Justinian was the emperor of the Byzantine Empire

• Wished to restore power, territory, and prestige of Roman Empire

• Chief advisor was his wife, Theodora

• Byzantine Empire capital was Constantinople

• Started building projects that almost caused the empire to go bankrupt

• Invaders fought for territories he had acquired after his death

The Byzantine state was an autocracy

• The Emperor had absolute authority

• Women ruled empire as regents for young sons or as sole rulers

Empire’s bureaucracy was made up of military and civilian officers

Eunuchs held the most important positions in court

• Eunuchs: castrated men

• As Eunuchs couldn’t have children, there was no danger of them turning their offices into hereditary positions or scheming for the future of their children

Lives of women in the Byzantine Empire were focused around families

• Wore veils that covered their heads

• Couldn’t act on their own, legally

• Imperial women could be sovereigns or regents

• Poor women either worked in agriculture or worked outside their homes

The Eastern Church practiced Orthodox Christianity

Rise of Islam started with Muhammad who claimed to have heard the voice of the angel Gabriel, telling him to spread God’s words

Islam spread from Egypt of Asia Minor by 650

Women played an early role in the conversion to Islam with Muhammad’s wife being his first convert

Women in Islam had the right to inherit, own, and go on to manage property

Islamic civilizations had large irrigation systems which made Iraq and Iran rich. agricultural areas

Seljuk Turks were victorious over the Byzantines in 1071 and acquired Asia Minor

After the collapse of the Mongol Empire, the Turkish principality, the Ottoman, expanded and weakened the Byzantine Empire

Constantinople fell to Ottoman Turks in 1453, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire’s reign which had lasted 1000 years