Timeline Byzantium
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The Eastern Roman Empire that dates from the fall of
the
Western Empire in 476AD. A three volume dictionary on Byzantium was
edited
by Alexander Kazhdan (d.1997 at 74).
(WUD, 1994, p.204)(SFC, 6/10/97, p.A26)
293 Mar 1, Roman
emperor Maximianus introduced tetrarchy.
(SC, 3/1/02)
305 May 1, Emperor Gaius Aurelius
Valerius Diocletianus Jovius of Rome abdicated. Constantius I Chlorus
(Flavius Valerius Constantius) became Western emperor. Galerius (Gaius
Galerius Valerius Maximianus) became Eastern emperor.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
309 Maximinus II Daia (d.313)
became Eastern emperor.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
312CE Oct 27, Prior to a battle
between Constantine and Maxentius, Constantine experienced a vision of
Christ that ordered him to ornament the shields of his soldiers with
the Greek letters chi and rho, the monogram for Christ. Constantine won
the battle and attributed his success to Christ. He became emperor of
the West and an advocate of Christianity. [see Oct 28]
(MC, 1/20/02)(MH, 12/96)(CU, 6/87)
312 Oct 28, Constantine the
Great defeated Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius at the Mulvian
Bridge. Constantine’s smaller army (about 50,000 strong) won a decisive
victory there; while fleeing, Maxentius drowned in the river.
Constantine was instantly converted when he saw a cross in the sky,
with the inscription "In hoc signo vincit" ("In this sign you shall
conquer"). [see Oct 27]
(HN, 10/28/98)(DoW, 1999, P.398)
313 Apr 30, Licinius unified the
whole of the eastern empire under his own rule.
(HN, 4/30/98)
313 Constantine met with the
eastern emperor at Milan, capital of the late Roman Empire. They agreed
on a policy of religious tolerance. The Edict of Milan legalized
Christianity, but also allowed Romans religious choice.
(CU, 6/87)(ITV, 1/96, p.58)(SFEC, 7/13/97,
p.T13)(SSFC, 3/21/04, p.M6)
313 Maximinus II Daia, Eastern
emperor, was killed at Tarsus.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
314-335 Pope Sylvester I. A document from the 9th or
10th century called the "Donation of Constantine" was forged to show
Constantine granting to Sylvester and his successors spiritual
supremacy over all matters of faith and worship and temporal dominion
over Rome and the entire Western empire.
(V.D.-H.K.p.104)
317 Aug 7, Flavius Julius
Constantius II, Emperor Egypt, Byzantium, Rome (337-61), was born.
(MC, 8/7/02)
324 Constantine chose Byzantium as
his new capital. He moved his court to Byzantium and chiseled his name
on the portal.
(ATC, p.24)(WSJ, 3/28/97, p.A1)
325 Licinius (Valerius Licianus
Licinius), Eastern emperor, was deposed and executed by Constantine.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
326 Jul 25, Constantine refused to
carry out the traditional pagan sacrifices.
(HN, 7/25/98)
326 Constantine executed his son
Flavius Julius Crispus, born to his 1st wife, under the persuasion of
his 2nd wife Fausta.
(PCh, 1992, p.48)
326-330 The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was
built by the Roman emperor Constantine. The church was rebuilt under
Justinian (527-565).
(SFC, 12/26/96, p.B2)(WSJ, 4/5/02, p.A1)
330 May 11, Constantine renamed
the town of Byzantium to: "New Rome which is Constantine’s City." It
became know as Constantinople.
(ATC, p.31)(HN, 5/11/98)
330 Constantine began the building
of the Great Palace in Constantinople.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A8)
335 Oct 21, Constantinople emperor
(Constantine the Great) enacted rules against Jews.
(MC, 10/21/01)
335 Byzantine Emperor Constantine
built the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem on the hill of
Golgotha, where his mother claimed to have found the remains of the
True Cross. It was raised by the Persians in 614, reconstructed and
again destroyed by Caliph Hakim of Egypt in 1009. It was rebuilt by the
Crusaders.
