Geopolitics

Septimius Severus

Three factors influenced his reign:

• The land of origin: Africa

• The land of origin of his wife, Julia Domna, NE Syria

• The Danube army, that brought him to power (the illyrians”)

Severan

In this dynasty (193-235 AD), women play a greater role than they ever have. (Julia Domna is the cultured historical figure; her mother is the high priestess of Baal)

Constitutio Antoniniana

Edict issued in 212 AD by Caracalla—decision by which every freeborn adult of the Roman empire was given Roman citizenship

235 AD

End of the Severan Dynasty, beginning of the Age of the Soldier Emperors

Danube

Western border of the Roman Empire

Aurelian Wall

(270-275 AD). 11 miles long, very complex. This structure indicates that Rome is an important city.

Primary Source

A source that deals directly with or is part of the historical event itself (laws, meeting minutes, treaties, letters, recorded speeches)

Codex Theodosianus

Contains all the existing constitutions of legitimate emperors from 312 until 438

Codex Justiniani

A collection of imperial laws from 438 until 529/534

Notitia Dignitatum

(5th cent.) List of all higher civilian and military offices in the Roman empire. The part about the West was drawn up around 408 AD and revised around 420 AD

Theodoric

(493-526). An Ostrogoth and “Barbarian King”. He and his advisors sought to create a cultural mix in which Goths would preserve their special status while also adapting to the customs of Roman society. Relative prosperity under his rule

Procopius

Historian; wrote “The Secret History”, “Wars”, “Buildings”. He was the court historian of Justinian in the 6th century; had a not so positive outlook on the emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora

Epigraphical

Type of source derived from texts engraved on hard surfaces, whether funerary or votive. Because these were not written by academics, these give us a better idea of what was going on with the layman at the time.

Codex

Book of parchment

Scroll

Book of sheets of papyrus

Pergamum

One of the most important cultural centers of the Eastern Mediterranean. Parchment paper (pergaminho) comes from here

Tetrarchy

System implemented by Diocletian in 293 AD to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two emperors, the augusti and their junior colleagues and designated successors, the caesares.

Diocletian

(284-305 AD)—Under this emperor, we get:

• Army reforms (number of soldiers increased, Barbarians were allowed to settle in the Roman Empire but they had to serve in the army)

• Financial and tax reform (issuing of the price edict on maximum prices- 302 AD)

• Religious policy (persecution of Christians)

• Reform of the provinces (more provinces; creation of 12 dioceses governed by a vicarius)

Results of HIS reforms:

• Number of usurpations cut down, uprisings in providences ended, enemies from outside thrown back

• Considerable administrative manpower necessary for the functioning of the state → thus a great increase in bureaucracy

• The emperor is now divine, so the consilium principus is now the consistorium sacrum

Tetrarchical

THIS system collapsed after Diocletian’s (and Miaximinian’s forced) abdication. By 308 there were seven simultaneous emperors

Constantine

(306-337). THIS guy defeated Maxentius in 312 and became the sole ruler of the West of Europe; he then goes on to become emperor of the whole empire.

• He founds Constantinople, so we see a completed shift in the epicenter of the empire toward the East

• He essentially continues/completes the reforms that Diocletian started

Byzantium

In 330, THIS city was renaimed Constantinople

Donatism

This was a schism that happened in church of Northern Africa after the appointment of Caecilian to bishop of Carthage in 311

• The core of the conflict: Christians oppressed by other Christians

• It was an ancient heresy; Donatists argued that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and their prayers and sacraments to be valid.

• This movement was never able to get their thesis accepted by the rest of the church, though the movement continued to exist in N. Africa until the arrival of the Arabs in the 7th cent.

Arianism

A Christological doctrine which rejects the traditional notion of the the Trinity and considers Jesus to be a creation of God, and therefore distinct from God

Notiti of Dignitatium

A document of the Late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and Eastern Roman Empire

Edict of Toleration

Issued in 311 by the Roman emperor Gallerius, it was an important law ending the prosecution of Christians in the Roman Empire

632 AD

Death of Muhammad

Rashidun Caliphate

The first Islamic caliphate (632-661), led by the four “rightly guided” Caliphs following Muhammad’s death: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali

Abu Bakr

The first caliph after Muhammad; unified Arabia and launched military campaigns into Byzantine and Sasanian territories

Ridda Wars

(632-3); A series of military campaigns under Abu Bakr against Arabian tribes who renounced Islam after Muhammad’s death

