Page 203 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

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
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 word byzantine—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
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
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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.
The Byzantine Empire 165
Black Sea Rome BULGARIA Constantinople
Sicily
MACEDONIA Athens
Ephesus
Crete
Mediterranean Sea Cyprus SYRIA
The Byzantine Empire, ca. 750
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