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Timeline: Decline and Fall (13th to 15th Centuries)

1204

The Fourth Crusade

The end of the Komnenian dynasty signals a new period of weak and finally incompetent rule.

A disinherited Byzantine prince involves a crusading army in Byzantine politics with disastrous results. The crusaders were originally bound for Egypt. Encouraged by the Venetians, who by now are a significant maritime and economic power, the crusaders instead attack and partially destroy Constantinople - the greatest city in Christendom.

For the first time in almost eight hundred years the walls of Constantinople yield to an attacking army. Committed by one group of Christians against another, the so-called "Fourth Crusade" ranks as one of the most shameful episodes in all of European history.

For the next sixty years Constantinople languishes under Latin rule.

1261 to 1282

Byzantine recovery of Constantinople and reign of the Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos

Although the heart of Empire was torn out by the capture of Constantinople, the Byzantines themselves show a considerable amount of resilience. Three major "successor states" are set up by Byzantines within the borders of the old Empire. The strongest of the successor states is the so-called Empire of Nicaea. In 1261 the Nicaean Emperor, Michael VIII Palaiologos, succeeds in recapturing Constantinople from the Latins.

Michael’s brilliance as soldier and diplomat restores the Empire to some of its former glory, but he remains an ambivalent figure in Byzantine history - he had murdered his way to the top but had committed a still greater crime in the eyes of his subjects. In the interests of securing some form of western alliance, Michael had attempted forced union of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Church union is unthinkable to most ordinary Byzantines - their attitude towards the west permanently embittered by the Fourth Crusade.

1329

Ottoman Turks capture Nicaea

The weakened Empire is unable to hold on to its provinces in Asia Minor. Osman, a Turkish Emir with his power base in northwestern Asia Minor, enhances his power at the expense both of his Turkish neighbours and the Byzantines. His emerging state, named after him, is known as the Ottoman Emirate.

The Ottomans take Nicaea after an unsuccessful Byzantine relief expedition. Little of Asia Minor is left in Byzantine hands.

1341 to 1391

Civil War, Plague, political and military collapse

Byzantium’s position is exacerbated by a protracted civil war, fought out between aristocratic factions and partisans of the Palaiologos family. Superimposed upon civil war is the Black Death, which hits Constantinople in the spring of 1347.

Shorn of virtually all of its territory Byzantium is a virtual dependency of the Ottoman Turks, who now surround Constantinople from Europe and Asia.

1397 to 1402

First Turkish siege of Constantinople

The siege is finally lifted as an incidental effect of the Battle of Ankara - a terrible Ottoman defeat at the hands of Timur-Lenk (Tamburlane) and his army of Mongols and Tartars.

Manuel II Palaiologos undertakes a tour of western Europe (as far afield as Britain) in the hope of stirring up support for what remains of his empire. Western Europe is becoming more aware of its Greek heritage and Manuel encounters much sympathy and expressions of goodwill - unfortunately these do not extend to much in the way of concrete assistance.

1442

Second Turkish siege of Constantinople

The second Turkish attack upon Constantinople, this time led by the Ottoman Sultan Murad II, is a shorter and much fiercer affair than its predecessor. Nevertheless, the Byzantines put up a determined resistance and the Turks eventually lift the siege - partially, also, as a result of clandestine Byzantine interference in Ottoman politics.

1453

The fall of Constantinople

The young Ottoman Sultan, Mehmet II, decides upon the final elimination of the Byzantine "Empire" - which is now effectively reduced to Constantinople itself and the Despotate (Province) of Morea in the Peloponnese.

Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos is the last Byzantine Emperor, strictly speaking the last Roman Emperor, in an unbroken political tradition stretching back to Augustus, almost 1,500 years earlier.

Constantine had been proclaimed Emperor at Mistra (capital of the Despotate of Morea) in 1449 and had precious little time to prepare for the Turkish assault. For the defence of Constantinople he has a small army of just over 8,000 men - 3,000 of them foreigners, including, ironically enough, contingents from Genoa and Venice, the two great Italian maritime cities who had done a considerable amount of damage to the Empire over the previous three centuries.

The defenders, outnumbered at least 10 to 1 by Mehmet’s army, put up an extraordinarily brave and effective defence - differences between Latin and Greek are forgotten in the last few desperate days of the Empire.