Damascus

Capital of the Umayyad caliphate; administrative and political center of the empire

Battle of Poitiers

732; Victory of Charles Martel against the Muslims from Spain. It was much less grand than the way in which it was portrayed historiographically; rather, it was used propagandistically

Domuscoltae

Large agricultural enterprises in late Roman Italy, especially under the Carolingians and Papal States; papal foundations, the purpose of which was to pacify the countryside, to produce food for the city, and produce revenue from the selling of crops

Einsiedeln Itinerary

8th-century guidebook for Christian pilgrims traveling to Rome. It lists streets, churches, and landmarks, offering us insight into urban life and religious geography in the early Middle Ages. Named after the abbey where the manuscript was preserved. It also demonstrates to us, in all its mistakes, that the knowledge of the ancient city as we know it was disappearing.

Pope John VII

In the late seventh/early eighth century, he transferred the center of Papal power from St. John’s in Lateran to the palatine hill. Often viewed as an insult toward the Byzantine empire, as he appears to be suggesting that the Byzantine Emperor doesn’t have anything to say anymore.

Diaconia

A church-run welfare institution in Late Antiquity and Byzantium that distributed food, clothing, and aid to the poor. Often attached to churches or monasteries, and they reflected Christian charitable ideas and supported urban populations.

Heraclius

He was Byzantine emperor from 610 to 641. He reformed the empire’s administration and military, led succesful campaigns against the Sasanids, and faced the rise of Islam. He had a desire to secure internal harmony within his empire that made him adopt the doctrine of monothelitism

Pippinids

A powerful Frankish noble family in the 7th-8th centuries. They served as mayors of the palace and laid the foundation for the Carolingian dynasty, culminating in Pippin the Short becoming king and fathering Charlemagne.

Pope Leo III

He crowned Charlemagne as Emperor of the Romans in 800, reviving the Western Roman Empire and strengthening ties between the papacy and Frankish monarchy. After fleeing to Aachen, he is reinstated by Charlemagne at St. Peter’s.

Liber Pontificalis

A chronicle of papal biographies, beginning with Saint Peter. Compiled in Late Antiquity and updated over time, it’s helpful because of its information about building campaigns, administrations, and so on.

Constitutum Constantini

Document that appears in the middle of the 8th century; Constantine leaves the West empire to the bishop of Rome; later proven to be a fake, but it acted as a redefinition of the political role of pope in Italy. Seemed to prove that the pope’s claim to secular power was legitimate.

Pirenne Thesis

Argues tha the real break in Mediterranean unity came not with the Germanic invasions but with the rise of Islam in the 7th century, which disrupted trade and cut off Western Europe from the Eastern Mediterranean economy.

Triclinium of Leo III

Grand ceremonial dining hall in the latern palace, decorated with mosaics depicting papal and imperial authority. It symbolized the alliance between the papacy and the Carolingians, particularly after Charlemagne’s corrolation.

Papyrus, parchment, paper

Correct chronological order of the three means of writing

Eutychius

Last exarch of Ravenna, early to mid 8th century. His tenure marks the end of effective Byzantine governance in the west, and the fall of this position signifies the declining power of Byzantine influence in the west, further exacerbated by Lombard invasions

Liutprand

King of the Langobards from 712 to 744. Known for consolodating and expanding Lombard power in Italy, and his reign marked the high point of Lombard influence in Italy before the empire began to weaken. He forged diplomatic ties with the papacy.

Mu’Awiya

Founded the Umayyad Caliphate in the mid-late 7th century. Established Umayyad capital in Damascus.

Reasons for the fall of the Umayyads

1. Ideological reason; failure to offer the kind of leadership Muslims wanted. Widespread opinion that only members of the family of the Prophet could claim secular authority.

2. Regional problems; this government was based in Syria, meaning that Iraq was excluded from participation (but the largest Muslim population was in Iraq.

Abd al-Malik

Second caliph of the Marwanid Caliphate. Founder of the Dome of the Rock. Unlike Mu’awiya, he favored centralized power, and executed it by:

1. Development of a standard Arab coinage

2. Arabization of the Administration

3. Surplus taxation to be sent to Damascus

Al-Mansur

Second Abbasid Caliph, mid to late eighth century, moved the capital to Baghdad and oversaw the beginning of the Islamic Golden Age.

Irene

Ruled as regent for her son Constantine VI before deposing and blinding him so she could rule in her own name. She also restored the veneration of icons, ending the first phase of the Byzantine Iconoclasm.