Another way the crusades led to the fall of the Byzantine Empire was the presence of weak leadership. For instance, Emperor Alexius is anxious to gain loyalty and strength because his empire is weaker internally; therefore he forces loyalty oaths. Alexius’s need to make other leaders take an oath proves he was not a strong enough leader to deserve the respect of the people, therefore resulting in the people revolting, causing everlasting internal damage (Doc 2.) A chronicler is a person who writes accounts of important or historical events or people. Therefore, it is Anna Comnena’s job to write down her father’s actions and interactions, she is unbiased because she shows the weakness of her father and does not write to boast about how great her father is. All in all, Anna writes in a …show more content…
The Hagia Sophia was one of the greatest Orthodox churches built by Justinian. Alexius IV in other words destroys the empire and lowers religious values. The empire and the emperor must be so vulnerable and powerless to have to burn religious icons in order to pay enemies. In essence, the melting of religious icons demonstrates the emperor’s weakness to sustain society. The turning against religious values made the citizens of the Byzantine Empire revolt, causing more internal conflict, which allows the Turks to devise ways to conquer the "holy lands" (Doc5.) Jonathon’s Phillips secondary source includes a primary a source where the tone is miserable and the person who is watching this empire crumble is in horror and complete sadness. This document shows Alexius IV has come to his last resort and began to destroy his one unifying element in his society. Alexius IV had to choose religion or the protection of his empire, and as most emperors would, he chose to protect society rather than preserving religion. The excerpt from The Letter of Alexius, the reader can clearly see the vulnerability of the
The Roman Empire influenced the Byzantine Empire’s culture, mainly through the religion of Christianity. Christianity first appeared in the Roman Empire, with the birth, teachings, and supposed resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the beginning years of it’s arrival, Christianity was not tolerated and Christians were mainly, and most often brutally prosecuted. However, with Constantine’s Edict of Milan, Christianity was officially tolerated, and under Theodosius, it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire inherited this relatively new religion, continuing to follow the beliefs and traditions of the church, as well as spreading the word of Jesus Christ and the message of god. Churches sprung up in the empire, such as the mighty Hagia Sophia. Located in Constantinople and built by Justinian, this church especially exemplified
follow. That was the first goal of icons. The second goal was to form an
For several years, scholars and historians from around the world have been debating about the Roman Republic’s constitution. Many have described their constitution as purely democratic; however, others find aspects of the Roman Republic characterizing despotism or an aristocracy. So, which form of government could best describe the Roman Republic? Currently, there is no exact answer, but because of meticulous studies, observations were recorded and assumptions were made. From a selection of resources, the most common claim inquired that the Roman Republic should not be considered an accurate form of a democracy and there are a collection of reasons as to why this is.
People say that the Byzantine Empire is compared to an accordion. Well, it is. Comparing all of the civilizations and empires we learned about, I find that the Byzantine has a history, where people living in that empire rise at on time and fall inconsiderably during another time. The Byzantine Empire is an empire ruled by Emperor Justantine, and Constantinople was the imperial capital of the Byzantine world until it was invaded by the Turks in 1453. Now, how does the imperial capital, Constantinople, Hagia Sophia, Justinian, and the Crusaders involve in the Byzantine Empire? I find that geography and the achievements of the Empire can be two strong reasoning’s on how and why we should study the Byzantine Empire.
Last but not least, the crusades led to the decline of the Byzantine Empire by demolishing their economy. The Annales Herbipolenses demonstrates the Christians were so desperate for help, they took any and every person to fight, they did not require any person to be skilled. The crusades weakened the economy making people want to fight due to how poor they lived their lives especially those who held low social status such as serfs or peasants. The need for monetary support in the West left them vulnerable and ultimately led to the sacking of Constantinople (Doc 3.) This writer is anonymous but by the location of the writer, the writer must have had a Germanic nature, therefore the information must be valid because Germany was a Catholic nation,
While the Hagia Sophia and the Pantheon were built in and represent two different time periods and locations, they have some similar structural features as well as some resembling circumstances surrounding their prospective histories. Both of their unique construction is related to their different purposes and the symbolism behind the buildings. The Pantheon represents a time in which the Roman empire was booming with trade and commerce. There was a growing interest in art and sculpture as well as religion. There was also an emphasis on imperialism and the strength and power of the emperor. The transition from the Roman to the Byzantine empire took place under the emperor, Constantine and it happened around 330 C.E. He moved the capital from Rome to Byzantion and renamed the city Constantinople meaning the city of Constantine, which is modern day Istanbul. This was also a huge intersection in the east-west trade. He then changed the official religion of the empire to Christianity which created a major shift in structures, works of art, and lifestyle dynamics. The emperor was now seen as the head of the church, and in 391 C.E. all temples and forms of the pagan cult that dominated the Roman Empire were closed and banned.
