Collapse of Roman rule in west set in motion a wave of political instability in the Mediterranean.
Visigothic Spain, Vandal North Africa, and Ostrogothic Italy emerged as dominant states
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Byzantine empire
Vast
Public and official culture was both Greek and Christian, but a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual society
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Initially easy to govern
Centered on Asia Minor; strong and diverse economic base
Easy communications by sea
Sophisticated administrative machinery
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Predominantly urban, literate, and wealthy
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The learning of Greece passed on through hundreds of primary schools, urban academies, aristocratic salons, and private tutors
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Compiled dictionaries, grammars, encyclopedias, and catalogs.
Few original works.
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Two most important Byzantine Rulers from this period
Justinian (r. 527-565) and Heraclius (r. 610-641)
Ambitious failures
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Justinian
Professionalized provincial administration
Fixed salaries
Centralized administration to the throne
Caesaropapism: emperor controlled both the political state and the state religion
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All Byz rulers after Constantine believed they ruled by divine right; Justinian gave this belief its fullest expression
No spiritual authority Presided over church councils and ratified their decrees Appointed Patriarch of Constantinople Heresy crime against state Hagia Sophia
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Corpus of Civil Law (Corpus Iuris Civilis)
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Justinian and Theodora hungry for glory
Reconquering of the west
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531 “eternal peace” with Perisan Empire
Justinian recaptures much of Mediterranean west
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Start
Chrosroes I breaks the eternal peace, breaches Syrian defenses, and sacks Antioch.
Justinian fighting a war on two fronts
Treasury depleated, he must give up
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By 578 Spain, North Africa, and coastal France abandoned.
After Justinian, much of Asia Minor lost to Perisans
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610 Heraclius comes to throne
Militarizes Byzantine society
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Themes system
Military units are now identified with specific regions
Commanders of the themes take control of civil administration
Increases morale (soldiers get a reliable source of income) improved military effectiveness (soldiers have vested interest in defending the land) popular support for throne restored (corrupt bureaucrats gone)
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Heraclius trying to fix the crumbling state of the empire
Patriarch of C saw this as a religious war. Placed at emperor’s disposal all the eccls and monastic treasure
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Chrosroes II unleashes campaign on the Holy Land in 612
takes Antioch
Then Damascus in 613
Jerusalem in 614
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Heraclius saw himself engaged in a life-or-death struggle for Christianity. Persians the enemy of God. Afterall, take a look at this letter from Chrosroes II to Heraclius
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“I, Chrosroes the son of the great Hormisdas, the Most Noble of all the Gods, the King and Sovereign-Master over all the Earth, to Heraclius, my vile and brainless slave.
Refusing to submit yourself to my rule, you persist in calling yourself lord and sovereign. You pilfer and spend my treasure; you deceive my servants. You annoy me ceaselesly with your little gangs of brigands. Have I not brought you Greeks to your knees? You claim to trust in your God–but then why has your God not saved Caesarea, Jerusalem, and Alexandria from my wrath? Could I not also destroy Constantinople itself, if I wished it?”
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Heraclius counterattcked in 622
Captures important Zoroastrian religious cities
Defeats Persians after hard years of fighting
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Rise of Islam
Slow in formation
It’s not a militant, conversion-centered religion from the start
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Islam one of the heirs of the Roman Empire
Architectural style
Administrative structure
Translation and elaboration of Greek academics (Aristotle)
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Arabia was off the Roman map, and as such Islam and its conquests were unexpected
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Up to the 7th c., Arabia was at the edges of both Persian and Byz empires
Impovrished land in terms of natural resources
Barely habitable
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No lakes.
No grasslands.
No rivers that run year round.
Few navigable harbors.
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Only the southwest corner favorable: modern-day Yemen
Two kingdoms developed there and controlled the spice and incense trades from India and the horn of Africa
Religious, gastronomic, medicinal uses
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By the time of Muhammad, southern Arabia’s best days had passed
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Mecca and Medina, two more northern cities, had enough water for settlement, but not for agriculture.
Arab existence primarily nomadic, with trading centers
Cosmopolitan cities. Controlled overland trade.
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Muhammad
His biography entwined with legend.
Several sources for his life and that of early Islam.
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Sira: formal biographies. Written 100 years after his death.
Hadith: Collections of oral traditions. Sayins of Muhammad. Put together within 50 years of his death, but highly influenced by civil war of 650s
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Koran/Qu’ran
Words of Muhammad as composed by divine inspiration.
Scholars have questioned when it was put together.
How much by Muhammad; how soon after Muhammad
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These sources tend to shape events in light of what the writer already knows happens or what they think should happen
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Slide
Muhammad born c. 570.
Prominent, if not very wealthy, family
Assumed he was a merchant
Married well to a higher class widow
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Age 40, 610, begins his life of prophecy.
