Preview

Byzantine

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
321 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Byzantine
If Constantinople had fallen to invasion at the same time as the city of Rome everything today would be different. Your religion, your language, your traditions and the culture you live in would likely have no Classical foundation at all. The Renaissance Era, the Age of Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution which grew from them would never have happened. The Dark Ages would have lasted centuries longer, and the last vestiges of Classical tradition would almost certainly have been replaced by dominant Arabic culture and Islamic religion and thought.

It is a tragedy that Byzantium, the Eastern Roman Empire, is today so little appreciated and poorly remembered. Never in the history of the world has a civilization provided so much to, and sacrificed so much for, the world around it. It is shameful that even the word "Byzantine" has come to have a derogatory meaning when its true legacy has always been one of honor.

Greece, Rome, and Byzantium are the foundations of the Western World. Because of this the Byzantine Empire will always matter, and always continue to be important.

rebuild and organize anew.

The Byzantine Empire did more than protect - it also preserved. Even though the rise of Christianity was a major break which caused huge changes in the Greco-Roman world, much of the fabric of ancient life continued in Byzantium. This included the preservation and study of Classical science, literature, philosophy and critical thought, engineering, architecture, art and even medicine.

Most of the ancient Classical literature which survives today was preserved through the Byzantine Empire. The majority of the works of philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato, and the historical texts of Greece and Rome were saved by Byzantine scholars who maintained the ancient traditions of literature and learning. Works that had been lost for centuries in the West were reintroduced by Byzantines fleeing the final occupation of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    -The Byzantines most archeologically advanced and most beautiful building was the Hagia Sophia. Byzantine styles of architecture,…

    • 3092 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1. In what aspects did Byzantium continue the patterns of the classical Roman Empire? In what ways did it diverge from those patterns?…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ap Global Review Sheet

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages

    2. I think that there are many things that could be considered the peak of the Byzantine civilization. One of them could be Justinian’s reforms concerning law. Another could be the arts including music, drama, and art. He funded many public works projects as well including bridges, roads, aqueducts, and churches. In that time he built the Hagia Sophia, a beautiful and massive church.…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As shown in document 5, Justinian built the Hippodrome which was modeled after The Circus Maximus. Justinian started restoring the Roman Empire by trying to conquer the land that first belonged to the eastern Roman Empire. He gained back southern Spain, all of Italy, and northern Africa. Once he started gaining all this land he had to start to find a way the gain back all the money he spent on conquering land. As shown in document 6, The Byzantine Empire reached its greatest size under Justinian. Because of the location the Constantinople, Justinian had a great advantage because it was right in the center of two cross roads between Asia and Europe, so the empire gained a lot of money in trade because if its location. Because of all these advantages of Constantinople, it was known as the center of…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Chapter 9

    • 541 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Innovations such as defense wall and architecture is one of the Byzantine legacy. Their religions: Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholic were deprived during the Byzantine time, which continue to spread until the present day. The culture, they kept Greek’s literature from dying out and made copies of them. Since the city of Constantinople developed as one of the largest city in Europe, so therefore, some of the Byzantine’s legacies has contributed to the development of Europe.…

    • 541 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How did the Byzantine empire differ from the Western Roman Empire? The Byzantine Empire was different in many ways from the Western Roman Empire, in that the leader of the Byzantine Empire has more power, not only does he rule the kingdom, he also was head of the church. Another difference between the two empires is, wile the western empire still spoke Latin, the peoples of the Byzantine Empire spoke Greek. There were many differences between the religious practices of both empires but the largest few being that they preached in Greek, the priests in the churches could also marry unlike the Western Empire. The churches in the Byzantine Empire additionally, created large mosaics that they used to convey their image of God.…

