Byzantine Empire

 After the split of the Roman Empire into East and West halves, and the subsequent dissolution of the western half of the empire, the Byzantine Empire emerged as the remainder of the once-great Italian civilization. As seen on the map, (left), Byzantium initially encompassed the Eastern half of the Mediterranean Basin, primarily in modern-day Turkey and Greece, with additional land in (modern-day) Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt. Also shown on the map is the land that Justinian added to the empire.

The most famous ruler of the Byzantine Empire was the emperor Justinian. Born Petrus Sabbatius, he traveled to Constantinople to receive an education. When his uncle, Justin, became the emperor, Petrus renamed himself Flavius Justinianus after his uncle. Justinian gradually rose through the ranks of the Byzantine government, and when Justin died, he was the sole heir to the throne. Justinian was "noted for his administrative reorganization of the imperial government and for his sponsorship of a codification of laws known as the Codex Justinianus."

Justinian's two most renowned exploits were his continuation of Rome's ancient struggle with Persia, and his attempt to reunify the Roman empire by regaining the Western provinces from "barbarians." Justinian, in order to focus his military attentions towards the West, had to disengage from battle with the Persians, towards the East. Thus, in 532, the Treaty of Eternal Peace was ratified by both the Byzantine and Persian empires. The Treaty largely favored Byzantium, which lost no land to Persia. However, the Treaty didn't solve the problem, as in 540, Persians attacked the Eastern borders (Mesopotamia, Syria, Byzantine Armenia) of the empire while Justinian and his armies were occupied in Italy. The fighting continued, until the end of 561, when a 50-year truce was finally negotiated between the two warring empires.

To the right is a page of the Justinian's famous book of laws, or the Codex Justinianus. The codex amassed Justinian's new laws, as well as past Roman laws and opinions of distinguished Roman jurists. It was divided into four books: Codex Constitutionum (laws); Digesta, or Pandectae (statements from jurists regarding the validity of laws in practical application - statements not cited were deemed never to be cited in law); Institutiones (an elementary textbook for first-year law students); and Novellae Constitutiones Post Codicem, or the Novels (a collection of Justinian's own laws, from between 534 and 565).

The capital city of the Byzantine Empire was Constantinople, located in modern-day Turkey. The city, originally Byzantium, was rechristened as Constantinople by Constantine the Great in 330, before the fall of Rome and the formation of the Byzantine Empire. The city was famed for both its strong protection (it was invaded only during the Fourth Crusade, and even then, was reclaimed), and for its magnificent architecture. Byzantine architecture drew on both Greek and Roman styles, and the distinctive architectural tradition that resulted was replicated in the Slavic East and in Italy, particularly in Venice. In addition to the architecture that represented a thriving cultural tradition, it is noteworthy that even through the Middle Ages, a dark time for culture in Europe, the Byzantine Empire maintained the artistic and technical skills developed by the Roman Empire.

One significant aspect of the Byzantine Empire was its connection to religion. Arising from the Roman Empire, which had since affiliated itself with Christianity, Byzantine was thus also closely linked with the religion. "It was the first empire in the world to be founded not only on worldly power, but also on the authority of the church." This tradition continued in the latter half of the first millennium CE with the rise of Islam, but it was the Byzantine Empire that had set the precedent that a religiously driven empire could exist.

The Byzantine Empire had a flourishing economy. Commerce was partially regulated by the state - they had a monopoly on issuing coins, and controlled prices and circulation of goods that might be especially valuable or profitable. Constantinople's position on important east-west and north-south trade routes allowed the empire to accumulate a measure of wealth from trade, especially the trade of silk. The empire levied taxes as well, which it redistributed to the populace in the forms of salaries of state officials and investments in public works,  building projects, and art installations.

It was later during its history that the political situations of the Byzantine Empire became increasingly precarious. The First Crusade was launched by the Holy Roman Empire in 1096. That crusade, and the three others that followed, were in attempt to reclaim the Holy Land, a land that the Byzantine Empire was often in possession of. Thus, the crusades were a series of tumultuous events. To the right is Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, a ruler that closely avoided conflict during the Second Crusade (1147), even as Crusaders' troops marched through the Byzantine Empire. Manuel formed alliances with the Kingdom of Jerusalem to keep the city from falling into the hand of either the Crusades or the growing Muslim empires, and also succeeded in gaining territory around the Mediterranean Basin.

During the 13th and 14th centuries, the power of the Byzantine Empire began to falter. Much of the instability the empire experienced in its last centuries can be attributed to religion; both Christianity and Islam. The Christian Crusades, in an attempt to recapture Jerusalem, often rampaged through much of the Byzantine Empire. At one point, the Crusaders even conquered the city of Constantinople, and though the Byzantines regained the city, it was a blow from which they never fully recovered. The rise of Islam, after its conception in the 7th century, also weakened the Byzantine Empire. As the religion spread and gained strength, especially in the Middle Eastern areas that the Byzantines occupied, it became an increasingly powerful threat to the Christian empire. The Muslim seizure of Egyptian and Palestinian territory was another strong blow to the Byzantine Empire, contributing to the many problems that eventually instigated its fall.

The Byzantine Empire could not survive long in its weakened state, and in 1453, the empire fell in the hands of the Ottomans. At right is a depiction of the fall of Constantinople, which was fought over for nearly two months before being conquered by the triumphant Ottomans. With the fall of the Byzantines, the last remaining parts of the Roman Empire had truly fallen as well. But though the Byzantine Empire was extinguished, many of their cultural and artistic achievements (mingled with Greco-Roman and Islamic traditions) lived on through the upcoming centuries.

Sources

1. http://www.sheltonstate.edu/Uploads/files/faculty/Chuck%20Boening/western%20civ/Byzantine%20Empire%20(Justinian).jpg

2.http://www.britannica.com/biography/Justinian-I

3.http://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/2013/01/19/episode-18-527-532-part-2-the-eternal-peace-and-the-danube-frontier/

4. https://www.law.berkeley.edu/library/robbins/RomanLegalTradition.html

5. http://www.byzantiumnovum.org/international_byzantine_day.htm

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7. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Hyperryron-Manuel_I-sb1965.jpg

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10. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Fall-of-constantinople-22.jpg