Finally, in the early hours of Tuesday, 29 May 1453, the Turks launch wave after wave of attackers against Constantinople’s land walls. Turkish soldiers force their way in through a small gate and organised Byzantine resistance finally collapses. Constantine and most of his Byzantine soldiers die fighting along and around the walls. The aftermath of the City's fall is rivalled only by that of the Fourth Crusade.

Mehmet, who is later to make Constantinople the capital of his own great empire, is a dynamic and ruthless 21-year-old. After touring the City’s ruined Great Palace, he is moved to speak a few lines by a Persian poet:

"The spider weaves the curtains in the palace of the Caesars; The owl calls the watches in the towers of Afrasiab ...."

Timeline: The last Imperial Age (11th-13th centuries)

1025 to 1081

Political instability and military defeat

The eleventh century marks a period of great cultural brilliance for Byzantium, which tends to obscure a disturbing deterioration in the Empire’s political and military affairs.

The Byzantine government goes into free-fall as a series of alternately incompetent or unlucky rulers follow each other in quick succession.

1054

The Great Schism

The Orthodox Patriarch and representatives of the Pope are drawn into a bitter argument over various aspects of religious doctrine and church protocol. The dispute has more to do with the combative arrogance of leaders on both sides than any substantive argument, but ends with mutual excommunication of the Patriarch, on the one hand, and the Papal representatives on the other.

The schism permanently sours relations between eastern and western churches.

1071

Battle of Manzikert and the fall of Bari

The deteriorating situation is brought to a head by two military disasters at opposite ends of the Empire. In Italy, the key Byzantine stronghold of Bari falls to the Normans. A more telling blow falls near the town of Manzikert, in the Armenian borderlands, when the Seljuk Turks rout a Byzantine army under the Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes.

The Seljuk Turks, originating in Central Asia, have made themselves masters of Baghdad and established a protectorate over the Abbasid Caliphate. Their victory over the Byzantines is a stunning blow for the Empire, but one from which recovery should have been possible. Unfortunately the Byzantine political scene is thrown into further disarray by the defeat and there is no effective response to further Seljuk incursions into Byzantine territory.

Over the next ten years virtually all of Asia Minor is lost to the Seljuks, who establish a capital for their new Sultanate of Rum (Turkish for "Rome") at Nicaea.

1081

Alexios I Komnenos is crowned emperor

Alexios is the first truly effective Byzantine leader since Basil II, but he inherits a dreadful situation. The first years of his reign are marked by improvised and not always successful attempts to deal with the Normans of South Italy, who are as much a threat to the Empire in the West as the Seljuks are in the East. Alexios also has to deal with Pecheneg raiders on the Empire’s north-western frontier and with internal plots against his rule.

Alexios is finally able to defeat the Norman invasion of Greece, and scores a decisive victory against the Pechenegs. By the early 1090s his position is secure and the Empire’s precarious position has been stabilised. Asia Minor, though, is still under Turkish control.

1096

The First Crusade is launched

Alexios still lacks the necessary military resources to attempt a reconquest of Asia Minor. He puts out diplomatic feelers to the Pope, Urban II - perhaps a strong mercenary force could be arranged to help free the eastern Christians ?

The original Byzantine request is interpreted by the Pope as a call for a full-blown holy war. At the Council of Clermont, Urban extends the Crusade’s objectives to capture of Jerusalem from the Muslims.

After a false start sometimes known as the "People’s Crusade", the crusading armies proper arrive before Constantinople in late 1096 and early 1097.

Alexios is horrified - the vast crusading army, made up of powerful western noblemen and their retinues, is hostile to the Byzantines and more of a potential threat than help to the empire. Worst of all, the crusading army includes a contingent of Normans - Alexios’s archenemies.

Alexios uses all of his diplomatic skill, and his small but efficient army, to flatter and cajole the crusaders into swearing an oath of allegiance to him. They are safely ferried across the Bosphoros and away from Constantinople.

1099

The Crusaders capture Jerusalem

Against all sensible expectations the Crusaders reach their ultimate objective, Jerusalem, and take it amidst scenes of horrific bloodshed.

As a by-product, the crusade assists Byzantine recovery of the western coastlands of Asia Minor. Overall though, the crusaders represent a dangerous and unstable addition to the politics of the eastern Mediterranean.

1118-1180

Reigns of John II and Manuel I Komnenos

Alexios is succeeded first by his son John, who reigns for 25 years, and then his grandson Manuel, who rules for 37 years.

Byzantium during this period seems as powerful and as wealthy as ever - but during Manuel’s reign there are ample warning signs of trouble to come.

