The Post-Classical World:
Byzantium, Medieval Europe, PreColumbian Americas
Mr. Bartula
AP World History
Conditions At The End Of The
Classical Period: ca 500-800 CE
• Civilizations became vastly larger and
geographically redistributed due to three
elements:
The Growth of Islam
The Growth of China
The Growth of Europe
Conditions At The End Of The
Classical Period: ca 500-800 CE
• Immigration by Germanic peoples flooded
Western Europe
• Epidemic disease outbreaks decimated
populations in Europe, the Middle East,
and Asia
• Population growth caused Viking
migrations to Iceland and Greenland,
Asian invasions of China, and Chinese
migrations to southern China.
Conditions At The End Of The
Classical Period: ca 500-800 CE
• Iron plows and other tools caused an
increase in agricultural production in
Africa, Asia, and Europe.
• Development of new trade networks led to
European revival and a new medieval
culture.
• China’s internal development continued to
lead the world
The Post-Classical World: Top to
Bottom
1. China: magnificent civilization spreading
its influence throughout East Asia
2. India: great religious center, important
commercial and trading region
3. Dar al’Islam: vigorous trading and
cultural center
The Post-Classical World: Top to
Bottom
4. American civilizations: separate, but
making important cultural advances
5. Sub-Saharan Africa: new societies with
Asian trading connections
6. Europe: backwards, the least developed
area
Social Conversion
The syncretic process by which people
adopt or adapt foreign cultural traditions
1. Conversion through voluntary
association
2. Conversion by pressure
3. Conversion by assimilation
The Byzantine Empire
Constantinople
Greek Fire
The Hippodrome Arena
Constantine I
Part of Constantinople’s Walls
More Walls of Constantinople
Byzantine Government
• Efficient bureaucracy
• “byzantine” politics: intrigue, espionage,
etc.
• Well-trained and organized armies
• Emperors held all political power
• Emperors also held religious authority
(caesaropapism)
Byzantine Culture
•
•
•
•
•
Highly religious
Center of trade routes
Wealth and luxury
Volatile and violent population
Preserved much classical culture
Mosaic of Emperor Leo IV
An Emperor and Empress With
The Virgin Mary
The Eastern Orthodox Church
• Formal separation
from Roman
Catholicism in 1054
• Led by Patriarchs
(bishops of major
cities)
• No priestly celibacy
• No instrumental
music
• icons
An Iconostasis
Emperor Justinian I 527-565
• The greatest Byzantine Emperor
• Reconquered much of the western Roman
Empire
• Established the Corpus Juris Civilis
• Built Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia
Eastern Orthodoxy
• Great Schism of 1054
• Led by Patriarchs and the Byzantine
Emperors
• Became dominant Christianity in Eastern
Europe and Russia
St. Cyril and St. Methodius,
Missionaries to Russia
The Fourth Crusade, 1204
• The Crusading army
attacked
Constantinople and
looted the city.
• Constantinople was
under Western
European control for
approximately 50
years
• The city and the
Byzantine Empire
never fully recovered.
The Byzantines and Islam
• The Muslims were the
most persistent enemies
of the Byzantines
• In 1071 the Battle of
Manzikert allowed the
Seljuk Turks to gain
control over much of the
Middle East
• Over the next four
hundred years the
Muslims gradually
conquered the rest of the
Byzantine Empire
• In 1453 Constantinople
was captured and
renamed Istanbul.
Western Europe’s Medieval Era
• Ca 476 to 1453
• “Dark Ages” ca 500800
• “Medieval Warm
Period” ca 800-1300
• Collapse of the
Roman Empire
• Invasions of the
“Barbarians”
• Influence of Roman
Catholic Christianity
The Franks
• Gaul
• 481: King Clovis
converted to Roman
Catholic Christianity,
anointed by the Pope
• Merovingian Dynasty
established
• Later Merovingian Kings
called “Do-Nothings”
• Real power in hands of
the Mayors of the Palace.
Charles Martel and Pepin the Short
• Charles Martel:
greatest Mayor of the
Palace
• 732, defeated
Muslims at the Battle
of Tours
• His son Pepin the
Short overthrew the
Merovingians and
became King.
