The Byzantine Empire and the Early
Muslim Conquests (476-750 CE)
CLAB06H3 Week 12
Apr. 1, 2025
Final Exam FAQ
• When?
– Apr 16, Wednesday, 2 pm to 5 pm.
• Where?
– AA112
• Is it cumulative?
– Technically yes, but I’ll only ask 3 questions from the
first half
• How many questions?
– 15 out of 18 keywords (2 pts each), 10 map questions
(0.5 pts each)
Outline
1. From the Fall of Rome to Justinian (476-565
CE)
2. The Last Big War (603-629) and the Muslim
Conquests (632-750)
3. The Legacy of Rome
What happens to the Roman Empire
after the fall of Rome in 476?
• A) It suddenly starts being called the Byzantine
Empire
• B) Barbarians who invaded it start calling
themselves the Roman Empire
• C) Nothing happens, it just loses a city
• D) The Pope in Rome declares his
independence
Barbarian Kingdoms
But when does the Roman Empire end
and the Byzantine Empire start?
But when does the Roman Empire end
and the Byzantine Empire start?
Technically never
Facts
What we call Byzantines have always called
themselves Romans
Until 1453
Facts
The phrase “Byzantine Empire” was coined in
the 16th c. (i.e. even after the fall of
Constantinople)
But... We can point to some dates
• 476: Rome fell, it doesn’t make sense to call the
empire with the name of Rome
• 395: The empire was officially divided among the
two sons of Theodosius I, east became Byzantine,
west Roman
• 554: Justinian dissolved the imperial court in
Ravenna
• 640s: Heraclius lost half of the Empire including
southern Mediterranean to Muslims, what
remained was the much smaller “Byzantine
Empire”
Theodosius I
(379-395)
• Last emperor
of a united
Empire
• 392 CE: Ban on
all pagan cults
• Divided the
empire
between his
sons
The Empire under Theodosius II (402-450)
The Empire under Anastasius I (491-518)
Justinian I (527565 CE) the Great
• Reconquest of
“barbarian” kingdoms
– Vandals, Ostrogoths
• Code of Justinian
(529-534 CE)
– Compilation of Roman
civil law
• Hagia Sophia
The Empire under Justinian ‘the Great’ (East)
Outline
1. From the Fall of Rome to Justinian (476-565
CE)
2. The Last Big War (603-629) and the Muslim
Conquests (632-750)
3. The Legacy of Rome
Barbarians and Sasanians
Barbarians took the west half of the empire,
what about the Sasanians?
Byzantine-Sasanian War (602-628)
• The last major match between the Romans
and their Persian rivals
• Began as a Sasanian response to a change in
the Byzantine throne
• Sasanians were successful at the beginning
• Conquered Syria and Egypt
• Took the True Cross from Jerusalem
Heraclius (610-641)
• After humiliating defeats Heraclius became
emperor in 610
• Defeated the Sasanians, restored the True
Cross
• But…
• The war left the Byzantines and Sasanian tired
• Syria and Egypt war-torn
Power Vacuum
Someone capitalized on the weaknesses of both
empires
Muhammad (570-632 CE)
and the rise of Islam
• 571 CE: Birth in Mecca
• 610 CE: ‘Revelation’
• 622 CE: Muhammad in Medina
• 632-750 CE: Muslim conquests
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-uscanada-20351085
Kaʿba, the shrine in Mecca
Early Arab Empire
• 609-632 CE
• 632-661 CE
• 660-750 CE
Muhammad
Rashidun caliphate
Umayyad Caliphate
"Muhammad the Apostle of God » inscribed on the
gates of the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina
Medina
Medina then Kufa
Damascus
Umayyad Caliphate
Umayyad Empire at its height
Some important points
• Early armies were multi-religious and, as
conquest progressed, multi-cultural
• There were no forced conversion to islam
– Very slow process
– Fiscal advantages
– Social mobility
• Continuities/gradual changes at local levels
– Languages (until Abdel Malik 685-705 CE)
• Byzantine/Sassanian/Arab influences
– Religious justification for violence (jihad vs
Christian ‘holy war’)
– Architecture (+ reuse of pre-existing buildings)
– Religious iconography
– Sciences, notably medicine, philosophy and
astronomy
– Coinage
– Iconoclasm/Aniconism
Statue of Kahina in Khenchela
PERF 558 = oldest surviving Arabic papyrus, found in Heracleopolis in Egypt, and is also the
oldest dated Arabic text using the Islamic era, dating to 643. It is a bilingual Arabic-Greek
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PERF_558
Full text in translation: https://www.islamic-awareness.org/history/islam/papyri/perf558
Dome of the Rock
• Built by Caliph
‘Abd al-Malik
• 691 CE
• On platform of
Jerusalem’s
former temple
• Reflection of
Muslim identity
Sacred geographies:
The Great Umayyad Mosque of Damascus
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_conti
nue=24&v=uM5RLHw0pYY
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EXGajPe
OAg
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11jLq-ozSw&t=26s
Has the ancient Mediterranean world
ever ended?
