The record of the Byzantine Empire commences with the tetrarchy presented by the Roman Emperor Diocletian in 286 CE and the founding of Constantinople as the administrative centre of the Eastern Roman Empire in 330 CE by Constantine I. Diocletian possessed set up a tetrarchy. The empire gets its name from Byzantium the former name Constantinople. Once Constantine modified its name to Constantinople, he did not hesitate to call it "the new Rome" making it more important than the waning vitality of Rome. When Constantine emerged to ability he put an end to tetrarchy updating it with hereditary succession.
Although an integral part of the Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire was more Greek than Roman. The concept language was Greek and not Latin and folks adopted Christianity sooner than the Romans.
Dynasties of the Byzantine empire
The tradition of dynastic rulers based on hereditary succession was laid down by Constantine (324-337 CE) which sustained until Emperor Justinian. This dynasty was also called the Neo Flavian dynasty as every ruler bore the name Flavian.
Constantine Dynasty (306 CE to 363 CE)
The Constantinian Dynasty (C. 306 CE to 361 CE) ruled over an empire covering portions of Egypt, Syria and the Balkans (regarded as covering Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova). Emperor Valens (364-378 CE) was the patron of the Valentinian Dynasty.
Constantine was a farsighted ruler who possessed launched many administrative reforms to up grade the socio-political framework of the empire. He presented the yellow metal solidus (coins) which stabilised the market as it was highly valued.
Mosaic of Constantine in Hagia Sophia
The proper location of Constantinople on the trade option between your East and the West looking over the Danube River helped Constantine to work with to his advantage. He strengthened the military and expanded the fortifications of Constantinople making them impossible to conquer. To ward off the continuous episodes of foreigners Constantine experienced started a system of offering subsidies (purportedly 300kg yellow metal yearly) and also favoured merchants who traded with the Huns and other international groups.
Constantine's successors did the trick towards dividing the civil and armed forces specialists which persisted until the seventh century. They further strengthened the defences of Constantinople. The Eastern Empire was spared the hardships of the West because of effective administration and able rulers.
Under Constantine Christianity received royal patronage in the form of large privileges by the emperor. This helped the religious beliefs to attain the people.
The Constantine Dynaty was accompanied by non dynastic rulers from 363 CE to 364 CE followed by the Valentian dynasty from 364 CE to 379 CE. Under Arcadius, a ruler from the Theodosian dynasty (379 to 457 CE) the Roman Empire was once and for all divided to create the American Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire in 395 CE.
Leonid Dynasty (457 CE to 518 CE)
This dynasty was founded by Leo I (457-474 CE) who made an unsuccessful try to reconquering the imperial elements of North Africa. His son-in-law Zeno (474-491 CE) succeeded him as another emperor as his own son Leo II passed on after providing for only 1 year. If the American Roman Empire dropped, Zeno was in control in the East. Zeno tried to get back the European Empire by sending a Gothic warrior Theodoric I as the commander-in-chief of Italy. Although Theodoric ruled as an unbiased king, Zeno taken care of at least a nominal supremacy in the Western Empire.
Justinian Dynasty (518 CE to 602 CE)
Justinian I (527-656 CE) the successor to the founder of the dynasty Justin I, was possibly the only ruler who embarked upon the ambitious job of uniting the European and the Eastern Empire. Justinian brought great success to his kingdom. Although an ambitious ruler, some of his plans were unpopular with the public. This unpopularity practically cost him his crown during the Nika Riots (532 CE). His queenTheodora encouraged him to suppress the riots somewhat than defeat a hasty retreat. 30, 000 civilians are thought to have been wiped out in Justinian's attempt to reduce the riots.
Motivating words of Queen Thoedora that prompted Justinian I to handle the Nika Riots were "Those people who have worn the crown shouldn't survive its reduction. Never am i going to see the day when I am not saluted as empress. " "Royalty is a fine burial shroud, " or perhaps, [the royal color] "Purple makes a fine winding sheet. "
He reclaimed the province of North Africa in 533 CE which have been lost to the Vandals. He reached so far as Italy and defeated the weak Ostrogoths. But the Ostrogoths soon rearranged themselves and came back with double force and evicted his general Belisarius. Justinian inserted into a number of treaties with the neighbouring kingdoms to defend against the continuous risk of invasion. By 555 CE, Justinian got won victories in most places except the Balkan territory which was continuously invaded by the Slavs.