Timeline: The Byzantine high tide (9th-11th Centuries)

842 to 867

Reign of the Emperor Michael III

Michael is a notorious drunkard and makes little personal contribution to his empire. But his reign is marked by a vital cultural life, increased Byzantine prestige, and by the careers of several remarkable individuals - most notably the Emperor’s uncle, Bardas Caesar, the Patriarch Photios, and the missionaries Cyril and Methodios.

Cyril and Methodios are crucial figures in the history of Byzantine influence on Slavic culture and religion. Keen to introduce Christian worship to the Slavs in their own language, Cyril develops the first Slavic alphabet. Bulgaria formally converts to Christianity during the 860s.

860

First Russian attack upon Constantinople

The Rhos, as they are known to the Byzantines, are a combination of northern Slavs with their Viking overlords. They make their first major appearance in Byzantine history with an abortive attack upon Constantinople.

867

Michael III is killed. He is succeeded by his murderer, Basil I (the Macedonian)

Basil, Michael’s former favourite, is an ex-peasant and stablehand who worked his way up through the social world of the Byzantine Imperial Court. He founds the long-lived Macedonian dynasty although, ironically enough, it appears that his ‘son’ - the future emperor Leo VI, may have in fact been fathered by Michael (Basil’s wife, Eudokia Ingerina, was Michael’s former mistress).

886 to 912

Reign of Leo VI ("the wise")

Leo sponsors an extensive programme of writing and publication on a range of different topics, most notably on the law, on diplomatic and court protocol, and on military strategy and tactics. In particular, Byzantine law is recodified in the sixty books of the Basilica, or "Imperial Code".

Leo is spectacularly unlucky in his attempts at marriage and production of a male heir. His first two wives die without children and he has to achieve a dispensation from the church to marry a third time. Leo’s third wife, Eudokia Baena, dies in childbirth (their child, a son, died a few days later).

The church forbids Leo to marry a fourth time, so he takes a mistress, Zoë Karbonopsina ("coal - dark eyes"). They have a son, and Leo marries Zoë in order to secure legitimate succession - resulting in a sharp religious and political controversy.

919

Romanos I Lekapenos is crowned Emperor

Zoë and her young son, Constantine Porphyrogenitos, are left at the centre of a volatile political situation - which results eventually in the usurpation of Romanos Lekapenos.

Previously a high ranking naval officer, Romanos is a basically humane individual who also happens to be a very shrewd politician. He does not formally depose Constantine, but reigns instead as senior emperor.

Romanos’s reign is notable for the first strong indications of a shift in Byzantine politics and society: Land is increasingly accumulated in the hands of powerful officials and military aristocrats. Romanos is plainly worried by this development, which threatens Byzantium’s centralised and tax gathering state structure. He attempts legislation in favour of peasant land-owners, but these measures are largely ineffective.

934 to 976

Conquests on the Eastern Frontier and elsewhere

During this period Byzantium produces a series of fearsomely effective military commanders, including John Kourkuas, Nikephoros Phokas and John Tzimiskes. They lead armies which have become increasingly adapted to the needs of offensive, rather than defensive, warfare.

Arab emirates on the Byzantine border find they can no longer rely upon support from the near-defunct Abbasid Caliphate. The Byzantine advance is delayed for some time, by the talented Hamdanid Arab general Sayf-al-Dawlah, but by the end of the tenth century the entire Arab border zone is under Byzantine control for the first time in over three hundred years.

The Byzantines also consolidate their position in Italy and, in 961, an invasion force led by Nikephoros Phokas succeeds in the reconquest of Crete.

976

Basil II begins independent rule as Emperor

Basil, grandson of Constantine Porphyrogenitos and legitimate Emperor, had been kept in the political background during the rule of the two usurping soldier-emperors Nikephoros Phokas and John Tzimiskes. At the age of 18 he becomes sole effective ruler of the Empire, only to face serious rebellions from senior members of the military aristocracy.

Basil survives the challenge to his throne, but this experience renders him permanently suspicious of the great provincial families of Asia Minor.

989

Vladimir, Prince of Kiev, is baptised

Vladimir’s baptism, and marriage to the Byzantine princess Anna, seals an alliance between Basil and the Russian prince. It is also an important milestone for Byzantium’s great cultural influence over Russia.

