byzantine final review
NOTE: Lists of emperors below are provided in order to help in your review. You do not need to memorize them as lists, although you must know whether a given emperor came before or after another one.
Byzantine empire: 330-1453
Foundation of Constantinople: 330
Diocletian (d. 312)
305-324: administrative and fiscal reforms.
Tetrarchy
Constantine defeats Maxentius: 312, Battle of Milvian Bridge (“in this you conquer”).
Edict of Milan (religious toleration for Christianity; Christian clergy excused from town councils; state subsidies to the Christian church): 313
Constantine defeats and kills Licinius: 324 (Hadrianople). Constantine sole emperor.
*Council of Nicea 325 (first “ecumenical” council). Summoned and presided upon by the emperor; its decisions enforced by imperial decree. Debate on Arianism. Nicene creed.
*Holy Land: construction of church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and church of the Nativity in Bethlehem
*Corpus of Holy Scripture defined
Constantine the Great died as “first Christian emperor” 337
Eusebius of Caesarea : fourth-century bishop of Caeasarea in Palestine, author of several important works: Ecclesiastical History, a world chronicle (lost but served as model for later world chronicles), the Life of Constantine (a panegyric for the emperor), several works contributing to the doctrinal development of Christianity.
Successors from the family of Constantine
Julian the Apostate 361-363 (brief return to paganism)
Theodosius I 379-395
395: division of the Roman empire to Eastern (Arcadius) and Western (Honorius)
Arcadius 395-408
Theodosius II 408-450
Pulcheria (sister)
Athenais-Eudocia (wife)
Codex Theodosianus (in Latin)
Urban development of Constantinople-enlargement of city walls
University of Constantinople (more chairs in Greek than in Latin)
Christian heresies of the 4th and 5th centuries
4th century theological discussions: determination of the relation between Father and Son within the Trinity
Arianism (Arius: priest in Alexandria): Christ was created by the Father within time and therefore did not exist before being born. Condemned in the 1st Ecumenical Council (Nicea 325).
2nd Ecumenical Council (Constantinople, 381, under Theodosius I): defined the position of the Holy Ghost within the Trinity and supplemented the Nicene Creed. 2
5th century theological discussions: determination of the relation between the human and divine nature of Christ.
Nestorianism (Nestorius: patriarch of Constantinople, 428-431): human nature in Christ is completely independent from the divine; Divine Grace chose the human nature in order to unite it with the divine one; the human nature is a vehicle for the divine nature (therefore human nature ultimately more important than the divine). Condemned in the 3rd Ecumenical Council (Ephesus 431)
Monophysitism: human nature in Christ was completely absorbed by the divine. Condemned in the 4th Ecumenical Council (Chalcedon 451).
Reign of Justinian (527-565): succeeded his uncle Justin I (518-527) whom he helped govern the empire even before he became emperor himself.
Theodora
Belissarius and Narses (generals)
Tribonian (jurist)
Nika revolt 532
First appearance of the Slavs in the Balkans
Political program of Justinian:
Fiscal and administrative reforms (John the Cappadocian)
Religious homogenization
Missionary activity, esp. Nubia (= South of Egypt)
Stabilization and strengthening of absolute monarchy
Wars against Persians, Goths, Vandals. Successful reconquest (Western territories won back)
Codification of laws (Corpus Juris Civilis = Codex Justinianus, Digest, Institutions, Novels)
Building program (Hagia Sophia etc)
Natural disasters: plagues, earthquakes
Primary sources from the reign of Justinian that you read:
Procopius of Caesarea: sixth-century author, lived during the reign of Justinian; wrote historical and rhetorical works in high (classicizing) style. Historical: the Wars (Persian, Vandal, Gothic; Procopius accompanied Belissarius on campaign and was therefore eyewitness to much of what he describes). Rhetorical: Secret History (reverses what is expected of a panegyric), Buildings (using the building program of Justinian as springboard for imperial praise).
John Malalas: the earliest surviving world chronicle in Greek (though earlier ones had been written, fourth-century Eusebius is the father of the Christian chronicle as a genre), written in low (vernacular) style. Lived during the reign of Justinian. Was from Antioch and the geographical perspective of his narrative is certainly from there. The epithet “Malalas” comes from the Syriac word “orator”.