    • 198 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Religion played a role in the governments of the Byzantine Empire and Western Roman Empire. The emperors were highly involved with the religion and had the ability to make the rules. In the Byzantine Empire, the emperors ruled by the church and the government. The Christian idea of Iconoclasm played a huge role during this time. The laws were created by the emperors and enforced through government and religion. Similarly in the Western Roman Empire, emperors were involved in both the religion and government. They used religion to make people obey the laws. Overall, religion played a huge role in the governments of the Byzantine Empire and the Western Roman Empire.…

    • 111 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Byzantine Empire was basically the continuation of the Eastern part of the Roman Empire after the Western side collapsed. This civilization took everything from the Roman Empire to include traditions, institutions, and even called themselves “Romans” Which was located at Constantinople.it must be noted that this Empire continued its run for about a millennium, but would fall in 1453 after Constantinople was attack by the Ottoman Empire and conquered. However, before this collapsed, one might wonder how this civilization survive for this long and what were they most important achievements? In this paper I will try my best to answer these questions and shed a brighter light on this civilization known as the “Byzantium”.…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emperor Justinian legacy was not about reviving the Roman Empire but more like preserving the Greco-Roman culture. Emperor Justinian kept some of the old Roman traditions but renewed them to fit the requirements for the new time, for example, laws were revised because they were becoming outdated and new buildings and structures were constructed to enhance trade and cultural diffusion.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    5. Treadgold, Warren. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. California: Stanford University Press, 1997.…

    • 4839 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Byzantine Influence

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Byzantine Empire was one of the leading civilizations in the world. In 324, Constantine, the first Christian emperor, became the single ruler of the Roman Empire. He set up his Eastern headquarters at the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium in 330. This city, later renamed Constantinople, was also known as "new Rome." It became the capital of the Byzantines after the Roman Empire was divided. The empire made a significant impact on several civilizations with its use of the Greek language and education that extended on for great wealth and the codification of Roman laws along with its imperial system. The Byzantine sect of Christianity, Eastern Orthodox converted numerous Slavic people and promoted the creation of the new art devoted for…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Post Classical Empires

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Periodization: There were diplomatic dealings with Harun al-Rashid. There was political turmoil and other concerns so they laid the foundation of European Christendom- a region that never experienced political unity but adopted Christianity as the dominant source if cultural authority. The Byzantine Empire remained a political and economic powerhouse of the postclassical world. It was also an urbanized center of manufacturing and a highly productive society that both supported and benefited from trade throughout the eastern hemisphere. Both the Byzantine Empire and the European states to the west inherited…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The legislative branch is the most powerful branch in government. The legislative branch is in charge of making and passing laws. They have the power to override a president’s decision, stop laws from being passed, and basically control all decisions the governments makes. The legislative branch, also called the congress, consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The reason for two houses of congress is to balance out the concerns of smaller but more populated states against states that are larger but with less population.…

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Roman Successor Empires

    • 3500 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Some aspects of Roman culture survived, but, he thinks that it would be a mistake to minimize the importance of the disappearance of the western Roman state. Roman political domination involved the rapid spread of urbanization as local elites adopted Roman public and domestic styles of building. This was the concrete manifestation of a cultural change that was also expressed in the spread of education that would equip the next generation with the polished Latin that would qualify them to participate in the ruling circles of the Empire. Once that state ceased to exist there was no reason to have one’s children expensively educated. Even where Roman landowners survived, they had to learn new ways to impress the semi-literate local king on whom their status now depended. Literary culture survived to some degree in the Church, but even the Church had to adapt and evolve institutionally. The local organization of the Church began to reflect the new boundaries of kingdoms that cut across the old administrative structures. Centrally, the Popes assumed an importance that would have been inconceivable if the western emperors had survived. In the eastern Empire the Patriarchs of Constantinople never achieved the degree of political authority that the Popes of Rome secured for themselves.…

    • 3500 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Byzantine and Medieval Western Europe were similar and different politically and socially. Similarly, they were both considered “Roman,” and both were organized by a hierarchy. However, the Byzantine obeyed by Justinian’s law code, and Medieval Western Europe obeyed the 12 tables.…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays