Byzantium: Environment, Politics, Society & Culture

Intro to Byzantium: Environment, Politics, Society, Culture

• Roman Hegemony occurred around 117
• The Mediterranean Sea was integral for Roman rule.
• Governance included an Emperor, Army, Elites (Roman Senators), Local Elites, and the People.
• Communication, while fast for the time, remained slow.
• Byzantine society had a mainly agrarian base supported by landowners and slaves.
• Surplus resources from provinces were moved to the Imperial core.
• The Emperor then redistributed to Elites, the Army, and the People.
• Major urban areas became storage centers for surplus wealth.
• The redistribution of goods was critical to the Roman market economy.
• Peasantry composed the majority of the population, and lived often in relatively isolated communities.
• Brutality of gendered labor was also present

Geography and Environment

• The climate was generally characterized by hot, dry summers and wet, windy winters
• Strong sea currents allowed sailing against the wind.
• Northern Mediterranean offered safer harbors compared to the South.
• Summers made sailing along the North African coast dangerous.
• Major rivers included the Nile, Danube, Euphrates/Tigris, and Rhine.
• The Red Sea and Black Sea were important seas.

The Crisis of The Third Century

• The Contradictions of the Principate occurred during this time
• Princeps Senatus were Kings in all but name
• There was a gradual erosion of democratic institutions.
• The senate no longer was a source of competition
• The pressures of the curiales class also mounted
• built for wars that no longer occurred.
• The Army/Praetorians supplanted people Senate diminished influence on imperial power

The Crisis and its Effects

• Succession Crises and the Barracks Emperors also happened
• Civil War, Famine, and Plague were widespread
• Fiscal Crises and the Devaluing of Currency occurred
• There was Inflationary Pressure in Urban Areas, and Political Threats to the Old Order
• German Migration was significant.
• The Sasanian Persian Empire became an important superpower.
• Christianity grew as a rejection of old beliefs.
• Alternative cognitive maps of the world emerged from the Empire's periphery

Diocletian and the Tetrarchs

• Diocles of Salona rose to power.
• In 282, he became Comes Protectores Domestici under Carus.
• In 284, he seized power and was declared Emperor by the army.
• He gained the support of the senate and key officers who hated previous emperors.

Military and Foreign Policy Successes

• By 287, territorial losses to the Persians were reversed, and a treaty was signed.
• Roman sovereignty over Armenia was recognized.
• The Persians broke peace in 295, however Peace of Nisibis was signed in 299.
• Fortification of the Syrian frontier began for the first time, known as Strata Diocletiana.

Administrative, Political, and Economic Reforms

• Included the Tetrarchy and changes to imperial operations.
• The number of provinces was doubled.
• Civil bureaucracy was separated from the military.
• The central government expanded around the imperial court.
• Army size increased, spurred by competing tetrarchs.
• Limitanei (border troops) and Comitatenses (mobile field army) were created.
• Introduces a capitatio-iugatio tax was introduced.
• Romans/Italians were forced to pay taxes like other provincials.
• Efforts were made to return gold into currency circulation.
• There were attempts at price controls, and Christianity was persecuted

The Great Persecution of Christians

• Christians were viewed as social pariahs and believed to have infiltrated the aristocracy.
• Diocletian banned Christians from the bureaucracy and army in 302.
• Universal participation in public sacrifice was demanded.
• Those who refused were publicly executed on masse
• Christian texts were burned, and new churches destroyed

The Rise and Age of Constantine

• Constantine completed Diocletian's Monetary Reforms, and created a sole rule
• Abolished the Praetorian Guard
• Murdered Crispus and Fausta in 326
• Increased administrative positions to the senatorial rank
• Enlarged the senate and included Senate directly into the government
• Military men were excluded (for now)

