Byzantine Empire

What is the Byzantine Empire?

The Byzantine Empire was made up of all the eastern territories that belonged to the Roman Empire . It was officially created in 395, when the western and eastern territories were definitively separated. Its rise and fall mark the beginning and end of the Medieval Era.

The capital of the Byzantine Empire was Constantinople (initially called Byzantium), today known as Istanbul.

Origin of the Byzantine Empire

During the mandate of Emperor Justinian (527 BC), the Byzantine Empire occupied parts of what is now Africa, Egypt, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Croatia, Asia Minor, and other territories.

The Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantine Empire emerged as a political and administrative solution to maintain control of the territories conquered by the Romans.

The initial plan was to divide the Roman Empire into two: Western and Eastern, each with their respective emperors and vice-emperors to facilitate decision-making, although they should respond to the central power in Rome.

However, internal struggles prevented the plan from consolidating, until the emperor Constantine managed to unite the eastern and western empire again in 330 and designated the city of Byzantium (later known as Constantinople) as the new capital of the empire. Hence, centuries later, historians called the Western Roman Empire the “Byzantine Empire”.

Constantine’s mandate was followed by that of Theodosius I, who named his two sons Flavius ​​Honorius and Arcadius heirs to the eastern and western empires, respectively. This decision, far from maintaining the unity that Constantine had established, generated the definitive separation of the two empires in 395 and the beginning of the Eastern Roman Empire as an independent entity.

However, the following emperors attempted to resume relations with the western empire and, in the most ambitious cases, to regain the former dominance of the Roman Empire, the western part of which was already in decline.

It was the emperor Justinian, in the year 527, who, through the invasion of African and European territories and his legal and tax reforms, returned the power of past times to the Eastern Roman Empire.

See also:

• Middle Ages.

Decline and fall of the Byzantine Empire

Having conquered much of Europe, Asia, and Africa and held political, economic, and territorial dominance, the Byzantine Empire began a slow but progressive loss of territory after the death of Emperor Justinian, reducing the empire to Greece, the south. from Italy and Asia Minor.

When the Turks invaded Constantinople in 1453, the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire was officially conceived. This date is considered of great historical relevance because for many historians it is the end of the Medieval Era.

Characteristics of the Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was noted for its economic, political, religious, and cultural heritage that it held for just over a thousand years. These are some of its most outstanding characteristics:

Politics and diplomacy

During the rule of the Byzantine Empire, the figure of the “Basileus” prevailed, who was only the emperor himself, but with an investiture that mixed politics with religion : the Basel was not only the highest representative of earthly power, but he had an authority legitimized by God and that was only surpassed by the Pope.

The Byzantines became famous for the expansion of their territories (especially during the Emperor Justinian’s rule). However, their favorite practice was not war, but diplomatic relations, since these kept them safe from attacks and also assured them of trade.

Religion

When the Byzantine Empire was still part of the Roman Empire, multiple religions were practiced, as a result of the mixture of conquered territories and cultures. However, this progressively changed until Christianity became the official religion and any other religious manifestations were prohibited.

It was during the validity of the Byzantine Empire that the Orthodox Church was created, whose existence remains valid until today, especially in Eastern European countries.

Economy

The Byzantines, during the mandate of Emperor Justian, achieved unprecedented economic growth thanks to three factors:

• The accumulation of the wealth captured from the conquered territories: this allowed them to mint gold and increase the coffers.
• Trade: the Byzantine empire was an essential part of the silk road and they even went so far as to develop their own industry so as not to depend on Asian silk, but also their internal commercial exchange allowed them self-sustainability.
• Taxes: The collection of taxes for land tenure was one of the empire’s main sources of income.

Arts

The Byzantines left a cultural legacy that can be appreciated to this day, and that is especially reflected in the architecture, characterized by a naturalistic influence, allusions to religious themes and a mixture of Roman and Greek techniques. They also stood out in the use of mosaic, generally for ornamental purposes.

In literature, the Byzantines left a legacy of their own genres such as the bestarios (collections of mythological animals) or lapidaries (collections on the power of stones) or the Digenis Akritas, an anonymous poetry book written in the 12th century, in which they relate the adventures of a hero named Digenis.

Russian, Armenian and Turkish versions of the poetry collection have been found, which seems to indicate the relevance of the text in the past.

In the painting, the Byzantine Empire left many religious representations of relevant figures of Christianity called icons , which were used especially in the altarpieces of the churches. With this artistic expression came iconoclasts, known for opposing the worship of religious images.