Justinian's Greatest Influences In The Eastern Half Of The Byzantine Empire?

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 their ideas are similar, their roots of these are still different. Rome was basically influenced by the Etruscans with their monarchy and infrastructure of paved streets, public buildings, defensive walls, large temples, & geographic advantages of being near (i.e. easy access to the Mediterranean which helped in trade.) Though the Byzantine was much influenced by the Romans, they were also influenced by the Middle East. Like Islamic views which were spreading throughout north of Africa and the bulk of the Middle East. In addition, during the 7th century the Arab Muslims had built a fleet that challenged the Byzantine naval supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean while repeatingly attacking Constantinople. The Arabs quickly swallowed the empire’s remaining provinces along the eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean. This attack influenced the Byzantine empire’s pattern of life with Arab cultural and commercial influence. From attacks to religion, we see the religion between the Byzantine Empire and Ancient Romans are similar due to the fact they are associated with Christianity, but each civilization found ways to make it their own. The Romans, being that Christianity was becoming one of the major world religions, did of course arise during the time of Rome. However, Christianity was not really a product of roman culture & roman gods and goddesses were. The Byzantine Empire created a new branch of Christianity,

The new faith that brought a message and established the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the faith that Constantine adopted as a child from his mother. Christianity during Constantine’s reign established much dominance over other religions and was the main reason for influence of the Christian. Christianity in the Roman world had many perils from gladiatorial battles, to forms of charity which affected the Roman world for good (McGiffert, 34). Charity became with

Eastern Europe had begun its transition from the Eastern Roman Empire into the Byzantine empire with the penetration of Christianity into all aspects of life. Both the Byzantine and Islamic Empires were defined by their use of monotheistic religion in governing their empires. They both used religion in their own ways as justification to spread their governorship. But their laws however were not the same, Byzantine laws were based off of romans and Christianity, However the Islamic caliphates laws were based off The Holy Book Quran. The Byzantine built churches so the people could worship and learn about the religion of Christianity where the Islamic Caliphates used the Sharia law where equal punishment is given to criminals. The difference between the two empires was that the Islamic Caliphates believed that the ruler should be related to prophet Muhammad. Whereas the Byzantine Empire believed that whoever was the most dedicated to the religion of

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.

Christianity experienced notable change during the Byzantine Era as a result of the fact that new ideas were introduced into the religion and because more and more cultural values from across the world started to pervade it. The religion was very different in Byzantium from how it was in the West principally because a series of Eastern ideas were adopted by Christian leaders. Christianity experienced a different development in the East when compared to the evolution that it experienced in the West. In the centuries lasting between the beginning of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire and the end of a small medieval state Christianity has practically been bombarded with Eastern ideas and with ideas that generally differed from the ones promoted in the West, eventually making it possible for "a distinct system of religious practice and devotion" (Krueger, 1) to emerge.

The Byzantine empire and its capital of Constantinople existed for more than 1,123 years. A Roman military officer named Constantine, was stationed in Britain. Later, he defeated generals and became a Roman emperor. He gave Christianity legal standing within the empire and moved the imperial capital from Rome to Byzantium. Their emperors are not the only primary reason why the Byzantines should be studied. They protected Constantinople by building walls, preserved Greek classics, and began the Eastern Orthodox Church.

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

During rule of Emperor Justinian of the Eastern Roman Empire, a cycle of recurring plagues started in the year 541 A.D. This plague cycle would disappear and reappear in roughly eleven year cycles. The last strike of this plague cycle was in 747 in Naples. This series of plagues were called the Justinian plague named after Emperor Justinian’s rule and it is also referred to as the early medieval pandemic (EMP). The severity of this plague was high being that Procopius of Caesarea, a Urban Prefect of Constantinople stated that the plague “fell upon the whole world, yet just as many people escaped as had the misfortune to succumb- either because they escaped the infection altogether, or because they got over it if they happened to be

The difference of religion had a huge impact on both of the empires. Christianity in the Byzantine Empire was the most popular religion in the world with Islam right after. Judaism is a monotheistic religion and while most Christians believe they are monotheistic as well, many Muslims think upon Christians as polytheistic because they believed both God and Jesus are gods. In comparison, both empires were ruled by a pope. The Byzantine Empire was impacted through Christianity because the pope was the head of the empire, such as Constantine who became pope in 708. The Islamic Caliphate was also impacted through Islam because they too were ruled by a pope. This meant if you had a religious ruler, many people of the empire would follow suit and either convert or become more involved in the religious practices that the emperor/pope would do. Both religions were quite simple. Islam has no official clergy, and follows only one single sacred text, the Koran. However, Muslims do believe in the validity of the Old Testament. Muslim's

Founder of Constantinople, Constantine claimed the great Byzantine Empire and in turn inherited the new Holy Roman Empire. With the Edict of Milan in 313, Constantine proclaimed religious tolerance of Christians throughout the empire and soon the religion spread. Constantine then transformed the city of Byzantium into the new capital of the Roman Empire, which then was known and proclaimed as Constantinople. The new capital would profit from its location being closer to the east frontier, having then the advantage of better trading, and a militarily sound location being protected on three sides by water.

Justinian’s age was a golden age because Justinian had achieved many things. Justinian created currency, controls many sea routes for trade, had entertainment, and many more advancements. But the advancements that stands out are, the Bureau of Barbarians and how much land Justinian dominates. Justinian had created a secret agency for his empire. A group of merchants and spies that would go spy and bring back information about the enemy - Bureau of Barbarians. Because of this agency, Justinian had ideas on how to protect his empire. He also dominated a big amount of land. He controlled the Vandals in South Africa, the Ostrogoths in Italy, and the Visigoth in Southern Spain. Because of this, his empire gained many ideas, rituals, and information

The Byzantine Empire, though often forgotten among better-known empires, such as the Roman Empire, ran for nearly one thousand years, occupying the eastern half of what once was the Roman Empire. It engaged in trade, expansion, and decades of warfare. It also gave women a better status then men, valued and preserved Greek history, and eventually fell to the Ottomans.

Although not as well-known as the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire was among one of the most influential empires in the ancient world because of its contributions in government and religion. The Byzantine Empire outlived the fall of the Western Empire by over a thousand years (Watts) through its strength, organization, and efficiency. The Byzantine Empire was successful after the fall of the Roman Empire because of its shrewd leaders, mainly Justinian the Great and his wife Theodora. One of the major political contributions of Justinian was the creation of a system of laws to govern his whole empire, known as the Justinian Code.

The Fall of Constantinople in 1453 had an effect on the culture of the Constantine people after Constantinople fell to the Muslim Ottoman Turks. The Muslim Ottoman Turks was one of the biggest empires that lasted the longest. When they took over the Byzantine empire they controlled the most powerful empire in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Ottoman Turks leader was Mehmed the Conqueror. At only the age of twenty-one he took over the largest city in Europe. When Mehmet became in charge he wanted the an “imam” (a person who leads prayer in a mosque) to claim the church as Muslim faith. Surprisingly Mehmet didn't touch the churches. He didn’t even let his soldiers vandalize them. He let one of the church's practice Greek Orthodox by giving it