Constantinople was the newfound Christian capital of the eastern Roman Empire, otherwise known as the Byzantine Empire. Throughout its long history, there have been many different attacks on the religious capital city. Over a period of 1123 years, Constantinople was a solid city controlled by the Byzantines apart some small upsets. Multiple attacks and sieges were attempted to overthrow the city, however, most failed miserably. It wasn’t until 1453 that the city finally fell to the Ottoman Empire. Some victories of the Byzantines may have been caused by a weapon called Greek fire, believed to be invented around the 650’s AD (Groller). The weapon was similar to today’s weapon, napalm.
Out of the many sieges against Constantinople, the two Arab sieges, 674–678 AD and 717–718 AD respectively, were one of the greatest victories for the Byzantine Empire. During the first Byzantine-Arab War, the Byzantine leader Constantine IV held defensives at Constantinople causing the Byzantines to achieve victory with the help of Kallinikos, a Syrian Christian refugee, who created the weapon Greek fire (WorldLingo). The weapon, being new, was extremely effective. During the second siege, the Arabs tried to take the city once more, and had an army of around 180,000 strong, with around 2560 ships. Greek fire was again used, to great effect. It is assumed the weapon became a standard use for on land and sea. The Byzantines, with the help of the Bulgarians, defeated the Arabs in less than two years. The city may have fallen without the help of the Bulgarians, and the Byzantines were thankful, but from a man named Norwich states the Bulgarians real reason for helping.
The Bulgars had no love for the Byzantines, but they were determined that, if Co...
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Two of the most powerful powers in the post-classical period were the Arabian and Byzantine empires. Each had different political, religious, and economic differences that defined their respective cultures, and managing to create vast empires that greatly rivaled each other.
They invaded the city over and over again taking the young children and turning them into slaves and humiliating them in front of the entire city. They wanted to get rid of Christianity completely in a short amount of time. The turks felt victorious every time that they captured a new group. This shows how this time period was at a constant war. There was never peace among cities.
The Byzantine empire was under attack from the Seljuk Turks and Alexius Comnenus, the emperor of the Byzantine empire, required help from Western Europe. Knights were sent for support, but during the Fourth Crusade, defending the Byzantine empire was not made an important priority, and the Crusaders therefore pillaged Constantinople for their own benefit. Pope Innocent the Third was outraged to hear that the Crusaders destroyed Constantinople, saying in the reprimand of papal legate, “It was your duty to attend to the business of your legation and to give careful consideration, not to the capture of the Empire of Constantinople, but rather to the defense of what is left of the Holy Land…”. Through the quote, it is proved that defending the Holy Land was a higher priority than attacking the Byzantine empire. Furthermore, Pope Innocent the Third did not mention that defending the Byzantine empire was the Crusaders’ ‘business of their legation’ and therefore means that the cause is very trivial, or it has been neglected. Although defending the Byzantine empire was a cause of the Crusades, it did not last long and did not contribute much to the creation of the other
Did Justinian impact life as we know it because he is such a great ruler, or is he just a follower who keeps trying to hold on to the loose threads of a fallen empire? Some might say that without Justinian, humanity is a step further back. Others may argue evermore that Justinian is a two-faced liar who you cannot trust (Doc. 2). Contrary to many beliefs, Justinian creates a new Byzantine Empire after the fall of Rome that is influential to many different cultures, more advanced and educated than Rome, and more economically thriving than the Roman Empire.
A rise of Seljuk Turks who were a Muslim nomadic warrior group and asserted their political control. Seljuk Turks not only expanded their political control they also took half the Byzantine Empire with them. Byzantine Emperor named Alexius Comnena asked Pope Urban II for assistance to regain former territory the Byzantines had lost. During this time period Emperor Alexius had his daughter Anna
The Hagia Sophia is a stunning, spherical-shaped building made of marble and gold (Doc. 4). Justinian built the Hagia Sophia, which means “Holy Wisdom” in Greek, after a church of the same name was destroyed in riots in Constantinople (outside information). Procopius, Justinian’s court historian, described the church as “suspended from heaven by the fabled golden chain” (Doc. 4). Undoubtedly, visitors to the Hagia Sophia are left breathless by its beauty (outside information). Other churches that Justinian built include the Church of St. Salvator in Chora and the Church of the Apostles (Doc. 5). Justinian’s churches were beautiful; however, they were created to be more than just a display. The churches caused people to feel a connection with God, which helped unify the empire under a single faith. The bonding of the Romans under one faith helped strengthen the entire empire. Moreover, the abundance of churches in Constantinople helped make the city the center of religious power (Doc. 5). Evidence of Justinian’s legacy can be found when one realizes that the Byzantine Empire’s revived culture influenced Orthodox Christianity, a major branch of modern
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. Our ideas about laws and philosophy are borrowed from those of Justinian’s code, which was the main set of laws of the empire.
