Byzantine Empire Impact

In 1054 the Byzantines split from the Roman Catholic Church in the west and developed the Eastern Orthodox Church. They prospered for almost a thousand years, but fell to the Turks in 1453. Byzantine history is often over looked, but there are many reasons they should be taught about in classrooms including their advanced military technology, the development and influence of Justinian’s code,

The Roman Empire influenced the Byzantine Empire’s culture, mainly through the religion of Christianity. Christianity first appeared in the Roman Empire, with the birth, teachings, and supposed resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the beginning years of it’s arrival, Christianity was not tolerated and Christians were mainly, and most often brutally prosecuted. However, with Constantine’s Edict of Milan, Christianity was officially tolerated, and under Theodosius, it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire inherited this relatively new religion, continuing to follow the beliefs and traditions of the church, as well as spreading the word of Jesus Christ and the message of god. Churches sprung up in the empire, such as the mighty Hagia Sophia. Located in Constantinople and built by Justinian, this church especially exemplified

of Byzantine at that time. Him and his wife, Theodora, set a goal to restore

There are many that believe Justinian created a new Roman Empire, however it is effectively demonstrated that he restored the Roman Empire. At the point when posed the question: "Did Justinian revive the Roman Empire, or assemble another Byzantine Empire?, it is clear that he spared the Roman Empire. He restored the realm by saving their legacy, recovering area for the Roman Empire, and safeguarded the Roman religion (Christianity). The Byzantine empire was a Greek talking expansion of the Roman Empire amid the season of 330 AD to 1453. The capital was a city named Constantinople, which is presently called Istanbul. All through its reality, the realm was the most effective monetary, social, and military compel in Europe making it the ideal chance to be revived, instead of remade.

Western Europe triumphed from their princes and the Pope ruling since they soon overcame The Byzantine Empire. This was because having more than one ruler can hold together an empire or countries better than one ruler. The princes had control of the government in their areas, and the Pope had control of the entire religion in Western Europe. Having the Pope and the princes dealing with separate issues is better than having just one emperor deal with all of their issues. Another difference of the two halves of Europe was the monasteries and nunneries. Western Europe believed that they should have both priests and nuns teaching and preaching to other people. The Byzantine Empire did not feel that nuns were needed in their empire to preach and to teach other people. This was the most likely cause for the many people in the empire converting to their barbaric enemies religions. If The Byzantine Empire had used nuns to preach and teach their people, instead of having just priests and monasteries, the people would not have converted the their enemies. Hence, The Byzantine Empire, and Western Europe were greatly different than each other.

This was the beginning of Justinian’s famous rule, which lasted from 527 A.D. through 565 A.D. (The Reign of Justinian). The reign of

Following the decline of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, a new empire rose up in the ashes. This new empire, the Byzantine Empire, was a culmination of Western Roman cultures and tradition, yet, it also contains many distinctive features. Originating from the same empire, the two empires display similar cultural roots.

Justinian was born around, 482, He was the Byzantine emperor, after his uncle. He ruled from 527 to 565, making a great impact on the Eastern Roman Empire. His first priority was to strengthen the empire, and return it to its prior ancient glory. Outstandingly, he was able to restore the city, Constantinople, after multiple important religious buildings, were burned down, and destroyed, during approximately January, 11 – 19, 532.

People say that the Byzantine Empire is compared to an accordion. Well, it is. Comparing all of the civilizations and empires we learned about, I find that the Byzantine has a history, where people living in that empire rise at on time and fall inconsiderably during another time. The Byzantine Empire is an empire ruled by Emperor Justantine, and Constantinople was the imperial capital of the Byzantine world until it was invaded by the Turks in 1453. Now, how does the imperial capital, Constantinople, Hagia Sophia, Justinian, and the Crusaders involve in the Byzantine Empire? I find that geography and the achievements of the Empire can be two strong reasoning’s on how and why we should study the Byzantine Empire.

In 324, the Byzantine empire is created in Constantinople from the ashes of the fallen Roman empire. Around 200 years later, Emperor Justinian would take the throne in 527 and became one of the most influential rulers. Justinian’s goal was clear, restoration of the glory of the old Roman empire. However his goals never came to fruition as he would end up creating a new Byzantine empire. Although Justinian‘s Byzantine was reminiscent of the old Roman Empire in both architecture and territories, Justinian’s Byzantine empire was its own unique empire in that it had a different religion, capital, and women rights.

In 395 A.D., the Roman Empire split into the Eastern and Western Empires. Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire and thrived under the leadership of Justinian, who was the emperor from 527 A.D. to 565 A.D. Although the empire has some Roman influence, it is remarkably different from ancient Rome, with there being markets and products from places unheard of. Justinian also enforced Christianity and built the Hagia Sophia and created a new legal system, the Justinian Code. He also rebuilt Constantinople and made it safe from invasions. Justinian created a new Byzantine Empire through enforcing Christianity, creating the Justinian Code, and the exterior and interior structures of Constantinople.

Construction was a big part of the Roman Empire, justinian created cities the were not here previously (Document 1). One major structure was the Hagia Sophia, a beauty through rays of light. Anyone that stepped foot in the dome shaped church would understand that it just wasn't built by human strength but also by god (Document 4).

Though Justinian, a Byzantine emperor, led a unique empire, he did essentially revive Roman culture and values. Geographically, ancient Rome and the Byzantine Empire were very alike. The map in document 6 indicates the Byzantine Empire controlled North Africa, and land around the Mediterranean, which is similar to ancient Rome. Cultures usually depend on geographic locations, therefore, since the empires had very similar locations, their culture too were alike. In society, both empires adopted Christianity and trade played an important role. These geographic and cultural similarities show that the Justinian Byzantine Empire revived Rome, and prolonged it’s legacy. Ancient Rome built multiple architectural feats, such as the Colosseum. Using

In schools around the world we have social studies, where we talk about the past empires that affected today's world. We talk about the Roman Empire, the Egyptians, even the Chinese empires for there huge affect on common era but their is one that deserves just as much credit as the rest and that is the Byzantine empire. The Byzantine empire lasted well over 1000 years and happened right after the fall of the Roman Empire in the Middle East. I will be talking about why we need to study the Byzantine empire with three simple yet major reasons. First, I will be talking about the byzantines preservation of important documents.

The Justinian code, "consisted of three lengthy legal documents, the institues, the digest, and the code itself" (Schmalleger, 2012 P.56). The Justinian code distingues two major legal categories those are; public laws and private laws. When it comes to the public law it dealt with the organization of the Roman state, for example, the senate, and governmental offices. While, private laws dealt with personal possessions, legal status, injured citizens, and contracts. The Justinian code had certain elements that are from our modern criminal and civil law.