(WSJ, 1/27/07, p.W13)
337 May 22, Constantine (47),
convert to Christianity and Emperor of Rome (306-37), died. He had made
Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire and had the
Chapel of the Burning Bush built in the Sinai Desert at the site where
Moses was believed to have witnessed the Miracle of the Burning Bush.
He was baptized just before death.
(V.D.-H.K.p.92)(PCh, 1992, p.48)(MC, 5/22/02)
337 Sep 9, Constantine's three
sons, already Caesars, each took the title of Augustus. Constantine II
and Constans shared the west while Constantius II took control of the
east.
(HN, 9/9/98)
347-407 The era of St. John Chrysostom. He was the
ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
(WUD, 1994 p.264)
360 Feb 15, The first Hagia Sophia
was inaugurated by Constantius II. It was built next to the smaller
church Hagia Eirene in Constantinople. Both churches acted together as
the principal churches of the Byzantine Empire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia)
361 Nov 3, Flavius Julius
Constantius II (44), the 1st Byzantine Emperor, died. Flavius Claudius
Julianus, Julian the Apostate, succeeded Constantius and tried to make
paganism the official religion of the empire.
(V.D.-H.K.p.92)(PCh, 1992, p.48)(MC, 11/3/01)
364 Feb 26, On the death of
Jovian, a conference at Nicaea chose Valentinan, an army officer who
was born in the central European region of Pannania, to succeed him in
Asia Minor.
(HN, 2/26/99)
379-395 Theodosius I (c.346-395) served as emperor
East Roman Republic.
(WUD, 1994 p.1471)
380 Theodosius I ordered that all
people under his rule embrace Christianity.
(SSFC, 3/21/04, p.M6)
384 Sep 9, Flavius Honorius,
emperor East Roman Republic (395-423), was born.
(MC, 9/9/01)
393 The ancient Olympic Games
were held at intervals beginning in 776 BC until about 393 CE when they
were abolished by Roman emperor Theodosius I after Greece lost its
independence. The modern Olympic Games were started in 1896. [see 396CE]
(HNQ, 11/23/98)
396 The last Olympic Games were
held under Emp. Theodosius I, who halted them due to increasing
professionalism and corruption. [see 393CE] In 2004 Nigel Spivey
authored “The Ancient Olympics.”
(SFC, 7/14/96, p.T1)(WSJ, 8/13/04, p.W8)
401 Apr 10, Theodosius II, the
Younger, Eastern Roman emperor, was born.
(MC, 4/10/02)
408 May 1, Theodosius II succeeded
to the throne of Constantinople.
(HN, 5/1/98)
411 Proclus (d.485), Greek
mathematician and theologian, was born. [see 412]
(WUD, 1994 p.1147)(MC, 4/17/02)
412 Feb 8, St. Proclus, Patriarch
of Constantinople, was born. [see 411]
(HN, 2/8/98)
415 Archbishop Cyril of Alexandria
sent a mob of religious police to stop Hypatia, an eccentric pagan
ascetic and scholar. The mob kidnapped her, dragged her to a church,
stripped and tortured her with broken shards of pottery. Her body parts
were then butchered, put on public display and burnt to a crisp. In
2004 Jonathan Kirsch authored "God Against the Gods: The History of the
War Between Monotheism and Polytheism."
(SSFC, 3/21/04, p.M1)
421 Feb 8, Flavius Constantine
became emperor Constantine III of Roman Empire West.
(MC, 2/8/02)
425 Feb 27, Theodosius effectively
founded a university in Constantinople.
(HN, 2/27/99)
474 Jan 18, Leo I, Roman Byzantine
Emperor (457-74), died. He was succeeded by his grandson Leo II.
(www.roman-emperors.org/leo1.htm)
474 Nov 17, Leo II (b.467), Roman
Byzantine Emperor, died.