Successors of Justinian (565-610): difficult to maintain the territorial expansion reached under Justinian.
Problem in historical assessment of Justinian’s reign: did he stretch the empire to its limits and contribute to its territorial and economic contraction a few years later? Was the contraction inevitable as a result of natural disasters?
Maurice (582-602): most important and successful among Justinian’s successors.
Rise through the army and marriage to emperor’s daughter 3
Wars with Persia
Reassertion of imperial control over the Balkans
Alienation of the Ghassanids (Christian Arab foederati)
Deposed and killed by Phocas
Tyrannical rule of Phocas and intervention of Heraclius, son of exarch of Carthage
Heraclius (610-641): The emperor who lost Syria and Egypt to the Arabs
Struggle with Persia (successful)
Struggle with Muslim armies
Reasons discussed by historians as explanations for the rapidity and permanence of the Islamic conquests:
Byzantine and Sassanian armies exhausted from fighting one another
Prevalence of Monophysitism in Byzantium’s Eastern provinces
Alienation of Ghassanids already under Maurice
Heraclian dynasty (610-711)
Isaurian dynasty (iconoclast emperors, 713- 802)
Leo III Isaurian (family extraction from Syria; rose through the army; inaugurates removal of icons;
Successors to the Isaurians (802-820): break from iconoclastic policies
Amorian dynasty (820-867): iconoclasts up to 843.
Macedonian dynasty (867-1056)
focus on iconoclasm and after for final
ICONOCLASM
Phases: 1st phase: 726 (Leo III edict and removal of icon of Christ) or 730 (forceful resignation of patriarch Germanos and command for destruction of icons)-787 (empress Irene, regent for Constantine VI). Icons restored by the 7th Ecumenical Council (Nicea 787).
2nd phase: 815-843 (Amorian dynasty; iconoclasm resumed by the 815 Council of Blachernae that reinstated iconoclastic doctrine; not as forceful persecution as in the 8th century). Iconoclasm ended by empress Theodora (regent for Michael III).
Reasons for iconoclasm (touched upon in the primary sources, elaborated by modern scholarship, given different weight depending on modern interpretation):
Response to the military and broader crisis of the empire
Conceived as ideological response to natural disasters (we are displeasing God, excessive dedication to icons is idolatry)
Conceived as practical response to military emergency (army and Eastern provinces are iconoclastic)
Iconoclasm as anti-monastic (confiscation of monastic properties, monks forced to become laity)
Dedication to the icons as form of superstition (therefore twice restored by female empresses since women are naturally superstitious) VS. restoration of the icons provided female regents 4
for young emperors to reshuffle persons in position of power and avoid the threat posed by powerful military figures.
Was it a violent movement that shook the empire in its entirety or an articulation of political rivalries that primarily involved Constantinople and areas within immediate imperial control?
Was it influenced by aniconic tendencies in Islam?
Resurfacing of earlier theological problems (discussion of whether godhead can be depicted already present in ancient philosophy as cited by early Christian authors)
Positive image of iconoclasts in modern scholarship (reflects positive attitudes towards the iconoclastic attitudes in Protestant reform and French revolution, viewed as forces of rationalism and modernity)
Big problems of the 7th-9th century:
Archeological evidence of urban decline, economic contraction. Sometimes hard to date the exact moment that this decline took place (see handout and slide show “Cities”)
Lack of surviving narrative sources—does this mean that very few were written, or that there was a reason why they did not survive? Council of 787 that restored icons called for the destruction of iconoclastic texts.
John of Damascus: lived during the end of the seventh century and the first decades of the eighth. Born in Umayyad Damascus to a family of Christian bureaucrats serving the caliphs. Received good Greek education (administrative record in Western Muslim provinces kept in Greek). Wrote extensively in Greek. One of the greatest systematizers of Christian doctrine and the developer of a theology of the icons with the help of Platonic thought and the importance of symbol within it: icons are a medium through which veneration goes to the original (i.e. the holy figure depicted).
