Western Civilization

fights were held there, the main events were the char-

iot races; twenty-four would usually be presented in

one day. The citizens of Constantinople were passion-

ate fans of chariot racing. Successful charioteers were

acclaimed as heroes and honored with public statues.

From Eastern Roman to Byzantine

Empire

Justinian’s accomplishments had been spectacular, but

when he died, he left the Eastern Roman Empire with

serious problems: too much distant territory to protect,

an empty treasury, a smaller population after an epi-

demic of plague, and renewed threats to its frontiers.

In the first half of the seventh century, the empire

faced attacks from the Persians to the east and the

Slavs to the north.

The most serious challenge to the Eastern Roman

Empire, however, came from the rise of Islam, which

unified the Arab tribes and created a powerful new

force that swept through the East (see the next section,

“The Rise of Islam”). The empire lost the provinces of

Syria and Palestine after the Arabs defeated an Eastern

Roman army at Yarmuk in 636. The Arabs also moved

into the old Persian Empire and conquered it. Arabs

and Eastern Roman forces now faced each other along

a frontier in southern Asia Minor.

Problems arose along the northern frontier as well,

especially in the Balkans, where an Asiatic people

known as the Bulgars had arrived earlier in the sixth

century. In 679, the Bulgars defeated the Eastern

Roman forces and took possession of the lower Danube

valley, establishing a strong Bulgarian kingdom.

By the beginning of the eighth century, the Eastern

Roman Empire was greatly diminished in size. Consisting

only of the eastern Balkans and Asia Minor, it was no

longer a major eastern Mediterranean state. The external

challenges had important internal repercussions as well.

By the eighth century, the Eastern Roman Empire had

been transformed into what historians call the Byzantine

Empire, a civilization with its

own unique character that

would last until 1453 (Con-

stantinople was built on the

site of an older city named

Byzantium—hence the term

Byzantine).

The Byzantine Empire

was both a Greek and a

Christian state. Increasingly,

Latin fell into disuse as

Greek became both the common and the official lan-

guage of the empire. The Byzantine Empire was also

built on a faith in Jesus that was shared by almost all

of its citizens. An enormous amount of artistic talent

was poured into the construction of churches, church

ceremonies, and church decoration. Spiritual principles

deeply permeated Byzantine art.

The emperor occupied a crucial position in the Byz-

antine state. Portrayed as chosen by God, the emperor

was crowned in sacred ceremonies, and his subjects

were expected to prostrate themselves in his presence.

His power was considered absolute and was limited in

practice only by deposition or assassination. Because

the emperor appointed the head of the church (known

as the patriarch), he also exercised control over both

church and state. The Byzantines believed that God

had commanded their state to preserve the true Chris-

tian faith. Emperor, clergy, and state officials were all

bound together in service to this ideal. It can be said

that spiritual values truly held the Byzantine state

together.

Because of their many foreign enemies, Byzantine

emperors spent considerable energy on war and prepa-

rations for war. Byzantine literature included many

manuals on war, instructing people in the ways of

fighting (see the box on p. 166). Byzantine armies, of-

ten led by the emperors, were well trained and well

equipped with the latest weapons. The Byzantines,

however, often preferred to use diplomacy rather than

fight. Our wordbyzantine—often defined as “extremely

complicated or carried on by underhand methods”—

stems from the complex and crafty instructions that

Byzantine rulers sent to their envoys.

By 750, it was apparent that two of Rome’s heirs,

the Germanic kingdoms and the Byzantine Empire,

were moving in different directions. Nevertheless, Byzan-

tine influence on the Western world was significant. The

images of a Roman imperial state that continued to haunt

the West lived on in Byzantium. The legal systems of the

West owed much to Justinian’s codification of Roman

law. In addition, the Byzan-

tine Empire served as a buffer

state, protecting the West for

a long time from incursions

from the East. Although the

Byzantine Empire would con-

tinue to influence the West

until its demise in 1453, it

went its own way. One of its

bitterest enemies was the

new power of Islam.

Mediterranean Sea

Black Sea

Adr

iatic

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Sicily

Crete

Cyprus

(^) BYZAN
TINE
(^)
EM
PIR
E
SYRIA
BULGARIA
MACEDONIA
PERSIA
Constantinople
Athens Ephesus
Rome
Venice
Balka
n Mts.
Mts.
Caucasus
0 300 Miles
0 300 600 Kilometers
The Byzantine Empire, ca. 750
The Byzantine Empire 165
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