House of Wisdom:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpJ9daE5hOo
Jan. 6th vs Fall of
Romehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIwRB7r6
wM4
History of Rome: A Quick Review
• It all started in one city and remained there
for centuries…
Roman Kingdom (753-509)
• We don’t know much about it
• Power struggle between the city of Rome and
Etruscan cities
• The idealized history suggests that Romans
expelled kings in favor of an egalitarian rule
• “No tyrant shall rule over us”
Roman Republic (509 – 27 BCE)
• Began as an ideal political system
– 2 equally powerful consuls
– Soldier citizens loyal to Rome
– Executive and legislative bodies checking each other
• Saw the conflict between orders
– Patrician vs. plebeian
– Populares vs. optimates
• Survived existential threats
– Samnites
– Carthage
Roman Republic (509-27 BCE)
• Beginning of the expansion (3rd c. BCE)
– Need for more soldiers
– Expansion of the Roman citizenship, new soldiers,
Marius’ reforms
– Rise of the strong generals having their way politically
– Soldiers loyal to their generals
• Rise of dictatorial rule
– Marius, Sulla, Julius Caesar
– Populares won the day
Roman Empire (27 BCE – 395 AD)
• Augustus’ long reign clinched the idea of oneman rule
– Still respected the republican institutions
– The idea of hereditary dynasties took some time to be
established
– Expansion continued
• Succession problems
– Short-lived dynasties
– Only time it worked: Nerva-Antonine dynasty
• Barbarian invasions
• Decline in wealth and prosperity
Roman Empire (27 BCE – 476 CE)
• Diocletian’s reign
– Effectively divided the empire into two
– Made the emperor a distant, revered figure
• Two major changes during Constantine’s reign
– Christianity
– New capital
• 395: empire officially divided
• 476: Western Rome gone
– Urbanism died, feudal system began
– Several barbarian states popped up in Roman territories
Who inherited Rome?
• A) Holy Roman Empire
• B) Byzantine Empire
• C) Roman Catholic Church
• D) Ottoman Empire
• E) Mussolini’s Fascist Italy
• F) Kievan Rus
What united the Roman Empire?
I asked this question at week 2
Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire (395 - 1453 CE)
• Never called themselves Byzantine, always
Roman Empire or Romania
• Emperors claimed to be the only Roman
emperor until 1453, except 1204-1261
• Survived the Muslim conquests, Mongol
invasions, Seljuk invasions, the Crusades,
Bulgarian and Kievan Rus attacks
• Dwindled back to the city of Constantinople in
1450, Ottomans conquered it in 1453
Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire (800-1806)
• Barbarians turned Christian and looked at Rome as the
ideal state
• In 800, when the Roman emperor Constantine VI was
deposed and his mother became empress, the Frankish
Empire Charlemagne was crowned by Pope on
Christmas Day
• Began calling themselves the Roman Empire, although
they were restricted to modern-day Germany, Italy and
parts of France
• Neither the Byzantines nor the Germans recognized
each other as the legitimate Roman emperor
• Byzantines claimed that Constantinople is the key
Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire (1300-1922)
• Although they were Turkish Muslims, the idea
of being the inheritors of Rome appealed to
them
• Mehmed II, the conqueror, called himself
Kaysar-i Rum
• They held the title until 1922
• Protectors of the Orthodox Church
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