Justinian
6-th century Byzantine emperor; failed to reconquer the western portions of the empire; revuilt Constantinople; codified Roman law.
Hagia Sophia
Great domed church constructed during the reign of Justinian.
Body of Civil Law
Justinian's codification of Roman law; made Roman law a coherent basis for political and economic life.
Bulgaria
Slavic kingdom in the Balkans; put constant pressure on the Byzantine Empire; defeated by Basis II in 2014.
Icons
Images of religious figure venerated by Byzantine Christians.
Iconoclasm
The breaking of images; a religious controversy of the 8th centurty; Byzantine emperor attempted, but failed, to suppress icon veneration.
Battle of Manzikert
Seljuk Turk victory in 1071 over Byzantium; resulted in loss of the empire's rich Anatolian territory.
Cyril and Methodius
Byzantine missionaries sent to convert eastern Europe and the Balkans; responsible for creating the Slavic written script called Cyrillic.
Kiev
Commercial city in Ukraine stablished by Scandinavians in 9th century; became the center for a kingdom that flourished until the 12th century.
Vladimir I
Ruler of Kiev; converted kingdom to Orthodox Christianity.
Russian Orthodoxy
Russian form of Christianity brought from the Byzantine Empire.
Boyars
Russian landholding aristocrats; possessed less political power than their western European counterparts.
Tatars
Mongols who conquered RUssian cities during the 13th century; left Russian church and aristocracy intact.
Byzantine Empire
(500 CE - 1453 CE) Eastern portion of the Roman Empire which survived beyond the collapse of the Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople; retained Mediterranean culture, particularly Greek; later lost Palestine, Syria, and Egypt to Islam.
Constantinople
Capital of the Byzantine Empire; constructed on the site of Byzantium, an old Greek city on the Bosporus. (Today's Istanbul)
Orthodox Christian Church
Eastern church which was created in 1053 after the schism from the western Roman church; it's head is the patriarch of Constantinople.
Constantine
(312-337) Strong emperor toward the end of the Roman Empire who tried with some success to reverse the tide of its ultimate fall. Constantine moved the capital away from Rome to Constantinople and allowed freedom of worship for Christians with the Edict of Milan.
Huns
Group of nomadic tribes that pushed through central Europe in the 4th and 5th centuries C.E. instigating the migration of the Germanic tribes into the Roman Empire.
Sassanian Empire
Persian Empire which continued Persian traditions but instituted the Zoroastrian religion as the state religion.
Procopius
Historian of the Byzantine Empire who in his Secret History revealed the cruelty of the autocratic system in which the emperor ruled by divine providence.
Hellenistic Culture
After Alexander's death, Greek art, education, and culture merged with those in the Middle East. Trade and important scientific centers were established, such as Alexandria, Egypt.
Greek Fire
Incendiary material used by the Byzantines described as able to burn in water.
Tsar
Term used for the emperors of Russia; literally means Caesar. (Also czar)
Cyrillic Alphabet
Alphabet named after Saint Cyril who used it to help convert Slavs to Orthodox Christianity.
Rurik
Legendary Scandinavian regarded as founder of the first kingdom of Russia based in Kiev in 855 C.E