(www.roman-emperors.org/leo2.htm)
527 Apr 1, Emp. Justin named
Justinianus co-emperor of Byzantium. [see Apr 4]
(OTD)(PC, 1992 ed, p.54)
527 Apr 4, In Constantinople,
Justin, seriously ill, crowned his nephew Justinian as his co-emperor.
[see Apr 1]
(HN, 4/4/99)
527 Aug 1, Justinus I, Byzantine
emperor (518-27), died.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.54)
527-548 Empress Theodora, considered the most
powerful woman in Byzantine history, rules with her husband Justinian.
(ATC, p.24)
527-565 Justinian ruled the Byzantine Empire.
(WSJ, 4/5/02, p.W12)
532 Jan 13-532 Jan 14, The 2nd
Hagia Sophia cathedral burned down in Constantinople during the Nika
uprising, which failed leaving some 30-40,000 people dead. Justinian
and his wife Theodora had attended festivities at the Hippodrome, a
stadium for athletic competition. Team support escalated from insults
to mob riots and in the end Constantinople lay in ruins. Justinian
proceeded to rebuild the city with extensive commissions for religious
art and architecture, including the new Hagia Sophia.
(ATC,
p.33)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia)
534 Justinian brought the Vandal
king into Constantinople and resurrected the triumphal procession of
71AD.
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.A15)
536 Dec 9, Byzantine Count
Belisarius entered Rome through the Asinarian Gate at the head of 5,000
troops. At the same time, 4,000 Ostrogoths left the city through the
Flaminian Gate and headed north to Ravenna, the capital of their
Italian kingdom. For the first time since 476, when the Germanic king,
Odoacer, had deposed the last Western Roman emperor and crowned himself
“King of the Romans,” the city of Rome was once more part of the Roman
empire—albeit an empire whose capital had shifted east to
Constantinople. Belisarius had taken the city back as part of Emperor
Justinian’s grand plan to recover the western provinces from their
barbarian rulers. The plan was meant to be carried out with an almost
ridiculously small expeditionary force. The 5,000 soldiers that General
Belisarius led included Hunnish and Moorish auxiliaries, and they were
expected to defend circuit walls 12 miles in diameter against an enemy
who would soon be back, and who would outnumber them at least 10-to-1.
(HN, 12/9/98)(HNC, 10/1/99)
537 Dec 27, The Hagia Sophia
Byzantine cathedral in Constantinople was consecrated. St. Sophia
(meaning "the holy wisdom" in Greek) was built by Emperor Justinian. It
remained a symbol of Byzantine grandeur until Istanbul was conquered by
Muslim armies.
(Sky, 4/97,
p.55)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia)
552 Agents from Byzantium
impersonating monks smuggled silkworms and mulberry leaves out of China
in hollow canes.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R50)(Econ, 8/23/08, p.51)
554 Aug 14, Ravenna became the
seat of the Byzantine military governor in Italy.
(MC, 8/14/02)
558 May 7, The dome of the church
of St. Sophia in Constantinople collapsed. Its immediate rebuilding was
ordered by Justinian.
(HN, 5/7/99)
560 Emperor Justinian about this
time returned the treasure of Jerusalem, plundered by the Romans in
70AD, to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.A15)
565 Nov 14, Justinian I, [Petrus
Sabbatius], Byzantine emperor (527-565), died at age 83.
(Baker, 2002)
578 Oct 5, Justinus II, Byzantine
emperor (565-78), died.
(MC, 10/5/01)
610 Oct 5, Heraclitus' fleet took
Constantinople.
(MC, 10/5/01)
626 Aug 7, Battle at
Constantinople: Slavs, Persians and Avars were defeated. Emp. Heraclius
repelled the attacks. The attacks began in 625.
(PCh, 1992, p.60)(MC, 8/7/02)
628 Apr 3, In Persia, Kavadh sued
for peace with the Byzantines. He handed back Armenia, Byzantine
Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt.
(HN, 4/3/99)
636 Jul 23, Arabs gained control
of most of Palestine from Byzantine Empire.