6,000 Russian warriors are enrolled into the Byzantine Army as the Varangian Guard.
1018

Basil defeats and annexes the Bulgarian Empire

Despite Bulgaria’s conversion to Orthodox Christianity, Byzantium and Bulgaria remain at loggerheads - Byzantium never quite managing to gain a decisive advantage over its nearest and potentially most dangerous enemy.

For much of his reign Basil had waged war against the Bulgars, who are led by Samuel - their brave and capable Tsar. Basil intends primarily not to destroy the Bulgarian empire, but instead to reduce the Bulgars to client status, dependent upon Byzantine favour. However the final collapse of Bulgarian resistance presents the Byzantines with an opportunity too good to miss.

Bulgaria is formally absorbed into the Byzantine Empire, but is allowed to retain a degree of self-determination.

1025

Death of Basil II

Basil’s death marks the high tide of Byzantium’s status as a medieval superpower - the strongest and wealthiest state in all of Europe and the Middle East. Despite the annexation of Bulgaria, and other territorial advances in Georgia and Armenia, Basil did not seek conquest for its own sake. Instead he attempted to secure the Empire’s existing borders by exhaustion and defeat of its enemies.

Basil commits one cardinal error by failing to properly provide for his succession. He dies unmarried, survived only by his ineffectual brother Constantine, and Constantine's daughters, Zoë and Theodora.

Timeline: The fight to survive (7th to 9th Centuries)

610

Herakleios I becomes Emperor

Herakleios is crowned after a period of disastrous misrule by Phocas, a brutal ex-soldier.

Herakleios re-organises previously ineffective Byzantine resistance against a major Persian invasion. Wars between the two superpowers, Byzantium and Persia, had previously been limited in scope and punctuated by periods of uneasy peace. This latest war develops instead into a death-struggle. For the first time Byzantium’s continued existence as a political entity is seriously threatened.

626

Constantinople besieged by the Avars

A massive barbarian army, working in co-operation with the Persians, lays siege to Constantinople whilst Herakleios is away campaigning in the east. Inspired by the charismatic Patriarch Sergios, the Byzantines successfully resist the attack upon their capital city.

628

Sassanid Persia defeated by the Byzantines

The successful defence of Constantinople represents a turning point in the war against the Persians. Herakleios is later able to defeat all armies sent against him and forces a favourable peace upon the gravely weakened Persians.

636

Battle of the River Yarmuk

Inspired by their new religious faith (the Prophet Mohammed had only died in 632) Arab armies advance upon both the Persian Empire, which is soon absorbed, and the Byzantine Empire.

At first slow to react, the Byzantines finally mobilise a large army against the Arabs. Badly handled and out-fought, the Byzantine Army is destroyed by the Arabs at the Battle of Yarmuk, in Syria.

Already ravaged by the Persian war, Byzantine provinces in the Middle East and North Africa fall quickly to the Arabs. The Byzantines fall back, holding the mountain passes of eastern Asia Minor against further Arab encroachment.

The Arabs establish a powerful state, the Omayyad Caliphate, based around the capital city of Damascus.

673

First Arab attack upon Constantinople

The "Saracens" (Arabs) have built up a powerful war-fleet. They lay a determined sea-born siege upon Constantinople which lasts for five years. For the first time the Byzantines are able to inflict a severe defeat upon the Arabs, who finally withdraw with heavy losses in 678.

An important factor in Byzantine success is the use of a secret weapon - Greek Fire. An explosive and incendiary substance, with sulphur, pitch and petroleum as chief ingredients, Greek Fire is squirted from bellows-operated flamethrowers mounted on Byzantine warships.

717

Second Arab attack upon Constantinople

On this occasion the Arabs send a war-fleet and army that outnumbers Byzantium’s entire armed forces. Once again Constantinople puts up a brave defence and the effects of a severe winter, Greek Fire, and mass desertion by many of their Christian sailors combine to deal the Arabs a severe defeat.

717

Accession of the Emperor Leo III

Leo, originally from the Syrian border, ends a period of political instability within the Empire and makes a major contribution to the defeat of the Arab attack upon Constantinople.

726

Beginning of the Iconoclast Controversy

Reflecting upon the near destruction of the Byzantine Empire, the Emperor Leo and his advisors conclude that a possible cause of such disasters may be divine displeasure. In an attempt to appease God, Leo hits upon the policy of removing or destroying religious images (Icons). Byzantine worship of icons has come uncomfortably close to idolatry and, possibly under the influence of Islamic thought, Leo aims to purify and abstract Christian worship by their removal.

