OLLI Workshop: History of the Middle East

Leader: Theo Pavlidis (theopav@gmail.com)

Handout No. 4 - October 22, 2012

The Roman empire at the end of the 4th century: It covers most of Europe west of the Rhine and south of the Danube, North Africa, incl. Egypt and what we call today the Middle East. Greek is the dominant language of the eastern parts. Catholic Christianity just became the only religion of the empire adding thought control to the power of the emperor, possibly inspired by Persian Sassanid practice. The fact that the official religion was Christianity (rather than, say, Zoroastrianism) was secondary and one may argue (as Protestants did a millennium later) that the imperial favor corrupted Christianity into a form that was very far from its form in the Gospels.

Shrinking territory: The 5th century is the period of "barabarian" invasions and the empire looses a lot of territory. France and England are lost for good and even Italy is barely held. The empire is called Roman even after the loss of Rome although historians prefer to use the term Byzantine empire.

Topic of the Meeting: The Roman Empire from the 5th to the 7th Century. Emperors Justinian and Heraclius. (Lecture Material in: http://www.theopavlidis.com/MidEast/part20.htm)
Main bibliographical reference: Gibbon [EG].

At its 6th century peak: Roman Empire in 564CE under Justinian the Great.
At a low ebb: Roman Empire in 623CE under Heraclius after the Avar and Persian conquests. The polygonal line with the arrow shows the route of Heraclius when he attacked the Persians in their backyard.

In between: Lands of the Roman Empire circa 600 and again around 633.

What was taken after 640CE.The greatest extend of the Arab Rashidun empire

 

Source of the first three maps: http://hobbit.ict.griffith.edu.au/wiseman/Roman/19Maps.html
Source of the fourth map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mohammad_adil-Rashidun-empire-at-its-peak-close.PNG
Greek Alphabet
UC/lcEnglish
Ααapple
Ββ  very
Γγ wall or yanked (1)
Δδthere
Εεset
Ζζzebra
Ηηinsect (2)
Θθtheme (3)
Ιιinsect (2)
Κκcandy
Λλ lemon
Μμlemon
UC/lcEnglish
Ννlemon
Ξξ  exit
Οοtold (4)
Ππpay
Ρρ ray
Σσς  sofa    (5)
Ττtime
Υυ insect (2)
Φφ file
Χχ hero (but stronger)
Ψψps
Ωω  told  (4)
Diphthongs
UC/lcEnglish
ΑΙ  αιset
ΑΥ  αυ after
ΕΙ  ειinsect
ΕΥ  ευ chef
ΟΙ  οι  insect
ΟΥ  ουput

1. Transliterated as G; 2. Three letters with the same sound; 3. Transliterated as TH;
4. Two letters with the same sound; 5. The form (ς) is used at the end of a word in lower case.