Theophanes: author of a chronicle, the single most important surviving primary source on the seventh-ninth century period because it gives us an uninterrupted narrative on the sequence of events during this time. Living in the second half of the eighth and beginning of the ninth century. Born in a family of Constantinopolitan aristocrats who supported the icons. He wrote his chronicle at the beginning of the eighth century, in the period between the first and the second phase of iconoclasm. The chronicle survives because it is a pro-icon source.
TO THE EAST OF BYZANTIUM:
IN THE PERIOD BEFORE ISLAM:
Sassanian dynasty (rulers of Persia, 224-651)
Ghassanids (Christian Arab allies of the Byzantine empire up to the rise of Islam)
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE RISE OF ISLAM AND HIGHLIGHTS OF EARLY ISLAMIC HISTORY:
Prophet Muhammad (born Mecca ca. 570-d. Medina 632)
622 Hijra from Mecca to Medina
Farewell pilgrimage to Mecca
The revelation of the Qur’ān
Four orthodox caliphs (the last three died assassinated):
Abu Bakr 5
Umar
Uthman
Ali
Umayyad dynasty (661-750)
661 transfer of the capital from Medina to Damascus
Abbasid revolution 750
Mandate of Abbasid revolution (increase the participation to power of non-Arab converts to Islam; support from the Eastern provinces of the Islamic empire, i.e. Persia).
Member of the Umayyad dynasty fled to Spain and established dynasty there
Abbasid dynasty (750-1258, from the Abbasid revolution to the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan)
762 transfer of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad (under the Abbasids)
717-718 Arab siege of Constantinople
The “classical heritage” in Islam (9th-10th-century translation movement of originally Greek texts into Arabic)
BROADER TOPICS TO THINK ABOUT
Levels of writing in Byzantium (“classicizing” and “vernacular”)
Decline vs. transformation of the ancient world
ICONOCLASM
Features:
Two phases: 726 (edict of Leo III and removal of the icon of Christ) or 730 (forced resignation of Patriarch Germanos and command to destroy icons)-787 (Irene)
815-843 (Amorian dynasty, not as forceful in persecution as in the 8th century).
Role of women in the restoration of icons
Iconoclasm as a coherent intellectual movement or not.
Militarization of the empire
Military officers vs. civil servants (“nobility of the sword” vs. “nobility of the “robe”)
Anti-monasticism as an iconoclastic attitude
The cult of the cross
Isaurian Ecloga
The iconoclastic period as a “dark” period in earlier historiography
AMORIAN DYNASTY
Michael II
Theophilos
Michael III. His mother Theodora as regent for her minor son restored the adoration of the icons in 843.
POST-ICONOCLASM
Michael III –beginning of intensified intellectual activity
EMPERORS OF THE MACEDONIAN DYNASTY
Basil I (born a peasant in the provinces, traveled to Constantinople for a better fortune, attracted the attention of aristocrats through his powerful physique and skill with horses, crowned co-emperor by Michael III, soon thereafter assassinated him and became sole emperor)
Leo VI the Wise (an intellectual emperor and prolific author; promulgator of important legislation; married four times in order to secure dynastic succession, an event with far-ranging dynastic and legal consequences, setting the uppermost number of times that orthodox Christians can marry at three). 6
Alexander (brother of Leo, brief reign)
Constantine VII (and Romanos I Lekapenos). Constantine VII Porphyrogennitos (“born in the purple”) was a child (and already crowned co-emperor) when his father Leo VI died. Long regency during which the admiral of the fleet Romanos Lekapenos married Constantine to his daughter, Helena, and attempted to revert the line of succession to his own sons. When Romanos’ eldest and most able son died, he hesitated between the younger ones. His younger sons moved against their father. Constantine seized the moment and, supported by his wife who sided with him rather than her natural family, became sole emperor. Constantine is best known to posterity for his patronage of extensive literary activity, much of it sponsored during (and because of) his long period of waiting until he actually became emperor.
Romanos II, son of Constantine VII, husband of Theophano and father of Basil I and Constantine VIII (see below).
Nikephoros II Phocas. Descendant of the landed military aristocracy of Asia Minor. Successful general, especially against the Arabs. Reconquered Crete, returned triumphant to Constantinople, and became emperor by marrying Theophano, the widow of Romanos II. Rough soldier with ascetic habits. Assassinated with the help of Theophano by his kinsman, John Tzimiskes, who became emperor.
