#12—Crash Course World History Fall of the Roman Empire → Byzantine Empire

Answer each question with no more than 2 words or a number

How and when Rome fell remains the subject of considerable historical debate—but today I’m going to argue that the Rome didn’t really fully fall until the middle of the (1)_____________ century.  Technically the city of Rome was conquered by (2)_____________ in 476 CE.

Rome was doomed to fall as soon as it spread outside of Italy because the further the territory is from the capital, the harder it is to (3)_____________.

Thus imperialism itself sowed the seeds of destruction in Rome.  This was the argument put forth by the Roman historian Tacitus, "To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a desert and call it (4)_____________.”

There are two ways to overcome this governance problem: First, you rule with the proverbial iron (5)_____________.  Regardless, the Romans couldn’t do this because their whole identity was wrapped up in an idea of justice that precluded indiscriminate (6)_____________.  The other strategy is to try to incorporate (7)_____________ people into the empire more fully: In Rome’s case, to make them Romans.  This worked really well in the early days of the Republic and even at the beginning of the Empire. But it eventually led to Barbarians inside the Gates.

The decline of the Roman legions started long before Rome started getting sacked.  It really began with the extremely bad decision to incorporate Germanic (8)_____________ into the Roman Army. By the 3rd and 4th centuries CE, though, the empire had been forced to allow the kind of riffraff into their army who didn’t really care about the idea of Rome itself. They were only (9)_____________ to their commanders.

This was of course a recipe for (10)_____________, and that’s exactly what happened with general after general after general declaring himself (11)_____________ of Rome.

There was very little stability in the West. For instance, between 235 and 284 CE, (12)_____________different people were either emperor or claimed to be emperor.

So remember when I said the Roman Empire survived until the 15th century? Well that was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly known as the Byzantine Empire.  So while the Western empire descended into chaos, the eastern half of the Empire had its capital in Byzantium, a city on the Bosporus Strait that Constantine would later rename Constantinople when he moved his capitol east.

As the political center of the Roman Empire shifted east, Constantine also tried to re-orient his new religion, (13)_____________, toward the east, holding the first Church council in Nicaea in 325.  The idea was to get all Christians to believe the (14)_____________-that worked [he said sarcastically]- but it did mark the beginning of the emperor having greater control over the Church.

Although the Byzantines spoke Greek not Latin, they considered themselves Romans. There was a lot of continuity between the old, Western Roman Empire, and the new, Eastern one. Politically, each was ruled by a single ruler who wielded absolute (15)_____________ power.

War was pretty much constant as the Byzantines fought the Persian Sassanian Empire and then various Islamic empires.

Trade and valuable agricultural land that yielded high (16)_____________ meant that the Byzantine Empire was like the Western Roman Empire, exceptionally rich, and it was slightly more compact as a territory than its predecessor and much more (17)_____________, containing as it did all of those once independent Greek city states, which made it easier to administer.

Like their Western counterparts, the Byzantines enjoyed spectacle and (18) _____________.  Chariot races in Constantinople were huge, with thousands turning out at the Hippodrome to cheer on their favorites.

Perhaps the most consistently Roman aspect of Byzantine society was that they followed Roman (19)_____________.

The Eastern Roman Empire’s codification of Roman laws was one of its greatest achievements. Much of the credit for that goes to the most famous Byzantine Emperor, Justinian.  He was born a (20)_____________ somewhere in the Balkans and then rose to became emperor in 527.  He ruled for almost 30 years and in addition to (21) _____________ Roman law, he did a lot to restore the former glory of the Roman Empire. He took Carthage back; he even took Rome back from the Goths, although not for long.  He’s responsible for the building of one of the great churches in all of time— which is now a mosque—the Hagia Sophia or Church of Saint Wisdom.

Maybe the most interesting thing Justinian ever did was be married to Theodora who began her career as an (22)_____________, dancer, and possible prostitute before become Empress. And she may have saved her husband’s rule by convincing him not to flee the city during riots between the Blues and the (23) _____________.

Theodora fought to expand the rights of (24)_____________ in divorce and property ownership, and even had a law passed taking the bold stance that adulterous women should not be executed.

So, in short, the Byzantines continued the Roman legacy of empire and war and law for almost (25)_____________ years after Romulus Augustus was driven out of Rome.

The Byzantines followed a different form of Christianity, the branch we now call Eastern or sometimes Greek (26)_____________.

How there came to be a split between the Catholic and Orthodox traditions is complicated – In the West there was a Pope and in the East there was a Patriarch.  The Pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church. He sort of serves as God’s (27)_____________ on earth and he doesn’t answer to any secular ruler.  In the Orthodox Church they didn’t have that problem because the Patriarch was always appointed by the (28)_____________.  So it was pretty clear who had control over the church, so much that they even have a word for it- Caesaropapism: Caesar over Pope.

The fact that in Rome there was no (29)_____________ after 476 meant there was no one to challenge the Pope, which would profoundly shape European history over the next, like, (30)_____________ years.