Justinian became universally famous for revising the old Roman legal code and creating the new corpus of regulations popularly known as Justinian's Code. The code will serve as a basis for civil rules even today and offers a valuable perception to historians in to the concerns and activities of the later Roman Empire.
Justinian was a devout Orthodox Religious which made him intolerable not and then other religions but even to differing ideologies within Christianity. He previously turn into a patron of Christianity and has even been brought up in the Bible as a saint. He controlled everything related to religion and law. The bishops of the Chapel recognised that nothing could be achieved with no will of the emperor. He brutally suppressed any heresy by competitors of the Cathedral. He marketed monasticism, granting the monks many protection under the law which were earlier considered a taboo, like buying property. He granted them the right to inherit property from private individuals and and revoked the ir to receive solemnia or the monks' right to receive presents from the imperial treasury or from the fees of certain provinces. He aalso prohibited confiscation of monastic estates for any reason.
Justinian rebuilt the Church of Hagia Sophia which had been destroyed during the Nika Riots. It dished up as the main church of the Byzantine Empire.
BYZANTINE ART AND ARCHITECTURE
Byzantine art work was an expansion of the Roman skill. As Roman skill itself was encouraged by the Greek artwork, you can see similarity on the list of three. However Byzantine fine art differed with the last mentioned two in its strategy which was more abstract than realistic. The numbers and figurines in the Byzantine fine art appear toned and one dimensional with little use of shadow to provide a life-like appearance. Faces were long and slim without any simple fact.
The 6th century was thought to be the 'Golden Time' of Byzantine art. One can see a considerable move in the thinking and software of fine art in this period. Mathematics was regarded as the highest knowledge and Justinian acquired appointed Anthemius of Tralles, a mathematician, as you of Hagia Sophia's architect. Anthemius described architecture as 'an application of geometry to sound matter'. The structures differs from the traditional style in its execution of the domes and columns. The domes are usually more semi-circular than the almost circular patterns within the West. A lot of the art depicts moments from the life of Christ. Among the most important styles of Byzantine art was the icon, a graphic of Christ, Virgin Mary or a saint. The kings too found a location of reverence in these spiritual temples.
MOSAICS
Mosaics were more central to the Byzantine Empire than where they originated - the Western Roman Empire. Mosaics weren't only within churches however in every household in the form of small symbols to commemorate the life span and times of Christ. Some even depicted tedious life. Mosaic art was at its top through the fifth and 6th centuries.
(From still left to right) - Mosaic depicting lifestyle; an iconic mosaic from the Patmos Monastery, Greece and a Gladiator mosaic found in Cyprus
Boy and Donkey, Byzantine Mosaic
HAGIA SOPHIA
According to historians the building blocks of Hagia Sophia was laid by Constantine I. The Cathedral was built-in three stages. The first chapel was by Constantius II in 360 CE and the second by Theodosius II in 415 CE. Through the Nika riots in 532 CE the church was burned to the ground. Justinian built the third phase which is still intact.
The Hagia Sophia Museum as it stands today-the minarets were added by the OttomansJustinian was very ambitious about the Hagia Sophia cathedral. The cathedral was created so magnificently that when it was completed, he exclaimed, "Solomon, I have outdone thee!" He called it the 'Church of Holy Intelligence'. He previously bought the most spectacular and majestic materials from all around the Roman Empire - eastern as well western. The Hellenistic columns were purchased from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, large stones from the quarries in Egypt, inexperienced marble from Thessaly, Greece; dark natural stone from the Bosporus region, and yellowish natural stone from Syria.
Some of the few making it through mosaics from the Hagia Sophia - Christ and the Virgin Mary
THE BASILICA OF SAN VITALE
Ravenna offered as a Byzantine centre in the Italian heartland and many structures were made in the city. The Church of San Vitale is one of the finest examples of Byzantine artwork and architecture in the American Roman Empire. Even though the architect of the structure is unidentified, it was sponsored by way of a Greek banker Julius Argentarius around 527 CE. The Chapel is a fine mixture of Roman and Byzantine artwork. It has the Roman elements of archways, domes and stepped towers and the Byzantine legacy of polygonal apse (semi circular, arched space in the wall membrane- significant to Byzantine fine art), pillars, columns and narrow bricks.
