The Early Centuries

Roman Emperor Constantine the Great dedicated his new capital city, New Rome or Constantinople, in 330 A.D. It was to be a Christian city; no public pagan worship was allowed. Some of the capital's greatest treasures were Christian relics, many brought from the Holy Land by (Saint) Helena, Constantine's mother.

Upon Constantine's death in 337, the Roman Empire was divided among his heirs. When Constantius II, emperor of the East, reunited the empire in 350, he kept his capital at Constantinople, as did Julian, his heir. Julian, known as the Apostate, worshiped the old gods and tried to convert his Christian subjects to paganism. He reigned only two years, however, dying in a campaign against the Persians.

Germanic peoples migrating from the north made many attempts to cross the Danube River, northern boundary of the empire in the east. Valens, emperor of the East, was killed in battle against the Visigoths at Adrianople in 378. Theodosius, a Roman general who had successfully subdued some of the barbarian intruders, became emperor of the East and, later, of the West also. He came to be called the Great because he made Christianity the sole legal religion in the empire. After Theodosius the empire usually had two emperors.

The Byzantine Empire was able to repulse or control the Germans, who developed a great admiration for it. Many warriors joined the imperial forces; the chieftains often held titles given them by the emperor. The Germans fought fiercely to defend the empire against the Huns, savage Asian invaders, but Emperor Theodosius II was defeated by Attila, the Hunnish king, in 447 and forced to pay tribute.

The German general Odoacer abolished the office of emperor of the West in 476 and acknowledged Zeno, emperor of the East, as his nominal overlord. At that time the East was being threatened by the Ostrogoths. Zeno, who considered Odoacer too independent, convinced Theodoric, the Ostrogoth king, that Italy offered richer plunder than Byzantium. The Ostrogoths attacked and defeated Odoacer's armies, killed Odoacer, and established a kingdom in Italy. Meanwhile, the Roman provinces in North Africa had fallen to the Vandals.

In 518 Justin, a commander of the guard, had himself elected to the throne. He was succeeded in 527 by his nephew Justinian, an ambitious ruler who in his 38-year reign regained the Roman provinces in Africa; reestablished imperial authority in Italy; and conquered southeastern Spain. Justinian's success was due in part to his astute empress, Theodora.

To accomplish the conquest of the West, Justinian bought peace with Persia, the empire's perpetual enemy in the east, by paying a vast annual tribute. However, seeing the Byzantines engaged elsewhere, the Persian ruler Khosrau I soon invaded Syria and the Caucasus. Another peace agreement was reached in 562. Meanwhile, Slavs and Bulgars were penetrating the northern border. The empire could not hold them back, and they, especially the Slavs, began settling in the Balkan peninsula.

Justinian's campaigns left the empire exhausted and impoverished. He is remembered mainly, however, for his positive accomplishments—his magnificent buildings in Ravenna (his capital in Italy) and Constantinople and for the codification of the law.