1answer.
Ask question
Login Signup
Ask question
All categories
  • English
  • Mathematics
  • Social Studies
  • Business
  • History
  • Health
  • Geography
  • Biology
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Computers and Technology
  • Arts
  • World Languages
  • Spanish
  • French
  • German
  • Advanced Placement (AP)
  • SAT
  • Medicine
  • Law
  • Engineering
Yuki888 [10]
3 years ago
6

What are four reasons that the Byzantine Empire thrived?

Social Studies
1 answer:
irinina [24]3 years ago
6 0
You’d see a lot of changes when looking at a map of present-day Europe and comparing it to a 30 year old one. Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and the Baltic States were all part of the USSR. Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia still stated. Go back even further and the map looks even stranger. Putting all those different people under the same banner and keeping them that way was and still is next to impossible. Many have tried and most have failed, but the first to even come close was the Romans. Their inheritors, the Byzantines, managed to keep it together for over 1100 years, thus creating the longest-living Empire on the continent. Here’s how they did it.

When talking about an empire, its location kind of becomes redundant after a while because you’re pretty much everywhere and you have your hands in all the cookie jars. Nevertheless, knowing where to put your capital city is essential no matter how big you are.

For the Byzantines it all started in 330 AD, when the Roman Emperor Constantine I moved the state’s capital from Rome to the newly founded city of, you guessed it, New Rome, later to be named Constantinople and what is now present-day Istanbul. Its location was excellent! It’s right on top of the strait of Bosphorus, which connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and separates Europe from Asia. From here you can literally keep an eye on what goes in and out of the empire, what others transport to and from their kingdoms through your backyard, and how much you can tax them for doing so.

Besides its economic advantages, having the capital in the east was a major plus because the east was where all the good fighting was going on. With the Bulgarians to the north and the Persians and later all the Islamic Caliphates to the east, keeping these wealthier provinces safe was essential and by no means easy. Having the capital so close to danger would seem counter-intuitive, but back then sending messages back and forth between the capital and the frontline would take weeks or even months and shortening that time was strategically crucial. Information is power!

Defending your capital from would-be invaders is a great example of forward thinking. And what better way to do so than by building the largest wall Europe had ever seen? The west end of Constantinople had no natural protection from invasion, so Emperor Constantine the Great started building one in 324 AD. Not even a hundred years later, Constantinople outgrew its boundaries and Emperor Theodosius II started construction on a second wall one mile west of the old one, which spans from the Sea of Marmara to the Golden Horn.

But disaster struck on November 6, 447, when a powerful earthquake destroyed large parts of the wall and none other than Attila the Hun was looking for some easy pickings. Luckily, the urban prefect Kyros of Floras managed to not only rebuild but also add a second outer wall and a moat, and all within 60 days. It was just in time to properly greet poor old Attila, who had to go back to pillaging the rest of Europe. These walls stand to this day as a testament to Byzantine engineering and are known as the Theodosian Walls.

Constantinople also had sea walls that completely surrounded the city. These weren’t as big or as fortified as the main walls, but access to the Golden Horn was restricted by a heavy chain and strong currents on the Marmara coast made an effective attack by a fleet next to impossible.

Constantinople also suffered from a lack of fresh water. The Valens Aqueduct, which was built by Emperor Valens in the late 4th century and still stands today, was 1061 yards long and the main source of water for the capital. The entire system of aqueducts and canals spanned a total distance of over 155 miles, making it the longest ever built in Antiquity. Together with over one hundred underground cisterns, which could house over one million cubic meters of water, Constantinople was an almost impenetrable bastion that could hold out against a siege indefinitely.



You might be interested in
What is family resemblance?
grigory [225]

Answer:

Family resemblance (German: Familienähnlichkeit) is a philosophical idea made popular by Ludwig Wittgenstein, with the best known exposition given in his posthumously published book Philosophical Investigations (1953).[1] It argues that things which could be thought to be connected by one essential common feature may in fact be connected by a series of overlapping similarities, where no one feature is common to all of the things. Games, which Wittgenstein used as an example to explain the notion, have become the paradigmatic example of a group that is related by family resemblances. It has been suggested that Wittgenstein picked up the idea and the term from Nietzsche, who had been using it, as did many nineteenth century philologists, when discoursing about language families.[2]

Explanation:

5 0
3 years ago
How high did the unemployment rate go during the Great Depression.
timama [110]

The unemployment rate went as high as 24.9% during the great depression.

3 0
3 years ago
Read 2 more answers
The development of georgia rail road system and the introduction of the cotton gin
tresset_1 [31]
What are some options??
3 0
3 years ago
Plz help
Setler [38]

Answer:

C. Ziggurat

Explanation:

Hope this helps :) have a great day

6 0
3 years ago
Your school counselor has asked you to volunteer to help two students who are having trouble in a language arts course. One of t
Alla [95]

Answer:

Distributive equity means to have the "advantages and weights" of society to be appropriated fairly between everybody, notwithstanding their age, sexual orientation, social class, geographic area, race, or nationality. For this situation, we could add inabilities as a component to likewise consider while conveying training. In this manner, we ought to have a specific sort of help for the individuals who battle turning in schoolwork, and the individuals who need to manage an incapacity and might require an alternate sort of help.

Explanation: 100% on edge, no clue what the person above is talking about.

9 0
3 years ago
Read 2 more answers
Other questions:
  • ____ is a state of reduced attention that is expressed in behavior that is rigid or thoughtless. this state is natural because h
    11·1 answer
  • The Federal Reserve System is an independent government agency that was established by __________. A. the Cabinet B. Congress C.
    13·2 answers
  • After purchasing a product, postpurchase evaluation may result in cognitive dissonance. cognitive dissonance is
    6·1 answer
  • 1. Do you think "multiple intelligences" is a valid construct? In other words, do multiple intelligences exist? (Be sure to incl
    7·1 answer
  • Margaret Mead (1978) described three types of cultures with differing levels of peer influence on the socialization of its young
    13·1 answer
  • Rena’s boss just informed her that the next election would be won by the incumbent. She proceeded to ask him where he got his in
    15·1 answer
  • I'm in a few lessons on eastern europe and I need help??? Please help me don't leave me hanging. :{
    13·1 answer
  • I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis -- broad Executive power to wage a war against the
    9·2 answers
  • What is a right of Georgia citizens under the Georgia constitution
    14·1 answer
  • <img src="https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=%7B%5Chuge%7B%5Cunderline%7B%5Cbf%7B%5Cpink%7BQuestion%7D%7D%7D%7D%7D%20" id="TexFormula1" tit
    12·2 answers
Add answer
Login
Not registered? Fast signup
Signup
Login Signup
Ask question!