Byzantine Empire PDF

Notebook Page 1 The Byzantine Empire AP World History: Modern – Period 1  Rise of the Eastern Roman Empire In order to move the capital closer to their primary rivals—the Sassanid Persian Empire– Emperor Constantine I built an imperial city on the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, naming it Con...

Notebook Page 1 The Byzantine Empire AP World History: Modern – Period 1  Rise of the Eastern Roman Empire In order to move the capital closer to their primary rivals—the Sassanid Persian Empire– Emperor Constantine I built an imperial city on the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, naming it Constantinople Constantine effectively reinvigorated the Roman Empire during the 4th century through several civil, economic, and militaristic reforms, thus allowing the empire to recover from a period of strife He also moved himself and his administration to Constantinople, thus effectively splitting the Empire into two halves: East and West At roughly the same time, the large-scale movement of peoples in Europe began during a period known as the Migration Period From 300 to 570 CE, many Germanic, Gothic, and Slavic peoples moved into and within the Roman Empire, followed by pursuing Huns and Avars—all of which threatened Roman imperial power While the West fell to the disorder and pressure of said peoples in 485 CE, the East continued and remained an effective force in the greater Mediterranean region for several centuries under mostly Greek rule and administration; historians refer to them as the Byzantines after 485 CE  The Byzantine Empire While the Western Empire had succumbed to invasion and Goth rule, it was, temporarily reconquered by the Byzantines in the 6 th century under Justinian I Despite this temporary reconquest, the West would again fade away, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of Greeks centered in Constantinople This would be the first of several retraction and expansion periods of the Byzantine Empire, however, there would be some lasting developments in early Byzantine history Another lasting impact of Justinian was the Code of Justinian and his greater civil code Justinian’s codes set the precedent for most modern state legal systems in establishing common civil law, lasting legislation, recording and adherence to judicial precedents, and formal training for students of law Aside from Justinian, another lasting effect of the Byzantines was their embracement and spread of Christianity through institutions and missionaries like Cyril and Methodius Hailing from the Byzantine Empire and Church, these two began the mass conversion of the surrounding hostile Slavic peoples, and the dominance of what is now the Eastern Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe  Decline and Fall of the Byzantines Throughout its existence, the Byzantine Empire remained an effective economic force, connecting the Western world to the trade of South and East Asia through the Silk Roads Said trade, while being beneficial, also proved deadly on more than one occasion, bringing with it plagues, such as the Plague of Justinian in the 6th century, and the Black Death in the 14th century—both of which reduced the populations of the region and the Empire substantially The first major setback of the Byzantine Empire was its temporary contraction and exhaustion at the hands of the Sassanid Empire in the Byzantine-Sassanid War from 602-628 CE The conflict itself ultimately weakened both states, and led to the fall of the Sassanids to Arab conquests of the 7th century, and the loss of more than half of the Byzantine Empire to the same Muslim invaders While it did experience a resurgent growth again in the 11 th and 12th centuries during the Macedonian Renaissance, it had already reached its zenith in the centuries prior After decades of invasions, wars, plagues, internal strife, and civil war, the Byzantine Empire was finally ended by the taking of Constantinople by the Turkish Muslim Ottoman Empire in 1453 Byzantine and Sassanid Empires – 7th Century CE