When Emperor Constantine found the city of Constantinople, it was soon to become the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. But the Christin city needed a great church to represent it’s great value, so the Hagia Sophia was built (Krystek, Lee). The Hagia Sophia was built by the Byzantine Empire in 537 C.E., which was an Empire influenced greatly by the greek and roman styles (Krystek, Lee). It has a square base with a large dome on the top. Round arcs surrounded the large dome, adding mystical beauty to the Hagia Sophia (Krystek, Lee). Also, multiple colors of bricks were used to create patterns on the outside of the Hagia Sophia. On the inside, the walls are made of marble with glass panes which bring beautiful sunlight into the large museum (Krystek, Lee). The Hagia Sophia is very significant because it was rebuilt many times. The first church was built and then burnt down in 404 C.E. (Krystek, Lee). It was then rebuilt and burned down by riots in 502 C.E. (Krystek, Lee). Then the 3rd church was built by Justinian. After long periods of time, Sultan Mehmed conquered Constantinople and changed it to an islamic city, converting the church to a mosque (Krystek, Lee). In 1934, President Ataturk changed the mosque to a museum for the people and tourists, instead of a sacred place of worship (Krystek, Lee).
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.
The Ottoman Empire were Muslims and included Hungary, Syria, Egypt, Bulgaria, and Albania, and they marched on land. The Ottoman Empire is said to have first appeared somewhere around the 1300’s, and can be related to the decline of the Byzantine Empire. They began conquering Christian lands and by the late 1600’s all Christians were afraid of the “terrible Turk”. It is no wonder that many other people were afraid of the Ottoman Empire since they seem to be really rather powerful and they conquered a lot of land. It was in the 1330’s when the Morroccan Abu Abdallah Ibn Battuta passed through Constantinople and became impressed with the Ottomans who seemed to be gaining power rather quickly, he noticed that they had close to 100 forts and
Byzantine culture begins with the establishment of the city Constantinople by Emperor Constantine in 330 AD. This is considered by some historians to be the beginning of Byzantium, the term for the Eastern Roman Empire. Other historians argue that Byzantium was only established after the fall of the empire in the West in 476 (Loverance 6). The Byzantines continued many Roman traditions, but as time went on, Byzantine culture became more and more distant from that of the Romans.
Their power was immense. Their walls were up to 40 feet high, and their armies were feared. With the help of key allies like Venice and the Holy Roman Empire, the Byzantines were able to accumulate wealth at an astonishing rate. The Byzantines were a gateway to the Middle East and India. They served as a blockage for the Turks and Egypt. The Byzantines were able to do more and be more because they had knowledge that most of Europe did not have. The Byzantines went through many rules, each better than the last. The Byzantines didn’t allow armies to march onto their cities until the eventual sack of Constantinople. The Byzantines are a rule that will be remembered for
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.
“The Latin Christians looted the city, destroying sacred books, vandalizing churches, and carrying huge amounts of gold, jewels, Christian relics, and works of art back to Western Europe.” Once they set up kingdoms on Byzantine lands, they tried forcing Latin forms of Christianity on the Byzantine Greeks. Although in 1261, “the Westerners were driven from Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire regained its independence,” its power was majorly weakened. The consequences that they experienced were, “crushing taxes, decreasing agricultural production, declining trade, and civil war continued to sap the tottering empire.” The Byzantine empire eventually came to an end.
The Byzantine mosaic was an early Christian predecessor whereby it clear cuts the religious tales drawn from the bible. There was a combination of forces between the political and religious authority which gave the emperor power over the architecture and art of Byzantine Empire. The Roman Empire was collapsing due to the interruption by German tribes hence they were not able to teach manners and morals according to the artistic and cultural ways of the mosaics hence they were unable to determine art of the early Christianity while the art of Byzantine