Fall of Constantinople

The Early Middle Ages are commonly referred to by historians as the “Dark Ages”, due to several factors, including the lack of written documents that would reveal important details about the lives of people during this time, as well as the state of political unrest and civil uprising that was at play, because of the recent collapse of the Roman Empire in Western Europe. This was a time during which nations and alliances were constantly forming and shifting, resulting in many wars and battles.…

This paper aims to define causes of decline and fall of The Western Roman Empire through analyzing wide range of factors including its military failures, economic crisis, interior and exterior pressures. The Western Roman Empire which become known as The Holy Roman Empire established vast and powerful state through fighting with their neighbors and expanding its territories over its time of over five hundred years. But eventually, certain important political and economic problems emerged which…

political leaders began to struggle over ultimate authority of Rome. The existing conflict between Christian leaders and monarchs prompted the first religious holy war. This arose when the Turks threatened to invade the Byzantine Empire and conquer Constantinople. Emperor of Byzantine Alexius I made a plea to Pope Urban II for troops from the West to encounter the Turkish intimidation (Backman 255). Urban, wanting to reinforce the power of Christianity leadership, took advantage of the…

The prior rule of Constantine brought about the constructs of a New Rome and the usage of mosaics as a primary medium for church decoration. As we have seen before, emperors erected statues, monuments and various other symbols of themselves in order to solidify their rule over the people of their empire and prove their divine right to rule. Justinian’s rule started in 527 and this is where you will see him use the mosaics, the new found medium, to draw a connection between himself as emperor…

moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople where there was an ideal location for trade, it was easier to defend and there was more support for Christianity. First of all, there was an ideal location for trade. According to the article “ The Survival of the Eastern Empire”, “ Waterways, caravan tracks and paved Roman road made Constantinople a crossroads for trade between Asia and Europe.” This is important because Constantinople was accessible by two seas, Mediterranean…

Throughout time, there have been many different cultures and empires, some of which may require the average man to work, or the female to work, or arranged marriages and so forth. However, it seems as if the Byzantine Empire covered the “whole nine yards.” Life as a Byzantine was a lot different than most would expect, they had different beliefs and worked hard for their beliefs and stayed true to them, in all courses of their culture. The Byzantine’s were very hard workers, they worked for…

nuns affiliated with the Church taught reading and writing and ran hospitals for the needy. Pope Gregory I used Benedictine monks as diplomats/missionaries. He sent them to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons. The Byzantine Empire had a very strong military. He used his military and his best commander Belisarius to reconquer Northern Africa circa 533 CE. Most of Belisarius’ success was because of his superior tactics in battle. The Byzantines used the kantos, an overhand thrusting spear, before…

“Constantine the Great” lived 306—337 and he transferred the ancient imperial capital from Rome to Byzantion, part of European continent, and setup within a major intersection of east- west trade. The king named the city in his own honor “City Constantinople”. The Christians already living there were Greek speaking, Christianity replaced the gods of antiquity and it became the official religion way into 700’s, at the time of it’s founding the official language of the Byzantium was Latin.…

Empire was originally founded as Byzantium with its capital being Constantinople during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The most common language spoken in Byzantine at the time was Greek. Justinian I was born in Illyria at Tauresium, and was the nephew of Justin I, the current emperor, before Justinian took over. He was the son of a Slavic peasant, and was called Sabbatius originally. Justinian was educated at Constantinople, and named consul in 521. Later in 527 Justinian was proclaimed…

relating women and their children: changing the lives of many. She was also involved in changing Justinian’s political decisions. An Example of this is illustrated in the Nika revolt of January 532 Ca. United in opposition, political factions of Constantinople plan to rival the emperor. As Justinian flees Theodora stands ground and advises him to stay and save the empire. These events would inspire archbishop Maxinian to commission the mosaic despite her never visiting…