John I Tzimiskes. Descendant of the landed military aristocracy of Asia Minor and nephew of Nikephoros Phokas whom he assassinated.
Basil II (and Constantine VIII): one of the most important Byzantine emperors. Ruled for almost half a century. Victorious on both the Middle Eastern and the Balkan front (against the Bulgarians of the “Second Bulgarian empire”). Begun his reign under the influence of Basil Lekapenos (illegitimate son of emperor Romanos Lekapenos) but later asserted his independence. Successfully averted three attempts at usurpation by the landed aristocracy of Asia Minor, which shaped his subsequent policies. Fiscally tight, he is said to have left the coffers full upon his death. Little cultural activity is generally dated to his reign. Never married. Throne passed to his brother.
Constantine VIII (brother of Basil II). Had three daughters, no sons. Did not arrange for succession until his deathbed, when he wed his already elderly daughter Zoe to the Romanos Argyros, aristocrat and imperial administrator.
Romanos III Argyros (first husband of Zoe, assassinated).
Michael IV (second husband of Zoe, young and handsome, promoted by his brother John Orphanotrophos)
Michael V (adopted son of Zoe, nephew of Michael IV)
Zoe and Theodora (daughters of Constantine VIII)
Constantine IX Monomachos (third husband of Zoe)
Theodora (sister of Zoe)
END OF MACEDONIAN DYNASTY
INTERIM EMPERORS UNTIL THE ACCESSION OF THE COMNENIAN DYNASTY
Michael VI Stratiotikos
Isaac I Komnenos
Constantine X Doukas
Romanos IV Diogenes (lost to the Seljuk Turks the battle of Mantzikert, 1071)
Michael VII Doukas
Nikephoros III Botaneiates
Primary source that you read for the Macedonian and post-Macedonian period: Michael Psellos, a broad-ranging intellectual and author whose life spans most of the eleventh century. Born in Constantinople to a family of no particular wealth or rank, he rose to exceptional prominence thanks to his abilities as a man of letters and his political skill. You read the 7
Chronographia, a court history spanning from the reign of Basil II (towards the end of which Psellos was a child) and Michael VII (whose tutor Psellos had been), conveying not a panorama of the entire period but a personal view of court events in which the author frequently is (or presents himself as) personally involved. Psellos also authored essays on philosophy, natural science, theology, biblical and patristic exegesis; rhetorical works (e.g. letters, rhetorical praises for friends and patrons); a world chronicle; various works in verse. He is an absolute master of Greek prose in the high style.
IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS UNDER THE MACEDONIAN DYNASTY
Christianization of the Slavs as a political tool for Byzantium; as a political tool for the Slavic groups that accept Christianity; as initiating a Slavic written literature; as initiating a Byzantine-Slavic love/hate relationship. Important antagonisms during the Macedonian period: Symeon I of Bulgaria; Sviatoslav’s campaign against Bulgaria and Byzantine territory; who had grown up in the Byzantine court and antagonized Byzantium through the tools of Byzantine political theory.
Bulgaria
Serbia
The Kievan Rus
Legislation (the last extensive re-organization of Byzantine law—for concrete bodies of legislation refer to the relevant lecture handout)
Agrarian legislation: promoting “peasant soldiers” and therefore a “national” army? Checking the power of the landed aristocracy that repeatedly threatened the imperial throne? The role of famines in agrarian legislation.
“Renaissance” in letters and culture.
Patriarch Photios: The most important intellectual of the ninth century and the “Renaissance” of the ninth and tenth centuries. Member of a powerful aristocratic family and the most educated Byzantin of his time. Originally a married high-standing member of the imperial bureaucracy, he became Patriarch of Constantinople after he was widowed. Among the most famous works he wrote: a treatise against the Latin beliefs on the procession of the Holy Spirit, condemning the filioque; a collection of essays elucidating scriptural matters; the Bibliotheca, a description of approximately 300 works of ancient and Byzantine literature. Modern scholars appreciate it mostly because it gives summaries of ancient works that we no longer have. His aesthetic evaluations on ancient literature do not always agree with those of modernity.
