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32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium, A New Rome


During its one-thousand-year existence, the Byzantine Empire took its Roman heritage and became an autocratic, static entity in a world of great upheaval . . . MP, 184

The Eastern Roman Empire


The name Byzantine is modern and comes from Byzantium, the original name of Constantinople Continuity
Maintained the Roman tradition of law and government Throughout its history, subjects of the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire thought of themselves as Rhomaioi, or Romans

Change
Greek speaking Orthodox Christian Increasingly oriental (eastern)

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32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

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Phases of Byzantine History


Almost 1000 years of history, from the Fall of the Western Roman Empire almost until the time of Columbus (see MP, 184-186)

Revival of Empire (A.D. 476-641) Withdrawal and Renewal (A.D. 641-867) Golden Age (A.D. 867-1081) Challenge from the West (A.D. 1081-1261) Palaeologian Emperors (A.D. 1261-1453)

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32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

Revival of Empire (A.D. 476641)


Justinian (r. 527565)
Last emperor to speak Latin as his native language Rigorously supported Orthodox Christianity and enforced religious conformity

Eastern borders with Persia secured North Africa and Italy re-conquered Great period of architecture and culture Military expansion and building program were ultimately too expensive

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32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

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Byzantine Empire under Justinian

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32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

Withdrawal and Renewal (A.D. 641867)


Territorial losses
loss of western provinces Syria and Egypt to Arabs Slavs seize much of the Balkans

Byzantium militarized
Generals given both military and civil control of provinces Great estates controlled by military aristocracy form a type of feudalism

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32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

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Invasions by Slavs, Bulgars, and Arabs

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32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

Golden Age (A.D. 8671081)


Basil I and the Bulgars
Bulgarians, who had conquered much of the Balkans, subjugated

Restored boundaries and economy


Expansion into eastern Anatolia, northern Syria, and parts of southern Italy medieval Byzantium

Religious and cultural expansion into eastern Europe


Orthodox missionaries spread Christianity among Serbs, Ukrainians, Russians Byzantine state becomes the model for new kingdoms and would-be empires

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32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

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Byzantine Renewal under Basil I

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32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

Challenges: the West and the Turks


(A.D. 10811261)

Commeni dynasty
Byzantium again militarized and feudalized

Strife between West and East


Schism between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy worsens Beginning of the Crusades

Enemies on all sides: Serbs, Bulgars, Turks, Western Europeans


1071: Southern Italy to Normans, Asia Minor to Turks (after Battle of Manzikert) 1204: Fourth Crusade, Western Christians capture Constantinople

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32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

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Byzantium, the Turks, and the Crusades

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Palaeologians (A.D. 12611453)


Byzantines succeed in retaking Constantinople from Franks and Italians Palaeologian Dynasty rules a small, weak Greek state
Slavs hold most of the Balkans Turks seize most of Asia Minor and threaten Europe

In 1453 the Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople, ending the Eastern Roman Empire

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32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

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Byzantine Society
Unresolved conflict between Christian and Classical ideals
Religious formsdeeply spiritual, transcendently spiritual Classical values of restraint, dignity, and serenity, but somewhat suppressed humanismautocratic government, mans submission to divine

Orthodox Church
State control of the Church Iconoclast Controversy Religious and cultural expansion into Eastern Europe and Russia Continued conflict with the West

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The Spread of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the Byzantine Cultural Sphere
Byzantine missionaries spread Eastern Orthodoxy to Bulgars, Serbs, Romanians, and Russians St. Methodius and St. Cyril devise a Slavic alphabet based on Byzantine Greek Byzantine cultural and governmental ideals adopted throughout Eastern Europe

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32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

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Law, Literature, and History


Justinians Law Code Preservation of Classical scholarship
Yet supposedly little new creative literature

Anna Commenas history, Alexeid


Excerpts in MPR, 175-178 Modeled on Thucydides and Tacitus
the science of history is a great bulwark against the stream of time . . . I, having realized the effects wrought by Time, desire now by means of my writings to give an account of my fathers deeds, which do not deserve to be swept away on the flood of Time . . .
Cf. Herodotus and Thucydides

Whenever one assumes the role of historian, friendship and enmities have to be forgotten . . .
Cf. Tacitus without anger or partisanship remark

Panegyric of her father Non-western view of the First Crusaders


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32a. Heirs of Classicism: Byzantium

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