CHAPTER 9-Civilization in Eastern Europe: Byzantium and Orthodox Europe – Flashcards

Byzantine emperor; failed to reconquer the western portions of the empire; rebuilt Constantinople; codified Roman law.

Great domed church constructed during the reign of Justinian.

Justinian's codification of Roman law; reconciled Roman edicts and decisions; made Roman law a coherent basis for political and economic life.

Slavic kingdom in the Balkans; put constant pressure on the Byzantine Empire; defeated by Basil II in 1014.

Images of religious figures venerated by Byzantine Christians.

The breaking of images; religious controversy of the 8th century; Byzantine emperor attempted, but failed, to suppress icon veneration.

Seljuk Turk victory in 1071 over Byzantium; resulted in loss of the empire's rich Anatolian territory.

Byzantine missionaries sent to convert eastern Europe and the Balkans; responsible for creating the Slavic written script called Cyrillic.

Commercial city in Ukraine established by Scandinavians in 9th century; became the center for a kingdom that flourished until the 12th century.

Ruler of Kiev (980-1015); converted kingdom to Orthodox Christianity.

Russian form of Christianity brought from the Byzantine Empire.

Russian landholding aristocrats; possessed less political power than their western European counterparts.

Mongols who conquered Russian cities during the 13th century; left Russian church and aristocracy intact.:

The eastern portion of the Roman Empire which survived beyond the collapse of the Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople; retained Mediterranean culture, particularly Greek; later lost Palestine, Syria, and Egypt to Islam.

Capital of the Byzantine Empire; constructed on the site of Byzantium, an old Greek city on the Bosporus.

Eastern church which was created in 1053 after the schism from the western Roman church; its head is the patriarch of Constantinople.

Strong emperor toward the end of the Roman Empire who tried with some success to reverse the tide of its ultimate fall. Constantine moved the capital away from Rome to Constantinople and allowed freedom of worship for Christians with the Edict of Milan.

Group of nomadic tribes that pushed through central Europe in the 4th and 5th centuries C.E., instigating the migration of the Germanic tribes into the Roman Empire.

Persian Empire which continued Persian traditions but instituted the Zoroastrian religion as the state religion.

Historian of the Byzantine Empire who in his Secret History revealed the cruelty of the autocratic system in which the emperor ruled by divine providence.

After Alexander's death, Greek art, education, and culture merged with those in the Middle East. Trade and important scientific centers were established, such as Alexandria, Egypt.

incendiary material used by the Byzantines described as able to burn in water.

Term used for the emperors of the Russia; literally means Caesar.

Alphabet named after Saint Cyril who used it to help convert the Slavs to Christianity.

Legendary Scandinavian regarded as founder of the first kingdom of Russia based in Kiev in 855 C.E.

Byzantine political organization was based on a centralized monarchy supported by a trained bureaucracy educated in classical traditions. Local administrators were appointed by the central administration. Political ideology focused on the principle of a divinely authorized monarchy supported by elaborate court ritual. The Byzantines continued the use of Roman patterns of government as typified by the use of legal codes to organize society. Members of the military were recruited from the imperial population in return for grants of heritable land, which led eventually to regional control by military commanders. There was a close relationship between the Orthodox church and the state, with the emperor as head of both. Byzantine culture expressed itself in religious artifacts (churches, icons, liturgical music). The expansion of Byzantine culture northward was through the conversion of Kiev to Orthodox Christianity. The Russians also adopted the concept of a divinely inspired monarchy with close relations to a state-controlled church. Church-related art forms came along with orthodoxy. The Russians, however, were unable to adopt the Byzantine-trained bureaucracy.

For Byzantine culture, see the previous lecture suggestion. Both civilizations first spread their influence through missionaries; both civilizations passed on influences that produced centralized governments supported by the religious organization of the core cultures. Islam had a much greater effect than did Byzantium. The latter was limited to eastern Europe, while Islam spread into much of Asia and Africa. Byzantium's influence was more tenuous, since there was less direct continuity over time because it did not survive the postclassical period. In Russia, Byzantine influence was interrupted by the Mongol conquest. Islam has endured in all regions until the present.

The Byzantine Empire was the birth place of Orthodox Christianity. This branch of Christianity spread through Eastern Erie westward, creating an alternative to Catholicism. Russia was also influenced by this empire, and claimed to be its heir. The Orthodox church and the civilization of Russia are the two most significant contributions to Europe.

The West developed around Rome and its empire; likewise, the East branched from the Roman Empire during its decline. The religions also branched from the Romans. Rome developed by conquest, while trade was what spread to the East.

Byzantine culture, political organization, and economic orientation help to explain the rift between the eastern and western versions of Christianity. Different rituals grew from Greek and Latin versions of the Bible. Emperors resisted papal attempts to interfere in religious issues. Hostility greeted the effort of the Frankish king, Charlemagne, to be recognized as Roman emperor. The final break between the two churches occurred in 1054 over arguments about the type of bread used in the mass and celibacy of priests. Even though the two churches remained separate, they continued to share a common classical heritage.

Like in Chinese political organization, Byzantine emperors were held to be ordained by God, being head of church as well as state. The emperor appointed bishops and passed religious and secular laws, and elaborate court rituals symbolized the ideals of a divinely inspired, all-powerful ruler.

The Byzantine Empire began to decline after the split between the East and the West. Turkish invaders pressed in on the eastern borders, eventually annihilating the emperor's large army. Independent Slavic kingdoms in the Balkans, such as Serbia, and the Western leaders ignoring the requests for help from the East further established decline, and eventually the Turks gained complete control.

Princes were attracted to and borrowed several Byzantine ideas, such as the concept that a central ruler should have wide powers. They also borrowed Byzantine ceremonies and luxury. Orthodox Christianity penetrated into the culture of Russia and soon traditional practices such as polygamy were replaced with Christian practices. Russia also adopted Byzantine models in its art and architecture.

Soon after the split between the East and the West, eastern Europe declined as Byzantine and Kievan rule fell. As this was going on, the "barbaric" West was developing its own strengths. Within a few centuries the dynamism of western Europe eclipsed that of eastern Europe, partially due to the strengthening of feudal monarchy around 1400, which provided stronger and more effective regional and national governments in the West.