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Emperor Constantine I established Constantinople in 330. The Byzantines considered themselves Romans, but crutial differences between them and the Romans kept them separate. The Byzantines were Christian and spoke Greek. Constantine was one of the last emperors of the entire Roman empire.
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Justinian reigned over the Byzantine Empire from 527 to 565. He established the Justinian Code which helped in creating in modern laws. Justinian wanted to re-unite the empire and was moderately sucessful. He took back parts of Africa and Italy. His wife, Theodora protected rights of women within the Byzantine Empire. Justinian was eventually hated for the high taxes caused by the war.
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Lasting from 533 to 545, General Belisarius faught for Justinian in a fight for land in Italy and Africa. He won many important battles and gained great respect, but this respect was short-lived due to political unrest. Prior to him becoming a general for the Byzantine army, Belisarius was a bodyguard for Justinian, proving his loyalty and talent for leading military, which help him gain a position as general.
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Hagia Sophia, or "Holy Wisdom" was origionally a Greek Orthodox patriarchal basilica, an imperial mosque when Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror took over. It's now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. The Hagia Sophia presents beautiful mosaics and marble pillars, helping to decribe the Byzantine archetectural style.
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Islamic conquests added to the eventual fall of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines lost vast amounts of territory and were still weak from war with Persia. This weakness is what eventually took down the great Byzantine Empire.
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Emperor Basil II was one of the better emperors of the Byzantine Empire. Basil II had to fight to gain power along side his co-emperor brother Constantine. He was a severly dominate decision maker and began to take over all the power. Emperor Basil II invaded Bulgaria and had some ineffective stratagy, but recovered as he learned from his mistakes. He died in 1025 and the war between Bulgaria and Byzantines ended four years later with the Byzantines on top.
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The great schism is the title for the splitting of Christianity between East and the West. The Western Church was called Roman Catholic and the Eastern was called Greek Orthodox. The sides disagreed on religious topics like what language the mass should be held in and weither or not the the priests should be allowed to marry. These diffences separated the Church for good and lead the way to the protestant refermation.
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Emperor Alexios I reached out to Pope Urban II for assistance during the Seljuq Turkish invation he was dealing with. This quickly turned into an objective to recapture Jeruselum, the Holy Land, and to free Eastern Christians from Muslum rule. This goal bacome known as the Crusades.
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The fourth crusade was intended to attempt to win back Jeruselum, but insted led to an attack on Constantinople by the Westerners. Crusaders sacked the city and establlished settlements in other conquered Byzantine lands. The Remaining Byzantines in other areas later over threw the Cusaders' power and regained Constantinople.
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The end of the Byzantine Empire came when Sultan Mehmed II, ruler of the Ottoman Turks, led attacks that pillaged the Byzantine Empire. The fall of the empire maked the end of the Roman Empire which had lasted nearly 1,500 years.