(MC, 7/23/02)
636 Aug 15, At the Battle at
Yarmuk, east of the Sea of Galilee, Islamic forces beat a Byzantine
army and gained control of Syria.
(PC, 1992, p.61)
641 Feb 11, Heraclius (~65),
emperor of Byzantium (610-641), died.
(MC, 2/11/02)
649 May 14, Theodore, Greek Pope
(642-49), excommunicated by Paul II, died.
(MC, 5/14/02)
662 Aug 13, Maximus Confessor
(b.c580), Greek theologian, died.
(MC, 8/13/02)
668 Jul 15, Constantine II (37),
emperor of Byzantium, died.
(MC, 7/15/02)
711 Dec 11, Justitianus II (~42),
emperor of Byzantium, died.
(MC, 12/11/01)
729 Emperor Leo the Isaurian
ordered the destruction of an icon of Christ set in the great Bronze
Gate in Constantinople. Theodosia led a group of enraged women who
killed the officer removing the image. Theodosia was killed in the
forum and became a martyr-saint. Her saint’s day was May 29.
(Ot, 1993, p.3)
741 Jun 18, Leo III de Isaurier,
Byzantine Emperor (717-41), died.
(MC, 6/18/02)
787 Sep 24, The 2nd Council of
Nicaea (7th ecumenical council) opened in Asia Minor.
(http://www.malaspina.com/site/person_672.asp)
787 Oct 23, Byzantine
Empress Irene (c. 752-803) attended the final session of the 2nd church
council at Nicaea, Bithynia [now Iznik, a city in Anatolia (now part of
Turkey)]. The council formally revived the adoration of icons and
reunited the Eastern church with that of Rome.
(http://www.malaspina.com/site/person_672.asp)
c799-878 St. Ignatius Nicetas. He served as the
Patriarch of Constantinople from 846-858 and 867-878.
(WUD, 1994 p.708)
802 Oct 31, Empress Irene was
driven out of Byzantium.
(MC, 10/31/01)
811 Jul 26, Nicephorus I,
Byzantine Emperor (802-11), died in the Battle at Pliska. The Bulgarian
under monarch Krum beat the Byzantines.
(MC, 7/26/02)
820 Dec 25, Leo V, the Armenian,
Byzantine gen. and Emperor (813-20), was murdered.
(MC, 12/25/01)
828 Apr 5, Nicephorus (~77),
patriarch of Constantinople (806-815), died.
(MC, 4/5/02)
842 Feb 19, The Medieval
Iconoclastic Controversy ended as a council in Constantinople formally
reinstated the veneration of icons in the churches.
(MC, 2/19/02)
843 Mar 11, Icon worship was
officially reinstated in Aya Sofia, Constantinople.
(MC, 3/12/02)
860 Jun 18, Swedish Vikings
attacked Constantinople.
(MC, 6/18/02)
866 Sep 19, Leo VI Sophos,
Byzantine Emperor (886-912) and writer (Problematica), was born.
(MC, 9/19/01)
867 Feb 11, Theodora, the Saint,
beauty queen, Byzantine Empress, died.
(MC, 2/11/02)
886 Aug 29, Basilius I, the
Macedonian, Byzantine emperor (867-886), died.
(MC, 8/29/01)
891 Feb 6, Photius, Byzantine
theologist, patriarch of Constantinople, saint, died.
(MC, 2/6/02)
904 Jul 31, Arabs captured
Thessalonica of the Byzantine Empire.
(HN, 7/31/98)
911 Sep 2, Viking monarch Oleg of
Kiev, Russia, signed a treaty with the Byzantines.
(MC, 9/2/01)
917 Aug 20, A Byzantine
counter-offensive was routed by Syeon at Anchialus, Bulgaria.
(HN, 8/20/98)
963 Mar 15, Romanus II (25),
Byzantine emperor (959-63), died.
(MC, 3/15/02)
969 Oct 28, After a prolonged
siege, the Byzantines ended 300 years of Arab rule in Antioch.
