HIST 203 Lecture Outline (Fall 2020 – Week 5)

HIST 203
SYLLABUS
LECTURE OUTLINES

THE BYZANTINE WORLD

Video:
Extra History: Byzantine Empire – Justinian and Theodora, Part 1 (8:09 min.):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_2E0RxVHH4&list=PLEb6sGT7oD8HLpPQ0N4UTmTtPlpXfJias

Ben Hur (1959): chariot race (4:17 min.):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frE9rXnaHpE

Music:

Old Roman chant: Terra Tremuit (offertorium from the Easter Sunday service, 10:02 min.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdka1WN1c8c&feature=related

Byzantine chant: “Θεαρχίω νεύματι” (“With a sign by the authority of God,” service of the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin, 10:22 min.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dgmQd5zVPk&feature=relmfu

324-330 Byzantium re-founded as Constantinople by Constantine
4th C.-7th C. Donatism (criminal priests cannot perform valid sacraments) flourishes in N. Africa
395 Final division of Roman Empire into Eastern and Western Empires
5th C.-7th C. Monophysitism (Jesus’s human and divine natures are fused) flourishes, especially in Egypt and Syria
451 Council of Chalcedon: 1st coronation of an emperor by patriarch of Constantinople, who claims equal status with the bishop of Rome (=pope); Monophysitism rejected
476 Odovacer deposes last Western Emperor
527-565

Justinian (and wife Theodora, d. 548):

Major achievements include:

Conquest of N. Africa, S. Spain, and Italy (map)

Construction of churches of San Vitale (Ravenna) and Hagia Sophia (Constantinople)

Codification of Roman law in massive Corpus Juris Civilis; major precepts include:

  • “the will of the prince has the force of law”

Major failures include:

Rebellion and burning of Constantinople in Nika Riots, 532

Exhaustion of treasury and army in wars of conquest, 530s-550s

Failure of “Perpetual Peace” treaty with Persia, 540

Massive mortality from plague, 541-3

Rise of Avar state on Danube, 561

Important sources include: Procopius, The WarsThe Buildings, and The Secret History

Charioteer factions (Red, White, Blue, Green)

Charioteer of the Red Team (factio rossata) with his quadriga (Rome, 3rd cent.)

Chariot crash

Byzantine silk fragment showing charioteer (from Charlemagne’s tomb)

568 Lombards invade N. Italy (Byzantines retain Ravenna and S. Italy)
late 500s Visigoths reconquer S. Spain
after 602 Byzantine N. frontier falls to Avars and Slavs; E. frontier to Persians
626 Avar and Persian siege of Constantinople
636-642 Islamic conquest of Egypt, Syro-Palestine, and Persia (map)
by mid 7th C. Greek supersedes Latin in Empire
674-8 Muslim siege of Constantinople (first use by the Byzantines of Greek fire, perhaps a mixture of sulfur, quicklime, and petroleum)
690s Muslim conquest of N. Africa
717-718 Muslim siege of Constantinople
726-843 Iconoclasm constroversy (destruction of religious images as idolotrous)
Icon of Virgin and Child (c. 550-600, from St Catherine’s monastery, Mount Sinai, Egypt)
751 Lombards take Ravenna
mid 700s Rough equilibrium reached between 3 great Western powers: Byzantines, Franks, and Muslims (map)
867-1056
Macedonian dynasty: Byzantine “golden age,” including:

reconquest of Balkans and conversion of Slavs by Byzantine missionaries (including St. Cyril, d. 869, and St. Methodius, d. 884, alleged inventors of the Slavonic “Cyrillic” alphabet)

destruction of the Bulgar army, and alliance with Prince Vladimir I of Kiev by Basil II “the Bulgar-Slayer”(976-1025)

1071 Defeat by Seljuk Turks at Manzikert (N. of Lake Van); loss of Asia Minor
1453 Fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Turks

 

Thursday:

THE RISE OF ISLAM AND THE ISLAMIC WORLD

Islamic call to prayer (3:33 min.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe8qRj12OhY

Click here for map
c. 571-632 Muhammed (“call”: c. 610)
622 Hijra (or Hegira, “flight”) from Mecca to Medina (=Year 1 of Muslim calendar)
630 Conquest of Mecca
632-750

Conquest of Syria, Egypt, Persia, Mesopotamia, N. Africa, and Spain

Umayyad caliphate (661-750): capital moved from Medina to Damascus (click here for map)

717-18 Siege of Constantinople fails
732 Defeat by Franks (led by Charles Martel) at battle of Tours-Poitiers
mid 700s Rough equilibrium reached between 3 great Western powers: Byzantines, Franks, and Muslims (click here for map)
750-c. 950 Golden age of Abassid caliphs (except Spain, where offshoot of Ummayad dynasty rules caliphate of Al-Andalus until 1031): capital moved to Baghdad; non-Arabs allowed political power (click here for map)
786-809 Harun al-Rashid
909-1171 Fatimid dynasty established in Egypt
1055 Seljuk Turks conquer Baghdad
1071 Battle of Manzikert: Seljuk Turks defeat Byzantines
1453 Ottoman Turks take Constantinople

SOME IMPORTANT TERMS:

Islam

Muslim

Allah

Qur’-an (or Koran)

Hadith

Mecca

Kaaba

Hijra (or Hegira)

Medina

5 “pillars of Islam”:
  • believing that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammed is his messenger (or prophet)
  • praying 5 times daily
  • giving charity to the needy
  • fasting during the month of Ramadan
  • making a pilgrimage to Mecca