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In the centuries
before 600 CE, the Roman Empire was the most influential power in many regions
that would later become Islamic. The Roman state developed from an early
monarchy into a republic, established around 500 BCE. By the 3rd century BCE
Rome had completed its conquest of the Italian Peninsula, and embarked on
military campaigns against foreign powers. The first major conflict, known as
the Punic Wars, involved Rome and Carthage, an empire in North Africa. Sparked
by Carthaginian expansion into Greek settlements in Sicily, the Punic Wars ended
with a Roman victory and subsequent control of all Carthaginian territory. Roman
territory eventually came to include the region encircling the Mediterranean
Sea, including Spain, North Africa, Greece, Asia Minor, and Egypt. More
information on the expansion of the Roman Empire can be found in the First
Europe Tutorial.
Beginning in the 3rd
century CE, the Roman state underwent a prolonged series of crises. Regional
disparities of long standing induced the Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305) to
officially split the empire. However, it was again briefly reunited by
Constantine I (r. 306-337), who also became one of the Roman Empire's most
significant rulers. He was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity.
Christianity had long been one of many religions present in the empire, and over
its first three centuries it had evolved from a Jewish sect into a complex
system of beliefs, though it continued to include a number of rival currents.
Constantine's conversion and his subsequent actions to protect the Christians of
the realm were instrumental to the religion's survival and expansion. In 313 he
signed the Edict of Milan, establishing a policy of toleration for Christians in
the Empire, and in 325 he organised the Council of Nicaea, which attempted to
establish standard articles of faith to resolve doctrinal disputes among
Christians. In 330 Constantine built the city of Constantinople on the site of
the ancient Greek city, Byzantium, as the principal capital of the Roman Empire,
whose power was slowly shifting east from Rome.
The reign of
Theodosius I (r. 379-395) was also important for the Roman Empire, as he was the
last to rule over a united empire. He entrenched the separation between the
Eastern and Western Empires in 395 by assigning his son Arcadius to rule in the
East, and his son Honorius to rule in the West. From that time until the fall of
the Western Empire to Germanic invaders in the late 5th century CE, the empires
were separate. Theodosius was also the first ruler to declare Christianity to be
the official religion of the Roman Empire. In 451, the Council of Chalcedon
divided the Christian world into five patriarchates, or regions to be overseen
by a patriarch: Rome (whose patriarch later assumed the title of pope),
Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. When the Islamic conquests
of the 7th century brought the latter three patriarchates under Muslim rule,
Constantinople became the leading city of Eastern Christianity. Eventually the
division between the Western church, based in Rome, and the Eastern church,
based in Constantinople, culminated in the Great Schism of 1054, when the Pope
in Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated each other. The
result was the formation of the Catholic Church in the west, and the Eastern
Orthodox Church in the east.
In the 5th century
the Western Empire progressively disintegrated, and in 476 Romulus Augustus, the
last Roman Emperor in the west, was deposed by the German leader, Odovacer. The
empire's eastern regions survived as a functional state. Though attempts to
recapture large blocks of territory in the west were not successful, the
emperors resident in Constantinople continued to rule over one of the most
powerful empires in the region.
The Byzantine
Empire
Although the rulers,
inhabitants, and enemies of the Eastern Empire knew it as the Roman Empire, even
after the collapse of the Western Empire in 476, it has acquired the name,
Byzantine Empire, from later historians. The name is based on the ancient Greek
city of Byzantium, which became the site for Constantinople in 330. Emperor
Justinian (r. 527-565) reclaimed the Italian Peninsula from the Visigoths,
bringing the Christians of the former Western Empire under Byzantine rule. He
also conquered northwest Africa and coastal Spain, temporarily bringing most of
the Mediterranean under Byzantine control. The Sassanid Empire in Persia, a
historic enemy of the Roman Empire, began a new campaign into Byzantine
territory in 610, the same year that Muslims believe Muhammad received his first
revelation from God, in Mecca, that he was the prophet of Islam. Within 30 years
these three civilisations - the Byzantine, Persian, and Arab - would collide in
what was for some a very unexpected way, as the Muslim Arabs embarked on a rapid
expansion campaign that brought down the Sassanid Empire and took a large swath
of Byzantine territories in North Africa and Mesopotamia. As we shall see in the
following chapters, the Islamic and Byzantine Empires were enemies for
centuries. They constantly traded territory, particularly in the region of Asia
Minor that surrounded Constantinople. In 1453, however, the Muslims would
finally defeat the Byzantine Empire completely, with the sack of Constantinople.
