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THE BYZANTINES - CORNELL NOTES
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE SECTION
Previously

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New Roman Empire

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Life in New Rome

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The Western Roman Empire crumbled in 5th century because
Germanic tribes were invading
Before, the Roman empire was split into two sections Western and
Eastern
Capital moved from Rome to Greek Byzantium
Byzantium name changed to Constantinople after Constantine
Byzantium remained the name of the Eastern empire
The Western Empire collapses, but Byzantium continues to flourish
Roman leaders divided the empire in 395
- Reasons: Difficulties in communication, and troubling western
part
527, Byzantine noble, Justinian succeeds his uncle to rule the
Eastern empire
533, best general, Belisarius was sent to restore the Roman glory
by regaining the North African lands from Germanics
- Belisarius succeeds
535, Rome is taken from the Ostrogoths, but was constantly
attacked by Germanics
In 16 years Rome changed hands six times
After some time, Justinian’s empire ruled over parts of Spain, all of
Italy, most of the old Roman Empire
Justinian ruled with absolute power
- He was above the state and church
- Appointed bishops
Politics were brutal at the time
- 29 of 88 Byzantine emperors died violently and 13 quit to live in
monasteries
Being separate from the West with difficult communication, made
the Byzantine empire a totally different personality
Most spoke Greek instead of Latin
Justinian set up a panel of legal experts to regulate the society
- Panel analyzed 500 years of Roman law
- They scraped whichever were outdated
Created Justinian Code, made up of following:
- The Code, had 5,000 Roman laws
- The Digest, 50 volumes of expert’s opinions on the law
- The Institutes, law student textbooks on how to use the laws

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The Empire Falls

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- The Novellae, displayed legislation passed after 534
Justinian Code encompassed marriage, property, inheritance,
criminal justice, women’s rights etc
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Em
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splits
into two soon after
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and W
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competed for converts
Orthodox missionaries took their religion to the Slavs
Saint Methodius and Saint Cyril (missionaries) worked with the
Slavs in the seventh century
Cyril and Methodius created an alphabet for the Slavs so they could
read the Bible
Today’s Slavic languages ex
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- Justinian supported the Blues
Factions would act out when they were defeated
The Blues and the Greens became the more important
Chariot races were amongst the important events happening in the
Hippodrome
The emperor was always honored even though he may not have
paid for the races themselves
People felt empowered in these races
Anastasius abolished venationes and pantomimes leaving the
people to concentrate even more on chariot races
The empire had been at war with the Sassanid Empire for a very
long time, so Justinian decided to buy peace with 11,000 pounds
To save the empire from ruin he had to raise taxes, extremely
Several Greens and Blues had been arrested for disturbance
- They were to be hanged, but two escaped to a church
- The church was put under guard
On January 13, 532 the Blue and the Greens combined in the chant
‘Nika’ - conquer
Blues and Greens called out to Justinian for 22 races to show mercy
to the prisoners
When he ignored them they began shouting ‘Nika’, their
watchword
They, again demanded the release of the prisoners
They set fire to the Praetorian when the prisoners weren’t released
More fires broke out, and even the Hippodrome was set alight
A riot broke out when J
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’s generals: Belisarius, Narses and Mundus
Justinian ordered Belisarius and the Gepid Prince Mundo to lead
troops and attack demonstrators in the Hippodrome, 35,000 died
When the revolt calmed down, Anastasius’ nephews, Hypatius and
Pompeius were put to death
- Some say that Justinian may have shown mercy
- But Theodora urged him to do so for the sake of the safety of
the regime
Justinian sent in special agents to stir up trouble between the
alliance of Blues and Greens
Then, his generals Belisarius and Mundus quietly closed the gates
Narses stood at the one open gate
They then proceeded to slaughter 30,000 people unlucky enough
to be inside the Hippodrome

JUSTINIAN’S FLEA
The Pious Consort

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Justinian’s constitution: Deo Auctore (By God’s authority)
Justinian greatly innovated Christianity, but said that he was
restoring the past
He never left Constantinople except to visit vacation palaces
The Hippodrome was burned, and today only the Obelisk remains
in the plaza
Chariot races were the most popular forms of Hippodrome
entertainment
Gladiators had been banned by Constantine
Some where there in support of the sport but most to exhibit
support for a certain faction
Factions were very important mentioned many times during that
section of history
Slogan-shouting was very important to a political level
- There was even a bet between Justinian and a green
representative in the Hippodrome
- Slogans were almost poetry leaning on specific Greek syllables
to create types of couplets
Blues and Greens had shock troops: Partisans
- Resembling gangs
Partisans wore short capes of their colors, a contrast to the
Constantinopolitan long tunic
Partisans would extort money from merchants, rape women, and
vandalize the city
Justinian cultivated the factions in hope to use them to his benefit
J
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at a Blue
meeting
They fell in love

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It took some time for them to get married as J
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He had control over the empire’s finances



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