Justinian with his troops and the clergy
San Vitale is famous for the mosaic sections of Emperor Justinian and his queen Theodora. The mosaic of Justinian says a great deal about his electric power and position. He's standing in the middle with soldiers to his right and the clergy on his kept including Bishop Maximianus, emphasising Justinian as the first choice of both chapel and the State. He's clad in crimson, the royal color and has a golden halo, which gives him the same position as Christ.
Theodora too is depicted as a goddess, solemn and humble, carrying the chalice that keeps the holy wine beverages. She actually is flanked by priests on the right who are escorting her in the chapel and a court docket of ladies on the left.
Theodora being escorted to the Church
ANALYSE THIS!
Theodora, before marrying Justinian was a public entertainer. In those days, this profession was not considered worth respect. Matching to church laws, such women were not well received. However Justinian fell madly deeply in love with Theodora and in order to make her his queen, abrogated regulations and in reality provided better safeguard for women offenders and created individual cells for girls offenders guarded by women guards.
Consider the above mentioned incident and think about what this event says us about the power that Justinian organised over the Chapel?
How has religious beliefs turn into a tool in the hands of the powerful?
"abrogated the law and in reality provided better safeguard for women" Is it applicable for this times? Support your answerwith reasons.
Laws have been presented to have definite power; nonetheless they have been twisted and amended to suit one's need, usually of the powerful. In today's context perhaps you have come across such arbitrary law? Name it/ them and describe why you are feeling they are really arbitrary.
Use your gray cells
Beauty in Words
Read the next article "Talking Turkey"by eminent columnist Jug Suriya talking about the wonder of Istanbul, Turkey. Courtesy blog "Juggle- Bandhi"featuring in the changing times of India website.
TURKINAMA
TALK TURKEY
Istanbul has observed the seesaw of record between East and West
Bunny and i take a boat from Europe to Asia. The voyage is maintained 20 minutes. We live in Istanbul, and the ferry calls for us from Eminonu, which is on the European part of the city, to Uskudar, which is on the Asian side, on the other shoreline of the Bosphorus.
Istanbul - previously known as Constantinople, after the Christian emperor Constantine - is the fabled meeting place of European countries and Asia, East and Western. The sprawling city of 22 million people is strikingly beautiful, an effort to the artist's brush, the poet's saying. Seven low hillsides crouch down to the sun-spangled Sea of Marmara, flanked on one part by the Bosphorus, which links back to you it to the African american Sea, and on the other side by the inlet of the Golden Horn. The water is so blue that this has given us the term 'turquoise', a color while it began with Turkey.
Europe and Asia, East and Western world, rub shoulder blades in comfortable familiarity. Sleek, French-built tramcars glide noiselessly down wide thoroughfares bounded by bustling pavements where designer-ripped denim jeans and hijabs go hand in hand. The slim minarets of your myriad mosques conjure a communion of globe and sky, and hard rock discos coexist with dervishes whirling in Sufi ecstasy. Inside the Grand Bazaar in Beyazit, the 'set price' rigidity of the western supermarket is manufactured flexible and fluent by the eastern art work of bargaining, for everything, from carpets and spices, to 22-carat gold jewellery and cellphone credit cards, for the utter pleasure than it. For what better way for customer and shopkeeper to invest the day than in spirited negotiation, over unlimited tiny cups of solid, treacle-sweet espresso?
This co-mingling of East and West is best symbolized by the many-domed Ayasofya, billed among the most wondrous structures on the globe. Actually called Hagia Sophia, it was built in the sixth century by the Byzantine emperor Justinian and for nearly one thousand years it was reported to be the world's most significant Christian church. Within the 15th century, after Sultan Mehmed II seized Constantinople and modified its name to Istanbul, which simply means 'The City', Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque and renamed Ayasofya. Five hundred years later, Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, managed to get into a museum. Ataturk - often reported to be Turkey's counterpart of Russia's Peter the fantastic - tried out to 'westernise' his country by rendering it into a secular state, launching the Latin alphabet, and implementing the European hat as the nationwide headgear instead of the traditional fez.