The new policy of Iconoclasm ("image - breaking") meets with immediate opposition and will fiercely divide Byzantine society and politics for the next 120 years. Although primarily a religious controversy, support or rejection of Iconoclasm inevitably reinforces pre-existing antagonisms or divisions in Byzantium. The army, becomes a stronghold of Iconoclasm, whilst the church itself is largely Iconophile (in support of Icons) .

762

Foundation of Baghdad by the Caliph el-Mansur

The new Abbasid Caliphate, centred upon Baghdad, is a mighty cultural, economic and military power on Byzantium’s south-eastern border.

780

Regency of the Empress Irene

Irene, widow of Leo III’s grandson, reigns as regent for her son, Constantine VI. A controversial figure, Irene is a determined woman whose desire to retain political control leads the imprisonment and murder of her now-adult son in 797. Irene refers to herself as Basileos (King, or Emperor).

802

Irene is deposed by the Logothete Nikephoros

The Emperor Nikephoros I is a far-sighted political and financial planner. He places the Empire upon a sound financial footing, Byzantine re-settlement of much of Greece, lost to the Empire for the past two centuries, gains apace during his reign.

811

Defeat and death of Nikephoros I

Nikephoros meets a gruesome end when his army is defeated by the Bulgar Khan Krum. Originally a Turkic people ruling over Slavic subjects, the Bulgars are a constant worry for Byzantine Emperors and their advisors.

Krum, a formidable adversary, mounts Nikephoros’ skull in silver for use as a drinking cup!

829 to 842

Reign of the Emperor Theophilos

Despite on-going military conflict, the reign of Theophilos is notable for a significant level of cultural contact between Byzantium and the Abbasid Caliphate.

Byzantium’s economic health continues to improve, with on-going expansion of trade and the Empire’s money supply. The Byzantine military is reformed and expanded.

842

The end of Iconoclasm

Theophilos is the last Iconoclast emperor. Upon his death his widow, Theodora takes control as regent for their young son, Michael III. Theodora presides over the restoration of Icons as an accepted form of Orthodox worship.

Timeline: Justinian the Great (6th Cent)

518

Justin I becomes Byzantine Emperor.

Justin was an illiterate peasant soldier, originally from Thrace, who rose to the Imperial throne though his command of a palace guard regiment. The real power lies behind the throne, in the person of Justin’s nephew - Justinian.

527

Justinian I becomes Emperor

A clever, dedicated and ambitious man, Justinian is partnered by his equally impressive wife - the former actress and courtesan Theodora.

Justinian also appoints a series of able (though not always scrupulous) senior legal and financial officials and gives primary command of his armies to the young general Belisarius. Justinian’s major appointments are distinguished by his emphasis upon ability, rather than social standing.

529

The Code of Justinian is adopted as the basis of Imperial Law

The Code, a re-formulation of Roman Law, occupies a pre-eminent place in European legal history - what is often referred to as "Roman Law" in fact derives directly from the Code of Justinian.

532

The Nika Riots

Constantinople is severely damaged by rioting. Encouraged by elements of the Constantinopolitan aristocracy. Justinian considers abdication and escape, but is encouraged to stand firm by Theodora.

The riots, named after the victory chant of the Blue and Green Hippodrome factions ("Nika" = "Win!"), are consequently put down with much bloodshed.

532

Construction of Haghia Sophia begins

This awe-inspiring basilica still stands in Istanbul, 1,461 years after its completion by two construction teams of five thousand workers.

534

Belisarius completes conquest of the Vandal Kingdom of North Africa

Belisarius, one of the most gifted military leaders of any age and culture, is then instructed by Justinian to commence re-conquest of Italy from the Ostrogoths – a task which seems largely complete by 540, when Belisarius is recalled to command Byzantine defences against a Persian invasion of the east.

541-544

Bubonic plague makes its first known appearance in the Mediterranean.

Hundreds of thousands die across the Persian and Byzantine Empires. Justinian himself falls gravely ill with the disease. When he recovers he finds that his Empire’s financial and military strength has been gravely damaged by the plague.

552

The Byzantine conquest of Italy is completed.

By the eighty-year-old eunuch general Narses !

565

Justinian dies, aged in his early eighties.

Justinian leaves his people with an ambivalent legacy: His re-conquest of much of the western empire from the Vandals and Goths, although impressive, was bought at the cost of much devastation - particularly in Italy. The plague-ravaged empire is over-extended and unable to defend itself effectively against a new round of barbarian invasion and escalating warfare with the Persians

Justinian’s most unimpeachable and long-lasting contribution to Byzantine history remains his re-codification of Roman Law and the construction of the Great Church of Haghia Sophia.

