Chapter 14 – Civilization in Eastern
Europe: Byzantium and Orthodox
Europe
• The Byzantine Empire – 500-1450 ce –
– Maintained a high level of political, economic, and
cultural activity – Official language was Greek –
Constantinople was the capital – Orthodox
Christianity dominant - key hub for international
trade from west to east
– Emperor Justinian – tried to reconquer the
western Rome – creates a new legal code – built
the Hagia Sophia, church
– General Belisarius was able to regain some of
western Rome, Italy -
• Byzantium faced external threats from
Persians, Arab Muslim, Germanic and Slavic
peoples
• Greek Fire – napalm
• Emperors resemble Chinese rulers – court
rituals – head of church and state – centralized
authority and sophisticated bureaucracies – Open to all classes
• The Schism
– 1054 the Christian Church split into the Roman
Catholic Church in the West and the Eatern
Orthodox Church in the East
– Attacks on different practices on each side caused
the split
– Mutual excommunication
– The Pope was the head of the church in the west
and the Patriarch was the head of the church in
the East.
• Appeal to West brings crusaders – 1204, Venetian crusaders sack Constantinople
– Western Crusaders saw opportunity in going to
the East – fame and fortune – chance to claim
territory and create a kingdom of their own.
• Empire’s Decline and collapse – in 1453 the
Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottoman Turks
– 1461, empire gone
• Emergence of Kievan Russia
– Rurik created the first Rus Empire in Kiev, a trading
city
– Early Russia looked to the Byzantine Empire and
the west for everything - trade and culture
– Convert to Russian Orthodox Christianity
– As the Byzantine Empire began to decline Russia
went into isolation and the Mongol, Tatars took
control