BYZANTINE EMPIRE

EMPEROR CONSTANTINE

The Byzantine Empire lasted for over a thousand years. It was the stronghold of Christianity. The beautiful city of Constantinople was between Europe and Asia. Constantinople is now called Istanbul. As the Roman Empire was dying the Byzantine Empire was born.

The Emperor Constantine announced in 330 AD the ancient Greek trading town Byzantium as the capital of Rome Empire. It was easy to defend and was at the centre of the prosperous eastern provinces of the Empire. Byzantium was also on the western side of the Bosporus Straits between Asia and Europe.

The town was then renamed Constantinople in the Emperor's honour. The Emperor was the first Roman ruler to convert to Christianity. He built many beautiful Churches, public building and gardens in the new capital. The city became the largest, most beautiful and richest in the world. Its splendour even triumphed over Rome. Traders, in their bustling bazaars, did business with merchants from China and India

HAIGA EIRENE -- THE FIRST CHURCH COMMISSIONED BY EMPEROR CONSTANTINE

EMPEROR THEODOSIUS I

Unfortunately, Constantine did not enjoy his splendour long, he died in 337 AD. After that the Empire split in half and Rome ruled the western side and Constantinople the eastern side. In the eastern side Rome lost its influence and Latin fell out of use. The Greek language and culture took over.

Artists and architects followed the change and designed the churches and cathedral in the Byzantine style. On the walls of the buildings were paintings, which were called icons, of Jesus and the Saints. Pictures were glowing from hundreds of pieces of coloured glass called mosaics, telling stories from the Bible.

In the eastern side of the Empire a split in the Christian church developed more and more and became established. They called themselves Eastern Orthodox Church.  Romania was the first country to convert.

From 379 to 395 Theodosius I was the last emperor to rule the eastern and western halves of the old Roman Empire.

As the Roman Empire was declining, hordes of barbarians threatened to overrun the empire. During the 5th century the Roman Empire was invaded and Rome was not the capital of the empire anymore. In the east, the Byzantine Empire was still strong and prosperous and after going its own way became even more powerful.

Justinian I ruled from 527 till 565 and the Byzantine Empire reached its height under his rule. Justinian conquered Egypt and North Africa and won back these territories. Then he invaded southern Spain and Italy and defeated the barbarians. His victories started to rebuild the old empire. However, by that time Rome looked a mere shadow of its former glory.

Justinian I was already 45 years old when he was crowned emperor of the Byzantine Empire, in 527 AD. Apparently, he had a remarkable energy. It was said that he never slept. His wife, Empress Theodora, was of great assistance to him. She was the daughter of a circus animal trainer. When Justinian saw her he was overwhelmed by her beauty and intelligence. It was known that she had many lovers but Justinian insisted to marry her.

They were very well matched and she was of great help in the running of the every day of the empire. This enables Justinian to winning back the territories of the old Roman Empire in the west.

He also introduced two big projects. One was the legal code based on the laws of the Roman Empire. It was so well done that it became the legal system which we still use today in most European countries.

The other project was to rebuild the Church of St Sofia which in Greek is known as Hagia Sophia. It was a masterpiece of Byzantine art. Later on St Sophia was turn into a mosque but the marble halls, gold mosaics and huge dome remained as a lasting legacy of Justinian's reign.

As always, the more powerful and glorious an empire becomes the more enemies it creates. When Constantine died it started a war between Persia (Iran) and Byzantine. It was an on and off war and lasted nearly three centuries. Emperors who followed Justinian had to fight hard to defend their territories. The biggest threat came from the Arabs

With the teaching of the Prophet Muhammad, the Muslim warrior came out of the Arabian deserts attacked both Persia and Byzantine during the 7th century.

As always, big empires as such needs to be defended its long borders. After 568 AD Lombards conquered northern Italy. In the east the war with Persia became costly.

In 630 the Persian Empire and territories Syria, Egypt and North Africa of the Byzantine Empire were overrun by the Muslim Arabs. When Byzantine lost Tunisia in 696 AD the Eastern Roman Empire consisted only of the Balkans, Asia, Sicily and some of Southern Italy.

They started a five year long siege of Constantinople but were not successful.

In 717 they attacked again under their ruler Caliph Suleyman commanding a huge army of 200,000 men and a navy of 1800 ships. The city was not prepared and many of the inhabitants were worried. However, Emperor Leo III was a great general and he saved the city and the empire by his brilliant leadership. In spite of being more than outnumbered the city had a weapon which was called the Greek Fire. It was a Byzantine secret but it is assumed that it was made from quicklime, petroleum and sulphur.

This devastating weapon was an inflammable liquid and they squirted it from pumps or catapulted in clay pots. It ignited even on water.

When Suleyman realized that most of his ships were burned and his army, he called off the siege. 30,000 from the 200,000 men reached home again.

It didn't take long; other enemies appeared and tried to conquer the Byzantine Empire.

BYZANTINE SHIPS USING GREEK FIRE

East and West drifted apart. At Constantinople, the guardian of the Church was the emperor. At Rome it was the pope. The religion and churches developed into the Greek Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church.

During the 9th and 10th centuries Byzantine missionaries converted the Serbs, Bulgars and Russians to Orthodox Christians. The Byzantine experienced a golden age during Basil I (867-876) and Basil II (976-1025). The imperial armies made large conquests in the Balkans and the Near East.

During the 11th century the empire started to have wars within and the enemies invaded its territories. The Normans conquered Southern Italy. The Seljuq Turks renewed Islam and defeated the imperial army at Manzikert (1071). It went into history as one of the world's decisive battles. Byzantine lost Asia Minor which was their main territory.

To safe themselves from being completely overrun by enemies, they appeal to the West. During the First Crusade (1096-1099) Jerusalem was recovered. In 1176 the Christian crusaders entered Constantinople and ransacked the city. The fourth crusade (1202-1204) included Byzantine into the declining Roman Empire.

Surprisingly, in 1261, a Greek army defeated the Romans and established the Byzantium in western Asia Minor (Turkey). In 1340 a civil war destabilized the strength of the empire and the new Turkish people, the Ottomans, overran the empire. On 29 May, 1453 the last emperor Constantine XI, dies on the walls of the city when it was invaded by the Turks