History of the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire Timespan

Period: 300 to 1500

Christianity

325

Council of Nicaea, Constantine had established Christianity as Rome's official religion. The citizens of Constantinople and the rest of the Eastern Roman Empire identified strongly as Romans and Christians. Many of the citizens actually spoke Greek and not Latin.

New Rome

330

Roman emperor Constantine I dedicated a "new Rome" on the ancient Greek colony, Byzantium.

Byzantine Empire

330

Roman emperor Constantine I dedicated a "new Rome" on an Ancient Greek colony of Byzantium. This colony was founded by a man named Byzas. Its located on the European side of Bosporus. Byzantium was to be a transit and trade post between Europe and Asia Minor. Byzantanium was the new Roman capital, Constantinople in 330 A.D.

Constantine dies

337

Constantine had created unity but was proved illusory after his death. His unity was soon to be demolished and divided into two 33 years later by Emperor Valentinian I.

Byzantine split

361

In 364 Emperor Valentinian I divided the empire into western and eastern sections. He was in power of the west while his brother Valens holds the power of the east. The fate of both regions diverged greatly over the next several centuries. The west was constantly attacked by German invaders like the Visigoths who broke the struggling empire down piece by piece until only Italy was left under Roman control until 476. through this all, Byzantine survived for several centuries.

Division

364

Emperor Valentinian I divided the empire to western and eastern sections while he was in power of the West and his brother Valens of the East.

Fall of Rome

476

The barbarian Odoacer overthrew the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, and Rome had fallen. Thanks to its geographic location the Byzantine empire survived for centuries after the fall of Rome because of all its great advantages. Some of which being that Constantinople was located on a strait so it was extremely difficult to breach. It had a stronger administrative center along with internal political stability. It also had great wealth compared to other states of the medieval period.

Belisarius(502-565)

502

General of the Byzantine empire. He was important to Justinian's project of reconquering more of the Med. territory of the Western Roman Empire, which had been lost recently less than a century ago. For his efforts, he was rewarded by Justinian by going on a land and sea expedition against the Vandal Kingdom. In the summer of 533 he sailed to Africa and landed near Caput Vada to retake northern Africa from 65 years before, which had ended in the Roman disaster at the Battle of Cap Bon in 468.

Justinian

527

Justinian(527-565) ruled for a little over 30 years long with his wife Theodora. They were a christian couple who had many achievements throughout their ruling. Justinian was determined to revive Rome by taking back land that was once overrun by invaders. He had recaptured many land only to have it lost once more.

Nika revolt

532

The Nika Revolt took place against Emperor Justinian I and lasted a week in Constantinople in 532 A.D. These were the most violent riots in the history of Constantinople. Nearly half the city was burnt down or destroyed and tens of thousands of people were killed.

Hagia Sophia "Holy Wisdom"

537

Hagia Sophia was ruined in a fire. It was later reconstructed by Justinian in 537 A.D. It was the worlds largest cathedrals for a thousand years. It was designed by Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles.

Justinian's Code

565

Was developed from 529-565, development started soon after Justinian's accession in 527. He created this in hopes of repairing their legal system.

Early Muslim Conquests

629

The Muslim conquests created the of the Sassanid Empire and a lot of land loss for the Byzantine Empire. The last of these wars ended with victory for the Byzantines: Emperor Heraclius regained all lost territories, and restored the True Cross to Jerusalem in 629.

Emperor Basil II

1018

After a lot of conflicts between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire the final conquest of Bulgaria was by the Byzantines in 1018. These conflicts lasted from 970-1018.

Great Schism

1054

The Great Schism was the break of union between what are now the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. The Eastern theology had its roots in Greek philosophy, whereas the Western theology was based on Roman law.

Pope Urban II

1095

He gave the most influential speech giving rise to the crusades. His speech rose Christians in Europe to war against Muslims. This was to reclaim the Holy Land.

Fourth Crusade

1202

In October 200 ships left the lagoon in Venice. the purpose of the fourth crusade was to win the holy city of Jerusalem.

fall of Constantinople

1453

The fall of Constantinople happened in 1453. Sultan Mehmed II, ruler of the Ottoman Turks won that battle leading to the fall of Constantinople. The city was full of heavy security and defense, it was defended by like 10,000 men.