Military expansion at the expense of the Arabs (significant for the Western Crusaders from the end of the eleventh century onwards)
Schism (1054). Main doctrinal difference between the churches of Constantinople and Rome: filioque. This is a Latin addition to the fourth-century Nicene creed, condemned in the ninth century by Photios and discussed between Greeks and Latins into the fifteenth. It became part of Rome’s accepted theology only at the beginning of the eleventh century. The Latin expression “filioque” means “and from the son” and indicates that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, as the Nicene creed explains, but also from the Son, which does not exist in the Nicene creed).
Seljuk Turks set permanent foot on Asia Minor after battle of Mantzikert (1071).
Important monastic foundations of the period:
Mount Athos: One of the most important centers of Orthodox monasticism, this is a group of twenty monasteries occupying the peninsula of Mount Athos (Northern Greece). Although there is a tradition of asceticism on this site going back to late antiquity, the earliest of the existing monasteries was built in the tenth century as an imperial foundation. Mount Athos remains one of the most important depositories of Byzantine artistic patrimony and the single most important depository of Byzantine archival documents. These documents mostly pertain 8
to the fiscal affairs of the monasteries and significantly increase in number from the Paleologan period and onwards.
Nea Mone (Chios): Founded by Constantine IX Monomachos on the island of Chios in gratitude for becoming emperor.
COMNENIAN DYNASTY
Alexios I (on his reign see relevant lecture handout)
John II
Manuel I (on his reign see relevant lecture handout)
(Alexios II) Andronikos I
Isaac II Angelos and dynasty of the Angeli until 1204 (sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade)
Primary source that you read for this period: The Alexiad by Anna Comnena, the only known female historian of the medieval period, whether East or West. At around the middle of the twelfth century (during the reign of her nephew, Manuel I), Anna wrote an account of the reign of her father, Alexios (end of the eleventh-beginning of the twelfth century). Anna was the family’s first-born child, engaged to the son of the previous emperor, Michael VII, and expected to become empress. This changed with the birth of her brother, John. With her imperial hopes frustrated, the praise of Alexios can be construed as criticism for his successors. Like Psellos, Anna writes in high-style Greek. Her work is frequently read by non-Byzantinists because she is an eye-witness to the first Crusade.
Important monastic foundation: Monastery of St John the Theologian on the island of Patmos (where St John wrote the New Testament book of the Revelation). Founded by imperial grant of Alexios I to St Christodoulos. One of the most important depositories of Byzantine manuscripts.
Important events and trends of the Comnenian period:
Role of the aristocracy
Prominence of members of the imperial family. Access to power was in direct proportion to consanguinity with the imperial family (to which one could also enter through marriage).
Restructuring of offices and distribution of offices to imperial family members.
New diplomatic factor: the West and the Normans
Crusades
Economic concessions to Italians
Attempted reforms under Andronikos I (ending in reign of terror).
New economic history of the Byzantine empire: in older historiography (e.g. Ostrogorsky) the “golden” period of the Byzantine state was the tenth century, the time of its greatest territorial expansion after the loss of territories to the Muslim Arabs in the seventh century.
During the last thirty years, Byzantinists (especially British ones) have argued that in spite of territorial contraction, the 11th and 12th centuries witnessed economic expansion. Evidence cited for this is an archeologically palpable revival of towns, which must have helped the better development of an urban economy and culture; the rise of an urban “middle class” of merchants, artisans, and professionals; a demographic expansion resulting (like in the Western medieval example) from the “medieval warm period” (an event in the history of the earth’s climate that physicists begun discussing since the 1950s). The increased financial resources enabled the hiring of mercenary armies that would fight the wars of expansion; only wars of defense were fought by “peasant soldiers” who were local to the place they were fighting. 9
Pronoia: a Byzantine fiscal term signifying the concession of tax-free land to an individual for services rendered, generally for a finite period. Its first written attestation is in the eleventh century, lasts into the fifteenth. It is clearly not a stable institution but evolves through time. Ostrogorsky views it as concession of privileges to aristocrats that results in weakening the Byzantine tax machine and leading a form of Byzantine feudalism. New interpretation: It is not always awarded to aristocratic or powerful individuals (e.g. can be held by group of people, women, etc). Privileges can be renewed but generally not inherited. Not as big a drain on the fiscal machine as previously thought. In addition, Western medievalists have re-considered what “feudalism” means (not a stable phenomenon in time and space).
