The Byzantine empire

Byzantine empire established

330

At the crossroads of all great empires lies the city of Constantinople. originally the greek city of Byzantanium, the roman emperor Constantine rebuilt it and named it after himself.

Byzantine empire

Period: 330 to Dec 31, 1453

emperor Justinian

527

the empire peaked under the rule of Justinian, ruling from 527 to 565. he was determined to revive the old roman empire by recovering the lands they lost to wars. he also created his own "justinian code", which is comparable to to Hammurabi's law, because its covering civil law.

general Belisarius' military campaigns

533

General Flavius Belisarius was a human necessity to Justinian's plan to retake previous roman territory. He fought against the vandals of Germania, Ostrogroths of modern-day italy in 535, and many other peoples until 545. when he retired.

Hagia Sophia

537

due to christianity's newfound popularity, emperor Justinian commanded a church be constructed, naming it "Hagia Sophia", meaning "holy wisdom". after the previous church had been destroyed, the dome on the great building has been rebuilt. today, it is a museum and has been since 1935.

islamic conquests

Jan 1, 600

after Justinian, the empire faced consistant attacks by persians, slavs, vikings, huns, and turks. most of these attacks were unsuccesful. at the time, the empire was barrier preventing the spread of muslim conquest into western europe. starting in the 600's and 700's, arab armies were gradually gaining control over the mediterrainian sea and world. despite that, constantinople withheld their forces.

emperor Basil II

Jan 1, 1025

the early years of emperor Basil's reign were mostly spent in civil war against the anatolian aristocracy. after that, he focused on stabalization and expansion into the eastern frontier, and final subjugation of their foremost foe, bulgaria. Although almost constantly in war, he proved a great administrator by reducing power given to landowners.

the great schism

Jan 1, 1054

in 1054, there was a "split" between eastern and western christianity, which became known as the "great schism". the byzantine church became the greek/eastern orthodox church, while the western branch became the roman catholic church. the leaders of both refused to communicate with each other, completely ingoring eachother's existance.

Empreror Alexios I & Pope Urban II

Jan 1, 1095

in the year 1095, ambassadors of emperor Alexios appeared before pope Urban II at the council of Piacenza, asking for military support as the pope preached of the 1st crusade later that same year. unfortuantely, the allies that were sent pillaged cities befire the emperor's very eyes.

the 4th crusade and byzantine

Jan 1, 1204

in the 1090's, a new empire arose in italy from the city of venice. during the 4th crusade, in 1204, venetian merchants convinced knights of the crusade to attack constantinople. for three days, they burnt and pillaged the city, sending much of its treasure west. western christians ruled the city for 57 years. although the another byzantine emperor reclaimed the city in the 1260's, the empire as a whole never fully recovered, venetian merchants had control over it's trade now.

the end of the Byzantine empire

Jan 1, 1453

in 1453, the Ottoman army surrounded Constantinople, bringing cannons to the walls. the city's defenders streched a massive chain across the harbor to avoid any invaders from the sea. after two months, the ottomans brought the wall down, taking over the city and empire as a whole. the ottoman ruler, Mehmet II renamed the city Instanbul, and made Hagia Sophia a mosque, an islamic place of worship. following that, Instanbul became the center of muslim culture.