Cracks in the Tetrarchy

• Diocletian's abdication occurred in 305.
• Constantius Chlorus became Augustus in the West.
• In 306, Constantius died, and his troops declared his son, Constantine, as emperor.
• Maxentius, son of Maximianus, was located in Rome
• By 311, a full-scale civil war was underway.
• The Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 resulted in the defeat of Maxentius.
• Constantine and Licinius jointly ruled from 314-324.
• In 324, Constantine defeated Licinius, claiming sole rule and ending civil wars.
• Constantine, Pontifex Maximus, was Constantine's approach to Christianity

Constantine, Pontifex Maximus, and the Christians

• 311: The Edict of Serdica/Galerius/Toleration ended the persecutions,.
• 313: The Edict of Milan restored confiscated property to churches.
• Constantine adopted a strategy of Ideological Capture of Christian beliefs.
• The concept of heresy was arising, differentiating groups of Christians
• Imperial Intervention in the Donatist Controversy was made
• The Council of Nicaea took place in Nicaea in 325, addressing the Arian Controversy
• The deathbed baptism of Constantine occurred in 337

Constantine the Builder and The Other Rome

• Nova Roma Constantinopolitana was instated; Eastern Capital;
• Constantine focused on the East and wanted a capital
• Byzantion on the Bosporus was picked in 324
• Called Constantinopolis
• The city was expanded and has new walls. It had a Hippodrome
• A Forum and Column of Constantine were built, and Sol Invictus
• Constantinople acted as Museum and had Zeuxippus Baths

Elsewhere in the Empire

• Churches and relics were installed
• Land offered to Senators/Householders who moved to the city
• Grain dole moved to Constantinople
• Rome added Basilica of St. John Lateran/Basilica of St. Peter
• Constantine funded new Baths
• Palestine and the Church of the Nativity became important

A New Christian Empire and Its Internal and External Threats

• Germanic migrations pushed further in Roman territory by the rise of the Huns
• External issues included those migrating as slaves, soldiers and migrant families
• The Battle of Adrianople occurred in 378
• 376: Huns pushed Goths in Roman frontie, who agreed to settle so long as there was shelter and food
• Goths revolted, and armed themselves, and fought back
• Valens battled the Goths

Internal Problems

• Included religious Tensions and Christian vigilantism
• There was the heretic problem
• The rise of the bishops also was an influence.
• Germans: Despite integration, many Romans were Hostile
• Aristocracy disliked outside influence, and were largely Arian and lived apart from citizenship
• By the 4th century, political life totally happened in the west

Pagan Reaction and the End of the House Constantine

• Heirs of Constantine included Constantius II (337-361)
• He was the first Christian emperor: took seriously role over church
• Legislated death sentences for pagan sacrifice/idol worship
• Was forced to moderate for this position
• Sponsered missionary activity outside of the empire

Pagan Reaction under Julian

• In 355, Julian was made Caesar and was named Emperor
• He was chosen as the last living male relative of Constantius II
• Grew up under the tutelage of church father George of Cappadocia
• abandon Christianity and studied Neoplatonism
• Julian was stationed in Gaul, which was a success against Germanic incursions
• sought to have him removed and took control
• Was a non reluctant leader; did well
• Constantius sought to have Civil war, eventually he averted
• Took power in 361 and entered city/empire

Julian's Counter-Revolution

• 361: Julian enters Constantinople
• First Among Equals had legislative debates; made speeches in the Senate house
• Depicted himself as a philosopher
• Power of the cities expanded at expense of political control

Julian's Pagan Reaction

• Julian understood the harshness of Constantius II and gave religious liberty and amnesty
• Jews allowed to reconstruct temple in Jerusalem
• Christians banned from teaching non-Christian materials
• Sought to revive polytheism by unifying and organizing worship

Julian's Military Campaign and Death

• Between 362-363, he campaigned against Persia, but stopped first to winter in Antioch
• He died in the field in 363 in action
• Jovian (363-364) followed and was picked by troops
• Gave away Armenia and Syria, then the populace insulted emperor

