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The era of Byzantium is an essential chapter
in the history of the region. In 330, Constantine,
the Roman emperor, transferred his capital from
Rome to Byzance. Byzance, at that time a small
city founded 1,000 years earlier by the Greeks
on the shores of the Bosphorus was henceforth
called Constantinople. The center of the Empire
thereafter became the Orient, in particular Anatolia,
inhabited by the descendants of Hattis, Hittites,
Phrygians, Greeks and others. Byzantium became
the Eastern Roman Empire; its official religion
was proclaimed to be Christianity in 380 and in
392 paganism was banned. In 476, Rome collapsed
and Constantinople remained the sole capital of
the empire. Byzantium was both a state and a civilization,
built along the lines of the Roman state, the
Greek culture and the Christian faith. The emperor
enjoyed divine power and relied heavily on the
Church.
THE GOLDEN AGE
Byzantium knew its first golden age under Justinian.
One thousand years of Roman jurisprudence were
gathered together in four volumes, a work which
had a lasting influence for many centuries. Justinian
was also a great builder. The Basilica of St.
Sophia (AD 532-7) was constructed during his reign.
The history of Byzantium is one of alternating
periods of glory and decay, of religious dissent,
of conflicts and wars with Persians, Arabs, Seljuks,
Ottomans and peoples of the North.
BAD TIMES
By the 13th century, Byzantium was drawing her
final breath. After the mortal wound of 1204,
when the Crusaders occupied Constantinople, sacked
the city, forced the emperor to leave and established
a Latin kingdom, she was a small state. Bulgaria
declared her independence and a new maritime power,
Venice took for herself the whole Aegean complex
of islands. In 1261, the Byzantines had regained
possession of their capital, but there were new
threats.
ENTER THE SELJUK TURKS
In the 11th century, under their leader Tugrul,
the Seljuk Turks founded the dynasty of great
Seljuks reigning in Iran, Iraq and Syria. In 1071,
his nephew Alp Arslan defeated the Byzantians
in Malazgirt, near Lake Van. The doors of Anatolia
were thus opened to the Turks, and Anatolia went
through a profound transformation ethnically,
politically, and in the religious, linguistic
and cultural spheres. The Seljuk Sultanate in
Anatolia continued until the beginning of the
14th century. The zenith of the Seljuk civilization
came in the first half of the 13th century with
Konya as its political, economic, religious, artistic
and literary center. The Seljuks created a centralized
administration organized around the Sultan, his
ministers and provincial governors. Science and
literature blossomed, as did mystic poetry. Anatolia
was crossed by the great routes linking the east
and west, and many of the caravanserais built
along these routes still stand today. Agriculture,
industry and handicrafts expanded and the country
was suddenly rich in mosques, medreses and caravanserais.
COLLAPSE OF THE SELJUK SULTANATE
The Seljuk Sultanate collapsed due to internal
dissent and Mongol invasions. Anatolia was again
fragmented into rival independent principalities,
one of which came under Ottoman rule. Anatolia,
though divided, had been united by language, religion
and race, offering an opportunity for statesmanship
and courage. This would be the task of Osman and
his successors.
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