Innovations In The Byzantine Empire

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

Though both had similar roots, they both took these similar bases & formed it into their own way. Both the Byzantine Empire and Ancient Roman have similar aspects, but each one made it unique. To better understand the similarities and differences of the Byzantine Empire and Ancient Romans one must look at each civilization’s cultural ideas, religion, & dependence on lower class.

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.

The fall of the Roman Empire in 476 C.E resulted in many tragedies, as history “replays” itself, this fall led to starts, the land that was once known as Rome split into two pieces, the eastern part known as the Byzantine Empire and the western part known as medieval Western Europe. However, the empires wasn’t one that overtook Rome, the Byzantine Empire was rather known as a continuation of the Roman Empire, which was known to be more politically centralized than Western Europe, and the two empires were known to have different religious aspects as well, though there are differences in these empires, being both emerged from Rome led them to having similar aspects in many ways as well.

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.

The Islamic empire had the Rashidun army which maintained a high level of discipline, strategies prowess, and organization. The Rashidun army was the most prominent and effective military force in the world since both of these empires were so strong it helped develop major empires in the postclassical world. Islam dominated one third of the old world and at its height it reached from the Atlantic Ocean on the West, across North Africa and the Middle East, to central Asia on the East. Emperor Justinian used Christianity's desire to reclaim Rome he used religious thoughts to justify and execute military assaults on lost land. Comprised of brilliant generals and thousands of motivated men striving for eternal after life the Islamic army was immensely dynamic, effective, and cardinal to power of the Islamic kingdom. The location of the Byzantine Empire aided in military conquest and defense because of the Mediterranean sea.

The major cultural achievements was the preservation of the Greek language and culture. Greek ethics and science became the foundation of the Western Civilization. In the Byzantine Empire they preserved the Ancient Greek literature scribes. Homer ~ The iliad and the Odyssey are among most widely read poems in American and European schools and colleges today. Sophocles ~ Theatrical plays, including Oedipus Rex, helped to define a form of literature called tragedy. Socrates ~ Known to us through the writings of Plato and others, Socrates crafted a form of inquiry and debate, called the Socratic Method, that is used in classrooms today. It features questions rather than answers. Plato ~ One of Plato’s works, The Republic, describes an ideal society and explores the importance of justice in that society. Aristotle ~ His many scientific and philosophical writings advanced the use of logic and scientific thought. Euclid ~ He made inquires into astronomy, music, and mathematics. Regarded as the father of geometry. Hippocrates ~ His medical works and his ethical standards led to the still- used Hippocratic Oath taken by all doctors. Originally the language of the Byzantine Empire was Latin until 700 CE when it was changed to Greek by Emperor Heraclius. The culture of Constantinople was diverse. The Byzantine Empire had an important cultural legacy, both on the Orthodox Church and on the revival of Greek and Roman

Did you know that Justinian's Code is a Law Code from the ancient Byzantine Empire. Justinian's Code was created by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian.These law codes were published in 529 a.d. These laws were very effective and the basis of many law codes yet to come.

The Byzantines also allowed the survival of this religion by preventing the Islamic people to invade Constantinople and therefor prevented the whole world of Europe being taken over by the Islamic

Rome, a prosperous empire was greatly on the rise from 500BC - 500AD. Experienced many new architectural achievements including the aqueduct, Hadrian’s Wall, The Colosseum, and the Pantheon. But during the late stages in the empires existence, the western part was invaded by barbaric Germanic tribes who wanted to take the Roman empire over. The west eventually fell, but a new empire arose which is essentially “The New Roman Empire” The Byzantine Empire. They Byzantines incorporated Roman architecture, laws, and religion into the founding of the Byzantine Empire.

The Byzantine Empire was originally known as the Eastern Roman Empire, after surviving the barbaric attacks on its land. Emperor Justinian protected this empire and was well known for conquering many places. In the Byzantine Empire, the Emperor is the supreme ruler, looked at as a god. He was the head of the army, the highest political authority and the supreme legislator and judge. However, according to Procipius in, The Secret History, Justinian destroyed the greatness and history of Rome. Justinian was described as being “crafty, hypocritical, secretive by temperament, two-faced, and purely evil”.

Ancient civilizations, specifically Greek and Roman civilizations, played various significant roles throughout the main civilizations in the Common Era. Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman from the Ancient civilization since the Roman emperor Constantine moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium and changed its name to Constantinople, known as the center city of Christian world. The political identity of Byzantine Empire can be traced back to one of the Imperial Rome. The empire had one emperor who made all decisions in the empire. The member of senate was appointed by the Emperor to be the figure-head. However, during Justinian’s reign, he tried to revise the Roman Law code and summarized all laws so that the court can refer to. Some of the architecture style during that time was resemble to the Roman architecture. For example, The Hague Sophia was the combination of longitudinal shape of the Roman basilica with a domed central plan. Regarding the infusion of the Greek culture, it could be easily seen by looking

The Roman Empire left a legacy that still continues to affect people with modern technology. The Romans’ technology might have not been as advanced as modern technology today, but they still managed to caused great impact over the ancient people. The Roman Empire’s inventions and innovations such as indoor plumbing, aqueducts, and construction of roads and buildings with their fast drying will always be notable attention because they managed to acquire extensive progress without modern methods. However, the Romans were not restricted to new inventions, they also managed to improve the existing fields of medicine, law, government and warfare.

This became the religious model propagated in the Byzantine Empire. There all semblance of separation between the state and religion was eliminated. The emperor made his decrees on matters of politics and law as well as matters of faith and theology. Christianity was