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The Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire began to look less like the Roman Empire
as the years passed. The empire covered Greece, the Balkans, Asia Minor,
Syria, and Egypt. By the seventh century, Greek had completely replaced
Latin as the language of the empire. The Byzantine emperors still thought
of themselves as the successors of Caesar Augustus, but over the years
The Crusades were ultimately unsuccessful because the Turks conquered the Byzantine Empire. The city first called Byzantium and later Constantinople is now known as Istanbul, Turkey. Turkish has replaced Greek as the language of Asia Minor, and 99.8% of the people in modern Turkey are Muslims. |
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To cite this page: |
In
AD330, Constantine
moved his capital from Rome to the Greek city of Byzantium. He wanted
the capital of his empire to be safe from barbarian invasion. Constantine
renamed the city Constantinople, but we refer to the civilization centered
in Constantinople as the Byzantine Empire.
Roman
influence gradually disappeared. Seljuk Turks began moving into the Byzantine
Empire from Central Asia in the eleventh century. The Turks had recently
become Muslims, and the Byzantine emperor feared they would soon overpower
his Christian empire. He asked the leader of the Christian church-the
Pope-to assist in a holy war against the Turks. In 1095, Pope Urban II
launched the first of many Crusades, or "wars of the cross." Urban hoped
that in addition to expelling the Turks from the Byzantine Empire, he
would also be able to reclaim the holy city of Jerusalem from Muslim control.
Soldiers from western Europe left their homes to free the Byzantine Empire
of the "unbelievers." This was the first time many Europeans left their
homes. Their exposure to new and different cultures was a factor that
led to the Renaissance.