The Existence of the Byzantine Empire - Essay Example

?Byzantine Empire actually came into existence by the transformation of the Eastern Roman Empire into Greek speaking civilization. The Roman Empire was extensive but eventually in 3rd century the ethnic and cultural forces divided the empire with the centralized imperial government into two political entities. Certainly it was not an overnight process and it took 3 centuries in complete transformation of the Eastern Roman Empire into the Byzantine Empire. The many factors behind this transformation are several major wars, arrival of a new Muslim Civilization and the cultural transformation. Through the 4th century while the Roman Empire was still united there were two capitals following the political will of the same emperor. There was a split in the empire but the two states were not antagonistic to each other since they were a single empire on technical grounds but the series of events that took place in the 5th century lead to the collapse of the Western part while the Eastern part survived but was reduced to a medium sized empire which was more akin to the Persia than to Gaul. The East Held-back The diplomatic and political distances between the two parts of the empire were becoming more and more and the administrative and infrastructure crises in addition to the wars fueled the deteriorating situation. The war with the Visigoths was fought alone by the western wing of the empire and eastern wing instead of sending troops to defend the western borders strengthened its own capital. The infrastructure which was decaying on the western fronts was not repaired by the eastern richer wing because they were no more concerned about the bridge between the two wings which was holding them together. Role of Justinian Emperor Justinian of the east is well-known for his efforts for driving away the barbarians and restoring glory to the Roman Empire. Another great effort by Justinian was the legislative initiatives he took. The barbarians developed law codes in the 6th century which were attempted to throw aside the laws formulated by the Roman Empire, Justinian replied with his own set of imperial law codes the Codex Justinianus. In addition to this Justinian also orderly compiled the Roman Juridical thoughts and the Institutes, a textbook for lawyers. These books and codes were largely accepted in the East but failed to make substantial impact in the west and thus contributed to the divide which has started to rise. Justinian ambitiously tried to reconquer all the Western lands that Rome had lost to the barbarians. Justinian became the emperor in 527 and ruled until 565 and proved him to be an able ruler and he was in fact responsible for the rise of the Byzantine Empire and gave Eastern Rome a separate identity. It was his great reign which is considered to be the birth of the Byzantine Empire. Justinian successfully reconquered much of the territory that had fallen into barbarian hands. In the first phase of his projects, the entire north coast of Africa fell under Byzantine rule. Next he fought the Ostrogoths in Italy. But in 18 years of siege and counter-siege (535-553), Rome changed hands six times which means he stabilized the Eastern part but the Western part was falling which ultimately resulted in the lost of Roman identity and birth of the Byzantine Empire. The New Groups The wars were taking place and the barbarians were becoming powerful but at the same time new groups were also rising which included the Christians and the Muslims. The Christian priests were spreading the faith among the masses and Christianity was made the official region of the empire which meant that the Roman temples and Oracles were no more the centers of religion and the holy was now redefined and Churches were the place of worship now. Byzantium Defense Constantinople, the Byzantine capital city was the most important factor in the increasing the strength of the Empire since it was naturally protected against the invaders and could not be conquered with ease no matter how strong and advanced the invading army was. The high thick walls of the city also embraced in it the farmlands which meant that the capital had ample supplies even at the time of invasion. The Invasions in the West and South West Meanwhile the Western part was becoming weaker and the Persian forces had conquered all of the Roman lands in Africa. The Eastern wing had to indulge in war with the Slavs and the other groups of North of Danube. Decline of Urban Centers and Promotion of Rural areas The cities in the Roman Empire were great administrative, educational, economic, social and cultural centers. But these centers were now declining owing to various different reasons; one of them being the natural calamity of plague, which took several Western and some of the Eastern cities as well. Another reason was the increasing popularity of church and Christianity which changed the cultural places into the place of worship and people started abandoning the theatres and other places of cultural values. Rural areas started to flourish because of agricultural promotion partly due to the declining cities and partly due to the trends introduced by the Arab Muslims which stressed on farming and life of simplicity. Iconoclasm The Muslim Arabs introduced iconoclasm which was readily accepted by the Byzantine soldiers and then the Emperors as well which resulted in destruction of thousands of Idols and works of art which means the Roman culture which was preserved in these pieces of arts was being destroyed. This turned out to be the last attack on already deteriorated Roman cultural values and the Roman identity. Rise of Islam The rise of Islam in Arab resulted in the involvement of Arabs in the region who were mere spectators of the conflict between Persia and Rome in the past. They started first the conquest of the Persian lands in east and then destroyed the Western Roman Empire. Having lost its western wing the eastern part transformed itself completely into new Empire the Byzantine Empire with altogether new identity, new system of government, law, education and administration and new culture. Thus the historians have legitimately renamed the Eastern Rome as Byzantine Empire because the Roman identity no more existed. Works Cited Browning, Robert. The Byzantine Empire. N.p.: CUA Press, 1992. Print. Marston, Elsa. The Byzantine Empire. N.p.: Benchmark Books, 2002. Print. Rautman, Marcus. Daily Life in Byzantine Empire. N.p.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006. Print. Read More