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2. Varieties of Civilizations

Christendom

since 600 CE, Christian faith expanded dramatically in Europe even as it contracted sharply in Asia and Africa (many converted to Islam)

Byzantine Empire/Byzantium had for centuries been most powerful Christian empire/civilization but was declining by 1200

religious, political, cultural traditions influenced the Rus

emerging civilization in Eastern Europe

while civilization contracted in Western Europe as Roman Empire collapsed, by 1200 was emerging as dynamic, expansive, innovative civilization

combined Greco-Roman-Christian past with culture of Germanic and Celtic peoples

hybrid/blended civilization

Eastern Orthodox world

Byzantium

Continuation of Roman Empire

unlike other empires, Byzantium did not have a clear starting point, and just was viewed as a continuation of the Roman Empire

initially had large parts of eastern Roman Empire

Egypt, Greece, Syria, Anatolia

late Roman stuff persisted in Byzantium

roads

taxation system

military structures

centralized administration

imperial court

laws

Christian Church

sought to preserve legacy of classical Greco-Roman civilization

capital: Constantinople

est. 330 CE

“New Rome”

people referred to themselves as “Romans”

Islamic expansion (7th century) led to loss of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa

until 1200, smaller Byzantine Empire was major force in eastern Mediterranean

controlled Greece, much of Balkans (Southeastern Europe), Anatolia

naval and merchant vessels active in both Mediterranean and Black Seas

Peak

political authorities tightly centralized in Constantinople

emperor claimed to govern all creation as God’s worldly representative, “sole ruler of the world”

imperial court tried to imitate what it thought was God’s heavenly court

Eastern Orthodox Church intimately tied to politics (relationship called caesaropapism)

both “caesar” (head of state) and pope (head of church) are the same person

appointed patriarch (leader) of Orthodox Church

made decisions about doctrine

called church councils into session

treated church as government department

Eastern Orthodox Christianity legitimated supreme and absolute authority of emperor

God-anointed

reflection of glory of God on Earth

cultural identity for empire’s subjects

more than just “Roman” but also orthodox/”right-thinking” Christians

Decline

tensions between Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches (headed by pope in Rome) grew

in 1054 representatives of both churches mutually excommunicated

declared those in the opposing tradition not genuine Christians

⁠

Crusades⁠

launched in 1095 by Catholic pope against Islam

made relations work

Fourth Crusade 1204: Western forces seized Constantinople, ruled Byzantium for next half century

after 1085: slow and terminal decline

territory shrank due to invasions/attacks

Western European powers

Catholic Crusaders

Turkic Muslims

ended in 1453: Turkic Ottoman Empire took Constantinople

Rus

most significant region of expansion of Orthodox Christianity

Slavic peoples of present-day Ukraine and western Russia, also included Finnic, Baltic, Viking

state called Kievan Rus (KEE-yehv-ihn ROOS)

emerged in 9th century

named after most prominent city, Kiev

Government

loosely led by various princes

society of opposites and inequalities

slaves and freemen

privileged and commoners

dominant men and subordinate women

grouping led to a civilization in the making

Religion

988: Prince Vladimir of Kiev looking for religion to unify, link into wider networks

affiliated with Eastern Orthodox Christianity of Byzantium

top-down development

ordinary people followed rulers into church

slow process

elements of traditional religious sensibility remained among those who considered themselves Christian

long-term implications for Russian history

new civilization firmly in Orthodox Christianity

separated from Islam and Roman Catholicism

Borrowing from Byzantium

Byzantine architectural styles

Cyrillic alphabet based on Greek

icons (religious images)

monastic tradition stressing prayer and service

political ideals of imperial control of church

orthodoxy: unified identity, religious legitimacy

Western Europe

by 1200, Christianity as Roman Catholic

church replaced some political, administrative, educational, welfare functions of vanished Roman Empire

status and legitimacy of “civilized” and literate religion

still bore some grandeur from Rome

for centuries, priests and bishops had to warn against worshipping/believing in other things

nature

ancient gods

monsters, trolls

spirits

Feudalism

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