Byzantium

For over 500 years, the Roman empire brought a unique way of life to a vast area of land. But in 476 the western half of the empire collapsed, overrun by invading German tribes. In the east, Roman rule continued to flourish under what is called the Byzantine empire.

The old Greek city-port of Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul in Turkey) was the centre of the Byzantine (eastern Roman) empire. Renamed Constantinople after the first Byzantine emperor, Constantine, it became the seat of the Byzantine emperors and the centre of the eastern Christian Church. Within the byzantine empire, Greek and Roman arts and learning were preserved. Byzantine churches, such as Hagia Sophia, contained detailed frescoes and mosaic pictures that were made from hundreds of pieces of glass or stone.

The Byzantine empire reached its peak in the 500s, under the emperor Justinian and his general Belisarius. It included Italy, Greece, Turkey, parts of Spain, North Africa and Egypt. Justinian’s powerful wife, Theodora, helped him govern.

Justinian issued a code of laws on which the legal systems of many European countries were later based. Constantinople was a busy port and meeting place for traders from as far away as Spain, China and Russia. But invaders from the east – Avars, Slavs and Bulgars – threatened this last Roman empire. After Justinian’s death in 565, Byzantium was weakened by many wars and eventually fell to the Turks in 1453.

The Middle Ages

The period from about 500 to 1400 in Europe is known as the Middle Ages, or the medieval period. It began with the fall of the Roman empire and ended with the Renaissance, when a revival of art and learning swept through Europe.

The medieval period was an age of wars and conquests. Some wars were fought to gain more territory, while others were wars of religion, fought between people of differeing faiths in age when religion dominated most people’s lives. At this time, China’s civilization was far in advance of the rest of the world. Africa and America saw the emergence of strong, well-organized empires based on trade, while the spread of Islam from Arabia across the Middle East and into North Africa and Spain brought a new way of life to a vest area.

During the middle Ages, ordinary people lived simply, as farmers in villages or as craftworkers in towns. Many built their own houses, made their own clothes and grew their own food. Poor people obeyed local landowners or lords, who in turn served a more powerful king or emperor. The rulers ordered castles and palaces, temples and cathedrals to be built. These huge stone buildings often took many years, and even centuries, to construct.

Few people travelled far from their homes. Those who did venture into foreign lands included merchants, soldiers and a few bold explorers who wrote accounts of their travels. Few people could read or write, and learning was passed down by word of mouth. In Europe, the monasteries were centres of learning, while in Asia the Chinese and Arabs led the way in the studies of science and technology, medicine and astronomy.

Empires of India

In about 321 BC, a young prince, Chandragupta Maurya, founded an empire that stretched across northern India from the Hindu Kush in the west Bengal in the east. This was the first Indian empire.

Chandragupta’s grandson, Ashoka, came to the throne in 269 BC. He extended the empire until most of India came under Mauryan rule. In 260 BC, Ashoka’s army fought a bloody battle against the people of Kalinga in eastern India. Sickened by the bloodshed, Ashoka was filled with remorse. He converted to Buddhism and vowed to follow its religious teachings of peace and non-violence.

Ashoka travelled far and wide throughout his empire, listening to people’s views and complaints and trying to improve their lot. He had edicts carved on pillars for people to see, and sent out special officers to explain his policy of religious tolerance, respect for others and peace.

After the collapse of the Mauryan empire in about 185 BC, India was divided into small, independent kingdoms.

HINDUISM

The Hindu religion began more than 4,000 years ago as ideas from the Indus Valley civilization mingled with those of invading peoples. Under Ashoka, Buddhism became the major religion of Indis. Hinduism enjoyed a revival of Indians are Hindu. The main symbol of Hinduism is the word ‘Om’.

In AD 320, Chandra Gupta I, ruler of the kingdom of Magadha in the Ganges valley, enlarged his kingdom. The Gupta empire ruled northern India for the next 200 years. Chandra Gupta’s son, Samudra, extended the empire and increased its trading links. He was succeeded by Chandra Gupta II. During his reign, India enjoyed a golden age.

Under the Guptas, arts and literature flourished, as did science, medicine and mathematics. Great poets and artists were invited to the splendid royal court.

Hinduism replaced Buddhism as the major religion of the empire, and many new temples and shrines were built. Sanskrit, the scared, classical language of India, became the language of the court.

