Byzantine Empire was a synonym of the Eastern half of Roman emperor which survived after the fall of the Roman Empire to the hands of the barbarian. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire survive nearly century before falling to Ottoman Turks in the year 1453. What is important to note is that even though this was an independent empire, the citizens of this empire considered themselves Roman since the Greece culture and norms heavily influenced them. Byzantine Empire established very first due to many factors which also later led to its stability for the years it managed to survive as an empire. Through a different culture that enhanced unity and the kind of leadership that has emperor had, it survived and thrived until it fell in the hand of the Turks in the year 1453 ( Pontani, 2015). In this article, the author majors on the analysis of the historical account of Byzantine Empire. The author is interested in analyzing the creation of this empire, its establishments, and factors which finally led to its fall. By the end of this discussion, the author expects the reader to have an overview of the reason why this empire was created, the factors which led to its maintenance and the factors which led to its fall or decay.
Creation of the Byzantine Empire
As aforementioned, Byzantine Empire was the eastern part of the Roman Empire before it falls to the barbarian invaders. Though many different factors are pointed out in history to have led to the rise of the Byzantine Empire, the sole reason for the rise or the creation and establishment of this empire was its leadership. Constantine, I took control of the Roman Empire after it won the battle against the Maldivian in the year A.D 312. He had many tactics which made him won the battle, but that is not important in this discussion. What is important in this case the kind of religious experience he had mostly on Christianity which would later become the cornerstone of the development of the Byzantine Empire. There were some significant changes which Constantine brought to this emperor which lead to its establishments. Remember, before the Byzantine Empire Muslim was the reigning religion. This was however not welcomed by all people as other belonged to another religious group which was suppressed in the Roman Empire before its fall ( Meyendorff, 2010). One of the major changes which lead to the creation of this more was the introduction and the spread of Christianity which was introduce by Constantine. The single religious group was no longer appealing to many people, and the introduction of Christianity came as a relief too many, making them embrace this empire. Christianity was made even stronger by Theodosius I and later made Christianity part of the Byzantine Empire.
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The quest for better leadership who could unite citizens after the fall of Roma Empire was another need which led to the creation and establishments of Byzantine Empire. It is worth noting that one of the reasons which made the Roman Empire fall was their quest to cover many empires in Rome and struggle for leadership. The citizens thus needed a leader who could unite them, laws which could guide them and make them leave a happy and normal life again. This led to the formation of the Byzantine Empire. Under the Emperor Justinian who was one of the famous leaders in this emperor, the laws were formed into what was called the Justinian codes. This was a code which stat5ed that under Byzantine Empire, the emperor was the one who made the rules and laws and was reasonable for interpreting them as people follow. This law brought people together and thus built a strong empire under the leadership of people like Justinian. Further, after the disintegration and the fall of the Roman emperor, the people were left insecure, and they needed a leader to protect them. They found this under the leadership of constitute and Justinian whose aim of leadership was to reunite the entire Roman emperor ( Pentcheva, 2010).
What was noted is that the primary way through which the rules were made in this empire was through imposing them. There are several instances which justify this kind of rules and laws imposition. For instance, the Justinian codes were imposed. Also, when Justinian was now becoming unpopular after he imposed tax system which was not favoring the people, he imposed a rule which recognizes women and gave them the power to make a decision. This was favorable to his wife. This strategy also works by aligning people to the rules which were made in the Byzantine Empire and contributed larger part of its creation.
Maintenance of Byzantine Empire
Maintaining this empire was not easy since it was formed after the break and the fall of the entire Rome. However, there were different institutions which were formed and which lead to its maintenance. Further, the maintenance of the empire was also aided by the fact that it was endowed with many artists who could produce many iconic features and this aided in its economic re-establishment. The first factor behind the maintained was the Christianity. This was the cornerstone of the maintained of this emperor. "In the fourth century, the Roman world became increasingly Christian, and the Byzantine Empire was certainly a Christian state. It was the first empire in the world to be found not only on worldly power but also on the authority of the Church." Different factors inspired the Christians in this empire and this made then root their faith in Christianity to guide them. The first was the Patriarchs who resided in the Alexandria and other towns such as Jerusalem. “The Council of Chalcedon (451 CE) decided that the patriarch of Constantinople was to be the second in the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Only the pope in Rome was his superior. After the Great Schism of 1054 CE the eastern (Orthodox) church separated from the western (Roman Catholic) church. The center of influence of the orthodox churches later shifted to Moscow.” This denomination made the level of faith in this empire grow massively and was a strong factor behind its maintained.
