Dig Into History

54

age at left), who first went north as

ssionaries in 864C.E. But Cyril and Methodius

d not just bring religion. They also created an

phabet that allowed them to translate the Bible

and other texts into the Slavic languages.

Known as Cyrillic, the alphabet is still used

throughout Russia and most Slavic

countries. The development of this alphabet

did help with the spread of literacy in the

area. Universal literacy, however, was not

achieved for many centuries.

In Russia

The Byzantine Empire also influenced the

formation of the Russian government, at least

until the Revolution of 1917. After the Fall of

Constantinople in 1453, Grand Prince Ivan

III of Moscow took the title tsar (the Russian

word for “Caesar” or “emperor”). He did so

as a way to make known his belief that he

was the inheritor of Byzantine power and

that Russia was the “third Rome” and the

defender of Christianity against the Turks. The

term “tsar” remained the popular (and

sometimes official) title of Russian leaders until

the Revolution.

In Legal Codes

Byzantium’s legal legacy is also well known (see

pages 30–33). In the mid-sixth century C.E., the

Byzantine emperor Justinian ordered the

organization of all Roman laws into a 50-volume

he legacy of the Byzantine Empire is

visible today, both on a grand scale and

in little-seen areas. The religion of

Byzantium, also referred to as Orthodox

Christianity, dominates the Slavic countries of

Russia, Bulgaria, and many parts of the former

Yugoslavia, as well as Greece and Romania.

Orthodox Christianity was introduced by the

Byzantine monks Cyril and Methodius (see

The Legacy

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The brothers Cyril and Methodius