BUDDHISM

Buddhism was founded by an Indian prince, Siddharta Gautama (c. 563-483 BC), who gave up his comfortable life to seek enlightment. He found enlightenment while sitting and meditating and meditating under a Bo tree. He spent the rest of his life travelling and teaching. Buddhism teaches that people, like all living things, are part of an endless round of birth, change, death and rebirth. Buddhism spread from India to other parts of Asia, and beyond. 

African Cultures

One of the great early African civilizations grew up in Nubia (now northern Sudan) in about 2000 BC. Called the kingdom of Kush, it was conquered by Egypt in 1500 BC. Kush, in turn, defeated Egypt in about 728 BC and ruled it for 100 years.

In the 3^rd century BC, the capital of Kush moved to Moroe, on the banks of the river Nile. The city became an important centre of iron-working. Another early centre of iron-working developed in what is now northern Nigeria (in West Africa) about in 600 BC. The people of the region were known as the Nok. Their culture flourished until about AD 200. The Nok mined iron and smelted it in clay furnaces. They used the iron to make tools such as hoes and axes that were used to clear the land for crops.

The Nok also made iron arrowheads, spears and knives, as well as stone tools and distinctive clay figures.

The kingdom of Axum rose to power in the 2^nd century AD. Located in what is now northern Ethiopia, Axum lay on an important trade route and grew rich from buying and selling spices, incense and ivory. Its major trading partners were Arabia. By AD 1000, however, it had collapsed as a new Islamic empire from Arabia expanded its influence.

The Romans

According to legend, the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. The boys were abandoned by their uncle to die on the banks of the river Tiber in central Italy. But they were rescued by a she-wolf, and later found and raised by a shepherd.

To repay the she-wolf, Romulus and Remus vowed to build a city in her honour on the Palatine Hill where she had found them. In a quarrel about the city boundaries, Remus was killed and Romulus became the first king of Rome. From humble beginnings as a small group of villages, Rome grew to become the capital of the most powerful empire the western world had ever seen.

At first, Rome was ruled by kings, but, in about 509 BC, King Tarquin the Proud was expelled from Rome, and for almost the next 500 years Rome was run as a republic. Power passed to the Senate, a law-making body made up of nobles and headed by two officials, called consuls. The consuls were elected each year to manage the affairs of the Senate and the army. By about 50 BC, Rome had conquered most of the lands around the Mediterranean. But rivalry between army generals plunged Rome into civil war. In 27 BC, Octavian, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, became the first Roman emperor. He was charged with restoring peace.

Under the emperors, Rome gained control of much of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

The Roman army was originally formed to protect the city of Rome. It was made up largely of volunteer soldiers. General Marius (155-86 BC) reorganized the army into a more efficient force. Soldiers were paid wages and joined up for 20 to 25 years. Ordinary soldiers were grouped into units called legions, each made up of about 5,000 men. The legions, in turn, were made up of smaller units, called centuries, of 80 men. These were commanded by soldiers called centurions.

Roman society was divided into citizens and non-citizens.

There were three classes of citizens – patricians, the richest aristocrats; equites, the wealthy merchants; and plebeians, the ordinary citizens. All citizens were allowed to vote in elections and to serve in the army. They were also allowed to wear togas.

Building, mining and all hard manual labour was done by the vast workforce of salves. Many salves were treated cruelly, but some were paid a wage and could eventually buy their freedom.

CHRISTIANITY AND ROME

The Romans worshipped many gods and often adopted new religions from the people they conquered. Jesus Christ was born (probably in 4 BC) in Palestine, which was then a Roman province. His teachings attracted fervent followers, but upset local Jewish leaders, and he was crucified by the Romans. Christ’s followers, among them the apostle Paul, spread the new religion of Christianity throughout the Roman world. Despite persecution, the faith grew and, in AD 391, it became the official religion of Rome.

HANNIBAL

From 264 to 146 BC, Rome waged a series of wars, called the Punic Wars, against the Phoenician city of Carthage in North Africa, to gain control of the Mediterranean. In 218 BC, the Carthaginian general Hannibal led a surprise attack on the Romans. He marched over the Alps into Italy with 35,000 men and 37 elephants. Carthage was eventually defeated.