The fall of the Roman Empire in 476 C.E resulted in many tragedies, as history “replays” itself, this fall led to starts, the land that was once known as Rome split into two pieces, the eastern part known as the Byzantine Empire and the western part known as medieval Western Europe. However, the empires wasn’t one that overtook Rome, the Byzantine Empire was rather known as a continuation of the Roman Empire, which was known to be more politically centralized than Western Europe, and the two empires were known to have different religious aspects as well, though there are differences in these empires, being both emerged from Rome led them to having similar aspects in many ways as well.
The Article of Confederation were a disaster and since the Americans just broke away from Britain we needed a more permanent and solid solution. The solution we can up with was the Constitution. The Constitution was written in 1787 and the purpose of this was to make a strong and balanced government that would prevent tyranny. A group of men signed this document in Philadelphia. One of the questions are what about this document prevented tyranny? How did things such as Federalism, Separation of powers, Checks and balances, and how big state's power and small state's power were well balanced out prevent tyranny within America?
In 323 a young roman military officer born in Moesia successfully defeated three other generals to become the Emperor of Rome. The young Romanroan officer was named Constantine he quickly made two decisions that would change European and Middle Eastern history. First, he gave Cchristianity legal standing and moved the imperial capital from Rome to Byzantium a small seaside trade town in modern day Turkey. Constantine relocated the government for two reasons: for one he wanted to be able to pay closer attention to challenges from Persia. He also wanted to be near the spiritual and cultural richness of cities like Jerusalem, Nicomedia, and Ancient Troy. Constantinople lavishly built up Byzantium and renamed it after himself Constantinople.
The ancient Roman Empire lasted from 500 b.c.e to 500 b.c, around the Mediterranean Sea. The ancient Roman Empire declined because of their military, economic, and political problems. Those three issues were the main causes of the decline of the Roman Empire. One of the causes of the Roman Empire to decline was the military issues such as the enemies they made and the number of people exempt from the army draft.
know that the Byzantine changed the course of history. You should study the Byzantine Empire
The Roman Empire has been looked up to for ages and seen as a model for many current societies. What many do not hear about as often as Roman accomplishments is the decay of the empire. Throughout several years, the Roman Empire was in a state of decay due to many deciding factors. The most important among these (and the most devastating) are natural disasters, diseases, economic corruption, the fall of the Roman army, and the invasion of the brutal Huns.
In schools around the world we have social studies, where we talk about the past empires that affected today's world. We talk about the Roman Empire, the Egyptians, even the Chinese empires for there huge affect on common era but their is one that deserves just as much credit as the rest and that is the Byzantine empire. The Byzantine empire lasted well over 1000 years and happened right after the fall of the Roman Empire in the Middle East. I will be talking about why we need to study the Byzantine empire with three simple yet major reasons. First, I will be talking about the byzantines preservation of important documents.
Image a life with the people of your country and you living with fear of the unknown of what the government’s next move because of their absolute power and make decisions and choices without any of the people’s consent. To prevent this our Founding Fathers have written a constitution that has prevented this from ever happening to our government. They have written the constitution to guard from tyranny by incorporating Federalism, Representation of the people, and Checks and Balances.
Before the era of the Byzantine Empire, the Roman Empire had disagreements about their faith and religion. They encountered differences that eventually caused them to split in two. The Byzantine Empire was successful in discovering the Orthodox Christian religion and building a new empire that preserved Roman laws. Without the great schism, Roman laws would’ve been forgotten and there would not have been the exploration of a new religion.