From the House of Theodosios to the First Great Contraction

• In the East:
• Theodosius I (379-395) was made emperor by Emperor Gratian in the West
• 382 treaty: allowed to settle on the Danube but made into soldiers
• Religious policy: Nicene Orthodoxy. Gave public sacrifice and vigilantes
• ~390: People were killed in Thessaloniki
• Ambrose, Bishop of Milan and Theodosius's separated from the Church
• 395: Theodosius dies, divides Rome between his sons
• Arkadios ruled in the East; Honorius (393-423) in the West
• Both were quite young at the time

The fall of Rome and the Huns

• 408: Theodosius II made child emperor and many fought over court
• His wife Aelia Eudokia and his sister Pulcheria led political factions
• Disorder in the East limited help for the West: : Britain and North Africa to Vandals
• 423: After Honorius's death, German leader in charge
• Mounts brutal invasions of Gaul (451) and Italy (452)
• Romans and Europe largely failed

The end of Roman rule

• Attila dies in 453
• Damage mostly done; By 476, the Western Empire is made up of only a series of Kingdoms
• 476-493: Odoacer, King of Italy with no rule
• Seeks Imperial legitimacy
• Seeks Roman society
• Wore normal roman clothes

Growth and Convulsions in the State Church of the Fifth Century

• Discusses Holy Men, Holy Women, and (yet another) way to do Christianity
• The physical and psychological travails of Roman life
• Discusses Holy men and women with their Monastic communities
• How the people at the periphery changed the Roman world
• There were problems of Jesus

Christological conflict

• Also considered issues involving heresy
• There was the Alexandrian School vs Antiochene faction of christion thought
• Nestorians: that would be the patriarch of constantinople, alexandria, and persia

The Age of Justinian, Part 1

• After Anastasios: Justinian was the leader, and his wife was extremely influential
• The 518 Crisis rose Justinian to power
• Justinian sought to improve his policies
• Rapprochement with Rome and the imposition of orthodoxy became policy
• Antagonism of the Persians had occurred between 526
• Cultivating others: Lazica, Aksum, Iberia
• Justinian’s nephew: Sabbatius, named co-emperor in 527

Renovatio Imperii: Restoring the Empire in the Court of Justinian and Theodora: 527-548

• The general was Belisarious, aided by Theodora
• In 527-532: The Sasanian War and the Eternal Peace occurred
• in 523 -534 was The Conquest of North Africa
• In 535-540 The Conquest of Northern Africa occurred

Under Justinian rule law was standardized

• Simplification and professional tax collection was improved
• The Law code: Corpus luris Civilis (529-534) was drafted
• The Codex Justinianus was written in 529, Digests in 533 , and the Institutes written in 533 as well
• Novellae (534-565)
• Religious policies were under control, especially against heresy

Building up the Empire: Building Program of Justinan

• Constantinople was Constantinople
• Impressive churches with religious and Non- Religious building
• More improvements and re-constructions occurred in Ravenna, Rome, and Antioch

The Age of Justinian Part 2

• The end of the Long Peace and the Great Plague
• 540: Antioch Sack
• The Lazic War and the 50 Years' Peace occurred of 562
• 540-549: Justinianic plague came

Justinian's military and expansion

• New military was commissioned from hunns:
• Justininan allowed money to make new settlements; which brought pressure

Justinian's Legacy

• There was consolidation of power and burden
• Terminal decline of urban policies was noticed
• religious unity failed in syria

From Succession Troubles to Persian Invasion

• The Mad Emperor and the Bureaucrat (565-582) were Justin II(565-578) and Sophia
• There was generally religious control and persecution
• They didn’t want to pay tribute
• Dara was captured in 572 and he eventually went mad

Maurice the Warrior Bureaucrat

• Was Secretary and general of the Persians
• The emperor

The End of Maurice's reign

• Was accused of being overly stingy and not paying people
• Phokas a non commission officer had to stop him
• Maurice had to watch his family die