Why is the byzantine empire important to western europe

Specifically to trade, Europeans relied on the Christian Byzantine emperors to trade with the East and provide Europe with goods from the Silk Roads. How did Byzantine culture influence Europe?

The Byzantine Empire incorporated many Greek ideas and culture. The Hagia Sophia was the great Christian church constructed by Justinian, and it inspired church construction across Europe. Politically, both cultures were theocratic and authoritarian. As already stated, the Byzantine Empire had one political system, while western Europe had dozens, but virtually all had the quality in common of being ruled by powerful monarchs vested with political, military, and religious authority.

Why was the Byzantine empire so important to Western Europe? M it protected the west from barbarians and kept the Roman and Greek cultures alive. Science, Technology, and the arts flourished there as well. Some of the achievements of the Byzantine empire include protecting Europe from eastern invasions, preserving Greek language, preserving Roman traditions, production of fine art with distinctive style, protecting the Christian Orthodox Church, their cities had plumbing which is still in use, and much more.

An artist-restructured photo of what the city of Constantinople looked like during the Byzantine era. Orthodoxy now occupies a central position in the history and societies of Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, Serbia, and other countries. The modern-day Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest Christian church in the world. Modern-Day Eastern Orthodoxy.

Distribution of Eastern Orthodox Christians in the world by country, as of After the fall of Rome, the key challenge to the empire was to maintain a set of relations between itself and its neighbors. When these nations set about forging formal political institutions, they often modeled themselves on Constantinople.

Byzantine diplomacy soon managed to draw its neighbors into a network of international and inter-state relations. This network revolved around treaty-making, and included the welcoming of the new ruler into the family of kings, as well as the assimilation of Byzantine social attitudes, values and institutions.

In the 10th century, Leo VI the Wise achieved the complete codification of the whole of Byzantine law in Greek, which became the foundation of all subsequent Byzantine law, which generates interest to the present day. Influences from Byzantine architecture, particularly in religious buildings, can be found in diverse regions, from Egypt and Arabia to Russia and Romania.

The citizens of Constantinople and the rest of the Eastern Roman Empire identified strongly as Romans and Christians, though many of them spoke Greek and not Latin.

Though Constantine ruled over a unified Roman Empire, this unity proved illusory after his death in In , Emperor Valentinian I again divided the empire into western and eastern sections, putting himself in power in the west and his brother Valens in the east.

The fate of the two regions diverged greatly over the next several centuries. In the west, constant attacks from German invaders such as the Visigoths broke the struggling empire down piece by piece until Italy was the only territory left under Roman control. In , the barbarian Odoacer overthrew the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus , and Rome had fallen. The eastern half of the Roman Empire proved less vulnerable to external attack, thanks in part to its geographic location.

It also benefited greatly from a stronger administrative center and internal political stability, as well as great wealth compared with other states of the early medieval period. As a result of these advantages, the Eastern Roman Empire, variously known as the Byzantine Empire or Byzantium, was able to survive for centuries after the fall of Rome.

Though Byzantium was ruled by Roman law and Roman political institutions, and its official language was Latin, Greek was also widely spoken, and students received education in Greek history, literature and culture. In terms of religion, the Council of Chalcedon in officially established the division of the Christian world into separate patriarchates, including Rome where the patriarch would later call himself pope , Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.

Even after the Islamic empire absorbed Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem in the seventh century, the Byzantine emperor would remain the spiritual leader of most eastern Christians.

Justinian I, who took power in and would rule until his death in , was the first great ruler of the Byzantine Empire. Many great monuments of the empire would be built under Justinian, including the spectacular domed Church of Holy Wisdom, or Hagia Sophia. Justinian also reformed and codified Roman law, establishing a Byzantine legal code that would endure for centuries and help shape the modern concept of the state.

Debts incurred through war had left the empire in dire financial straits, however, and his successors were forced to heavily tax Byzantine citizens in order to keep the empire afloat. During the seventh and eighth centuries, attacks from the Persian Empire and from Slavs, combined with internal political instability and economic regression, threatened the vast empire.

A new, even more serious threat arose in the form of Islam , founded by the prophet Muhammad in Mecca in In , Muslim armies began their assault on the Byzantine Empire by storming into Syria. During the eighth and early ninth centuries, Byzantine emperors beginning with Leo III in spearheaded a movement that denied the holiness of icons, or religious images, and prohibited their worship or veneration.

Though it stretched over less territory, Byzantium had more control over trade, more wealth and more international prestige than under Justinian. The strong imperial government patronized Byzantine art, including now-cherished Byzantine mosaics. Rulers also began restoring churches, palaces and other cultural institutions and promoting the study of ancient Greek history and literature.

Greek became the official language of the state, and a flourishing culture of monasticism was centered on Mount Athos in northeastern Greece. Monks administered many institutions orphanages, schools, hospitals in everyday life, and Byzantine missionaries won many converts to Christianity among the Slavic peoples of the central and eastern Balkans including Bulgaria and Serbia and Russia.