The World of Byzantium, Compare and Contrast: Why did the
East succeed while the West failed? A 3 page report, by Madison Nef
Constantine, the first Christian emperor, founded Constantinople, a second Rome, in what
is now Turkey. He lost Rome to the Ostrogoths because he focused on
Constantinople more than his own city. Constantine made Constantinople the
capital of the East. He set it up between two seas, so it was basically safe.
The emperor in the West, Honorious, did not take good care
of his land. He lost it to barbarians. Alaric, one of the trusted people, is
sent to Italy to kill. He does not, just scavenges for food. He quickly becomes
an enemy. Stilicho, a successful army leader, was the hero of the Goths for
helping them take over Rome. The barbarians were let into Rome as they were
good for an army. The Rhine river froze, and armies were sent over to stop
Alric from killing people.
Stilicho is executed by Honorious, which causes uproar with
the barbarians because Honorious has executed one of their kind. They join
Alaric. Attila the Hun is the leader of the barbarian group called the
Huns. They wreak havoc for Italy until
the Pope ceases battle by talking to Attila. The Huns collapsed after Attila
killed himself by over indulgence. His wife was blamed, but he had killed
himself. That is the fall of the West Roman empire.
Attila
Attila the Hun was the mighty and ferocious leader of the
Huns. He led them for 19 years, and would have led them longer had it not been
for his death in early 453 A.D.. He was described: Short of stature, with a broad chest and a large
head; his eyes were small, his beard thin and sprinkled with grey; and he had a
flat nose and tanned skin, showing evidence of his origin. He is
described clearly like an Asian, though there is no surviving proof of what he
looked like. His name in Bulgarian is translated “ universal ruler”, but this
still proves nothing of his origin.
Attila planned to attack the Visigoths by
making alliances with the Emperor Valentinian III, since he had a good portrait
in the west already. Valentinian’s sister, Honoria, sent Attila a letter and
her engagement ring as a plea for help so she would not have to marry a Roman
man she did not love. Attila, taking the message as a marriage offer, sent for
her at once. He asked for half of the empire as a dowry, but Valentinian would
not allow it. His mother forced him into exile rather than kill his sister.
Constantine
Constantine
was the 57th Roman emperor. He ruled 306-337 A.D.. He defeated
emperors Maxentious and Licinious during civil wars in his reign. He started a ‘
New Rome ‘ named after himself, Constantinople, in 330. He is known for being
the first Christian emperor, and turned from Pagan belief, though most emperors
were supposed to dress the same, eat the same, look the same, and have the same
beliefs. He changed the belief.
Just
after Easter 337, Constantine became seriously ill. His wish before death was
to be baptized in the Jordan River, and he started leaving Constantinople for
hot baths in the town his mother lived in. On the way back one day, he died,
leaving his wish behind.
Why
The East Didn’t Fall
The
Eastern empire was under the reign of Constantine. He was balancing the use of
coinage, unlike the West, were gold was doing poorly. After
defeating the Visigoths in 332, he reconquered Dacia, and was planning to
attack Persia next. When Attila the Hun died, Constantine had a stable
relationship with the remaining Huns, who would later fight in the Roman
armies.
After
many reigns, Justinian I came around. He survived an ample attack on his palace
in which over 6% of his own men and townspeople died. He had a very wise wife
named Theodora, whom people disliked. The emperor had married her for her
wisdom, not for her beauty. He depended on her to help him run the kingdom.
The
Persians proved to be a handful, so Justinian gave them 11000 pounds of gold in
order that they would not attack. In doing this, he was able to set his
attention on the West, which needed help.
Comparison of the Eastern and Western Portions
of the Roman Empire
Quality
|
Eastern
|
Western
|
Population
|
Dense
|
Sparse
|
Society
|
Urban
|
Tribal
|
Education
|
Literate
|
Oral
|
Law
|
Written
|
Customary
|
Economy
|
Commercial
|
Agricultural
|
Exchange
|
Money
|
Barter
|
Living standard
|
Wealthy
|
Poor
|
Language
|
Koine
|
Mixed
|
As
you can see from above, the West was not doing too good. The East had riches, good citizenship,
everything. The West, however, had poor money, teaching, etc.
Justinian
Justinian
was the great Roman emperor. He ruled 527-565. He is known for his great
ambition to reconquer the lost western half of the Byzantine empire. He married
a beautiful young woman named Theodora, who was very smart and helped him run
the kingdom. He almost depended on her.
Justinian was one of the most important
figures of late antiquity and the last Roman Emperor to speak Latin as a first
language. Justinian was struck by the plague in the early
540s but recovered. Theodora died in 548, perhaps of cancer, at a relatively
young age; Justinian outlived her by almost twenty years. Justinian, who had always
had a keen interest in theological matters and actively participated in debates
on Christian doctrine, became even more devoted to religion during the
later years of his life.
When
he died, on the night of November 13–14 of the year 565, he left no children.
He was succeeded by Justin II, who was the
son of his sister Vigilantia, and married to Sophia, the niece of Empress
Theodora. Justinian's body was entombed in a specially built mausoleum in the Church
of the Holy Apostle.
All in all, the Eastern empire was better in many ways than
the Western. The West let all of the
following happen:
- · Gold runs out, and currency becomes brass, and not precious metal anymore.
- Barbarian army that rebels
- · Not good army base
- · No good living situations
The East did not let their money conditions
get out of hand. They stuck with gold and survived. They had basically
everything that the West did not.
The Fall of Rome
Constant warfare
required heavy military spending. The Roman army became over-stretched. The
barbarians, who had been conquered, and other foreign mercenaries were allowed
to join the Roman army. This over-used gold. The Government was constantly threatened by
bankruptcy. The cost of defending the Empire, the failing economics, heavy
taxation and high inflation was another reason why the Roman Empire fell. The
majority of the inhabitants of the Roman Empire failed to share in the
incredible prosperity of Rome.
The flow of gold to pay for
luxury goods led to a shortage of gold to put in Roman coins. Roman currency
was devalued to such an extent that a system of bartering returned to one of
the greatest civilizations the world had ever known. The knowledge that
the Barbarians gained of Roman warfare and military tactics by serving in the
Roman army were eventually turned against the Empire and led to the sack of
Rome by the Visigoths led by an ex-army soldier Alaric.
Life became cheap -
bloodshed led to more bloodshed and extreme cruelty. The values, the ideals,
customs, traditions and institutions, of the Romans declined. Imagine if all your traditions and customs just blew up! The basic
principles, standards and judgments about what was valuable or important in life
also declined. The total disregard for human and animal life resulted in a lack
of ethics - a perverted view of what was right and wrong, good and bad,
desirable and undesirable. Any conformity to acceptable rules or standards of
human behavior was being lost.
Rome had fierce foreign enemies. There were great Barbarian
armies consisting of warriors such as the Visigoths, Huns and the Vandals. The
final death blow to the Roman Empire was inflicted by these Barbarians. The city of Rome was sacked by the
Visigoths in 410 and by the Vandals in 455 signaling the disintegration of
Roman authority and the Fall of the Roman Empire.