Charlemagne 768-814
• Greatest King of the Franks
• Ruled all of France and
Germany
• Capital Aachen (Aix-laChapelle)
• Encouraged education
• Reestablished law and order
• Crowned Holy Roman
Emperor Dec 25, 800
Charlemagne’s Empire
Treaty of Verdun 843
• Charlemagne’s
grandsons divided his
empire
• West Frankland:
France
• East Frankland:
Germany
• The Middle Kingdom:
contested region.
• More conflict led to
breakdown of law and
order, and the rise of .
Feudalism
A political, economic, and social
system based on loyalty and
military service.
Parts of a Medieval Castle
Carcassonne: A Medieval Castle
Arundel Castle
Alnwick Castle
St. Donat’s Castle
Raby Castle
The Medieval Manor
Life on the Medieval Manor
Serfs at work
Christian Crusades: East and West
Later Middle Ages
• Revival of Trade
• Rebirth of Towns and
Cities
• Rise of the
Bourgeoisie: “City Air
is Free Air”
Medieval Trade
Medieval Guilds
The Champagne Trade Fairs
•
•
•
•
Troyes and the surrounding region
Roman road network
Counts of Champagne
Jewish population
Flanders
• Woolen cloth manufacturing
• Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp
• North Sea and English Channel trade
Genoa and Venice
• Link between Europe,
Mediterranean,
Middle East
• Investment banking
encouraged by city
governments.
• New sailing
technology invented
and adapted by Italian
sailors.
Romanesque Architecture
Romanesque Architecture
Gothic Architecture
Gothic Architecture
Chartres Cathedral
Gothic Architecture
Winchester Cathedral
Pre-Columbian Civilizations in the
Americas
• Diverse, heterogeneous cultures
• Hunter-gatherers, sedentary agricultural,
pastoral peoples
• Kinship-based societies
• Less social stratification (not wealth based)
• Little technology (no wheel until after 1492)
• Important roles for women
• Reciprocity
The Great Serpent Mound
Etowah Indian Mounds
Etowah Indian Mounds
Teotihuacan
The Toltecs
• Teotihuacan declined after 700 CE
• From ca 950 to ca 1200 the Toltecs
dominated Mesoamerica from Tula
• Warlike but conservative
• Toltecs: Craftsmen
• Chichimecs: Wildmen
• Transmitted Teotihuacan culture and
religion, cultural mixing with Maya
Quetzalcoatl: Sovereign Plumed
Serpent
The Aztecs
• More accurately called Mexica or Tenochca
• Often called themselves Toltecs
• Migrated from the north and settled in central
Mexico ca 1168
• Adopted Toltec culture, whom they deeply
admired as bringers of civilization.
• As they gained strength, Aztec society became
stratified, with a centralized government ruling
most of central Mexico
Huitzilopochtli: The Hummingbird
Wizard
Other Aztec gods and religious
practices
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•
•
•
•
Tezcatlipoca: Smoking Mirror
Tlaloc: Rain god
Chalchihuitlicue: god of Growth
Xipe: “The Flayed One”
Cyclical pattern of repeated destructions
and creations.
• Human sacrifice and blood letting
Tenochtitlan
The Aztec Economy
• Market economy with
large merchant class
• Tribute from
conquered peoples
also played a role
• Women subordinate,
but had some legal
rights
Aztec Writing System: Rebus
The Andes Mountains
The Incas
• Contemporary with the Aztecs
• Inca Empire developed after the decline of Tihuanaco,
Huari, and Chimor
• The Incas needed to expand due to the policy of split
inheritance
• By 1438 the Incas ruled an empire throughout the Andes
Mountains, capital: Cuzco
• The Incas ruled by “proxy” (using local rulers) and were
less centralized than the Aztecs
• The Incas were polytheistic, and also worshiped their
ruler The Inca, The Son of the Sun. They differed from
the Aztec in not practicing human sacrifice
Viracocha
Cuzco
Machu Picchu
Terrace Farming in the Andes
Inca Roads
Intihuatani: Hitching Post of the
Sun
The Inca Economy
• The Inca ruler and royal family held
absolute power.
• Economy based on cooperation and
community: “Inca socialism”
• Little long distance trade, no market
economy
• Primary crops: corn and potatoes, llamas
and alpacas
Quipus