(HN, 10/28/98)
969 Dec 10, Nicephorus II Phocas,
Byzantine co-Emperor (963-69), was murdered.
(MC, 12/10/01)
972 John I Tzimiskes, the
Byzantine Emperor at Constantinople (969-976), granted a charter for
the Monastic Republic of Holy Mount Athos in Greece.
(SSFC, 10/8/06,
p.H1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_I_Tzimisces)
992 Constantinople granted
Venetian goods lower tariffs than other merchandise.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R50)
1000 About this time a 174-page
manuscript was copied onto goatskin parchment in Constantinople from
papyrus versions of Archimedes’ original calculations and mathematical
diagrams. Over the years it was written over. The Archimedes Palimpsest
was later discovered and examined using x-ray technology at the
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.
(SFC, 5/23/05, p.A4)
1009 In Jerusalem the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre was burned by Muslims under Caliph Hakim of Egypt.
(WSJ, 5/7/01, p.A20)(WSJ, 1/27/07, p.W13)
1014 Oct 6, The Byzantine Emperor
Basil II (958-1025) earned the title "Slayer of Bulgars" after he
ordered the blinding of 15,000 Bulgarian troops. Basil II was godfather
to Russia’s Prince Vladimir.
(HN,
10/6/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_II)(Econ, 2/16/08, p.60)
1034 Apr 11, Romanus III Argyrus,
Byzantine emperor (1028-34), was assassinated by his wife.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1053 Jun 18, In Italy Richard of
Aversa helped win the Battle of Civitate, inflicting a decisive defeat
over the papal army, which had joined Byzantium in an alliance against
the Normans.
(www.fanaticus.org/DBA/battles/civitate.html)
1071 Aug 26, Turks defeated the
Byzantine army under Emperor Romanus IV at Manzikert (Malaz Kard),
Eastern Turkey. Romanus was taken prisoner.
(PCh, 1992, p.85)(Ot, 1993, p.4)
1096 Aug 1, The crusaders under
Peter the Hermit reached Constantinople. Anna Comnena, a 13 year-old
Christian in Constantinople, watched as the crusaders marched into the
city.
(ATC, p.18)(HN, 8/1/98)
1100-1200 Constantinople was devastated by fires in
the 12th century.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A8)
1153 Anna Komnene (b.1083),
Byzantine princess and scholar, died. She was a daughter of the
Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina. She is one of
the first known female historians, having written the Alexiad.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Komnene)
1156 May 28, Battle at Brindisi:
King William of Sicily beat a Byzantine fleet.
(MC, 5/28/02)
1156 The first foreign exchange
contracts were issued and allowed the repayment of Genoese pounds debt
with Byzantine bezants.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1157 The Bank of Venice issued the
first government bonds to raise funds for was with Constantinople.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1182 In Constantinople Western
Christians were massacred by Muslims. A cardinal was beheaded and 4,000
Western Christians were sold into slavery.
(WSJ, 5/8/01, p.A26)
1185 Sep 12, Andronicus I
Comnenus, Byzantine emperor (1183-85), was lynched.
(MC, 9/12/01)
1204 Apr 9, The Venetians began
their assault on Constantinople.
(www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/pears-constantinople-1204.asp)
1204 Apr 12, The Fourth Crusade,
led by Boniface of Montferrat, sacked Constantinople. Constantinople
fell to a combined force of Franks and Venetians. The 4th Crusade
failed to reach Palestine but sacked the Byzantine Christian capital of
Constantinople.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.)(NH, 9/96, p.22)(HN, 4/12/98)
1204 Venice won control over most
of Albania, but Byzantines regained control of the southern portion and
established the Despotate of Epirus.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1204 The rule of Venice over Crete
dates to this year, when the Republic was awarded 3/8 of the Eastern
Roman Empire for its role in supporting the Fourth Crusade.
(http://romeartlover.tripod.com/Creta.html)
1237 Mar 23, Jan of Brienne, King
of Jerusalem, Emperor of Constantinople, died.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1261 Aug 15, Constantinople fell
to Michael VIII of Nicea and his army.
