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330 Constantine I Edict of Milan Established toleration for Christianity throughout the Roman Empire through the in 313. Byzantium Constantine legally transferred his capital from Rome to Constantinople, on the site of the Greek city of Byzantium. Continued to be ruled by Roman law and political institutions, with the elite communicating officially in Latin. Yet the population, now Christian, also spoke Greek. Constantinople The strategic location of the city enabled merchants there to grow rich through their control over the trade routes between Europe and the East and the shipping lanes connecting the Black and Mediterranean Seas. Constantine lavished on his new capital a university, two theaters, eight public and fifty-three private baths, fifty-two covered walkways, four law courts, fourteen churches, and fourteen palaces. Government The imperial government was centralized and ordered. From the church and emperor to the peasant, ceremonies created a sense of order and stability for the members of Byzantine society. The emperors patronized the arts as policy, restoring and rebuilding Constantinople's palaces and churches; some promoted the study and preservation of ancient Greek literature. The official language of the state became Greek , not Latin. The Emperor and the Court Considered the representative of Christ by his subjects, the emperor of Byzantium was an absolute ruler. He centered his government at his palace and had thousands of educated bureaucrats throughout the empire carrying out imperial legislation and operations, including the tax and justice systems. This administration was unique in its efficiency. Ceremonials Held by both the male court of the emperor and the female court of the empress, sumptuously punctuated all state occasions , including imperial
coronations, marriages, births, and birthdays; the promotion of officials; the reception of ambassadors; and the celebration of triumphs. These occasions put the internal structure of the court on stage , with the precise ranks of officials marked by their silk costume, Presented to the public an idealized image of the Byzantine state in harmonious order. The Byzantine Church Theosis According to Orthodox belief, a Christian's ultimate goal is theosis , a Greek word meaning "becoming God." This is the belief that God became man so that man might become God. Christ was considered by the church to be both fully divine and fully human. His human will to act, however, always followed his divine will. Although human beings can never be fully divine, but by following the teachings of the Orthodox Church, they can strive in their actions to come as close as possible to being God-like. Icons Greek eikon, or "image") The Byzantine Church's unique devotion to icons, or sacred images, was nourished by monasticism. Icons were brought out for special occasions, carried in processions, and were even used to protect cities in wartime. They were bowed to, prayed to, sung to, and kissed; they were honored with candles, oil lamps, incense, precious-metal covers, and public processions. What was essential was that the icon's imitation of the holy figure enabled the image to partake of the essence and sanctity of the actual figure portrayed. By venerating the likeness, the worshiper honored the sainted figure through the gateway of the icon. Ten Commandments They seemed to violate the second of the Ten Commandments, which forbade the making of idols, segments of society rejected icons, eventually leading to the Iconoclastic controversy. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 Divided the Christian world into five patriarchates, or areas overseen by a patriarch, in order of precedence: Rome (the patriarch there later calling himself the pope), Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. When Islamic conquests of the seventh century absorbed the last three, the patriarch of Constantinople became the leader of most eastern Christians. The Patriarch remained, however, under the authority of the emperor.
Arab siege in 717-718 and then sustaining the Empire through annual warfare. Leo III's son, Constantine V (reigned 741-775) was challenged at once by a general who used Iconophilic ("Icon-favoring") propaganda, but his military success against this threat cemented his own position the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 when the veneration of icons was affirmed, although the worship of icons was expressly forbidden. Among the reasons were the doctrine of the Incarnation: because God the Son (Jesus Christ) took on flesh, having a physical appearance, it is now possible to use physical matter to depict God the Son, and to depict the saints. The second iconoclastic period: 813- Emperor Leo V (reigned 813-820) instituted a second period of Iconoclasm in 813, which seems to have been less rigorously enforced Leo was succeeded by Michael II, who was succeeded by his son, Theophilus Theophilus died leaving his wife Theodora regent for his minor heir, Michael III. Theodora mobilized the iconodules and proclaimed the restoration of icons in 843. 843 Icons are restored to Orthodox worship; this is a triumph of the Byzantine church over the emperor. Outside Connections 800 Charlemagne, king of the Franks, is crowned "Emperor of the West" by Pope Leo III in Rome. 867 Basil I becomes the Byzantine emperor and establishes the Macedonian dynasty; until 1025, Byzantine emperors are at least part Armenian. 972 The Byzantine princess Theophano marries the future Emperor Otto II of Germany. Late ninth century Caliphs and the powerful elite of the Islamic 'Abbasid court in Baghdad begin commissioning translations of a major portion of ancient Greek texts into Arabic. 900’s Conversion Expansion In the tenth century Byzantium, through political pressure and missionary activity, began to convert the Bulgarians and the Rus' to Christianity. Key to these successes were the brothers Cyril and Methodius , who were conversant with the Slavic language. In the ninth century these men translated Byzantine Christian writings into the Slavic dialect.
976 Basil II (d. 1025), the last great ruler in the Macedonian dynasty, ascends the throne and later conquers Bulgaria, earning the title of the Boulgaroktomos (Bulgar-slayer). 988 Grand Prince Volodymyr adopts Byzantine Christianity as the official state religion of Kievan Rus' (located in modern-day Ukraine, Belorus', and the Russian Federation). Great Schism 1054 The patriarch of Constantinople and the pope in Rome excommunicate one another, causing the Great Schism between the Byzantine and Latin churches. 1066 William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, takes the English crown. Mantzikert 1071 Battle between Muslim Seljuk Turks under Alp Arslan and the Byzantine army under Romanus IV Diogenes at Mantzikert (near Lake Van in modern Turkey); Seljuks win and in time take most of Asia Minor, including Armenia, from the Byzantines. Crusades 1099 The First Crusade (1095-99) captures Jerusalem; the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem begins. 1187 Saladin's defeat of crusaders at the Horn of Hittin and his capture of Jerusalem, followed by the Islamic conquest of most of the Crusader states. --Robert of Clari, a French crusader who witnessed the pillage of the city in 1204, describing Constantinople. "Not since the world was made was there ever seen or won so great a treasure, or so noble or so rich, nor in the time of Alexander, nor in the time of Charlemagne, nor before, nor after, nor do I think myself that in the forty richest cities of the world had there been so much wealth as was found in Constantinople. For the Greeks say that two-thirds of the wealth of this world is in Constantinople and the other third scattered throughout the world." Decline of State 1081 Alexius I Komnenos becomes emperor, establishing the Komnenos dynasty; the following year, to gain the support of the Venetian navy against the Normans in South Italy, he grants Venice legal, political, and economic concessions, eventually leading to Venetian commercial and economic domination in much of the Byzantine Empire.
borrowing elements from each other's cultures, including art and architecture. The Ottoman Empire Osman Bey The Ottomans developed from a small northwestern Turkish tribe under the control of Osman Bey in the thirteenth century. Living on the borders they developed an early sense of mission. They viewed themselves as ghazi ??? Islamic religious warriors. Jihad turned into Holy war. Ottoman Expansion Mehmed the Conqueror Fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries Byzantine defenses in Asia and Europe gradually collapse as the Ottoman Turks advance. Constantinople, now essentially all that remains of the empire, continues to stand against them. 1453 The Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople and the last of the imperial lands; in 1930, Constantinople is renamed Istanbul (in Turkish, "the city"). Mehmed II They took over the Byz, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Romanians, Hungarians. Constantinople in the 4 th century, where it lasted 1000 years. Hagia Sophia – turned into a mosque – mosaics whitewashed.