Timeline: Late Rome and Early Byzantium (4th to 6th Cent.)

324 AD

Constantine I becomes sole Roman Emperor

A period of civil war concludes with Constantine I as sole emperor of the eastern and western Roman Empire. He commences construction of New Rome (Constantinople) on the site of the old Greek city of Byzantium.

Constantine instigates a series of legislative changes that favour Christians within the Roman Empire.

325

The Council of Nicaea

Constantine is not prepared to tolerate divisions within the Christian Church, a threat to Roman stability that he regards as "formidable as any war or battle". An ecumenical ("world –wide") council of church leaders is convened at Nicaea to debate Arianism; a popular religious doctrine, which holds that Jesus Christ ("the Son"), is inferior to God ("the Father").

The Council counters Arianism with the Nicene Creed, a theological formulation which includes the statement that the Son and Father are of the same substance and therefore equal.

Although the Council apparently 'solves' the problem of Arianism, the heresy continues to exist and gain many adherents over the next two centuries, including some of Constantine’s successors.

330

Constantinople formally dedicated as Roman Capital

330 is often treated as a convenient starting point for referring to the Roman Empire in the East as the "Byzantine Empire" or "Byzantium".

410

Rome is sacked by Alaric the Visigoth

Although Rome, as a capital city, had long ceased to have any real significance in practical terms, its fall to a tribe of barbarians marks the irrevocable decline of the Roman Empire in the West. Western Roman Emperors continue to be appointed for the next sixty years, but they have little real standing.

413

Construction of Constantinople’s triple walls begin

Although commonly known as the "Theodosian Walls" after Theodosios II, the reigning emperor), the walls were actually built on the orders of Anthemius, the Empire’s Prefect of the East, to counter an immediate threat from the Huns.

In conjunction with Constantinople's naturally strong location, the Theodosian walls will prove their worth against any number of attacks upon Constantinople through Byzantine history. They will fall to an attacking army only twice, once during the chaos of the Fourth Crusade (1204) and, finally, to the Ottoman Turks, who breach them in 1453 with the help of artillery and overwhelming numbers.

455

Rome is sacked for the second time.

This time, in a very systematic and controlled manner, by the Vandals – another tribe of Germanic barbarians. The Vandals go on to establish a kingdom in the Roman provinces of North Africa, whilst the Goths establish themselves in Italy and Spain.

476

Formal end of the Roman Empire in the West.

The last Western Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, is deposed.

Map of the Byzantine Empire 1453 AD

On the eve of it's final battle for survival, Byzantium was reduced to a few isolated territories surrounded by the Ottoman Empire, which had experienced a rapid expansion in power and territorial extent. Constantinople, still under Byzantine control, but situated in the heart of Ottoman territories, had become an anomaly and irritant, which the Sultan Mehmet II finally removed on 29 May 1453 after an epic siege and heroic last-ditch defence.

The long story of the Roman-Byzantine Empire was over. But even in its final centuries, the Empire generated a cultural life of great vitality and influence which belied its lack of temporal power.

Map of the Byzantine Empire 1350 AD

Despite occasional periods of recovery, the Byzantine Empire was in terminal political decline by the middle of the 14th Century. A bitter civil war, which saw the Ottoman Turks become intimately involved in Byzantine affairs for the first time, was coupled with the outbreak of bubonic plague in 1349, as well as a general failure in the dying Empire's financial and military resources.

The Empire's main possessions were now restricted to Thrace, Thessalonika, the Peloponnese, and Constantinople itself.

Map of the Byzantine Empire 1278 AD

The closing decades of the 13th Century mark Byzantium's last period as a significant player in european and middle-eastern affairs. Following the Byzantine recapture of Constantinople in 1261, the brilliant and unscrupulous Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos had dealt with multiple threats to the restored Empire.

Byzantine diplomatic and espionage activity supplemented the Empire's rather meagre military resources, culminating in 1282 with the bankrolling of a major revolt in Sicily against Byzantium's chief adversary and threat - Charles of Anjou, who had threatened to lead a so-called crusade against Constantinople.