615-620 preaching in Mecca
Monotheism
Looks like a biblical monotheism directed at the Arabs, congruent with Judaism and Christianity.
Series of prophets starting with Abraham
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First converts:
Family and key friends
Wife Kadijah
Cousin Ali, who marries his daughter Fatimah
Merchant and father-in-law Abu Bakr
Powerful member of a leading Meccan clan: Uthman of the Umayyad family
Omar al-Kattab
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Leaders of Mecca feared they would lose control.
Movement popular with lower classes.
Threatened pilgrimage to the Ka’aba
Leading clan: Quraish. Drive him out?
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622 Hijrah to Medina
Medina invites Muhammad in to resolve local feuding. He accepts.
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Islamic identity here first begins to emerge as different from Judaism and Christianity.
Culminates in expulsion of Jewish groups who reject Muhammad. Many were Arabs.
M begins to preach that religious loyalty more important than tribal loyalty.
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Mecca replaces Jerusalem as the point of orientation for prayer.
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M stops celebrating Yom Kippur and institutes Ramadan. Friday is now the Sabbath.
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In Medina develops the idea that he is the last of Allah’s prophets.
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M’s greatest challenge was to overcome tribal loyalties in favor of the community of the faithful: umma
Property and marriage: tribe
No more feuds. Any feuds to be resolved through arbitration in a religious court
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M a secular and religious leader.
Political order and religious order the same
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By 624 M planning to take over Mecca
624 expels and Jews and Christians from Medina
630 Mecca falls
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All tribes of Mecca and surrounding area submit to and recognize Muhammad
Dies 632
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His momentum survives.
Death ushers in a period of very rapid expansion
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Tenets of Islam
Surrendering to Allah is the beginning of wisdom and faith
Strict monotheism
One god and one prophet Alms Prayer 5 times a day Fasting during Ramadan Hajj to Mecca
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Islamic conquests not accompanied by a fanatical devotion to converting the world, while still being religiously motivated
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Seeming paradox: rapid, religiously motivated expansion, but for centuries Muslims will be a minority in the places they rule.
No demand for conversion of the population.
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Other seeming paradox of the conquests:
Conquests accompanied by internal division in Islam from 650. Sunni and Shiite.
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Issue of Succession after M’s death
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Father-in-law Abu Bakr elected caliph
Combination of religious and secular rule
Rival: Ali
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Many of the tribes did not recognize this election. Saw their loyalty to M as personal, not to an institution.
They repel (Ridda: apostasy)
Abu Bakr compels them militarily into submission
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Abu Bakr rules less than two years.
Turned the resistance against the Ridda into a war against external enemies.
Kept military energy going. Persia and Byzantium
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What began as raids turns into conquests. Success breeds success.
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634 Damascus falls (capital of Byz in Syria. Very major city) Byz army defeated near Jerusalem
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AB dies. Ali once against passed over in favor of Omar.
Rules until 644
Very effective. Arabs take all of Persian empire.
Byz loses Syria, Palestine, Egypt.
Alexandria surrenders in 642
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What makes this possible?
Weakness of Byz and Persia
Mastery of desert warfare. Can pick and choose your battles.
Discontent of Byz and Persian religious minorities. Monophysites of Egypt and Syria become their sailors
Channeling of a warlike society toward external fighting
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Religious motivation in terms of lesser jihad. Struggle. Wrong to think of the Arab conquests as an expression of jihad in the sense of covert or die.
Koran not consistent on the jihad.
Unbeliever must be fought
Idea of martyrdom
But respect for other religions, especially Judaism and Christianity
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Conquered people allowed to maintain their religions, livelihoods, and cultures.
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Islam is very culturally adaptable.
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No rule for conquest policy
Arab intent on plunder, but tended not to pillage cities. Took state and church lands, less so private property
Harness revenues
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Non-Muslims kept their property.
2 unique taxes for non-muslims
poll tax
land tax
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Old officials kept in place to maintain records and administration.
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Murder of Omar in 644
Disputed election. Ali defeated by Uthman. Member of Umayyads.
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Pro-Ali and pro-caliphate parties develop more sharply
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Conquest continues
Islands in Medit. fall Cyprus 649. Rhodes 654.
655 Byz navy defeated
Armenia 653/655
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Uthman not well liked. Lathargic and corrupt.
Murdered in 656
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Ali proclaimed caliph. Perceived as taking the title from bloodied hands of assassins
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Civil War officially begins when Mu’awiya, governer of Syria, revolts
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Ali assassinated.
Mu’awiya wounded but survives.
661 war ends. Mu’awiya caliph and moves capital to Damascus
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Slide
Umayyad caliphate 661-750
Continued expansion. Slide.
Will be overthrown by Abbasids in 750
750-1258
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In-class writing
List 3 things that were factors in the success of the Muslim conquests
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