arab wars.
  • Abandoning the professional army inherited from the Roman past, the Byzantines granted land to farmers who in return would provide the Empire with loyal soldiers.
  • By the end of the Heraclian Dynasty in 711 CE, the empire had transformed from the Eastern Roman Empire, with its urbanized, cosmopolitan civilization, to the medieval Byzantine Empire, an agrarian, military-dominated society in a lengthy struggle with the Muslims.
  • Map depicting the locations of the themes established during the Heraclian Dynasty of the Byzantine Empire.

• Iconoclasm in Byzantium

  • However, the Byzantine Iconoclasm refers to two periods in the history of the Byzantine Empire when the use of religious images or icons was opposed by religious and imperial authorities.
  • The movement was triggered by changes in Orthodox worship that were themselves generated by the major social and political upheavals of the seventh century for the Byzantine Empire.
  • Social and class-based arguments have been put forward, such as that iconoclasm created political and economic divisions in Byzantine society; that it was generally supported by the Eastern, poorer, non-Greek peoples of the Empire who had to constantly deal with Arab raids.
  • The seventh century had been a period of major crisis for the Byzantine Empire, and believers had begun to lean more heavily on divine support.
  • Leo III interpreted his many military failures as a judgment on the Empire by God and decided that they were being judged for their worship of religious images.