Societal Comparison: Byzantium and Early Russia
Time Period- Postclassical era 100 C.E.-1400C.E.
Significant Events during time period- spread of Christianity in Eastern Europe; split of Roman
Empire; split of Catholic church (eastern and western church); development of Orthodox
Christianity; fall of Roman Empire; emergence and decline of Byzantine Empire; emergence and
decline of Kievan Rus’; pressures from minority civilizations; Charles Martell stopped Islam
from going into France
Society One: Byzantium
Society Two: early Russia
Characteristics of Society One:
Political- expanding bureaucracy; complex administration around a remote emperor, who was
surrounded by elaborate political ceremonies; Justinian systemized Roman legal code; invasions
and taxation weakened position of small farmers and great aristocratic estates and new power for
aristocratic generals; emperor held to be ordained by God, head of church as well as state;
bureaucrats recruited from all social classes and well-educated; like China, aristocrats
predominated; provincial governors appointed from the center and kept tabs on military
authorities; system of spies preserved loyalty;
Social- many enemies and constant invasions; empire depended on Constantinople’s control over
the countryside, with the bureaucracy regulating trade and controlling food prices; large peasant
class supplied goods and bulk of tax revenues; food prices low to content lower classes; wide
social class gaps; after its downfall, its influence affected other societies, like new Ottoman
empire
Economic- commerce flourished; merchant classes declined and state control of trade increased;
all the wars created new tax pressures on the government; trading network with Asia, Russia,
Scandinavia, India, and the Arabs; produced silk and other luxury products
Artistic- extended Roman architecture (domes); religious mosaics; icon painting (paintings of
saints and other religious figures)
Religious- resisted Arab Muslims with some losses; battle with iconoclasm that threatened a split
between church and state; break between the Eastern version of Christianity and the Western
version headed by the pope in Rome; Byzantine officials believed they were the true heirs of
Rome and Western rulers were crude and unsophisticated; Eastern Orthodox priests could marry;
Roman pop excommunicated the patriarch and patriarch excommunicated all Roman Catholics;
cultural separation was gradual
Intellectual- Latin changed to Greek as the common language; scholars could read freely in
ancient Athenian philosophical and literary classics and in Hellenistic writings and scientific
treatises because could read Greek; Hellenism important in the education of bureaucrats; insisted
on church Latin
Technological- little new technological innovations; used preserved things
Military- faced many foreign enemies; recruited armies in the Middle East, not relying on
barbarian troops- Justinian tried to reconquer western territory; Justinian pushed Persian forces
back; great emphasis on organizing army and navy; Slavic kingdoms, like Bulgaria, pressed
Byzantine territory in the Balkans; Byz emperor Basil II defeated Bulg army and Bulg became
part of the empire; careful military organization; recruited troops locally and rewarded them with
grants of land in return for mil service; land couldn’t be sold, but sons inherited its
administration in return for continued mil responsibility; hereditary military leaders assumed
regional power, thus; Muslim Seljuk Turks got almost all Asiatic provinces of empire, cutting off
most prosperous sources of tax revenue and terrs that supplied most food; lost battle of
Manzikert; creation of new , independent Slavic kingdoms in the Balkans; Western leaders
wouldn’t help Eastern emperors against Turks; appeal helped motivate Western Crusades to the
Holy Land, but didn’t help Byzantines; one Crusade conquered Constantinople
Geographic- initially part of Roman Empire; Justinian tried to reconquer lost territory; empire
retreated to northeastern Mediterranean within 50 years after Justinian’s death
Demographic- none
Women’s Status-at key points, women held the imperial throne while maintaining the ceremonial
power of the office; Empress Theodora and sister
Zoë installed jointly as empresses; patriarchal society
Characteristics of Society Two
Political- stretch of Eastern Europe that E. and W. both fought over was organized in a series of
regional monarchies, loosely governed amid a powerful, land-owning aristocracy; Slavic
political organization rested in family tribes and villages; Russia developed very loose regional
kingdoms; monarchy emerged in Kiev (set up some governments along their trade route);
Russian aristocrats, called boyars, had less political power than their counterparts in western
Europe; Kievan declined because of rival princes setting up regional governments and royal
family quarreling over succession of throne; Mongol Tatars took over Russia for two centuries
Social- rich tradition of folk music and oral legends; depended on Byzantium for their prosperity;
trade
Economic- trade between Scandinavia and Constantinople; Kiev a prosperous trading center;
wealthy Russians felt obligation to the poor (almsgiving); Russian peasants were fairly free
farmers, although an aristocratic landlord existed; depended on prosperity of Byz for trade and
wealth, and when it declined, they declined
Artistic- art focused on the religious with icon painting and illuminated religious manuscripts;
churches with crosses and domes; music, street performances, and some theater were popular
entertainments in the oral tradition, and church tried to suppress these forms, regarding them as
pagan
Religious- Jews came in fleeing intolerance in western Europe; Slavic peoples moved into
Russia; Orthodox Christianity a valid alternative to animism; Islam was rejected; early church
leaders helped train a literate Russian priesthood; the king controlled major appointments and a
separate Russian Orthodox Church soon developed; devotion to the power of God and many
Eastern saints helped organize worship;
Intellectual-possibility of literature and some literacy developed because of Cyrillic as the Slavic
alphabet; Russian literature used Cyrillic alphabet; a distinct philosophical or science current did
not emerge in the postclassical period
Technological- very little new innovations
Military- success in war followed from the aid of God and the saints in the name of Russia and
the Orthodox faith; invaders from Asia whittled at Russian territory
Geographic- Russia was north of Black Sea and east of Baltic Sea- area in Eastern Europe
Demographic- none
Women’s status-polygamy yielded to the Christian practice of monogamy
Similarities- Russia depended on Byzantium for prosperity; both had formal codes of law that
reduced the severity of traditional punishments; both used domes as architecture for churches;
both had a universal religion; no new technological innovations
Differences- Western Catholicism insisted on church Latin, and Byzantine missionaries were
willing to have local languages used in church services; many differences in Roman Catholic
Church and Russian Orthodox Church; Russia much less centralized