OLLI Workshop: Critical Historical Periods in the
Middle East
Leader: Theo Pavlidis (t.pavlidis@ieee.org)
Handout No. 7 - March 15, 2010
Chapter 6: The Byzantine Empire from 650 to 1050 (continued)
Iconoclasm - Questions
- A reaction to the Arab conquest? (80 years after the event)
- Was cleansing Christianity of Pagan influences the only motive?
- Was the elimination of monasticism a major motive?
- How is it related to the Protestant Reformation that took place in Western Europe 700 years later? (See also fact No. 4 below)
Iconoclasm - Notable Facts
- Because the Iconoclasts lost, all accounts are by their opponents, so we have no real way to answer the questions.
- The emperor took a position and acted on a theological issue.
- Because the Pope was beyond the reach of the emperor he led the opposition and that contributed to an increase in his prestige (especially, because three of his main competitors for influence were themselves under Muslim rulers).
- The iconoclast emperors did not favor learning and they abolished the royal college and burned its library.
The Macedonian Emperors: The amazing story of Basil I; from stable groom to emperor. - Scandals in the Palace - The Bulgar-Slayer Basil II - The rapid decline of the empire after his death.
Chapter 7: The Decline of the Byzantine Empire and its End in 1453
Emperors surrounded by eunuchs and guarded by foreign mercenaries. - The Schism with the Pope (1054) - Civil Strife - The Turks are coming - The debacle at Manzikert and the Sultanate of Rum. - The Crusaders are coming.
Gibbon's quotes a Greek chronicler about the Varangians (Danes and English imperial guards):in the original: Πολυχρονιζουσι Βαραγγοι, κατα την πατριον και ουτοι γλωσσαν αυτων, ηγουν Ιγκλινιστι. The whole sentence is translated into "The Varangians acclaimed the king in their own language, namely English." Gibbon adds (referring to the Greek chronicler): "I wish he had preserved the words, however corrupt, of their English acclamation."
Gibbon's characterization of the empire in mid-eleventh century when the nieces of Basil II were supposedly in power: "... shameful and destructive period of twenty-eight years, in which the Greeks, degraded below the common level of servitude, were transferred like a heard of cattle by the choice or caprice of two impotent females."
Visuals for Seventh Meeting
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| Lands of the Roman Empire in 1040 at the end of the Macedonian dynasty. | |
| Adapted from http://hobbit.ict.griffith.edu.au/~wiseman/Roman/GreekPerspective.html | |
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| Lands of the Byzantine Empire in 1156 after the losses to the Seljuk Turks and the recoveries of the First Crusade. | Lands of the Byzantine Empire in 1452 just before the end. |
| Left adapted from
http://hobbit.ict.griffith.edu.au/~wiseman/Roman/Decline&Fall.html |
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