The Byzantine Empire, Muhammad

& the Rise of Islam

An Arab, Omar, comes to Jerusalem and finds the symbol of his religion, the rock of Solomon's Temple, under a trash heap.  He vows to make the Christians pay for this!!!!

**Constantinople was an excellent trading port.  (modern-day Istanbul in Turkey)

**Emperor of the Byzantine Empire had ABSOLUTE power.

                    Justinian (527-565 CE)

1.          Reclaimed Roman Lands

2.          Set up a systematic law code

3.          Built Constantinople to its height

                    a.          Marketplace and Imperial Palace

                    b.          Hagia Sophia

4.          The Church split over icons and the Pope's power.            

                    Constantinople went Orthodox and Roman areas

                    were Roman Catholic and followed the Pope in

                    Rome (iconoclasts; heretics; excommunicated;

                    patriarch)

5.          Arabs now threatened Byzantium because of

                    weaknesses after Justinian's death in 565. 

Arabians began to surface in the 500s.            

1.          Desert people

2.          Mecca was polytheistic

Muhammad

1.          uneducated but successful trader and business

             manager

2.          had a vision at age 40 and was told he was a

          messenger of God

3.          Allah = God

4.          He was not successful in Mecca the first time.

5.          Hegira to Medina and gained many followers

6.          Led raids on Caravans and eventually took Mecca

7.          Took Mecca but died 2 short years later Koran/Qu'ran

                    a.          Holy Book of Islam

                    b.          Epitome of literature

                    c.          Considered by Muslims to be the one true

                                  word of God Islam

1.  5 Pillars

                                  A.  Faith          B.  Prayer              C.  Alms 

                                              D.  Fasting              E.  Pilgrimage

2.          Mosques are their temples

3.          Jihad- holy war or cause

4.          Islam spread quickly- Battle of Tours with Charles

            Martel Christian victory that kept Europe from Islamic                         conversion

5.          Tolerant Rulers- convert, pay a tax or die

6.          Became more like an Empire than a religion

7.          Caliphs- Orthodox, Umayyad, Abbasid

8.          Shiites (Iran), Sunnis (Orthodox/Iraq)- have bitter

          differences

9.          Baghdad as wonderful as Constantinople

Art and Science Flourished

1.          Scientific discoveries (chemistry labs, astrolabe)

2.          Poetry (Arabian nights, folktales and the Koran)

3.          Architecture = mosques

By 800s:

1.          Byzantine and Islam were strong but inner seeds of

          trouble were sown.

2.          Byzantium influenced Slavs (Russians) with Christianity

3.          Islam influenced Turks with Muslim ideas even though

          they were fighting

Byzantines and Slavs

1.          Slavs were nomads who migrated and fought for the Balkan Peninsula

2.          A monk named Cyril converted Slavs and invented the alphabet for the Slavic language

3.          Russia- Primary Council (Rus 862)

                    a.          Rurik in Novrogod was the 1st prince and he           

                                  moved the capitol to Kiev.

                    b.          Vladimir (989) made Christianity the official

                                  religion.

                    c.          Looked to Byzantium for culture = Orthodox

Islam and Slavs

1.          945 Perisan Sultan took over Baghdad. (Turks)

2.          1st migrations were the Seljuk Turks (Sunni)

3.          Turks replaced Arabs as rulers

4.          1071 CE- Battle of Manzikert- the Byzantines were

              overwhelmed and within 10 years the Turks controlled

              all of Asia Minor.

5.          Ottomans- Osman (1290-11326) 

a.           ruled for 600 years

b.          ghazis- fierce warriors

c.          1354 overwhelmed Balkans and Serbia

d.          Battle of Agora in 1402 CE- Mongol Tamurlane

          stopped the taking Constantinople

e.          He died and they immediately looked back at

             Constantinople to conquer it

     Fall of Constantinople

1.          Muhammad II was the sultan who besieged "The City"

                    a.          He took advantage of the unlocked gate and

                          took over Constantinople

                    b.          Stone cannons broke the sea walls

                    c.          May 28, 1453- Constantinople officially fell to

                         Islamic warriors

d.          This event was a blow to the Christian world

              (Christendom)

e.          The Byzantine Empire was gone.

f.          Ottoman Empire changed the name of Constantinople