Today, Ayasofya is still a museum, thronged by guests who strain their necks to stare in marvel at the mosaic-encrusted central dome, so high that this can accommodate the Statue of Liberty. But Turkey has voted in favour of an Islamic federal instead of Ataturk's secular dispensation, a development which is one of the impediments to the country's desired membership of the all-Christian European Union. East or West? The seesaw of record has yet to stay which of the two Turkey really belongs to.
Or perhaps it belongs to both, and in doing so belongs to neither. For Istanbul, more than another city, is traditional proof that 'East' and 'West' are arbitrary geographical and ethnical constructs which significantly are becoming interchangeable with each other. Long before 'globalisation' became a catchphrase, Istanbul that was previously Constantinople was living proof of a cosmopolitan universality which underlies the aesthetic changes that record makes on the facial skin of your time.
We take the ferry from Uskudar back again to Eminonu, from Asia to Europe, from East to Western. And we're still in the same place, still in Istanbul, still in metropolis which could be given a name no other than ' The City', unique unto itself.
Task
If you'd the decision, which city would you like to search for a city of antiquity and just why?
LIFE IN THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
The Eastern Roman Empire was the most successful civilisation right from the start of the center Ages before Arab invasions. Vacationers and explorers identified it as the utmost advanced civilisation of the time and were in awe of the folks residing in luxury with its superb architectural marvels. Constantinople was a trade haven, increasing to Eurasia and North Africa. It had been the primary traditional western hub of the silk trade. From Constantinople, the silk was then exported to Egypt, Bulgaria and additional west. The state of hawaii controlled internal and international trade and performed a monopoly over issuing coinage. The currency of the Byzantine Empire possessed a high value in the middle age range. Reforms initiated by Diocletian and Constantine laid the foundations for the Byzantium market by replacing the yellow metal aureus with the solidus and launching the follies (coins) in bronze. Cash were minted both in the administrative centre as well as provinces. Many mints were positioned in large eastern towns like Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, Kyzikos, Ravenna and Rome. Major guilds and businesses were supervised through taxation, handling rates of interest and regulating product prices.
Non-monetary exchange of goods and services through barter was more typical to remote areas.
The Byzantines acquired a strong hold on commercial activities. Professions were organised in guilds and no person was permitted to participate in two guilds concurrently. Builders, for legal reasons, had to give a ten-year guarantee of the framework they erected!
Solidus of Justinian II from the seventh century
Coin of Justinian I excavated in India recommending presence of Indo-Roman trade
People were involved in a variety of professions, agriculture being the predominant occupation. The upper course mostly comprised of the aristocracy, state functionaries, senior military services officers and large land owners. The middle class was made up of the merchants, skilled craftsmen and owners of medium size lands and properties while the lower category was made up of income earners, labourers and destitute. Men occupied all the state articles in the imperial courts, bureaucracy and armed service.
Women generally didn't actively participate in trade and were confined to household tasks however proof women engaging in weaving and spinning, working as berry and vegetable suppliers, natural herb gatherers and kourisses (women who dressed up other women's wild hair hired either privately or in public areas baths). Women could also have the option of being medical professionals and midwives. Some served food in visitor properties and taverns. Although women were excluded from priesthood, they had a special put in place monasteries. Many nunneries in the Byzantine Empire were run by female abbots.
FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD
The Byzantine culture done the style of paterfamilias. The male exerted utter authority and required attention of the family. The people were expanded family with 2-3 generations living together. Nuclear families existed in urban places where traders shifted and settled with the immediate family members. The girl of the family elevated and looked after the children.
The more liberal paterfamilias of the Roman modern culture was reduced to the Greek idea of paternal households where daughters were kept under strict specialist of the male relatives and boys were given the freedom to do something independently. A woman was invariably accompanied by someone whenever she remaining house. Kekaumenos, a Byzantine writer in his work Strategikon has said, "Maintain your daughters as prisoners, restricted and inconspicuous". Education was limited to reading and writing.
Girls got wedded at the age of thirteen or fourteen and the suitor was preferred by the parents. Sometimes professional matchmakers helped in taking two compatible households together and attained by taking a share of the dowry. Girls usually didn't have a say in choosing the spouse. Relationship was a formal wedding ceremony sanctioned by the cathedral. A woman received respect in society through her marriage. It had been important to have at least one male child.
