Western Medieval Europe and the Byzantine Empire were originally part of the Roman Empire. It was not until the Middle Ages, they started to become very different even though they shared several common traits. The Byzantine Empire had surpassed much of Western Europe by the 300's, not only in trade and economics, but also in politics even while both argued over religion.
The Byzantine and Western Europe had vastly different structures for their governments, empires or not. The Byzantines were ruled by an Emperor, but who used civil service to help run their government instead of a direct ruler. Western Europe divided its political structure into different "countries", and it has been suggested that they divided them based only by the local spoken language and this supported the feudal system prominently until the Late Middle Ages. The West had no centralized government and at that time ruled by popes and princes, while the East became ruled by only one ruler.
Although both the Byzantine Empire and Western Europe were predominantly Christian, there was eventually a major divide between the two. In the Byzantine Empire, the Patriarch had a direct influence on politics, just as in Western Europe, where the Pope was more influential. Friction between the Patriarch and the Pope over whom had more power, higher authority, and over interpretation of the practices of the church, lead to what has become known as the Great Schism. Thus this would signal the splitting the Christian church into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
While attempts were made for an official union between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches were not wholly successful, it has been suggested that exchange and compromise could be seen in t...
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...e harvesting family would have enough to see them through as well. This led to little agricultural trading outside of Europe while the Byzantines through, Constantinople’s prime location on the Silk Road and outside trade aided by its diverse population, became Europe's wealthiest empire.
As we look back into both long moments in history, we can see how the two, while starting out along the same path and beliefs, had branched away from one another. These differences, whether influences by outside or internal sources, helped shape not only the future for their worlds but also for ours. If it had not been for Constantinople’s prime trade location, or had they ignored the opportunity, they too could have easily stifled their economic and cultural growth. While the Medieval Western European culture was slower to expand, they did eventually blossom, prosper and survive.
As you can see, the Byzantine and Arab empires had many characteristics that came to define them. Whether it was through their religious beliefs, political structure, or economy, each was able to create a vast, long lasting empire which came to define the post-classical period.
Theodora’s story starts with a distinctive start. Her father was a bear trainer that worked in the Hippodrome in Constantinople and she grew up in the entertainment spotlight (Craig/Graham/Kagan/Ozment /Turner, 355, 2009). She was a mime and when she was older, she became an actress (Koeller, 1996). So, she not only lived in a circus, she also became a child star. Who would not want her childhood? But, back in that day, an actress was not a highly looked upon career for a women, therefore the term ‘actress’ was interchanged with ‘prostitute’ (Koeller, 1996). So, it might not have been the best...
In 1453 the Ottomans took control of Constantinople, and effectively cut off direct European trade to East Asia. Because of this, in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, exploration in search of alternative routes became a key focus of Western European nations.
Roman Emperor Constantine I founded the Byzantine Empire in 330 CE as a continuation of the Roman Empire in the east. The characteristics of the empire led to the modern definition of “Byzantine,” which means “strangely complicated.” This was true, as in the Byzantine Empire was very chaotic, complex, and strange at times, but it was very massive and influential worldwide. The empire heavily influenced modern religion, laws, and engineering making it worthwhile learning about the empire.
The Great Schism is also known as the East-West division. It is obvious that this division was on the basis of the geography. The geography problem was not the only reasons, but also the“…cultural, political, and economic factors; yet its fundamental cause was not secular but theological.”(Kallistos43-44). As the results of the Great Schism, the eastern side of Europe established the Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox Church. The western side created the Latin-speaking Roman Catholic. Both of the churches believe that they were superior to the other. The Roman Catholic Church believed that it is the mother church. In other word, it is the origin because that it centered at the city Rome, which was the place that Peter had a deep connection with. The Eastern Orthodox believed that it held the truth, even though it is not the origin church but it had truth. This increased the tension of the estrangement, and led to the conflict. "…It was over the matter of do...
Justinian was one of the most influential rulers of Byzantium. When he came into power in 527 AD, he inherited a civilization in disarray. Justinian had a positive impact on the Byzantine Empire. Most notably, he introduced an improved set of laws and conquered many surrounding nations, nearly restoring the former glory of the Roman Empire. In addition to these contributions, Justinian also made advances with the Christian Church and Byzantine architecture.
