Soon after this they switched to greek as the official language and supporting greek studies. The downfall of the byzantine empire is solely because of the involvement in the Crusades, also known as the holy war. This holy war was against the Turks mounted in central Asia, however, the Pope had started the Crusade even though politically they should have not created them. The first crusade was a mild success with Alexios asking Pope Urban II for help to expand eastward to stifle the muslim rule. Of course Urban had seen this as a two birds with one stone kind of deal by knocking out
After the Roman Empire had fallen, the region had split into two areas: the West just being Western Europe, and the East officially becoming the Byzantine Empire. Although Western Europe and Byzantine were similar in the way the populations of both regions had retained the similar daily lifestyles and material culture of the fallen Roman Empire, they had developed drastic contrasts over time; they differed in how each of their regions were politically organized, and each had their own dominant belief system. Even after the split of Rome, the regions were similar in the way that both of their populations had become so accustomed to the previous empire’s lifestyle and material culture, that it had not faded as time gradually passed into the Middle Ages. Farming continued to be a stable source of food for both Western Europe and Byzantine, the area and condition being able to supply beans during the spring, and wheat during the fall season. The preference of agriculture comes from the Byzantine Empire being wealthy
The structure of the Byzantine Empire was only one factor of why the empire remained stable the key component was who was ruling the empire. One of the most important and memorable early Byzantine rulers was Justinian. Justinian trained for a legal career, had a acute eye for talent, and was profoundly interested in art, especially architecture. He became an aid to his uncle Justin, who after the death of Anastasiu I was appointed ruler of the Byzantine empire. It was through this apprenticeship that Justinian was able to familiarize himself with the current government system and knew how it would need to change when he was proclaimed emperor after his uncles death if the empire were to endure.
According to Wikipedia “After the three good Emperors, the remaining Emperors ruled badly and again wasted a lot of money and soldiers. In the west, the Europeans betrayed the Byzantines and attacked their capital, Constantinople. The Byzantines lost their capital in 1204 and they did not take it back until 1261. The Byzantines were then divided into many smaller Greek states that were fighting with each other for the throne of the Empire. ”Therefore which means that we don’t need to study byzantine because Byzantine empire collapsed by himself.
“The division of the empire made it more easily governed in the short term, but over time the two halves drifted apart,”(Doc 9). When the halves drifted apart, they had trouble working together to fight off all of the invaders, and they started to fight over materials. In addition, when the Eastern Empire began to grow strong while the Western was weak, the invaders decided to attack the Western Empire more, causing Rome to weaken even more. Also, Rome had a problem getting leaders that lasted longer than a few years. Rome had 19 different leaders from 235 to 285 CE, and at least 15 of them were murdered (Doc 1).
The great Western Roman Empire was considered to be one of the most powerful empires in human history. Rome became the most powerful state in the world by the first century BCE through a combination of military might, political acumen, and economic might. The empire was founded on blood of two brother’s who fought to the death to be crowned King, which lead to the first King of Rome who was named Romulus. By the third century BCE, all of Rome’s power and greatness began to diminish. Rome was falling.
The Eastern Empire was governed in Byzantium known as the Byzantine Empire and the Western Empire was governed in Rome known as the Holy Roman Empire. In Lost to the West, Lars develops two thesis statements throughout the book. The first thesis is how the Byzantine Empire saved western civilization from invaders and other tribes that try to take over Europe. In the book it says “ Western civilization, however, owes an incalculable debt to the scorned city on the Bosporus. For more than a millennium, its capital stood, the great bastion of the East protecting a nascent, chaotic Europe, as one after another would-be world conqueror foundered against its walls”
Confusion of leadership caused the government to be highly unstabalized and as the empire grew; lower classes were being burdened by increasing taxes. Ineffective leadership did not allow these problems to be addressed and over extension of borders caused the empire to be too much for one person to rule so the empire was split into two eastern and western
Some primary reasons to study the Byzantines are because they protected the differentiating religions in the world, was the base of our law today, and preserved important information from further in history. In Document A, it states, “Had the [Arabs] captured Constantinople in the seventh century… all Europe - and America - might be Muslim today.” Additionally, in Document C, it explains how the Christian Orthodox Church that the Byzantines practiced is a lasting cultures still practice all over the world: 75% of Russia is Christian Orthodox. This shows that the Byzantine empire was part of the development of the different religions in our world today. With so much of our population practicing and believing in the religion that the Byzantines
Both empires’ economies were very different. The Byzantine became one of the wealthiest empires ever, while the Western economy was an agricultural based with little trading with
Some historians claim that there are as many as a hundred political and non-political interweaving reasons that led to the collapse of Roman Empire. One of the important political causes is the division of the Empire into two empires, the west (Latin) and the eastern (Greek, later known as the Byzantine empire) in 284 A.D. by Diocletian. This division was adopted to protect the over-expanding empire and to defend its borders against the Barbarian attacks. This was achieved initially as the two empires synchronized responsibilities and strengthened each.
One issue that led the Roman Republic to become an empire was that the common people, known as plebeians, were unhappy with how they were being governed. The laws that had been made were not being followed, and the Romans weren’t following what the most powerful were telling them to do. Instead they were following the commanders because they were being promised riches. A second issue was that from 88-82 B.C. Rome fell into a civil war. The Senate wasn’t able to rule and keep order.
The Byzantine Iconoclastic Controversy began in 726 CE when Emperor Leo III issued a decree against the worship of icons.1 This action resulted in the removal and destruction of icons in churches and monasteries.2 There had been tensions rising between the church and the state over the use of icons for some time, but the culmination of these tensions along with the pressure of Muslim armies attacking the borders of Byzantium lead to the explosive Iconoclastic Controversy. The iconoclasts ardently believed that the creation of images depicting holy people was making God angry. The iconophiles believed that these images were sacred and used them as a means of worshiping God. This theological battle lead to the meeting of several ecumenical councils in order to resolve the controversy between the church and the state. This paper will examine the arguments for and against the use of icons from iconoclasts and iconophiles in the Byzantine Empire.
When Diocletian split the empire it was a monumentally mistake. He divided the empire based on language with the western side speaking Latin and the East side speaking Greek. When Diocletian Died a civil war broke out because there was so much unrest inside the country. Social Problems were a factor people lost confidence in the Roman Empire. People just let the Fall of Rome just happen they did not care.
It was first ruled by Constantine, which he then named the city Constantinople. Constantinople became the wealthiest city in its region. Other societies were jealous and wanted that city for their own. Including the Ottoman Empire, who set out an attack on the city to soon take it over. Constantine died in the battle and so the decline and fall of the Byzantine Empire was complete.