The reason why this empire was maintained was the kind of culture or the culture of life which the people in the empire embraced. It is worth noting that the historians document that Byzantine Empire had a bad reputation which was rooted in great luxury, social stagnation, and corruption. This was a social threat, and for the empire to remain perfectly maintained, this kind of social immorality had to be dealt with. This led to the establishment of the law institution such as the law court which was established by Constantine. This thus brought a type of culture where there was a kind of hierarchical power based on the political arena and leadership of the empire ( Lamers, 2015). This led to an empire where there was a modern kind of life with a lot of order, and this was the primary factor which guided the empire until it survived all the years it managed before falling. The court was charged with ensuring that there were law and order, and every person was responsible for what they did. This erased the kind of barbarism which existed as this empire was being formed and brought a system where there was democracy in operations. The next issue which aided the maintenance was the culture of technology and science. The empire majored in the public debate, this was where the philosophers and ideas were shared publicly, and this led to many inventions in the field of science which made the life of people became even better. “The debates kept knowledge and admiration for the Greek philosophical and scientific heritage alive. Byzantine intellectuals quoted their classical predecessors with great respect, even though they had not been Christians.”
The decay of Byzantine Empire
After going through the creation and the establishment of this empire, there are a lot of positive attitudes which could leave one wondering how the empire met its downfall. The fact is that this empire was very stable and there and it was difficult to imagine why this empire finally was disintegrated. The truth is that there are a lot of factors which contributed to the fall of this empire. The decay of this empire stemmed from one of the most unexpected angle, the tool which used to unite them was the tool which orchestrated their fall. The Christianity which was once the cornerstone of this empire was one of the significant factors which contributed to their fall. "The Byzantine Empire lasted for almost a millennium as the dominant Christian power in the world. However, it was their role in preserving Christian power that eventually led to their decline. In 1054 CE, in what is remembered as the Great Schism , the Roman Catholic Church of Italy and Greek Orthodox Church of Constantinople formally split, pitting many European kingdoms against the Byzantines. Throughout the 13th century, Constantinople found itself in the middle of the Crusades, and was invaded by both European Catholic armies and Middle Eastern Islamic ones." The weak point was later exposed when the Islamic states attacked Christianity called the Ottoman Empire and this lead to their final fall.
The next reason for the fall was due to rise in other states and cities in Italy such as Venice which offered competition regarding trade. These cities gained influence and thus were threats to the empire regarding trade. This reduces the kind of the monopoly the empire enjoyed on trade, and thus they lacked enough resources which could support them built a strong army to fight the enemies ( Suarez, 2016). The decay was further made inevitable by the strong army which the opponents had, and the kind of organization they had as they were attacking this empire. “The Byzantine army under the emperor Romans IV Diogenes, although reinforced by Frankish mercenaries, was beaten by an army of the Seljuk Turks, commanded by Alp Aslant.” It was this defeat which made this empire lost some of the critical cities which supported it, and thus it could not afford to stand alone. It most important cities such as Antioch, Holly land, and Edessa. The empire could not survive and thus crumbled.
In summary, Byzantine Empire was a strong empire which was created on the foundation of Christianity and strong leadership. It was due to this faith and the leaders which made this empire establish so strong after the fall of Roman Empire, and made it reign for a thousand years before its fall. There are many factors which contributed to the fall of this empire. However, the two main factors were the split of the Christianity as central religious faith and the rise of other cities in Italy which neutralized the monopoly status the empire enjoyed before.
References
Lamers, H. (2015). Greece Reinvented: Transformations of Byzantine Hellenism in Renaissance Italy . Brill.
Meyendorff, J. (2010). Byzantium and the rise of Russia: A study of Byzantine-Russian relations in the Fourteenth Century . Cambridge University Press.
Pentcheva, B. V. (2010). The Sensual Icon: Space, Ritual, and the Senses in Byzantium . Pennsylvania State University Press.
Pontani, F. (2015). Scholarship in the Byzantine Empire (529–1453). F. Montanari, S. Matthaios, and A. Rengakos, edd., Brill’s Companion to Ancient Greek Scholarship , 1 , 297-455.
Suarez, A. R. (2016). From Greek into Latin: Western scholars and translators in Constantinople during the reign of John II. John II Komnenos, Emperor of Byzantium: In the Shadow of Father and Son , 17 .
