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Chapter 11.1 Byzantium Becomes the New
Rome
1. Who was Justinian? (time period, location, key
achievements)
6th Century CE…Byzantine Empire…Emperor of the
Byzantines, reconquered much of the former
Western Roman Empire, extensive building
programs in Constantinople, including the Hagia
Sophia…married to Theodora…put down the Nika
Revolt…commissioned the codification Roman Law
into Justinian Code
2. What was the Nika Revolt and its significance?
An uprising of factions in Constantinople in 532CE.
Justinian was able to forcibly put it down, after the
encouragement of his wife, Theodora
3. What was the Schism of 1054?
The division of the Christian Church into Western
Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox in 1054… the
pope and patriarch had excommunicated each
other...also disagreed over use of icons, marriage of
clergy, and leadership of church…2 sects of
Christianity remained separate into present day.
Chapter 11.1 Byzantium Becomes the New
Rome
 Emperor Constantine rebuilt the old port city of
Byzantium on the Bosporus strait- Byzantium
could respond to the danger of the Germanic
tribes…also close to the eastern
provinces…renamed city Constantinople…year
330, made it the capital of the empire
I. A New Rome in a New Setting
 Constantine planned Constantinople as the new
capital of the empire…empire’s center of power
moved eastward…developed independently of
the declining West
 Independent eastern empire developed
A.
Justinian: A New Line of Caesars
 Officially divided in two in 395…but
Constantine’s successors in the East continued
to see themselves as Roman emperors
 527: high-ranking Byzantine nobleman named
Justinian succeeded his uncle and ascended the
throne
 Court historian, Procopius, described Justinian
as a serious, even-tempered ruler who worked
from dawn to midnight…The Secret HistoryProcopius portrayed Justinian as “deceitful,
devious, false, hypocritical, two-faced, cruel…a
liar always.”
 Justinian tried to reunify the western and
eastern portions of the empire
 533: Justinian sent his general Belisarius to
recover North Africa from the Vandals…two
years later, Belisarius attacked Rome and took it
from the Ostrogoths
o Rome changed hands 6 times in 16 years
o Justinian’s armies won nearly all of Italy and
parts of Spain…Justinian almost ruled all the
former Roman territory…new Caesar
B.Absolute Power of the Emperors
 Byzantine Emperors ruled with absolute power
 Headed the state and the Church as
well…appointed and dismissed bishops at will
 Emperors lived under constant risk of
assassination
 Of 88 Byzantine emperors, 29 died violently, 13
abandoned the throne to live in monasteries
II. Building the New Rome
 Separate government and difficult
communications with the West gave the
Byzantine Empire its own character
 Most Byzantines spoke Greek (not Latin, like the
Romans)
 Most belonged to the Eastern Orthodox church
(not the Roman Catholic Church)
 528-533: Ten Legal Experts compiled Justinian
Code from Roman laws and legal opinions
 Justinian Code
o 1. The Code: nearly 5,000 Roman laws
o 2. The Digest: quoted and summarized the
opinions of Rome’s greatest legal thinkers
about the laws
o 3. The Institutes: textbook that told law
students how to use the laws
o 4. The Novellae (New Laws) presented
legislation passed after 534
 Justinian Code served the Byzantine Empire for
900 years
A.
Creating the Imperial Capital
 Justinian undertook an ambitious building
program
o Rebuilt crumbling fortifications of
Constantinople
o Churches including Hagia Sophia (Holy
Wisdom in Greek)…rich mosaics
o Enlarged palace and built baths, aqueducts,
law courts, schools and hospitals
B.Constantinople’s Hectic Pace
 Main street= Mese “Middle Way”
o Merchants lined the street
o Products from all over the western world
 Free entertainment at the Hippodrome: wild
chariot races and circus acts
o Held 60,000 spectators
 532: Blues and Greens sparked citywide riots
called the Nika Rebellion (Nika= Victory)…both
sides were angry at the government
o Said city prefect (mayor) had been too
severe in putting down a previous riot of
Hippodrome fans…Justinian dismissed the
prefect, mobs were not satisfied
o Mobs packed the Hippodrome and
proclaimed a new emperor
o Belisarius broke in with his troops and
slaughtered about 30,000 rebels
o Justinian’s wife, Theodora had advised her
husband to keep fighting
o “If now you wish to go, Emperor, nothing
prevents you. There is the sea, there are
the steps to the boats. But take care that
after you are safe, you do not find that you
would gladly exchange that safety for
death…” - as for me, royal purple would
make a fine burial shroud
 Theodora: humble origins…dancer/
actress…shocking when she married Justinian in
525…died from cancer in 548
III. Byzantium Preserves Learning
 Valued education and sent their children to
monastic or public schools
 Basic courses focused on Greek and Latin
grammar, philosophy, and rhetoric
 Students memorized Homer…geometry from
Euclid…history from Herodotus…medicine from
Galen
IV. The Empire Confronts its Enemies
 Constantinople remained rich and powerful for
centuries
 Setbacks after Justinian’s death in 565
 Street riots, religious quarrels, foreign dangers
A.
The Mysterious Plague of Justinian
 Disease similar to Bubonic Plague..towards the
end of Justinian’s reign
 Perhaps from rats off of ships from India
 542: height of plague: 10,000 people dying each
day
 Disease broke out every 8-12 years until finally
fading out around 700…decimated a significant
portion of the population
B.Attacks from the East and West
 Byzantium’s enemies pressed on all sides
 Lombards in the west…Avars, Slavs, and Bulgars
in the north…Sassanid Persians in the east
 Constantinople attacked in 626
 With rise of Islam in 7th century: Arab armies
attacked the city in 674 and 717
 Russians attacked the city 3 times between 860
and 1043
 11th century: Turks took over the Muslim world
and into Anatolia
 4th Crusade: Crusaders attacked and pillaged
Constantinople in 1204 on their way to fight the
Turks
 Byzantines used bribes, marriages, etc to prop
up their shaky empire
 7th century: Emperor Heraclius reorganized the
empire along military lines…provinces= themes
ruled by a general
 Byzantine Empire shrank under foreign attacks
 Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in
1453
V. The Church Divides
 Eastern Church in Constantinople continued to
flourish…Western and Eastern Christianity
diverged
 Church split into Roman Catholic and Eastern
Orthodox
A.
The Split Between Rome and
Constantinople
 Eastern Christianity built its heritage on the
works of early church fathers
 Saint Basil: 357 wrote the rules for the life of
monks
 Saint John Chrysostom: Bishop of
Constantinople from 398-404- Patriarch of the
east (but bowed to the emperor)
 8th century: 730: Emperor Leo III banned the use
of icons (religious images)
o Iconoclasts: felt that use of icons amounted
to idol worship
o Many iconoclasts broke into churches and
destroyed images
o People rioted and clergy rebelled
 In the West, the pope supported the use of
icons
 One pope excommunicated the Byzantine
emperor
 843 Empress Theodora (different from before)
restored icons to Eastern Churches
 1054, matters came to a head when the pope
and patriarch excommunicated each other in a
dispute over religious doctrine
 Schism (split) Christianity was permanently
divided
B.Byzantine Missionaries Convert the Slavs
 Missionaries from the Orthodox church
converted the Slavs
 Saint Methodius and Saint Cyril worked among
the Slavs in the 9th century
 Invented an alphabet for the Slavic
languages…able to read the Bible in their
vernacular
 Cyrillic alphabet (ex: Russian)