The fall of Constantinople marked the end of a glorious era for the Byzantine Empire. In the centuries leading up to the final Ottoman conquest in , the culture of the Byzantine Empire—including literature, art, architecture, law and theology—flourished even as the empire itself faltered. Byzantine culture would exert a great influence on the Western intellectual tradition, as scholars of the Italian Renaissance sought help from Byzantine scholars in translating Greek pagan and Christian writings.
This process would continue after , when many of these scholars fled from Constantinople to Italy. Long after its end, Byzantine culture and civilization continued to exercise an influence on countries that practiced its Eastern Orthodox religion, including Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece, among others. Start your free trial today. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!
Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. The Persian Empire is the name given to a series of dynasties centered in modern-day Iran that spanned several centuries—from the sixth century B.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the mightiest and longest-lasting dynasties in world history. The chief leader, known as the Sultan, was given absolute For them, Byzantium was a continuation of the Roman The Goths were a nomadic Germanic people who fought against Roman rule in the late s and early s A. The ascendancy of the Goths is said to have marked the Beginning in the eighth century B. Among the many legacies Attila the Hun was the leader of the Hunnic Empire from to A.
Palmyra is an ancient archaeological site located in modern-day Syria. Originally founded near a fertile natural oasis, it was established sometime during the third millennium B. For example, the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, was adorned with a large number of classical sculptures, although they eventually became an object of some puzzlement for its inhabitants.
And indeed, the art produced during the Byzantine Empire, although marked by periodic revivals of a classical aesthetic, was above all marked by the development of a new aesthetic. Thus, although the Byzantine Empire had a multi-ethnic character during most of its history, and preserved Romano-Hellenistic traditions, it became identified by its western and northern contemporaries with its increasingly predominant Greek element and its own unique cultural developments.
This is the oldest surviving map of the city and the only one that predates the Turkish conquest of the city in CE.
This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. These are all based on medieval stereotypes about the Byzantine Empire that developed as western Europeans came into contact with the Byzantines, and were perplexed by their more structured government.
An important reason is that in the decades preceding the sacking, the Byzantines had become estranged from their former allies in the west. The Orthodox Church broke away from the church in Rome in and, perhaps most importantly, people from the west were massacred in Constantinople in , partly in response to the growing influence of western merchants and kingdoms.
This meant that in , when a group of cash strapped crusaders were looking for money to finance an expedition to Egypt, they were willing to hear out Prince Alexius Angelos, a claimant to the Byzantine throne, who encouraged them to journey to Constantinople before going to Egypt.
Phillips notes that by this time, the Byzantine military was in bad shape. Between and no fewer than fifty-eight rebellions or uprisings took place across the empire. While Constantinople was once again under control of a Greek ruler, its end was drawing near.
The empire struggled on into the 15th century, the emperors gradually losing their importance in favor of religious officials. In , Patriarch Anthony actually had to give a speech explaining why the Byzantine emperor was still important. In , after a siege, the growing Ottoman Empire took Constantinople, putting an end to the empire. When the Ottomans examined the Hagia Sophia, which had been built nearly 1, years earlier, they were amazed.
They turned the Hagia Sophia into a mosque, adding four minarets that rise more than feet 60 meters off the ground. Today, although the Byzantine Empire is long gone, the city of Constantinople now called Istanbul flourishes and is still regarded as a crossroads, both literally and metaphorically, between Europe and Asia.
As emperor, Constantine enacted many administrative, financial, social, and military reforms to strengthen the empire. The government was restructured and civil and military authority separated. A new gold coin, the solidus , was introduced to combat inflation. It would become the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years.
As the first Roman emperor to claim conversion to Christianity, Constantine played an influential role in the development of Christianity as the religion of the empire.
In military matters, the Roman army was reorganized to consist of mobile field units and garrison soldiers capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions.
Constantine pursued successful campaigns against the tribes on the Roman frontiers—the Franks, the Alamanni, the Goths, and the Sarmatians—, and even resettled territories abandoned by his predecessors during the turmoil of the previous century. The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire.
It would later become the capital of the empire for over one thousand years; for this reason the later Eastern Empire would come to be known as the Byzantine Empire. His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children, and for centuries after his reign.
The medieval church upheld him as a paragon of virtue, while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference, and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity. Constantine the Great. Byzantine Emperor Constantine the Great presents a representation of the city of Constantinople as tribute to an enthroned Mary and Christ Child in this church mosaic.
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