Map of the Byzantine Successor States 1218 AD

The death of Manuel Komnenos in 1180 exposed the improvised nature of the Komnenian revival and ushered in a new period of instability and weakness, culminating in the disaster wrought by the 4th Crusade in 1204. This early exercise in western commercial and military imperialism led to the conquest and partial destruction of Constantinople. A new so-called "Latin Empire" was established upon the ruins of Byzantium, whilst Byzantine refugees established fragmented successor states in Northern Greece and Asia Minor, each claiming the the Byzantine inheritance.

The Empire of Nicaea emerged as the most viable successor state and was to go on to recapture Constantinople in 1261.

Map of the Byzantine Empire 1143 AD

This map depicts the Empire at the close of the reign of John II Komnenos, son of Alexios. Through a combination of determination, skill and opportunism, Alexios and John revived the Empire. After defeating Norman attempts at conquest from the west, Alexios was able to exploit the effects of the 1st Crusade to reassert Byzantine control over the more fertile and populated regions of coastal Asia Minor.

At the accession of John's son, Manuel I Komnenos, Byzantium appeared stronger and wealthier than it had done for generations.

Map of the Byzantine Empire 1092 AD

At the death of the Emperor Basil II in 1025 Byzantium stood apparently unassailable; the premier power of medieval europe and the middle east. Half a century later the situation was very different. Byzantium had lost control over its heartland in Asia Minor to the Seljuk Turks and the empire also had to fight desperately to resist invasion from the Normans, based in southern Italy.

The reasons for this dramatic reversal are manifold, and controversial, but include periods of misrule, military breakdown, the nature of Turkish settlement in Asia Minor, and structural changes in economy and society which made maintainance of the self-contained and centralised Byzantine state more difficult.

However dire the situation though, Byzantium was about to stage another of its remarkable recoveries. Since 1081 the Empire at least had an able and extremely determined ruler; the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, aided by a number of able family members and colleagues, not the least of which was the Emperor's mother, Anna Dalessena, who administered the Empire's affairs whilst Alexios was on campaign.

Map of the Byzantine Empire 1025 AD

At the death of the Emperor Basil II in 1025, Byzantium was at the apex of its medieval power. The ninth century had first seen Greece re-conquered and brought under regular Byzantine control. Then, the balance of power on the eastern frontier had slowly but decisively shifted in Byzantium's favour, with tables turned upon the declining Abbasid Caliphate and the Arab 'raiding emirates'. Finally, Basil himself had prevailed in brutal conflict with the Bulgars and once again extended Byzantium's borders to the Danube. For the first time in its long history, Byzantium appeared to face no significant threat from any quarter.

Map of the Byzantine Empire 780 AD

By 780 the situation along Byzantium's eastern frontier had stabilised, and the Empire's "dark age" was drawing to a close. Byzantium was now transformed from the sprawling mediterranean empire of late antiquity into a relatively compact medieval state with its most important lands, in terms of agricultural production, tax-base, and military manpower, in Asia Minor.

However reduced in territorial extent, Byzantium has proved its tenacity and ability to adapt and survive under severe pressure from east, west and north. The next two and a half centuries will see an amazing recovery in the Empire's fortunes, based upon the administrative and military structures put in place during its long battle for survival.

Map of the Byzantine Empire 668 AD

The previous century has been traumatic for the Byzantium. The Empire's borders to the north, along the Alps and the River Danube, were placed under pressure in the late 6th Century, and finally breached by a succession of barbarian invasions from Lombards, Avars, and Slavs. Meanwhile in the east a catastrophic, though ultimately victorious struggle with the Persian Empire had been surmounted by the sudden eruption of Islam from the Arabian Peninsula.

For a number of reasons, still debated - religious and political alienation of local populations, economic and military exhaustion, failure of strategic oversight - the Byzantine government is unable to prevent the loss of Egypt, Palestine and Syria. The newly established Umayyad Caliphate, with its capital in Damascus, places continuous pressure upon Byzantium, which withdraws behind the Taurus mountains and consolidates what is left of its military in Asia Minor.

Map of the Byzantine Empire 565 AD

This map depicts the Empire at the death of Justinian I, who had reigned from 527 to 565 as sole Emperor, sometimes in concert, and sometimes in conflict, with his powerful wife Theodora.

Through a series of hard-fought and destructive wars against Goth and Vandal successor states in the former territory of the western Roman Empire, Justinian had re-extended the Empire's boundaries to southern Spain, the Italian peninsula and North Africa. The territorial gains, though impressive, masked an overall weakening the Empire's position; a dreadful outbreak of bubonic plague had swept the mediterranean basin in the 540s and severe climatic conditions had a negative impact upon the Empire's agricultural base.