FOURTH CRUSADE (1204)
Greek and Latin states after the Fourth Crusade (see separate handout on Crusades)
PALEOLOGAN DYNASTY
Michael VIII (Union of Lyons 1274)
Andronikos II
(Michael IX)
Andronikos III
John V
John VI Kantakouzenos
John V again
(Andronikos IV)
(John VII)
Manuel II
John VIII (Union of Ferrara-Florence, 1439 after council that lasted for two years, 1437-1439)
Constantine XI, last Byzantine emperor
Features:
Councils of Union (Lyons 1274 and Ferrara-Florence 1437-39)
Trips of Byzantine emperors to the West (John V 1366 to Hungary, 1369 to Rome, where he converted to Catholicism; Manuel II travelled 1399-1402; John VIII ersonally pattended the council of Ferrara-Florence, 1437-39).
Increasingly contracting state. Fragmentation according to Western model (members of the imperial family seize whatever part of the whole they can because the whole can no longer stay together). Didymoteichon as second capital. Equality of title of co-emperor.
Appearance and rapid dominance of Ottomans. A broader historical problem: since the eleventh century, the Seljuks were the most successful and powerful among various Turkish groups. However, Byzantium was not ultimately supplanted by the Seljuks but the Ottomans, that first appear in the Byzantine written record at the beginning of the fourteenth century.
Increasing privileges to Venetians and Genoese (Genoese quarter in Constantinople: Galata)
Navy and army
Civil wars (1320s the two Androniki; 1340s John Kantakouzenos)
Hesychasm
Zealots
Paleologan Renaissance
Increased importance of the church (spiritual prestige, takes part in judicial system).
Reforms of courts under Andronikos III
Battle of Ankara 1402 (Tamerlane)
Battle of Kossovo 1383 (end of Serbian kingdom and Balkan resistance to Ottoman Turks).
1453 : Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans.
THE BYZANTINE LEGACY AFTER 1453
Byzantine ideas are reconstituted in terms of a religious and a literary legacy: 10
Orthodox commonwealth under Ottoman rule (Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, autonomous Romanian principalites of Moldavia and Wallachia); beyond Ottoman rule (Ukraine, Russia)
Republic of Greek letters under Ottoman rule (Orthodox patriarchates of Constantinople but also Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem) and beyond it: refugees from the Byzantine empire to Western Europe, especially Italy.
Venice
Cardinal Bessarion>Bibliotheca Marciana in Venice
Validity of Byzantine law among Christians under Muslim rule.
Liturgical calendar (celebration of Christian feasts)
Art: painting and music.
Phanariots
Centers of monastic spirituality (especially Mount Athos).
BROADER ISSUES TO THINK ABOUT:
The position of Byzantium in a broader medieval history
The legacy of Byzantium after the end of its political existence in 1453 (ideas can be found in the essay by Speros Vryonis, assigned reading for the last week of lectures).
An outline of Byzantine economic history from the fourth to the fifteenth century. Take into consideration the transformations between the fourth and seventh centuries and the “dark” period between the seventh and the ninth century (outlined during the first part of the semester). From the second part of the semester, pay particular attention to the old vs. new thinking on the Byzantine economy from the Macedonian period into the reign of Manuel II, the granting of trading privileges to Italian merchants during the Comnenian period (the Venetians and the Pisans by Alexios I, the Genoese by Manuel I), the impact of these privileges in the Paleologan period, the fiscal autonomy of the empire of Nicea, the destructive civil wars of the 1320s and 1340s that destroyed the economy of the Paleologan period. Take into consideration what was discussed in lecture about coinage reforms in the eleventh century, and whether they indicate that the economy was in trouble or expanding.
Byzantium and the Slavs
Byzantium and the Latins
The Crusades viewed through Byzantine eyes (handouts with the Crusades and the political entities that were created on Byzantine territories after the Fourth Crusade have been furnished).