LAW AND ORDER
Christianity acquired pervaded every facet of human life in the Byzantine Empire, including legislations and order. Status laws and regulations received a divine sanction as the emperor was held to be God's earthly agent and so his laws and regulations were needed for maintaining balance. An broadening body of Canonical Laws represent the growing specialist of the cathedral.
Corpus juris civilis introduced by Justinian I dished up as a basis for civil jurisprudence. Many later contributions like Nomos Georgikas (Farmer's Law) and Rhodian Sea Rules were private choices of codes regarding rural life and maritime activities respectively.
Criminal rules mainly addressed instances of theft, robbery, damage or injury to another person or property. Courts were established to deal with these things. Punishments ranged from financial compensation, imprisonment, exile and in situations of pre-meditated murder or fatal assault loss of life penalty was given.
Class barriers been around in the Byzantine Empire too. Convicted elites in situations apart from treason could lose their titles, personal property or get banished to a monastery or remote province, whereas general public flogging, mutilation and execution were the punishments referred for the customers of the lower classes. As the affect of the church grew, such punishments were avoided and banishment in monasteries became more prevalent. The cathedral became an asylum for personal repentance and religious healing.
DECLINE IN THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
Decline of the Byzantine Empire was a process which lasted several ages before the final collapse. Although there is no certain particular date for the beginning of the decline, historians unanimously concur that it all began with the invasion of the Arabs.
The Arabs had conquered territories in the Levant (modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories) and Egypt by the ninth century. The increased loss of Egypt was a substantial blow as almost all of the created goods and naturals sources of the Byzantine Empire originated from the province. Conversely Egypt now became a way to obtain finance to the Ummayad and Abbasid Caliphates, providing them with the courage and resources to increase. The Byzantine-Arab Wars crippled the empire not only monetarily however the continuous talk about of war drained the people of their physical and emotional strength.
Between the 11th and 12th ages, the Seljuk Turks once and for all resolved in Anatolia. By 1025, the whole of Asia Minor, nearly 70 per cent of the Byzantine Empire was lost to the Seljuks.
The Crusades were launched partially to restore the lost glory of the Byzantine Empire but majorly to reunite the holy places in and near Jerusalem. However the Crusades put into the financial burden of the Empire and became a reason for its decline.
Important dates
286 CE- Founding of Constantinople by the first Constatnitne Emperor Constantine I.
306- Founding of the Constantine Empire by Emperor Constantine.
330 -founding of Constantinople as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
360- First Cathedral of Hagia Sophia built by Constantius II.
363 to 364- non dynastic rulers.
364 to 379 -Valentian dynasty.
379 to 457 - Theodosian dynasty.
395- Final section of the European and Eastern Roman Empire.
415-Second Chapel of Hagia Sophia built by Theodosius II.
457 - Founding of the Leonid Dynasty.
518 - Founding of the Justinian Dynasty by Justin I.
523- Nika Riots deposit by Justinian I.
533- Justinian reclaims the province of North Africa.
Use your Grey Cells
RECALL
Describe the geographic factors that made Constantinople a centre of ethnical diffusion, armed service defence, and trade.
How were the Roman and Byzantine empires connected?
What is Justinian's Code?
How performed the Byzantine Empire help preserve and transmit classical Greek and Roman culture and knowledge?
How did Byzantine art and architecture differ from the Romans?
ANALYSE
Justinian's' Code helped create order in the Byzantine Empire. What role do you consider rules and laws and regulations play today?
Given below is a laws on slaves from E book I of Justinian's Code. Read it carefully and answer the questions that follow;
Slaves are in the power of experts, a power produced from regulations of countries; for among all nations it could be remarked that experts have the power of life and fatality over their slaves, which everything acquired by the slave is received for the get good at.
Was it a just rules?
Would this legislation work today? Why?
Justinian uses what law of nations? Do you consider the word is exaggerated? Why?
In Level 6, you learned about Hammurabi's Code. How does it change from Justinian's Code? Compare and contrast.
Why has codification of legislation been an important aspect of judicial procedures?
EVALUATE
Byzantine Empire has added immensely to artwork and structures. In light of the affirmation evaluate the contribution of Byzantine skill.
