The Byzantine Empire PowerPoint Presentation, PPT - DocSlides

The Byzantine Empire

610-1070

Strains on the Empire

Avars

Slavs

Persians

And after 632 the Muslims

Heraclius

Came to power amid military disaster

Avars

, Slavs, and Persians were all attacking the empire at once

Raised enough money from the church to wage war on the Persians in 622

This left the army financially depleted and the military was exhausted

The Byzantine empire was not ready for other invaders…

Unfortunately the Muslims began to move in at just this time

Territorial Losses to Muslims

It was a century before the Byzantines could take the offensive

In the process they lost Syria and Egypt

Was this a positive or negative for the Empire?

Military Revival under Leo III

Finally in 717 and 718 Leo III beat back a Muslim attack on Constantinople.

This ushered in the 9

th

and 10

th

century rulers known as

The Great Warrior Emperors

They defeated the

Bulgars

in the Balkan Peninsula (modern day Bulgaria)

The 9

th

and 10

th

centuries were a time of wealth, stability, and artistic glory.

Leo III

PAUSE!

Story time…The

Varangian

Gaurd

In 988, the Byzantine Empire was convulsed in one of its all-too-frequent civil wars. The Emperor, young 

Basil II,

appealed to Vladimir the Great, Prince of Kiev for assistance. In return for the hand of Basil’s sister, Anna, in marriage the

Rus

sent 6,000 warriors to assist Basil against his enemies. At the battles of 

Chrysopolis

 and Abydos, Basil’s

Varangians

played a key role in defeating the rebel armies and guaranteeing Basil’s reign

.

Not trusting the traditional Byzantine guard units to keep his person safe, Basil retained these fierce warriors as his new bodyguard; quartering them at the Imperial Palace at Constantinople. Basil christened this new unit the 

Tágma

tōn

Varángōn

, the “

Varangian

Guard”. (Though there is some dispute as to when this name actually came into use: the first written mention does not occur until 1034, some forty five years later).

Though the Byzantines used the word 

Varangian

 to indicate any Scandinavian/

Rus

warrior, the word likely derives from the Old Norse, ‘

var

’, meaning “pledge”. Thus the

Varangians

were the “pledged men” of the Emperor’s guard.

Leo III and Iconoclasm

Leo III stabilized the military but his religious policies tore the empire apart

Iconoclasm: image breaking

Why did Leo III take this view to images? What was it influenced by?

Results of Iconoclasm

Helped to widen Eastern and Western Churches

Part of the reason the Pope named Pepin the Short as king of the Franks, he needed his protection

Byzantine Diplomacy

The position of the emperor was sacred

He was a holy figure and head of the state

Despite this his theological role was limited

He had absolute

authority

with the help of a civil service

10% tariff on trade

Profit from state monopolies

The Eastern and Western Churches

EASTGreek OrthodoxHoly Spirit comes only from the fatherDivorce because of adulteryMarried men can be priests, not bishopsWelcomed vernacular languagesChurches developed in isolation

WEST

Roman Catholic

Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son

No divorce

No marriage between priests or bishops

Did not welcome vernaculars

Churches developed with centralized control

Missionary Activities

The two churches came into direct conflict in the Balkans.

862- Cyril and Methodius were sent by the Eastern Church to convert the Slavs.

Cyril developed a Slavonic script based on the Greek alphabet called the

Cyrillic Alphabet

The Western church relied on Frankish rulers to expand the boundaries

Byzantine Economy, Society, and Culture

Where did the population live?

How were trade and manufacturing doing?

What were some key Byzantine products?

What was the role of women?

The Bezant

Education

A Palace School

: primarily for laymen, it trained civil servants in language, law, and rhetoric

A Patriarchal School:

instructed priests in rhetoric and theology

Monastic School:

taught young monks

Everyone else learned from their guilds

Art and Architecture

Iconoclasm was rejected in the 9

th

century and pictures made their way back into art

Byzantine artists were summoned all over

What their art tells us

1. Emperor is an august figure

2. Christ is never suffering, fully God

3. No movement in mosaics which shows human frailty

Emperor as Augustus

Christ Without Pain

Static Human Figures

The Decline of the Byzantine Empire

1. Social Transformation

2. Defense of the Empire

3. The Seljuk Turks

Social Transformation

It went from a disciplined society of peasant warriors under a strong central government to a society with dependent peasantry, strong landlords, and a weak central government.

Defense

The Empire lost their peasant defense and had to turn to mercenaries that were not reliable. In many cases the mercenaries overthrew emperors (

Varangians

)

But they did have Greek Fire!

The Seljuk Turks

Penetrated beyond the Eastern borders of the Empire into Asia Minor

They shattered the Mercenary Army

They took the Emperor captive in 1071

Suleiman then established his home right outside Constantinople in

Nicea