They began to take rent from the people who lived there, place taxes on local markets and tollbooths were placed at the entrance to the cities. This all helped to create the fiscal-military state which made it possible for rulers to pay their armies and guards with cash. It was the conquering of the Byzantine Empire that helped to make money more accessible to the Ottoman Empire, the Byzantine Empire was part of the Roman Empire which was the longest lasting Empire and most likely more advance than some of the smaller Empires. Metals such as silver, lead, and iron were necessary to keep enough money to pay the armies their salaries. The Ottomans took over the silver, iron and lead mines in Serbia and Bosnia making them the masters of metal production. Both the Habsburgs and the Ottomans used large amounts of gold and silver to purchase firearms, cannons and ships to conquer the world.
The Roman Empire In 27 BC, Augustus became the first emperor of Rome, thus creating a strong leader figure, which could shape and mold the Republic system into what was best for the empire or themselves. During the reign of the emperors, the political policies for Rome would vary according to, which emperor was in power. Not only were politics shaky, but there never was a clear-cut method of succession for the man who controlled those politics. Rome had created the position of emperor in hopes that men like Augustus would continue to lead her into prosperity, however the office of emperor struggled in attempting to find great men to lead Rome. The office never truly evolved into something greater than when it had been created, but rather the office varied according to the personality of the man in the position.
• Shared characteristics with Rome but develops its unique culture (Greek, new type of Christianity)
Both the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim Empire specifically were two very prominent societies that gained popularity from the fourth to the sixth century. Though the Byzantine and Muslim empires rose at the same time they were extremely different in ways of having separate rulers, beliefs, and people, however they were both greatly influenced by the Roman Empire. They both resembled in ways of their religion, art, and law. They Byzantine Empire was centered around the city of Constantinople and managed to remain in power for more than 1000 years. At the height of their power they were the most powerful both economically and militarily in...
Although Constantinople was safe from the Germanic tribes, the Byzantines had to avoid challenges with the Persians and the Muslims; so they used provincial organization. The armies were made up of about 25 provinces of military men; these were called themes. There was the "head of the household," which made the judicial and financial decisions and there was the "military household," which were village families who owned one fully equipped man to the empire's army. These local residents were who made up the army in char... ... middle of paper ... ...
Much of past civilizations have endured many failures and triumphs throughout their existence. In the third century, there were many civilizations that started to flourish. One of these civilizations that started to expand was the Byzantine civilization. The Byzantine civilization, also regarded as Byzantium, was part of the Roman Empire which was divided in 395 AD. Byzantium had shared the same attitude, as the Roman Empire, toward exercising its authority over its citizens and throughout its empire. The Islamic civilization had started thrive in the fifth century. The Islamic civilization was unified together as unison by Islam and it has expanded its civilization throughout parts of Europe through jihad. Because of their expansions throughout parts of Europe, they shared various similarities which include their political system, social structure, and economy.
Although the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church ultimately had more differences which ended up causing their split, they once had quite a few a similarities. The churches shared “many of the same prayers and liturgies” (“Eastern Orthodox”, 2001 para.1). Both the Eastern and Western churches had a difference in opinion in defining and numbering sacraments but they did agree on what the seven major sacraments for their churches should be. They also agreed upon that the male clergy should consist of bishops, priests, and deacons.
The coronation of Charlemagne as emperor of the Holy Roman empire by the catholic church must have been one of the most insulting actions ever committed against a nation and religion. In this time and period there already existed a Holy Roman Empire, and it was in the east as the Byzantine empire. While the Byzantines might have been somewhat culturally different from the Italian, Latin roots of the original Romans, they nonetheless identified themselves as the official successor state of the Roman empire. The western catholic church knew of Byzantine and their history, yet they still held their support to Charlemagne as the protectorate of Christendom in his new Holy Roman empire. This insult was not an unprovoked act, this was years of conflict through dogmatic scuffles, and cultural quarrels all hitting the fan in this symbolic middle finger from the catholic church to the Byzantines. Since before the breakdown of the Roman empire, both western Roman Catholic Christianity and eastern Byzantine Orthodox had their quarrels, but held together in the name of the larger Roman identity. Once the western half of the empire split, after being overrun by Germanic tribes, there became tension of who was the dominant church. The tension was mainly over dogmatic issues in the scripture, but there were also
Constantinople was slowly taken down by the Ottoman Turks. They had been under siege multiple times, and still managed to stay intact. However, that changed in 1453. On April 2nd, 1453 the Ottomans lay siege on the city. The people of Constantinople were stuck behind the city's gates.The Ottomans still had them greatly outnumbered. Constantinople was doomed. The Ottomans had all the advantages, way more