In the centuries
before 600 CE, the Roman Empire was the most influential power in many regions
that would later become Islamic. The Roman state developed from an early
monarchy into a republic, established around 500 BCE. By the 3rd century BCE
Rome had completed its conquest of the Italian Peninsula, and embarked on
military campaigns against foreign powers. The first major conflict, known as
the Punic Wars, involved Rome and Carthage, an empire in North Africa. Sparked
by Carthaginian expansion into Greek settlements in Sicily, the Punic Wars ended
with a Roman victory and subsequent control of all Carthaginian territory. Roman
territory eventually came to include the region encircling the Mediterranean
Sea, including Spain, North Africa, Greece, Asia Minor, and Egypt. More
information on the expansion of the Roman Empire can be found in the First
Europe Tutorial.
 Head of Constantine I Rome, ca. 325 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N.Y. |
Beginning in the 3rd
century CE, the Roman state underwent a prolonged series of crises. Regional
disparities of long standing induced the Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305) to
officially split the empire. However, it was again briefly reunited by
Constantine I (r. 306-337), who also became one of the Roman Empire's most
significant rulers. He was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity.
Christianity had long been one of many religions present in the empire, and over
its first three centuries it had evolved from a Jewish sect into a complex
system of beliefs, though it continued to include a number of rival currents.
Constantine's conversion and his subsequent actions to protect the Christians of
the realm were instrumental to the religion's survival and expansion. In 313 he
signed the Edict of Milan, establishing a policy of toleration for Christians in
the Empire, and in 325 he organised the Council of Nicaea, which attempted to
establish standard articles of faith to resolve doctrinal disputes among
Christians. In 330 Constantine built the city of Constantinople on the site of
the ancient Greek city, Byzantium, as the principal capital of the Roman Empire,
whose power was slowly shifting east from Rome.
The reign of
Theodosius I (r. 379-395) was also important for the Roman Empire, as he was the
last to rule over a united empire. He entrenched the separation between the
Eastern and Western Empires in 395 by assigning his son Arcadius to rule in the
East, and his son Honorius to rule in the West. From that time until the fall of
the Western Empire to Germanic invaders in the late 5th century CE, the empires
were separate. Theodosius was also the first ruler to declare Christianity to be
the official religion of the Roman Empire. In 451, the Council of Chalcedon
divided the Christian world into five patriarchates, or regions to be overseen
by a patriarch: Rome (whose patriarch later assumed the title of pope),
Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. When the Islamic conquests
of the 7th century brought the latter three patriarchates under Muslim rule,
Constantinople became the leading city of Eastern Christianity. Eventually the
division between the Western church, based in Rome, and the Eastern church,
based in Constantinople, culminated in the Great Schism of 1054, when the Pope
in Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated each other. The
result was the formation of the Catholic Church in the west, and the Eastern
Orthodox Church in the east.
In the 5th century
the Western Empire progressively disintegrated, and in 476 Romulus Augustus, the
last Roman Emperor in the west, was deposed by the German leader, Odovacer. The
empire's eastern regions survived as a functional state. Though attempts to
recapture large blocks of territory in the west were not successful, the
emperors resident in Constantinople continued to rule over one of the most
powerful empires in the region.
The Byzantine
Empire
 Emperor Justinian S. Vitale, Ravenna Courtesy of Tulane University |
Although the rulers,
inhabitants, and enemies of the Eastern Empire knew it as the Roman Empire, even
after the collapse of the Western Empire in 476, it has acquired the name,
Byzantine Empire, from later historians. The name is based on the ancient Greek
city of Byzantium, which became the site for Constantinople in 330. Emperor
Justinian (r. 527-565) reclaimed the Italian Peninsula from the Visigoths,
bringing the Christians of the former Western Empire under Byzantine rule. He
also conquered northwest Africa and coastal Spain, temporarily bringing most of
the Mediterranean under Byzantine control. The Sassanid Empire in Persia, a
historic enemy of the Roman Empire, began a new campaign into Byzantine
territory in 610, the same year that Muslims believe Muhammad received his first
revelation from God, in Mecca, that he was the prophet of Islam. Within 30 years
these three civilisations - the Byzantine, Persian, and Arab - would collide in
what was for some a very unexpected way, as the Muslim Arabs embarked on a rapid
expansion campaign that brought down the Sassanid Empire and took a large swath
of Byzantine territories in North Africa and Mesopotamia. As we shall see in the
following chapters, the Islamic and Byzantine Empires were enemies for
centuries. They constantly traded territory, particularly in the region of Asia
Minor that surrounded Constantinople. In 1453, however, the Muslims would
finally defeat the Byzantine Empire completely, with the sack of Constantinople.
