Muslim Empire & Byzantine Empire – History

Muslim Empire & Byzantine Empire, Roman Empire, Muslim, Christianity, World History

The key terms in these History chapters include Roman Empire, Muslim, World, Eastern, Christianity, Islamic, Byzantine, Law, Islam, North, Ottomon, Trade, Civilization, Culture, History.

Achievements of the Byzantine Empire

-Greek language and cultural accomplishments preserved
-Center for world trade and exchange of culture
-It spread civilization to all of eastern Europe
-Codification of Roman law (“Justinian Code”)
-It preserved the Eastern Church (“Greek Orthodox”), which converted Slavic people to Christianity
-Its economic strength was based on the stability of its money economy
-New focus for art; glorification of Christianity

Mohammed(PBUH)

-A.D. 570-632
-Emerged from the deserts of Arabia; appeared as a messenger of God (Allah) and a prophet of Allah’s monotheistic faith
-According to Islamic traditions, Mohammed(PBUH) was last in a line of prophets that traced back to Abraham(AS) and included Jesus(AS)
-Working to unite the disparate tribes of Arabia under the articles of a single faith, Mohammed(PBUH) managed to conquer and bring most of the Arabian Peninsula under his control by the time of his death in A.D. 632
-Under his successors, the conquest of surrounding regions in the name of Islam brought the lands of Mesopotamia, Persia, and all of North Africa and southwestern Asia into the Muslim fold, creating a vast Islamic empire

Islam

-Based on the teachings of Mohammed(PBUH)
-The spread of Islam started in the seventh century A.D.
-The Quraan became the center for Islamic moral and ethical conduct
-Mohammed(PBUH) established a theocracy based on Islamic law

Arabs

-The Muslim empire was ruled by Arab caliphs
-Arabs conquered much of the Byzantine and Persian empires (including North Africa) and Spain
-The Battle of Tours (A.D. 732) resulted in the Franks halting Muslim expansion in Europe
-Muslim Spain lasted from A.D. 711-1031
The Umayyad dynasty increased Arab lands (A.D. 661-750)

Division of the Muslim Empire

-The Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads—the capital moved from Damascus (Syria) to Baghdad
-Iberian and North African Muslims broke with Baghdad’s control

Turks

-Assumed leadership of the Muslim world
-The Seljuks fought with the crusaders and regained lost land
-Mongols invaded the eastern Muslim Empire
-The Ottoman Empire expanded territory and lasted for many centuries
-Constantinople was the center of the Ottoman Empire
-By the middle of the 16th century, the Ottomans controlled not only Turkey but most of southeastern Europe, the Crimea, Iran, and a majority of the Middle East
-By the 19th century, he Ottoman Empire was contemptuously referred to as the “Sick Man of Europe” and depended on English intervention, especially directed against Russia, for its political survival

Rome’s political problems

-No formal system in place to choose Roman emperors; some chosen directly by the emperor, others were heirs to the throne, others were able to buy the throne
-Informal and corrupt process of succession resulted in weak and ineffective rulers and many political assassinations
-By the end of the fifth century, the emperors were so weak that they were the puppets of the military, often bribing the army to stay in power

Rome’s economic problems

-Emperors repeatedly raised taxes to support the ever-increasing needs of the army
-Created tremendous burdens on the population, with the common people being most affected
-Continual economic crises resulted in a rise in poverty and unemployment
-Trade and commerce, keystones in stabalizing the Roman economy, declined
-The government reduced the value of the coins in circulation, which caused runaway inflation
-With money worthless, business was hurt, crime increased, and political instability worsened

Roman contributions to the western world

-Law (greatest contribution): rule of law/equality before the law, civil and contract law codes
-Engineering and architecture: concrete, arch, roads (200,000 miles of roads), aqueducts and cisterns, monumental buildings (the Colosseum)
-Culture: history, literature (Virgil’s Aeneid, Ovid’s Metamorphoses), rhetoric (the art and study of the use of language with persuasive effect)
-Continued the Greek tradition in literature, art, sculpture, and the humanities

Jesus of Nazareth

-Born around 6 B.C. in the Roman province of Judea
-Became an influential rabbi
-His death by crucifixion and resurrection as the Christ (Greek for messiah) were writings in the Gospels

Christianity: basic doctrines

-Began with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (compassion for the poor and downtrodden)
-Emphasized the Holy Bible as the word of God, the sacraments as the instruments of God’s grace, and the importance of a moral life for salvation
-Paul of Tarsus (Paul the Apostle), an early Jewish convert to Christianity, was responsible for the spread of Christian theology and the resulting response from the Roman empire (opposition/resistance; Christianity firmly rooted in the collapsing world of Roman rule)

Reasons for the spread of Christianity (the Roman period)

-Individual conviction in one’s beliefs (solidarity) had grown during the Roman persecution period
-The efficiency and organization of the early church administration
-Doctrines that stressed equality and immortality
-Teachings and doctrines developed by “Church Fathers” such as Augustine were granted a foothold in both the western and eastern worlds
-The conversion of Constantine to Christianity (A.D. 313)
-The establishment of Christianity as the official Roman religion (A.D. 380)
-The establishment of the supremacy of the pope at the time imperial Rome was disintegrating

Constantinople

-Established at Byzantium by Emperor Constantine as a “New Rome” in the East in A.D. 330
-Strategically located (where Europe and Asia meet), had excellent defensible borders, and was a crossroads of world trade
-With the fall of Rome/collapse of the western empire (A.D. 476), the Eastern Roman Empire became known as the Byzantine Empire; became the heart of the Roman imperial system
-Lasted 1,000 years, until A.D. 1453

Reasons for the Byzantine Empire’s success

-Economic prosperity was based on domination of the commercial trade routes controlled by Constantinople and a monopoly of the silk trade
-The Byzantines made excellent use of diplomacy to avoid invasions, and they were geographically distant from the tribes who sacked Rome
-Codification of Roman law by Justinian (A.D. 528-565) strengthened the bureaucracy
-Constantinople was a fortress city with excellent defensible borders

Reasons for the decline of the Byzantine Empire

-Its geographic proximity to the Arabs, Slavs, and Seljuk Turks, all of whom were becoming more powerful
-The loss of commercial dominance of the Italians
-Religious controversy with the West and a subsequent split with the Roman Catholic Church
-The sack of Constantinople during the fourth Crusade