Byzantine culture was influenced by Greek, Roman, Islamic Persian, and Ottoman Arab cultures. The empire lasted for 1,129 years until it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1453. The political structure was modeled on ancient Rome, with emperors and a Senate. Christianity dominated culture, but there were also persecutions of heretics. Justinian made significant contributions to Byzantine culture through art and law. The Greeks’ love of culture influenced Byzantine character, and Constantinople prospered due to trade routes. The influence of Byzantine culture was so great that Russian rulers assumed the title of Tsar and claimed Moscow as the Third Rome.
Byzantine culture encompassed a crossroads of influences. Its geographical location centered in the heart of Greece has given it a fundamental Greek character, while connections to the ancient foundations of the Roman Empire in the West have defined its political aspirations. Influences from the growing Islamic Persian Empire and Ottoman Arab influences from Turkey gave him a synthesis of Eastern and Western thought. Established trade with the Middle East and the Orient also helped make Byzantine culture one of the most advanced and diverse civilizations of its time.
The Byzantine Empire is generally believed to have come into being when Constantinople was made the capital of Rome in the year 324 AD The Eastern Roman Empire survived for 1,129 years until Constantinople was conquered by Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottomans in 1453 AD with a army of 80,000 to 200,000 men. Before its fall, the Byzantine capital of culture had peaked with a population of nearly 1,000,000 and was a cultural center of the world.
The political structure of Byzantine society was modeled on that of the ancient Roman tradition. Emperors governed with the advice of a small circle of advisers, and a Senate body prepared laws to govern the majority. A small segment of the population consisted of a wealthy aristocracy, followed by a prosperous middle-class minority of merchants and shop owners. Most of the population were urban workers or peasants who worked for wealthy landowners in the countryside.
The Christian religion has dominated culture since its foundation, through the Edict of Milan of 313 AD, a letter from Constantine the Great advocating religious tolerance. Emperor Constantine in the east and Emperor Licinius I in the west both signed the letter, and Constantine became the first Byzantine emperor to convert to Christianity. The Eastern Roman view of Christianity was however highly speculative and involved mysticism and metaphysical philosophies acquired from other cultures. This later led to the persecution of some Christian groups labeled heretics under the rule of Emperor Justinian from 527 to 565 AD
Justinian is also credited with many significant positive contributions to Byzantine culture. He initiated an enduring imagery in Byzantine artistic traditions through mosaics by commissioning the construction of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople on a palatial scale not seen until today. The legal system was also reformed under his rule through the Corpus iuris civilis, or body of civil law, which became known as Justinian’s Code. It was a systematic unification of established Roman laws and Christian principles, which is, in modern times, seen as the foundation of continental European law as a whole.
The Greek love of culture had a fundamental influence on Byzantine culture and character. Their openness to different ideas led to the export of their classical Greek and Roman thought to neighboring Islam and Slavic peoples, such as those of Russia. The elite of society spoke Latin, but the common population spoke Greek and were taught in the Greek intellectual traditions of literature, rhetoric, and democratic thought.
Since Constantinople sat on both land and sea trade routes between Europe and the Eastern empires, it prospered greatly. Constantine built a multitude of covered passageways, baths and palaces in the city. He also imported large quantities of art from across the region to beautify the capital. So great was the influence of Byzantine culture that when the empire fell to the Ottomans, Russian rulers assumed the title of Tsar, a translated form of Caesar which was used by the Byzantine emperors, through an attempt to restart the empire. They claimed Moscow as the Third Rome, a successor to the divided Roman empire which had now fallen to invaders in both the eastern and western regions.
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