Byzantium
The capital of the eastern half of the Roman Empire; renamed to Constantinople
Corpus Iuris Civilis
Justinian's collection of laws; remained a foundation of legal knowledge in Europe until the nineteenth century
Heraclius
Byzantine emperor who spoke Greek rather than Latin; he also managed to greatly reduce the power and influence of the Sassanids
Basil II
Byzantine emperor who defeated the Bulgars
Battle of Kleidion
Battle where the Byzantine forces defeated the Bulgars under Basil II
Byzantine Empire
Empire that grew from the eastern half of Rome; Conquered parts of Asia, Europe, and North Africa
Justinian I "the Great"
Byzantine emperor who built the Hagia Sophia, wrote law codes, and expanded the empire
Battle of Manzikert
Battle where the Seljuk Turks defeated Byzantine forces
Crusades/ 4th Crusade
Series of military expeditions where Christians went to seek control of their Holy Land from the Muslims
Normans
People who attacked the Byzantine empire from France
Slavs
People Northeastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, etc.)
Vikings
Group of people from Scandinavia who built the first Russian civilization and took over the Slavs
Rus
Name of Viking Rulers
Leo II Iconoclastic Policy
Controversial practice of opposing the worship of images and icons by getting rid of all of them
Hagia Sophia
Christian church built by Justinian the Great that became a focal point of Constantinople's architecture
Theocracy
A government where there is no separation between the state and the church
Patriarch
Head of the church
Monasteries
Religious buildings where people devote their life's to worship
Cyril
Famous missionary of Christianity who made the Cyrillic alphabet
Schism
Separation of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
Split from the Roman Catholic Church and became big in Southeastern Europe and Russia
Theme System
Byzantine's offer to peasants their freedom if they agreed to join the imperial military service
Cyrillic Alphabet
Alphabet made by Cyril to help Russians and other Slavs read the Bible
Illuminated Manuscripts
Bible's decorated with colored illustrations
Bulgars
Turkic people originally from Central Asia that had lots of conflicts with the Byzantine Empire
University of Constantinople
University that trained students to work in the bureaucracy among other things; also dominated by Christianity
Hippodrome
A large stadium like the Coliseum in Rome in the Byzantine Empire
Oleg
Viking ruler who first settled Kievan Rus
Dnieper River
River flowing from Russia to the Black Sea
Kievan Rus
First Russian settlement by the Vikings
Boyars
Viking nobles
Prince Vladimir I "the Great"
Ruler of Kievan Rus that brought Christianity
Yaroslav I "the Wise"
Ruler of Kievan Rus that promoted education and codified the legal system
Russkaya Pravda
Kieran Rus legal system; means "Russian Justice"
Constantinople
Capital city of the Byzantine Empire; named after Constantine
Bosporous Strait
Narrow body of water that connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean; Constantinople was located there