Answers:

How and when Rome fell remains the subject of considerable historical debate—but today I’m going to argue that the Rome didn’t really fully fall until the middle of the (1)15th century.  Technically the city of Rome was conquered by (2)barbarians in 476 CE.

Rome was doomed to fall as soon as it spread outside of Italy because the further the territory is from the capital, the harder it is to (3)govern.

Thus imperialism itself sowed the seeds of destruction in Rome.  This was the argument put forth by the Roman historian Tacitus, "To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a desert and call it (4)peace.”

There are two ways to overcome this governance problem: First, you rule with the proverbial iron (5)fist.  Regardless, the Romans couldn’t do this because their whole identity was wrapped up in an idea of justice that precluded indiscriminate (6)violence.  The other strategy is to try to incorporate (7)conquered people into the empire more fully: In Rome’s case, to make them Romans.  This worked really well in the early days of the Republic and even at the beginning of the Empire. But it eventually led to Barbarians inside the Gates.

The decline of the Roman legions started long before Rome started getting sacked.  It really began with the extremely bad decision to incorporate Germanic (8)warriors into the Roman Army. By the 3rd and 4th centuries CE, though, the empire had been forced to allow the kind of riffraff into their army who didn’t really care about the idea of Rome itself. They were only (9)loyal to their commanders.

This was of course a recipe for (10)civil war, and that’s exactly what happened with general after general after general declaring himself (11)Emperor of Rome.

There was very little stability in the West. For instance, between 235 and 284 CE, (12) 41 different people were either emperor or claimed to be emperor.

So remember when I said the Roman Empire survived until the 15th century? Well that was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly known as the Byzantine Empire.  So while the Western empire descended into chaos, the eastern half of the Empire had its capital in Byzantium, a city on the Bosporus Strait that Constantine would later rename Constantinople when he moved his capitol east.

As the political center of the Roman Empire shifted east, Constantine also tried to re-orient his new religion, (13)Christianity, toward the east, holding the first Church council in Nicaea in 325.  The idea was to get all Christians to believe the (14)same thing-that worked [he said sarcastically]- but it did mark the beginning of the emperor having greater control over the Church.

Although the Byzantines spoke Greek not Latin, they considered themselves Romans. There was a lot of continuity between the old, Western Roman Empire, and the new, Eastern one. Politically, each was ruled by a single ruler who wielded absolute (15)military power.

War was pretty much constant as the Byzantines fought the Persian Sassanian Empire and then various Islamic empires.

Trade and valuable agricultural land that yielded high (16)taxes meant that the Byzantine Empire was like the Western Roman Empire, exceptionally rich, and it was slightly more compact as a territory than its predecessor and much more (17)urban, containing as it did all of those once independent Greek city states, which made it easier to administer.

Like their Western counterparts, the Byzantines enjoyed spectacle and (18) sport.  Chariot races in Constantinople were huge, with thousands turning out at the Hippodrome to cheer on their favorites.

Perhaps the most consistently Roman aspect of Byzantine society was that they followed Roman (19)law.

The Eastern Roman Empire’s codification of Roman laws was one of its greatest achievements. Much of the credit for that goes to the most famous Byzantine Emperor, Justinian.  He was born a (20)peasant somewhere in the Balkans and then rose to became emperor in 527.  He ruled for almost 30 years and in addition to (21) codifying Roman law, he did a lot to restore the former glory of the Roman Empire. He took Carthage back; he even took Rome back from the Goths, although not for long.  He’s responsible for the building of one of the great churches in all of time— which is now a mosque—the Hagia Sophia or Church of Saint Wisdom.

Maybe the most interesting thing Justinian ever did was be married to Theodora who began her career as an (22) actress, dancer, and possible prostitute before become Empress. And she may have saved her husband’s rule by convincing him not to flee the city during riots between the Blues and the (23) Greens.

Theodora fought to expand the rights of (24)women in divorce and property ownership, and even had a law passed taking the bold stance that adulterous women should not be executed.

So, in short, the Byzantines continued the Roman legacy of empire and war and law for almost (25)1,000 // a thousand  years after Romulus Augustus was driven out of Rome.

The Byzantines followed a different form of Christianity, the branch we now call Eastern or sometimes Greek (26)Orthodox.

How there came to be a split between the Catholic and Orthodox traditions is complicated – In the West there was a Pope and in the East there was a Patriarch.  The Pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church. He sort of serves as God’s (27)regent on earth and he doesn’t answer to any secular ruler.  In the Orthodox Church they didn’t have that problem because the Patriarch was always appointed by the (28)emperor.  So it was pretty clear who had control over the church, so much that they even have a word for it- Caesaropapism: Caesar over Pope.

The fact that in Rome there was no (29)emperor after 476 meant there was no one to challenge the Pope, which would profoundly shape European history over the next, like, (30)1200// twelve-hundred years.