HIST 107 1st Edition Lecture 6 Outline of Last Lecture I The Frankish Kingdom A Queen Radegund II A Clerical Dynasty A Bishops Outline of Current Lecture I Byzantine Empire A Constantine B Justinian II The Emergence of Islam A Muhammad Current Lecture The Emergence of Sibling Cultures By 750 Islamic Byzantine and European empires represented three separate civilizations BYZANTINE Constantine d 337 o Known for moving the imperial capital to Byzantium renamed in 330 to Constantinople o This movement was not unusual because Emperors had been positioning themselves closer to the frontier regions during this period In terms of Constantinople These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute The city was more populated Urban Richer tax base Greater development Close to some problematic frontiers o People in this time did not refer to their empire as Byzantine it is a term that was coined by later historians o In this Eastern Empire Greek was becoming the dominant and official language as opposed to Latin o The empire losing imperial power through the emergence of new barbarian kingdoms continually shrankover the 6th 7th and 8th centuries o The Empire persisted through individuals of greatest authority and importance holding positions of mediation priests etc Justinian o Emperors saw themselves as having a degree of power in many portions of the Roman kingdoms Justinian is somewhat successful in regaining potions of land and causing expansion o The Justinian Code becomes a legal source throughout the empire o He built the church of Hagia Sophia one of the most spectacular architectural projects in the 6th century By the year 700 the Byzantine Empire began undergoing conflicts economic collapse military issues with a war against the Persians devastating plague o Empire becomes smaller and smaller Islam 7th century emergence of Islam nobody saw coming o Arose from the area that is modern day Saudi Arabia o Muhammad in Mecca in the Arabian Peninsula had a series of revelations from God They involved discussions of past prophets as a way to clarify the proper way to think about and live for God o The Five Pillars of Islam Statement of Faith There is no God but God Allah and Muhammad is His prophet Praying five times a day Giving alms to the less fortunate Fasting during holy month of Ramadan Making the Hajj an annual pilgrimage to Mecca These ideas are put together in the Qur an o The emergence of Islam resulted in the unification of Arabic groups that expanded outward and conquered vast regions of the Byzantine world and other areas vastly altering the geopolitical landscape The expansion was rapid o a large number of Christians were not particularly pleased with Byzantine Empire at the time and were somewhat open to the arrival of these new rulers o early Islamic expansion was a very politicized movement o there is a stereotype of Islamic expansion as being solely militarized when it was much more complicated o the expansion resulted in a small Islamic ruling elite living in areas where people were dominantly Christian following indigenous religious traditions these people held protected no open persecutions but subordinate status