Early Russia
EQ: How did the Byzantine Empire
influence early Russia?
Early Russia-Main Ideas
City of Kiev
 Written language
 Orthodox Christianity
 Autocratic Government
 Art & Architecture

Byzantine Beginnings

The Roman Empire officially falls in
476 AD

The eastern part of the Roman Empire
becomes the Byzantine Empire

Map
Kiev
1st Russian state starts in early 800s
 City-center of Kiev on the Dneiper River
 River=easy access to Byzantine traders
 Poland, Hungary, & Serbia also
established around this time

Written Language

2 Byzantine missionaries adapt the
Greek alphabet

Want to translate the Bible into Slavic
languages
New alphabet is called the Cyrillic
alphabet after the monk, Cyril
 Russia & some E. European countries
still use the Cyrillic alphabet today

Orthodox Christianity
The Great Schism - Orthodox
Christianity splits from Roman
Catholicism
 Byzantine missionaries spread
Orthodox religion
 Close church-state relationship
 Russian Orthodox Church = part of
state power
 R.O.C. is powerful force today

Autocratic Government
Autocratic rule becomes standard in
Russia
 Autocratic rulers were called czars
 Czar = the Russian word for “Caesar”
 Ex. Czar Nicholas

Art & Architecture
Russians adopt the religious art, music,
& architecture of the Byzantine Empire
 Icons, mosaics
 Domes, onion domes

Mosaic of….?
Mosaic of….?
Mosaic of….?
Onion Domes
Even more onion domes!
Religious Icon
Religious Icon
Exit Ticket

On your exit ticket, match the main
ideas from slide #2 with their correct
P-GERMS category

You can write the main idea w/ it’s correct
P-GERMS initial(s)
FRONTPAGE
Create a FRONTPAGE of a newspaper
from the Byzantine Empire
 Your headlining article must focus on
one of the two EQs from your student
learning map.
 **Try to use the vocabulary from your
learning map!!!
 ***Extra-credit if you hand in a printed
copy by the end of the quarter!
