2. Background
While the cities in the Western Roman Empire (WRE) were crumbling,
Constantinople prospered.
Blending of cultures: It promoted a brilliant civilization that blended ancient
Greek, Roman, Christian and many others from the Mediterranean and
Asia.
3. Byzantine Christianity
In both sides of the Empire, Christianity
was a driving force, but divisions grew
between the two regions.
The Byzantine emperor was not a
priest but controlled church affairs
and appointed the patriarch (highest
church official).
Priests could marry
Greek was the main language of the
church.
Schism: It was the permanent split
between the Orthodox (Byzantine) and
Catholic (Roman) churches in 1054.
Both the Pope and Patriarch
excommunicated each other.
4. Hagia Sophia
The church of Hagia Sophia (Holy
Wisdom) survives as an important
legacy of the Byzantine Empire. During
a revolt in 532, the original Hagia
Sophia was destroyed. Justinian
quickly began the task of rebuilding the
church as Constantinople’s brightest
jewel. He divided 10,000 workers into
two crews and had them compete to
finish opposite sides of the church.
It was completed in less than six years
and it was the largest religious building
of its day.
When the empire fell, it served as a
mosque and today as a museum.
6. Heritage
For a 1000 years, the
Byzantines built on the
culture of the Hellenistic
world (science, philosophy,
arts, and literature) blending
it with Christian beliefs.
Even the conquerors of the
Church of Yasofyakuçuk empire, the Ottomans
adopted their ways of
government, social life and
architecture.
7. Arts
Icons designed to evoke the
presence of God, gave the
viewers a sense of of personal
contact with the sacred.
Mosaics brought scenes of the
bible to glowing life.
In architecture, they blended
Greek, Roman, Persian and
other Middle Eastern styles.
8. World of Learning
Byzantine scholars preserved the classic
works of ancient Greece.
They also produced their own great
books.
Historians from Byzantium, were more
focused on writing on their “current events”
than on the past.
With the decline of the empire, the scholars
moved to teach in Italy, helping ignited the
Renaissance and save important volumes
of books for posterity.
9. Ask Yourself
Evaluate
What kind of values do you think were important to the Byzantines by
analyzing the name of Hagia Sophia?
Why were most of the works of art, religion-related?
Recall
What is “schism”?
What did Byzantine historians focused on?
Analyze
Why do you think both leaders of the church excommunicated each other?
What is the benefit for us today, of the preservation of classical works of
literature and science?
Compare
What were some differences between Roman and Byzantine Christianity?
10. Bibliography
Ellis, E. G., & Esler, A. (2009). World History. (P.
Hall, Ed.) Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, US:
Pearson Education INC.
Burstein, S. M., & Shek, R. (2012). World History
(Teacher´s Edition) (1st Edition ed.). (H. McDougal,
Ed.) Orlando, Florida, US.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publishing Company.
Images taken from Google.