(HN, 8/15/98)
1281 Osman I came to power
at the age of 23 and began a steady campaign against the Byzantines
until his death in 1324. He managed to capture many Byzantine
fortresses, most notably Bursa, consolidating Ottoman power in the
region. Generally regarded as the founder of the Ottoman Turkish state,
Osman I (also known as Osman Gazi) led ongoing campaigns against the
Byzantines in the 13th and early 14th centuries AD. Part of the
migration of Turkic tribes into Anatolia, Osman was the son of
Ertugrul, who had established a principality in present-day
Sögüt, Turkey.
(HNQ, 2/19/01)
1320 Oct 12, Michael IX Paleologi,
emperor of Byzantine (1295-1320), died.
(MC, 10/12/01)
1332 Feb 13, Andronicus II
Palaeologus, Byzantine emperor (1282-1328), monk, died.
(MC, 2/13/02)
1355 Dec 20, Stephen Urosh IV of
Serbia died while marching to attack Constantinople.
(HN, 12/20/98)
1361 The Ottomans under Orhan
crossed into Europe and captured Adrianople (Edirne), the 2nd major
city of Byzantium.
(Ot, 1993, p.5)
1391-1425 Manuel II Palaeologus ruled the Byzantine
empire.
(Econ, 9/23/06, p.59)
1404 Feb 9, Constantine XI
Dragases, last Byzantine Emperor, was born.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1408 Sep 22, Johannes VII
Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor (1376-77, 90/1404-8), died.
(MC, 9/22/01)
1422 Sep 6, Sultan Murat II ended
a vain siege of Constantinople.
(HN, 9/6/98)
1425 Jul 21, Manuel Palaeologus,
Byzantine Emperor (1391-1425), writer, died. He ended his days after
signing a humiliating peace with the Ottoman Turks.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_II_Palaeologus)(Econ, 9/23/06,
p.59)
1448 Oct
31, Johannes VIII Palaeologus (b.1390), Emperor of Byzantium, died.
(www.freeglossary.com/John_VIII_Palaeologus)
1453 Apr 22-1453 Apr 23, The
Ottomans hauled 76 warships out of the water and dragged them on wood
rails to bypass the Greek blockade of the Constantinople harbor.
(ON, 10/00, p.12)(Ot, 1993, p.13)
1453 May 29, Constantinople fell
to Muhammad II, ending the Byzantine Empire. The fall of the eastern
Roman Empire, Byzantium, to the Ottoman Turks was led by Mehmed II.
Emperor Constantine XI Dragases (49), the 95th ruler to sit on the
throne of Constantine, was killed. The city of Constantinople fell from
Christian rule and was renamed Istanbul. The Hagia Sophia was turned
into a mosque. Spice prices soared in Europe. Nicolo Barbaro wrote his
"Diary of the Siege of Constantinople." Manuel Chrysophes, court
musician to Constantine XI, wrote a threnody for the fall of
Constantinople. In 2005 Roger Crowley authored “1453 The Holy War for
Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West.”
(NH, 9/96, p.22)(Sky, 4/97, p.53)(SFC, 7/27/98,
p.A8)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)(ON, 10/00, p.12)(Ot, 1993, p.6)(WSJ, 1/2/02,
p.A15)(SSFC, 8/14/05, p.F4)
1935 In Istanbul, Turkey, the
Hagia Sophia Byzantine cathedral was turned into a museum. Also called
the Church of Holy Wisdom, it was built in 537 and remained a symbol of
Byzantine grandeur until Istanbul was conquered by Muslim armies.
(AP, 7/24/09)
1976 Ernst Kitzinger (1912-2003),
a foremost historian of Byzantine, early Christian and early medieval
art, authored “Byzantine Art in the Making.”
(SFC, 2/10/03, p.B4)
2007 Judith Herrin authored
“Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire.”
(Econ, 10/6/07, p.97)
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