The Byzantine Empire - Pascack Valley Regional School District

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198 PART I1| ¯ The PostclassicN Period, 500-!450: New Faith and New Commerce Ravenna, a key artistic center, embellished by some ~f the most beaugfful Christian mosaics known anywhere m the world (Figure 9.2). But the major Italian holdings ¯ - ble to witbstand Germanic pressure, were short-hveCt, una and north African territory was soon besieged as well. Furthermore, Jusnman westward ambitions had weakened the empire in its own sphere. Persian forces attacked in the northern Middle East, while new Slavic groups, moving into the Balkans, pressed on another front (Map 9.1).Justinian finally managed to create a new line of The Byzantine defense and even pushed Persian ~{br~es back Empire Under Justinian again, but some Middle Eastern terrltory was lost. Furthermore, n!l these wars, ofi~nsive and defensive alike, created new tax pressures on the government and forcedJusdnian to exertions that contributed to his death in 565 c.I~. - - *--~.*;~ian’s successors began to con- Ati~er some setbacKs,3uam* centrate on defending the eastern empire itself. Persian successes in the nortbern Middle East were reversed in the 7th century, and the population was forcibly recon- ¯ verted to Cbristiamty. The resultant empire, centered in the southern Balkans and the western and central portions of present-day Turkey, was a t~r cry from Rome’s greatness. However, it was sufficient to amplify a rich ATLANTIC MAP 9.1 The Byzantine Empire holdings outside the northeastern MedRerranean within 50 years after his death. FIGUR~ 9.2 Dazzling mosaics from the early period of the Byzantine Empire illustrate some of the highest achievements of Byzantine religious art. This mosaic features a rather militant Christ the Redeemer¯ Hellenistic culture and blend it more Ihally with Christianity while advancing Roman achievements in engineering and military tactics as well as law. The Byzantine Empire was also strong enough to withstand ’the great new threat of the 7th century, the
C H A P T E R 9 ¯ Civilization in Eastern Europe: Byzantium and Orthodox Europe 199 of the Arab Muslims, though not without massive By tile mid-7th centugr; the Arabs had built a that challenged Byzantine naval supremacy in the Mediterranean while repeatedly attacking They quickly swallowed tile empire’s the easteru seaboard of the ~e northern Middle as well. Arab cultural and commeralso affected patterns of life in Constanterritory was cut back to about half earlier eastern Roman Empire. Byzantine Empire held out nevertheless. A r saege of tile capita! in 717-718 c.E. was beaten back, ~ because of a new weapon, a kind of napalm called fire (a petroleum, quicklime, and sulfur mkxture) Arab ships. The Arab threat was never entirely. Furthermore, wars with tile Muslims burdens to the empire, as in~aweakening the position of small farmgreater aristocratic estates and new power population that during its early cenmries--proz recruits and pa~ing the bulk of the tmxes-into greater dependence. Greater emphasis , and navy. the greatest Arab onslaughts had been faced, run by a dizzying series of weak and [ with seemcontinued¯ Conquest of the 9th century allowed the Muslims shipping in the Mediterranean for Slavic kingdoms, especially Bulgaria, pressed Byzantine territory in the Balkans, times military success and marriage Byzantine control over the feisty Bulwhile a Bulgarian king in tire ’ took the title of tsar, a Slavic version of the FIGURE 9.8 A view of the intedor of the Hagia Sophia--the Church of Holy Wisdom--in what is today the city of Istanbul, This magnificent church was built 532-537 c,E, under the reign of the Emperor Justinian, word Caesar, steady Byzantine pressure through war eroded the regional kingdom. In the llth century, the Byzantine emperor Basil II, known as Bulgarohtonos, or slayer of tile Bulgarians, used the empire’s wealth to bribe many Bulgarian nobles and generals. He defeated the Bulgarian army in 1014, blinding as many as 15,000 captive soldiers. The sight of this tragedy brought on tile Bulgarian king’s death. Bulgaria became part of the empire, its aristocracy settling in Constantinople and merging with the leading Greek families. Briefly, at the end of the 10th century, the Byzantine emperor may have been the most power~hl monarch on earth, with a capital city whose rich buildings and abundant popular entertainments awed visitors ti’om western Europe and elsewhere. The Byzantine political system had remarkable similarities to tile earlier patterns in China. The emperor was held to be ordained by God, head of church as well as state. He appointed church bishops and passed religious and secular laws. The elaborate court rituals symbolized the ideals of a divinely inspired, all-power~)l ruler, although they otien immobilized rulers and inhibited innovative policy. At key points, women held the imperial throne while maintaining the ceremonia! power of the office. The experiences of Empress Theodora (981-1056), namesake of Justinian’s powerthl wife, illustrate the complex nature of Byzantine politics and the whims of fate that affected women rulers. Daughter of an emperor, Theodora was strong and austere; she refused to marry the imperial heir; who then wed her sister Zofi. Zoa was afraid of Theodora’s influence and had her confined to a convent. A popular rebellion against the new emperor installed Theodora and Zo~ jointly (and one assugm~ ugqasily) as empresses. Later, Theodora managed to check unruly nobles and limit
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