The Byzantine Empire

At the southern extremity of the Bosphorus stands a promontory that juts out from Europe toward Asia, with the Sea of Marmora to the south and a long harbor known as the Golden Horn to the north. On this peninsula stood the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, which Constantine the Great enlarged considerably and formally christened "New Rome" in A.D. 330.

Constantine had chosen the site for his new capital with care. He placed Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) on the frontier of Europe and Asia, dominating the waterway connecting the Mediterranean and Black seas. Nature protected the site on three sides with cliffs; on the fourth side, emperors fortified the city with an impenetrable three-wall network. During the fourth and fifth centuries Visigoths, Huns, and Ostrogoths unsuccessfully threatened the city. In the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, first Persians, then Arab forces, and finally the Bulgarians besieged - but failed to take - Constantinople. Until 1453, with the exception of the Fourth Crusade's treachery, the city withstood all attacks.

The security and wealth provided by its setting helped Byzantium survive for more than a thousand years. Constantinople was a state-controlled, world trade center which enjoyed the continuous use of a money economy - in contrast to the localized systems found in the west. The city's wealth and taxes paid for a strong military force and financed an effective government. Excellent sewage and water systems supported an extremely high standard of living. Food was abundant, with grain from Egypt and Anatolia and fish from the Aegean. Constantinople could support a population of a million, at a time when it was difficult to find a city in Europe that could sustain more than 50,000.

Unlike Rome, Constantinople had several industries producing luxury goods, military supplies, hardware, and textiles. After silkworms were smuggled out of China about A.D. 550, silk production flourished and became a profitable state monopoly. The state paid close attention to business, controlling the economy: A system of guilds to which all tradesmen and members of the professions belonged set wages, profits, work hours, and prices and organized bankers and doctors into compulsory corporations.

Security and wealth encouraged an active political, cultural, and intellectual life. The widespread literacy and education among men and women of various segments of society would not be matched in Europe until, perhaps, eighteenth-century France. Until its fall in 1453, the Byzantine Empire remained a shining fortress, attracting both invaders and merchants.

"The Byzantine Empire"

Introduction.....

When we speak of the fall of the Roman Empire, we should not forget that in fact only the western portion of that empire succumbed to the Germanic invaders. In the Greek-speaking east, the eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire stood for a thousand years as a citadel against the threats of expansion by the Muslims.

The Byzantine Empire made great contributions to civilization: Greek language and learning were preserved for posterity; the Roman imperial system was continued and Roman law codified; the Greek Orthodox church converted some Slavic peoples and fostered the development of a splendid new art dedicated to the glorification of the Christian religion. Situated at the crossroads of east and west, Constantinople acted as the disseminator of culture for all peoples who came in contact with the empire. Called with justification "The City," this rich and turbulent metropolis was to the early Middle Ages what Athens and Rome had been to classical times. By the time the empire collapsed in 1453, its religious mission and political concepts had borne fruit among the Slavic peoples of eastern Europe and especially among the Russians. The latter were to lay claim to the Byzantine tradition and to call Moscow the "Third Rome."

"SONG OF SENIBINA "

Satu ketika berita kuterima,
Aku berjaya menjadi pelajar senibina,
Betapa bangganya ibu,
Betapa bangganya ayah,
Cintaku kini terlaksana,
Lapan semester,
Yang bakal ku lalui,
Banyak dugaan yang bakal aku hadapi,
Bersama ketawa riang,
Bersama bergurau senda,
Kita adalah satu sekeluarga,
Bersengkang mata,
Tidur tak lena,
Makan tak tentu,
Perkara biasa,
Dengarlah wahai kawanku,
Ingatlah segala pesanku,
Jangan kau mudah putus asa.

"ARCHITECTURE STUDENT ASSOCIATIONS"

ARCHISA or Architecture student Associations is one of the registered society that established under the article 174.

The society has been established in Shah Alam and it has been founded here in the year 1985,where the first badge of the student were taken.

It is specially founded and created for architecture student in UiTM.

" THE EGYPT "

Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its estimated 80 million^[1] live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable agricultural land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with the majority spread across the densely-populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.

Egypt is famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world's most famous monuments, including the Giza pyramid complex and its Great Sphinx. The southern city of Luxor contains numerous ancient artifacts, such as the Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings. Egypt is widely regarded as an important political and cultural nation of the Middle East.